Details
Mission and objectives
UNFPA PHL organization mission TBD
Context
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) has established the Humanitarian Emergency Response (HER) Roster to support speedy recruitment of qualified and motivated UN Volunteers for potential emergency response assignments. Candidates will be pre-screened based on their qualifications, experience, and suitability for the specific thematic or functional areas described in this Description of Assignment (DoA). Shortlisted candidates may remain in the UNV HER Roster for up to 6 months and be contacted should an emergency arise. Inclusion in the UNV HER Roster does not guarantee recruitment as a UN Volunteer. Selection and recruitment timelines will depend on the emergency occurrence, availability of candidates, and final approval by the UN host entity in accordance with Conditions of Service for UN Volunteers.
UNFPA is the lead United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is intended, every childbirth is safe, and every young person's potential is fulfilled. The UNFPA Strategic Plan for 2026-2029 articulates the organization’s response to a complex global environment, providing a roadmap for resilience and renewal. It is designed to accelerate the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This mandate is pursued through a focus on four interconnected outcomes: ending the unmet need for family planning; ending preventable maternal deaths; ending gender-based violence and harmful practices; and adapting to demographic change through evidence and rights-based policies.
In the Philippines, UNFPA is implementing its five-year 9th Country Programme 2024-2028. The CP9 is tightly aligned with the mid- and long-term development goals of the Philippines and Ambisyon Natin 2040, as well as the global Agenda 2030 including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
As the lead UN agency for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), UNFPA supports national and local government partners in emergency response, ensuring the continuity of life-saving sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender-based violence (GBV) services during humanitarian emergencies. The Philippines is one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, experiencing frequent typhoons, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, and disease outbreaks, in addition to recurrent humanitarian needs arising from armed conflict and displacement in parts of Mindanao. These emergencies disproportionately affect women, girls, adolescents, and other vulnerable populations by disrupting access to SRH services, increasing the risks of GBV, and exposing communities to protection concerns. Maintaining a roster of qualified humanitarian specialists enables UNFPA Philippines to rapidly deploy technical surge capacity to support preparedness, anticipatory action, emergency response, early recovery, and humanitarian-development-peace nexus programming, while ensuring the timely delivery of life-saving SRH, GBV, and population data interventions in coordination with government and humanitarian partners.
UNFPA is the lead United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is intended, every childbirth is safe, and every young person's potential is fulfilled. The UNFPA Strategic Plan for 2026-2029 articulates the organization’s response to a complex global environment, providing a roadmap for resilience and renewal. It is designed to accelerate the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This mandate is pursued through a focus on four interconnected outcomes: ending the unmet need for family planning; ending preventable maternal deaths; ending gender-based violence and harmful practices; and adapting to demographic change through evidence and rights-based policies.
In the Philippines, UNFPA is implementing its five-year 9th Country Programme 2024-2028. The CP9 is tightly aligned with the mid- and long-term development goals of the Philippines and Ambisyon Natin 2040, as well as the global Agenda 2030 including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
As the lead UN agency for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), UNFPA supports national and local government partners in emergency response, ensuring the continuity of life-saving sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender-based violence (GBV) services during humanitarian emergencies. The Philippines is one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, experiencing frequent typhoons, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, and disease outbreaks, in addition to recurrent humanitarian needs arising from armed conflict and displacement in parts of Mindanao. These emergencies disproportionately affect women, girls, adolescents, and other vulnerable populations by disrupting access to SRH services, increasing the risks of GBV, and exposing communities to protection concerns. Maintaining a roster of qualified humanitarian specialists enables UNFPA Philippines to rapidly deploy technical surge capacity to support preparedness, anticipatory action, emergency response, early recovery, and humanitarian-development-peace nexus programming, while ensuring the timely delivery of life-saving SRH, GBV, and population data interventions in coordination with government and humanitarian partners.
Task description
With guidance from and in close coordination with the Country Office (CO) Humanitarian and Programme units, the Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support Analyst will strengthen institutional and partner capacities, support inter-agency coordination, promote quality assurance and evidence-based programming, and contribute to preparedness and emergency response efforts. Depending on emergency response activation, the MHPSS Analyst may be deployed in one of the following locations: Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Bicol Region, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, and CARAGA Region.
The responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
A. Strategic Leadership and Programme Development
• Conduct rapid assessments of existing Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS) capacities, service availability, referral pathways, workforce competencies, coordination mechanisms, supervision systems, and quality assurance processes within SRH and GBV programming, and identify strategic, technical, operational, and systems-level gaps.
• Lead the adaptation, contextualization, design, and implementation of evidence-informed MHPSS interventions that are culturally appropriate, gender-responsive, age-sensitive, disability-inclusive, conflict-sensitive, and feasible for delivery by non-specialized humanitarian personnel under appropriate supportive supervision.
• Integrate MHPSS considerations throughout the continuum of SRH and GBV programming, including prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, and transition to longer-term systems strengthening.
• Develop technical guidance, implementation frameworks, standard operating procedures (SOPs), field manuals, job aids, training packages, supervision tools, implementation checklists, and information, education and communication (IEC) materials to support quality implementation of MHPSS interventions.
• Ensure that MHPSS programming is grounded in principles of protection, human rights, survivor-centred care, accountability to affected populations (AAP), leaving no one behind community engagement, and do-no-harm approaches.
• Support the development of transition and sustainability strategies that strengthen national ownership and institutionalization of MHPSS services within government systems and humanitarian response mechanisms.
• Identify opportunities to integrate digital technologies, tele-mental health, mobile applications, remote supervision platforms, digital learning systems, and other innovative approaches to improve access, quality, and continuity of MHPSS services in humanitarian settings while ensuring data privacy, ethical standards, and equitable access.
• Support emergency preparedness by strengthening national and sub-national capacities for MHPSS preparedness planning, contingency planning, emergency simulation exercises, surge readiness, and early recovery planning.
B. Capacity Development
• Design and implement comprehensive capacity strengthening programmes incorporating competency-based training, mentoring, coaching, supportive supervision, peer learning, case consultations, and post-training follow-up for UNFPA personnel, government counterparts, implementing partners, GBV service providers, healthcare workers, social workers, and community-based organizations.
• Strengthen the competencies of GBV caseworkers, case managers, health workers, and community responders to recognize and appropriately respond to common psychological reactions associated with trauma, grief, abuse, displacement, violence, stress, and loss, provide focused psychosocial support within their scope of practice, and facilitate timely referral to specialized mental health services for individuals experiencing severe mental health conditions or psychiatric emergencies.
• Lead inter-agency training programmes on Psychological First Aid (PFA), supportive communication, psychological safety, stress management, self-care, survivor-centred approaches, basic psychosocial support, and other evidence-informed MHPSS interventions.
• Strengthen the leadership and technical capacity of national institutions, local governments, civil society organizations, women's organizations, youth organizations, organizations of persons with disabilities, and community-based organizations to sustainably implement quality MHPSS programming.
• Support the development of structured supportive supervision systems, competency assessment mechanisms, certification processes where appropriate, and continuous professional development plans for humanitarian responders delivering MHPSS interventions.
• Build the capacity of humanitarian actors to safely identify, triage, and refer individuals requiring specialized mental health assessment and clinical management in accordance with established referral protocols.
• Promote staff care and organizational well-being initiatives for humanitarian responders through the development of staff support systems, stress management strategies, and organizational policies that reduce burnout and secondary traumatic stress.
C. Quality Assurance, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
• Develop and strengthen monitoring, supervision, quality assurance, and continuous quality improvement systems for MHPSS programming, including competency assessment tools, supervision checklists, service quality indicators, routine monitoring frameworks, client feedback mechanisms, and programme performance dashboards.
• Conduct regular field monitoring visits, supportive supervision sessions, programme quality reviews, and implementation assessments to ensure fidelity to evidence-informed approaches and compliance with international humanitarian standards.
• Develop monitoring and evaluation tools that measure programme quality, effectiveness, acceptability, accessibility, coverage, equity, and beneficiary outcomes, and support the routine analysis and utilization of programme data for adaptive management.
