Associate Field Officer

Our primary purpose at UNHCR is to safeguard the rights and well-being of people who have been forced to flee. Together with partners and communities, we work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another country. We also strive to secure lasting solutions.

For over half a century, UNHCR has helped millions of people to restart their lives. They include refugees, returnees, stateless people, the internally displaced and asylum-seekers. Our protection, shelter, health and education has been crucial, healing broken pasts and building brighter futures.

UNHCR strives to identify refugees with vulnerabilities and specific needs in remote areas across Slovakia and facilitate their access to adequate assistance and services. The response also aims at reinforcing accountability to affected people through two-way communication with communities, increasing access to information and awareness-raising for refugees on their rights and access to assistance and services through their preferred and trusted channels. It encompasses establishing feedback and response mechanisms that are able to handle sensitive complaints and inform programming and interventions. It furthermore involves engaging with refugees through participatory assessments and establishing refugee advisory boards or inclusion of refugees in existing community representative forums.

The Associate Field Officer will be key in ensuring that the office continues to effectively engage in community out-reach activities such as through Focus Group Discussions and supporting and monitor partner activities in areas of access to life-saving information and services, communication with communities and setting up community outreach volunteer network, an important component of the overall office’s protection direction on inclusion and long-term solutions for refugees. Protection interventions should seek to create conducive conditions for inclusion of refugees and other people in need of protection in national protection systems and social and economic systems. Supporting the capacity of national and community-based institutions, national NGOs and other representatives of civil society, including local women-led and women’s rights organizations, can have an important impact on the access of women, girls, persons with disabilities, LGBTIQ+ persons and other groups with specific vulnerabilities to equal opportunities with a view to ensuring their integration in the Slovak society.

The incumbent will assist in interacting with the government counterparts and other stakeholders in particular regional and local authorities with specific mandate in supporting local inclusion as well as with the refugee communities. Under the direct supervision of Head of Field Office, the UN Volunteer will work closely with multi-functional teams on matters including but not limited to protection, education, cash, partnerships, research and analytics, GBV, solutions, complementary pathways and more. S/he will support the office's involvement with livelihoods and economic inclusion, working with relevant external stakeholders from government line ministries, development actors, private sector, UN agencies, international organisations, NGOs, research institutions and universities.

The incumbent will be required to undertake missions to different parts of Slovakia as part of her/his duties.

Under the direct supervision of Head of Field Office Kosice, the UN Volunteer will under-take the following tasks:

• Ensure that UNHCR’s policies, standards and procedures are constantly and coherently applied in the Area of Responsibility (AoR).
• Ensure that the needs of persons of concern in the AoR are assessed and analysed in a participating manner and using an Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective to form a firm basis for planning.
• Ensure that protection incidents and gaps in assistance are immediately identified and addressed.
• Identify vulnerable groups or individuals who may need special attention or special arrangements and make recommendations on the needs of different groups of refugees.
• Assess protection and assistance needs of refugees and asylum-seekers in the region and monitor implementation of refugee assistance programmes.
• In co-ordination with implementing partners, handle the reception, registration and provision of assistance to persons of concern to UNHCR.
• Provide inputs for project submissions and periodic narrative and financial reports for the annual programme.
• Develop and maintain relations with local authorities ensuring smooth negotiations in all aspects of UNHCR's mandate for the benefit of refugees.
• Monitor the security situation in the area and intervene as appropriate with the local authorities.
• Participation in needs assessment as a member of the Multi-Functional team
• In close coordination with programme and project control, monitor project implementation and provide feedback on the progress to the relevant units/sections
• Undertake other relevant duties as required.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:
• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for in-stance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/Expected Outputs:
• The needs of persons of concern in the country are assessed and analysed in a participatory manner and using an Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective to form a firm basis for planning.
• Inputs are provided for the country operations plan (including budgets, staffing levels and structures) as well as for funding submissions, appeals and reports.
• Enforced compliance with UNHCR’s global strategies, protocols and guidelines.
• The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counter-parts, including Implementing Partners (IPs);
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment.
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.