Associate Capacity Building Officer, UNOPS At UN High Commissioner for Refugees

1. General Background

The role of humanitarian-development collaboration to increase socioeconomic development opportunities and other comprehensive solutions for refugees, forcibly displaced persons and host communities is widely recognized in the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). To successfully support transition from delivering aid to more sustainable approaches and facilitate the operationalization of the GCR, UNHCR identified the need to strengthen our capacity to meaningfully engage with development actors.

To promote the engagement with development actors UNHCR created (Senior) Development Officers (SDOs) and Economist functions from a variety of development-related backgrounds. Amongst the Terms of Reference within these roles is the aim to increase joint analysis, planning and programming with development actors. In addition, SDOs support within UNHCR awareness raising and capacity building in areas relevant to development programming and processes in Country Operations.

Much of the knowledge gathered at the Country and Regional level is only now being gained and analysed, which is why UNHCR is now further investing in documenting experiences and embarking on a journey to systematically strengthen our knowledge management and enhance staff capacity.

Key areas identified for capacity building include strengthening the understanding of HQ divisions, Regional Bureaus and Senior Development Officers as well as various staff categories at country operation level to engage with development actors and to build knowledge of specific staff on programming cycles of priority development partners. In addition, building the understanding of protection considerations that need to be taken into account when development actors programme and implement in forced displacement settings is a key priority for UNHCR.

Committed to supporting UNHCR in full-filling its mandate and its efforts to facilitate the operationalization of the GCR and strengthen cooperation with development actors, the German Development Cooperation has provided strategic support to UNHCR, notably through the Global Programme “Support to UNHCR in facilitating the operationalization of the Global Compact on Refugees in the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus” (SUN) that is being implemented in partnership with GIZ. The support includes a financial contribution to “Strengthening UNHCR staffs’ capacity to facilitate comprehensive responses at country and regional levels in the context of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus” managed by UNHCR’s Division for Resilience and Solutions (DRS).

2. Purpose and Scope of Assignment

The Associate Capacity Building Officer, under the supervision of the Senior Development Officer-Capacity Building, will contribute to implementing the above-mentioned BMZ-funded capacity building project, with particular focus on designing, organizing and facilitating the development of learning products and tools. In specific, the incumbent will contribute to:

1. Facilitate the development of learning tools (onboarding package, e-learning, Playbook) for UNHCR staff engaging with development actors, by:
   1. Supporting the DRS Team in conceptualizing learning tools (including workday journey, Playbook, and learning modules) on specific development actors, processes, coordination structures and planning cycles and facilitating the production of the learning tools;
   2. Updating, expanding and promoting the use of the existing onboarding package as well as establishing a list of key reference documents at the disposal of staff working with development actors;
   3. Supporting DRS in developing a checklist of initial steps new SDOs can take once in the Regional bureau and/ or Country Operation as well as in compiling common challenges faced and suggestions for solutions, etc.
   4. Supporting DRS and the Bureaux to document and analyse key case studies, progress, and lessons learnt, and suggested approaches from S(DOs) globally – working with teams to translate these into guidance materials and tools for the Development Playbook; and
   5. Collaborating with technical sector specialists to host webinars on engagement with development actors to further key sectorial strategies (such as the global energy and education strategies).
2. Support the production of the regular Partnership in Practice bulletin, by:
   1. Supporting the Bureaux and DRS in capturing key contributions that should be featured in the bulletin from across the Division;
   2. Updating the Development Community of Practice (CoP) site with relevant documents, links and updates featured in the newsletter;
   3. Coordinating with copy-editors, and adding final text, images and links to the CoP sharepoint site, and newsletter software to generate and send the newsletter; and
   4. Tracking engagement with the newsletter and proposing ways to constantly improve content and update.
3. Support the production of the Annual Development Progress report, by:
   1. Assisting the Bureaus and DRS to conceptualize the Annual report sections;
   2. Coordinating the production of the video case studies to accompany the annual report, with the video unit and hired videographer;
   3. Working with Bureauxs and DRS to consolidate inputs into relevant sections with key narrative case studies and progress data; and
   4. Supporting the production of the final product by liaising with copyeditors and designers.
4. Support the development of Peer-exchange learning opportunities, by:
   1. Coordinating monthly SDO and Economist Knowledge Exchanges;
   2. Helping to development to coordinate mentorship matching, cohort-exchanges, and facilitating skillshare sessions for the National Officer training programme;
   3. Updating the catalogue of (S)DO profiles and technical expertise, and support the linkages between (S)Dos to promote virtual peer-support and accompanying missions.
5. Provide broader support to capacity building opportunities and efforts with technical DRS and Protection team by:
   1. Supporting the DRS team, and Sajjad on hosting the quarterly Representatives Peer-to-Peer Platform on Solutions;
   2. Assisting with the coordination and execution of the upskilling sessions for Snr. Managers on development engagement;
   3. Maintaining a training tracker of workshop and training activities across DRS; and
   4. Supporting the execution and reporting on Social Protection capacity components of the BMZ project.

3. Monitoring and Progress Controls

• Development onboarding package and Workday journey produced by mid-2023.
• 6- 12 Partnership in Practice bulletins distributed by end of 2023.
• 12+ Knowledge Exchanges facilitated by end of 2023.
• Development Community of Practice site is published by mid-2023, and updated monthly.
• Annual Development Progress Report is published by November 2023.
• National Officer training cohorts are established in two regions by end of 2023.
• A digital Development Playbook is published and available on the CoP site by end of 2023.
• 1 Snr. Management skillshare session launched by end of 2023.
• Any other tasks as assigned and agreed with the supervisor.

4. Qualifications and Experience

a. Education

• University Degree in Law/International Law, Public Policy/Social Science, Development, Economics, International Relations or related field.

b. Work Experience

• 3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with a Graduate degree; or 1-year relevant experience with a Doctorate degree
• 3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with a Graduate degree; or 1-year relevant experience with a Doctorate degree
• Previous experience in capacity building support is essential
• Experience in developing training materials, as well as organizing or facilitating face to face and/or online workshops is essential
• Experience in innovative solutions for content building, including development of different forms of audio-visual learning tools (such as podcasts, interactive infographics and pdfs etc) is an asset
• Previous work experience in forced displacement settings; experience in the field and/or with development actors is an asset
• Experience of working on topics related to the humanitarian-development nexus (in forced displacement or fragile settings) is an asset

c. Key Competencies

• Good knowledge of refugee issues, durable solutions and the GCR;
• Good knowledge of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus and the search for durable solutions of refugees and the variety of aspects related to solutions;
• Good understanding of the functioning of UNHCR;
• Excellent content design and writing skills;
• Excellent English language skills. Knowledge of French or another UN official language is an advantage;
• Strong organization and administrative skills;
• Strong coordination, stakeholder engagement and inter-personal communication skills;
• Good prioritizing and self-management skills to work both independently and as part of a team.

Language requirements:

• Excellent written and spoken English is required.