• Review SRH and GBV interventions to ensure alignment with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on MHPSS in Emergency Settings, IASC Guidelines for Integrating GBV Interventions in Humanitarian Action, Interagency GBV Case Management Guidelines, Sphere Standards, and other internationally recognized technical guidance.
• Analyze monitoring data, supervision findings, assessments, and operational learning to identify implementation challenges, capacity development needs, service gaps, and opportunities for programme improvement.
• Document lessons learned, promising practices, operational research findings, innovations, case studies, and technical guidance to strengthen organizational learning, knowledge management, and future humanitarian MHPSS programming.
• Prepare high-quality technical reports, donor reports, situation reports, briefing notes, assessment reports, presentations, and other programme documentation as required.
D. Partnerships and Coordination
• Represent UNFPA in inter-agency MHPSS coordination mechanisms and strengthen collaboration across the Health Cluster, Protection Cluster, GBV Sub-Sector, SRH Working Group, Child Protection Sub-Sector, government coordination platforms, and other relevant humanitarian coordination mechanisms.
• Contribute technical MHPSS expertise to inter-agency assessments, humanitarian needs overviews, response plans, strategic planning processes, appeals, and programme reviews.
• Strengthen coordination between MHPSS, SRH, GBV, protection, health, and community-based services to ensure integrated, person-centred, and survivor-centred programming.
• Map available MHPSS services and resources, strengthen referral pathways, develop referral protocols and triage mechanisms, and promote coordinated, timely, and needs-based referral systems for individuals requiring different levels of psychosocial and mental health care.
• Foster strategic partnerships with government agencies, UN entities, NGOs, academic institutions, professional associations, local organizations, and community networks to strengthen integrated MHPSS programming and promote localization of humanitarian response.
• Support resource mobilization efforts by contributing technical inputs to concept notes, project proposals, funding applications, donor engagement, and programme design related to MHPSS in the context of SRH and GBV.
• Advocate for the integration and prioritization of MHPSS within humanitarian policies, response plans, recovery strategies, and national emergency preparedness frameworks.
• Perform any other technical or programmatic duties assigned by the Supervisor that contribute to strengthening humanitarian MHPSS programming and emergency response.
The responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
A. Strategic Leadership and Programme Development
• Conduct rapid assessments of existing Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS) capacities, service availability, referral pathways, workforce competencies, coordination mechanisms, supervision systems, and quality assurance processes within SRH and GBV programming, and identify strategic, technical, operational, and systems-level gaps.
• Lead the adaptation, contextualization, design, and implementation of evidence-informed MHPSS interventions that are culturally appropriate, gender-responsive, age-sensitive, disability-inclusive, conflict-sensitive, and feasible for delivery by non-specialized humanitarian personnel under appropriate supportive supervision.
• Integrate MHPSS considerations throughout the continuum of SRH and GBV programming, including prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, and transition to longer-term systems strengthening.
• Develop technical guidance, implementation frameworks, standard operating procedures (SOPs), field manuals, job aids, training packages, supervision tools, implementation checklists, and information, education and communication (IEC) materials to support quality implementation of MHPSS interventions.
• Ensure that MHPSS programming is grounded in principles of protection, human rights, survivor-centred care, accountability to affected populations (AAP), leaving no one behind community engagement, and do-no-harm approaches.
• Support the development of transition and sustainability strategies that strengthen national ownership and institutionalization of MHPSS services within government systems and humanitarian response mechanisms.
• Identify opportunities to integrate digital technologies, tele-mental health, mobile applications, remote supervision platforms, digital learning systems, and other innovative approaches to improve access, quality, and continuity of MHPSS services in humanitarian settings while ensuring data privacy, ethical standards, and equitable access.
• Support emergency preparedness by strengthening national and sub-national capacities for MHPSS preparedness planning, contingency planning, emergency simulation exercises, surge readiness, and early recovery planning.
B. Capacity Development
• Design and implement comprehensive capacity strengthening programmes incorporating competency-based training, mentoring, coaching, supportive supervision, peer learning, case consultations, and post-training follow-up for UNFPA personnel, government counterparts, implementing partners, GBV service providers, healthcare workers, social workers, and community-based organizations.
