Snr Regional CBI Coordinator

Senior Regional CBI Coordinator

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
Cash-Based Interventions (CBI) are fast emerging as a dominant way of assisting vulnerable refugees and other persons of concern. UNHCR has embarked on a CBI institutionalization strategy and the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016 has affirmed through the so-called "Grand Bargain" the central role that CBI should play in humanitarian responses going forward.
The CBI Unit for the MENA region will support operations in reviewing and iterating their CBI whilst developing a coherent and strategic approach to CBI.

The Senior Regional CBI Coordinator in the Director¿s Office in Amman (DOIA) will formulate and lead the implementation of the regional CBI strategy, focusing on the systematic and expanded use of CBIs in UNHCR Syria and Iraq situation operations.  S/he will promote quality of CBIs in field operations, ensure multi-functional teams are active, create momentum around CBI in RSC across different technical and functional areas, and provide support for technical development in line with the Institutionalisation Plan. S/he will work in collaboration with the Senior CBI Officers in Geneva (Institutionalisation and Technical Support). The incumbent will head the newly created CBI unit and accordingly manages and supervises staff and consultants. S/he will also conduct missions to support operations with CBIs, including for technical issues, assessments, reviews and evaluations. S/he will represent UNHCR at key meetings both internally and amongst global partners at regional level, and ensures UNHCR involvement in external technical partnerships and networks. As part of the CBI portfolio, the Senior Regional CBI Coordinator will also cover vulnerability and targeting issues, particularly related to assessments, eligibility and monitoring. This will be part of a regional strategic approach and will require a roll-out in the region in close collaboration with MENA Protection Services and experts in HQ. Lastly, the Senior Regional CBI Coordinator will also oversee the local footprint of biometric systems specialists - backstopped by DIST - in order to promote the larger roll-out of biometric authentication services for assistance delivery in the region.

The Senior Regional CBI Coordinator will receive overall guidance and direction from, and reports to the Deputy Director in DOIA. The UNHCR Operational Guidelines on the use of CBIs in Displacement Settings, the UNHCR Manual, and relevant UN and UNHCR programme and financial/budgetary rules and regulations will guide the work of the Senior Regional CBI Coordinator. S/he is also expected to stay abreast of new developments and challenges related to CBIs that arise at different levels of the organization and within the broader cash community in the region in order to feed these into in-house capacity-building, systems adaptation, strategy and guidance.

FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT
Accountability
- UNHCR has a regional strategy in line with already existing CBI Programmes and respective governmental policies and restrictions, which will allow Country Operations to adjust their programmes and technical ways of delivering assistance.
- A plan of action is designed to establish a regional CBI structure, based in DOIA that will support UNHCR operations in the region.
- Regional coordination with other CBI entities is ensured, in particular with WFP and UNICEF, as well as with national and international NGOs engaged in such activities.
- Coherent and coordinated technical field support provided by the CBI section to ongoing and new CBI programmes in UNHCR operations with a particularly emphasis on Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.
- UNHCR CBIs are designed and rolled out following high quality technical standards.
- Technical guidance and tools for CBIs in UNHCR operations operationalised.
- Partnerships with key stakeholders in the region (cash community of practice including NGOs and UN agencies) developed and maintained to ensure UNHCR's programmes are informed by latest lessons learned and best practice, and make use of possible synergies with other programmes.
- The roll-out of CBI Institutionalization Plan is promoted, and internal communication is established and maintained to ensure reach within the CBI section, and between Headquarters and Branch Offices.

Responsibility
- Contribute to the institutionalisation of CBIs in the Middle-East, in line with the CBI Plan, and the development of organization-wide capacity in the DOIA and the region for expanded use of CBIs across all operations.
- Support the roll-out of the CBI Plan.
- Develop and establish a regional CBIs action plan, which identifies opportunities and a concrete, realistic way forward for: a) starting new CBIs; and b) scaling-up existing CBIs over time.
- Facilitate and participate in Regional and Country level technical meetings, trainings and workshops with the objectives of increasing awareness and capacity building for CBIs and ensuring stakeholder input.
- Ensure the provision of coherent support to country operations to assess, design, implement, monitor and evaluate CBIs in line with the CBI Plan.
- Ensure coherent approaches across operations in the region in all stages of the UNHCR operations management cycle.
- Provide direct support to field operations through desk-based backstopping and field missions. 
- Collect and share experiences and lessons learned across countries, and ensure these are reflected in technical development and fed into HQ-led initiatives.
- Advise countries on and support the set-up of coordination arrangements for CBIs, in line with UNHCR policy.
- Support operations in incorporating CBIs in to preparedness.
- Ensure tracking of CBIs in country operations.
- Support the identification of human resource needs and recruitments for operations.
- Support technical development related to CBI in UNHCR
- In collaboration with different sectors, identify sector-specific needs for technical development, particularly based on needs identified in the region.
- In line with CBIS work plan, support technical development and undertake targeted studies in the region relevant to improving CBIs in displacement settings, in collaboration with external and internal stakeholders.
- Working closely with the Senior CBI Officers (Institutionalisation and Technical Support) in HQ, ensure linkages with complementary initiatives in-house, e.g. the use of biometrics, one-card approaches, vulnerability assessments and improved targeting, operational implications of multipurpose grants, preparedness, cash and protection, etc.
- Coordinate the provision of requested support, advice and capacity building to technical sectors (e.g. shelter, WASH, food security, nutrition, protection, livelihoods, education) in collaboration with the CBI Officers in the country operations.
- Develop and maintain technical partnership and networks.
- Maintain and help develop partnerships for technical development, capacity building and field support through existing and new partners in the region.
- Provide support and guidance on country operations' design and implementation of CBIs.

Authority
- Represent the DOIA in communication and meetings with internal and external stakeholders, particularly regarding technical partnerships and networks in the Middle-East.
- Represent UNHCR on issues related to CBIs and participate in activities of the broader CBI community of practice in the Middle-East, such as Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP).
- Guide and manage CBI Officers and consultants within the CBI unit (DOiA) supporting country operations in the region.
- Make judgments on the quality of project proposals coming from operations, on the quality of candidates screened for deployments and on the quality of material/outputs submitted by staff and consultants supervised.
- Enforce compliance with UNHCR¿s global strategies, protocols and guidelines.

ESSENTIAL MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
- Advanced university degree (Master¿s or equivalent) in Economics, Social Sciences, Political Science or other relevant field.
- Comprehensive knowledge of cash-based interventions in displacement settings and humanitarian situations, including related issues of vulnerability and targeting as well as data management and coordination.
- Demonstrated experience in technical development, field support, and training/capacity building related to CBIs and vulnerability systems.
- Knowledge of UNHCR programmes.
- Previous experience in international networking, preferably related to CBIs (incl. external partnerships, high level meetings and networks).
- Minimum 15 years of relevant work experience, including field experience, and a minimum of 10 years of international experience in CBIs with a UN Agency and/or an INGO.
- Excellent knowledge of English.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES
- Work experience in sectoral cash-based interventions (shelter, health, nutrition, food security, WASH, livelihoods, education etc.).
- Previous work experience with UNHCR.
- Prior work experience in the region and expertise in social safety nets are a plus.
- Inter-agency coordination experiences an asset.
- Arabic language will be considered an asset.