Durable Housing Specialist

The Office of the UNHCR was established on 14 December 1950 by the UN General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country (www.unhcr.org).
The UNHCR has been working in Ukraine for almost 25 years, mainly with refugees and asylum-seekers, as well as in the area of statelessness prevention and reduction. Since the beginning of the conflict in 2014, UNHCR has been assisting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and responding to the humanitarian situation in the east of the country together with other actors.

The war in Ukraine has caused death and suffering on a dramatic scale. In 2024, more than 14.6 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection, according to the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. Some 3.7 million people are internally displaced, while around 6 million refugees from Ukraine are recorded across Europe and beyond, most of them women and children. Ukraine also hosts a few thousand asylum-seekers and refugees and is home to more than 35,000 people who are stateless or at risk of statelessness.

The massive destruction of civilian infrastructure, with the energy sector being particularly targeted, has made life extremely challenging for millions of people who have lost their homes and livelihoods, and has severely disrupted access to electricity, water, heating as well as critical services, including healthcare, education and social protection services. Humanitarian access continues to be hampered, particularly in areas in the East under the temporary military control of the Russian Federation. Civilians remain exposed to serious risks to their physical security and integrity, particularly in eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. The risk of GBV, including sexual violence, is high, particularly in areas of active hostilities. The separation of families is one of the problems most reported by protection actors among IDPs and war-affected people. Populations displaced or affected by the war live in situations of deprivation, following the loss or damage of their housing, loss of income, and the lack of access to essential services, such as health care or education.

Currently, UNHCR has MOUs with four line ministries, 19 regional state administrations, and agreements with 20 partners, including 16 local partners, to deliver assistance and support the localization of the response.

Under the leadership of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, UNHCR operates as part of the inter-agency humanitarian response, working in close coordination with local authorities and humanitarian partners. UNHCR is leading three clusters - Protection, Shelter and NFIs, and CCCM and is part of the
Expanded Steering Committee on Community Planning for Durable Solutions and Recovery.

The strategic orientation of UNHCR’s response is to reach people with specific vulnerabilities who remain in frontline and heavily affected areas with immediate relief while supporting displaced people and those who have remained in their homes, or returned, with protection advice, housing support, cash assistance and accessibility to social infrastructure offering social provisions to enable their recovery and attainment of durable solutions.

As the war continues, new urgent humanitarian needs are created every day, alongside protracted ones and people’s and communities’ efforts to recover and rebuild their lives in war-torn communities. Among the IDPs and refugees from Ukraine, the majority express a hope and desire to return to their homes as soon as the security situation allows. The protection needs of the population thus need to be analyzed and addressed both from a humanitarian as well as from an early recovery and durable solutions perspective, with UNHCR playing a leading role in this work.

Technical Guidance

• Assist in review and development of project briefs, Bill of Quantities, drawings, technical specifications, workplans for social infrastructure and community engagement rehabilitation projects while liaising with other relevant sectors such as protection, programme, community services, administration and supply.
• Provide support in Project and Construction Management activities such as budgeting, scheduling, and use of specific construction and reporting tools for a wide range of projects.
• Support with monitoring and evaluation of UNHCR construction and infrastructure projects through Direct Implementation and Implementing Partners, ensuring that works are carried out in compliance to established UNHCR and national standards and that they are implemented according to plans, completed within designated timelines, budget and ensure that this information is shared with relevant colleagues.
• Communicate with focal points at UNHCR Field Offices (FO) for planning, reporting, and coordinating activities.

Coordination

- Provide a high level of communication and coordination in the field of shelter, construction and infrastructure development, alongside field offices and other units, to develop holistic projects to serve best the needs of the communities we work this.

Collaboration

- Review, where possible, the latest updates to legislation for social service provision and IDP’s to understand the impact on necessary social infrastructure interventions
- Consult on legal planning and housing, land and property rights
- Review monthly reports from FO’s and Implementing Partners
- Assist in the review of bid documents for construction and infrastructure projects, including technical specifications, BoQs, drawings, etc, and in the technical evaluation of received bids
- Perform other related duties as required by the manager.