• Strengthen the competencies of GBV caseworkers, case managers, health workers, and community responders to recognize and appropriately respond to common psychological reactions associated with trauma, grief, abuse, displacement, violence, stress, and loss, provide focused psychosocial support within their scope of practice, and facilitate timely referral to specialized mental health services for individuals experiencing severe mental health conditions or psychiatric emergencies.
• Lead inter-agency training programmes on Psychological First Aid (PFA), supportive communication, psychological safety, stress management, self-care, survivor-centred approaches, basic psychosocial support, and other evidence-informed MHPSS interventions.
• Strengthen the leadership and technical capacity of national institutions, local governments, civil society organizations, women's organizations, youth organizations, organizations of persons with disabilities, and community-based organizations to sustainably implement quality MHPSS programming.
• Support the development of structured supportive supervision systems, competency assessment mechanisms, certification processes where appropriate, and continuous professional development plans for humanitarian responders delivering MHPSS interventions.
• Build the capacity of humanitarian actors to safely identify, triage, and refer individuals requiring specialized mental health assessment and clinical management in accordance with established referral protocols.
• Promote staff care and organizational well-being initiatives for humanitarian responders through the development of staff support systems, stress management strategies, and organizational policies that reduce burnout and secondary traumatic stress.
C. Quality Assurance, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
• Develop and strengthen monitoring, supervision, quality assurance, and continuous quality improvement systems for MHPSS programming, including competency assessment tools, supervision checklists, service quality indicators, routine monitoring frameworks, client feedback mechanisms, and programme performance dashboards.
• Conduct regular field monitoring visits, supportive supervision sessions, programme quality reviews, and implementation assessments to ensure fidelity to evidence-informed approaches and compliance with international humanitarian standards.
• Develop monitoring and evaluation tools that measure programme quality, effectiveness, acceptability, accessibility, coverage, equity, and beneficiary outcomes, and support the routine analysis and utilization of programme data for adaptive management.
• Review SRH and GBV interventions to ensure alignment with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Guidelines on MHPSS in Emergency Settings, IASC Guidelines for Integrating GBV Interventions in Humanitarian Action, Interagency GBV Case Management Guidelines, Sphere Standards, and other internationally recognized technical guidance.
• Analyze monitoring data, supervision findings, assessments, and operational learning to identify implementation challenges, capacity development needs, service gaps, and opportunities for programme improvement.
• Document lessons learned, promising practices, operational research findings, innovations, case studies, and technical guidance to strengthen organizational learning, knowledge management, and future humanitarian MHPSS programming.
• Prepare high-quality technical reports, donor reports, situation reports, briefing notes, assessment reports, presentations, and other programme documentation as required.
D. Partnerships and Coordination
• Represent UNFPA in inter-agency MHPSS coordination mechanisms and strengthen collaboration across the Health Cluster, Protection Cluster, GBV Sub-Sector, SRH Working Group, Child Protection Sub-Sector, government coordination platforms, and other relevant humanitarian coordination mechanisms.
• Contribute technical MHPSS expertise to inter-agency assessments, humanitarian needs overviews, response plans, strategic planning processes, appeals, and programme reviews.
• Strengthen coordination between MHPSS, SRH, GBV, protection, health, and community-based services to ensure integrated, person-centred, and survivor-centred programming.
• Map available MHPSS services and resources, strengthen referral pathways, develop referral protocols and triage mechanisms, and promote coordinated, timely, and needs-based referral systems for individuals requiring different levels of psychosocial and mental health care.
• Foster strategic partnerships with government agencies, UN entities, NGOs, academic institutions, professional associations, local organizations, and community networks to strengthen integrated MHPSS programming and promote localization of humanitarian response.
• Support resource mobilization efforts by contributing technical inputs to concept notes, project proposals, funding applications, donor engagement, and programme design related to MHPSS in the context of SRH and GBV.
• Advocate for the integration and prioritization of MHPSS within humanitarian policies, response plans, recovery strategies, and national emergency preparedness frameworks.
• Perform any other technical or programmatic duties assigned by the Supervisor that contribute to strengthening humanitarian MHPSS programming and emergency response.
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