Details
Mission and objectives
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (the UN Refugee Agency, also known as UNHCR) is an intergovernmental organization with a mandate to protect refugees and stateless persons worldwide. Since 1950, the agency has helped tens of millions of people restart their lives. Today, a staff of more than 15,000 people in 130 countries continues to help and protect millions of refugees, returnees, internally displaced and stateless people. UNHCR provides lifesaving assistance, protection, shelter, food, clean water, education and medical care to some of the world’s most vulnerable. UNHCR also provides assistance to refugees who want to return home when it is safe to do so and helps integrate refugees within their local host country or resettle to a third country when returning home is no longer an option. Non-governmental organization (NGO) partners work with UNHCR around the globe to assist and protect refugees and internally displaced people.
Context
UNHCR Mexico operates in a dynamic protection environment where increasing numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers are seeking opportunities for sustainable integration. Advancing durable solutions, particularly local integration through access to decent work and socioeconomic inclusion, remains a central pillar of UNHCR’s strategy in the country.
Strengthening pathways to formal employment, fostering private sector engagement, and promoting inclusive labour market participation are key to enabling refugees to become self-reliant and contribute meaningfully to host communities. Mexico offers a favorable context for advancing these objectives. The country hosts a significant presence of Japanese companies, particularly in the automotive and manufacturing sectors, which present strong potential for inclusive employment partnerships. In parallel, JICA Mexico brings over three decades of experience in industrial development, especially in the Bajío region, providing a solid foundation for collaboration around skills development, employability, and private sector engagement.
In this context, the objective of this JICA-funded position is to support UNHCR Mexico in advancing its livelihoods and socioeconomic inclusion agenda in priority locations, while generating strategic synergies between UNHCR and JICA cooperation frameworks. The role will contribute to expanding inclusive employment opportunities and strengthening partnerships under UNHCR’s Local Integration Programme.
At the same time, UNHCR Mexico is operating under significant financial constraints, including a substantial reduction in its approved 2025 budget, which has resulted in staffing reductions and the consolidation of field presence. Additional reductions are foreseen for 2026, even as needs related to integration and employability continue to grow. In this context, the position is also critical to sustaining core operational capacity and ensuring continuity of key programme activities. This request aligns with the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus priorities highlighted at the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in December 2023, as well as with Japan’s diplomatic initiative toward Latin America and the Caribbean announced by Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in February 2024, which promotes strengthened political, economic, and development cooperation with the region. It is strongly supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, as well as by the Embassy and Consulate-General of Japan in Mexico.
Strengthening pathways to formal employment, fostering private sector engagement, and promoting inclusive labour market participation are key to enabling refugees to become self-reliant and contribute meaningfully to host communities. Mexico offers a favorable context for advancing these objectives. The country hosts a significant presence of Japanese companies, particularly in the automotive and manufacturing sectors, which present strong potential for inclusive employment partnerships. In parallel, JICA Mexico brings over three decades of experience in industrial development, especially in the Bajío region, providing a solid foundation for collaboration around skills development, employability, and private sector engagement.
In this context, the objective of this JICA-funded position is to support UNHCR Mexico in advancing its livelihoods and socioeconomic inclusion agenda in priority locations, while generating strategic synergies between UNHCR and JICA cooperation frameworks. The role will contribute to expanding inclusive employment opportunities and strengthening partnerships under UNHCR’s Local Integration Programme.
At the same time, UNHCR Mexico is operating under significant financial constraints, including a substantial reduction in its approved 2025 budget, which has resulted in staffing reductions and the consolidation of field presence. Additional reductions are foreseen for 2026, even as needs related to integration and employability continue to grow. In this context, the position is also critical to sustaining core operational capacity and ensuring continuity of key programme activities. This request aligns with the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus priorities highlighted at the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in December 2023, as well as with Japan’s diplomatic initiative toward Latin America and the Caribbean announced by Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in February 2024, which promotes strengthened political, economic, and development cooperation with the region. It is strongly supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, as well as by the Embassy and Consulate-General of Japan in Mexico.
Task description
Under the supervision of the Durable Solutions Officer, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:
• Support the implementation of UNHCR’s Local Integration Programme and livelihoods interventions in Aguascalientes, with emphasis on employability, access to livelihoods, financial inclusion and access to services, in line with UNHCR guidance and AGD (age, gender and diversity) principles.
• Support job matching and labour inclusion processes for refugees and asylum-seekers, including follow-up on employment placements, retention and basic working conditions, in coordination with partners and employers.
• Contribute to employer and private sector engagement by mapping companies in priority economic sectors, sharing basic guidance on inclusive hiring, and facilitating linkages to specialized partners and services.
• Support coordination with implementing partners, civil society organizations, local authorities and service providers involved in livelihoods, vocational training, documentation, financial inclusion and integration services.
• Contribute to community-based approaches to inclusion by participating in outreach, orientations and feedback mechanisms with refugees, asylum-seekers and host communities.
• Support basic monitoring of livelihoods and integration activities, including collection and organization of information on results, challenges and good practices.
• Assist in preparing inputs for internal reports, briefs, donor updates and presentations related to durable solutions and socioeconomic inclusion.
• Support the documentation of lessons learned and good practices from the Local Integration Programme.
• Perform other durable solutions-related duties as required in support of operational priorities.
• Support UNHCR in liaising with key Japanese stakeholders, when required for the durable solutions operation.
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.
• Support the implementation of UNHCR’s Local Integration Programme and livelihoods interventions in Aguascalientes, with emphasis on employability, access to livelihoods, financial inclusion and access to services, in line with UNHCR guidance and AGD (age, gender and diversity) principles.
• Support job matching and labour inclusion processes for refugees and asylum-seekers, including follow-up on employment placements, retention and basic working conditions, in coordination with partners and employers.
• Contribute to employer and private sector engagement by mapping companies in priority economic sectors, sharing basic guidance on inclusive hiring, and facilitating linkages to specialized partners and services.
• Support coordination with implementing partners, civil society organizations, local authorities and service providers involved in livelihoods, vocational training, documentation, financial inclusion and integration services.
• Contribute to community-based approaches to inclusion by participating in outreach, orientations and feedback mechanisms with refugees, asylum-seekers and host communities.
• Support basic monitoring of livelihoods and integration activities, including collection and organization of information on results, challenges and good practices.
• Assist in preparing inputs for internal reports, briefs, donor updates and presentations related to durable solutions and socioeconomic inclusion.
• Support the documentation of lessons learned and good practices from the Local Integration Programme.
• Perform other durable solutions-related duties as required in support of operational priorities.
• Support UNHCR in liaising with key Japanese stakeholders, when required for the durable solutions operation.
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.
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