Senior Development Officer

Before submitting an application, UNHCR staff members intending to apply to this Job Opening are requested to consult the Recruitment and Assignments Policy (RAP, UNHCR/HCP/2017/2 and the Recruitment and Assignments Administrative Instruction (RAAI), UNHCR/AI/2017/7 OF 15 August 2017.

Senior Development Officer

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
UNHCR's mandated responsibility for finding solutions to refugee situations has long required stronger cooperation with development partners and the inclusion of refugees within national development programmes. Notwithstanding the Office¿s efforts over many decades, the proportion of refugees and internally displaced persons in protracted displacement situations remains high. Moreover, the diminishing number of people who have found durable solutions constitutes a worrying trend that has persisted in recent years. In addition, the increasing scale of irregular migration, large scale refugee movements, and the costs of responding to humanitarian situations have also placed forced displacement high on the global agenda. These elements have further driven the realization that humanitarian support alone is insufficient to lift displaced populations out of poverty, enable solutions to their situations or assist them to realize their development potential.

Among the most significant humanitarian-development cooperation partnerships strengthened in recent years has been between the World Bank and UNHCR on forced displacement.  In the eighteenth replenishment (2017-2019) of the World Bank¿s International Development Association (IDA) financing programme for least developed countries, an amount of US$ 2 billion has been included for those states receiving large numbers of refugees. The IDA 18 allocation follows the operationalization of a global concessional financing facility for Middle Income Countries (MICs) affected by large numbers of refugees. In addition, UNHCR has enhanced cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Within the context outlined above, the role of the Senior Development Officer is to steer and direct UNHCR's engagement and cooperation with development agencies implementing medium term programmes assisting local communities and refugees in countries with significant refugee populations. It is anticipated that these programmes will grow in significance in future years due to the greater importance attached to addressing protracted displacement situations by donor governments. The role will be pivotal to ensuring complementarity between UNHCR's protection work and the economic and social development objectives pursued by development partners and their government counterparts. It will therefore be important that the Senior Development Officer coordinates closely with UNHCR senior management within the local Country and Sub and Field Offices. For that reason, he/she will work under the overall supervision of the UNHCR Representative or his/her Deputy to ensure that (i) policy, operational and programme priorities are properly aligned between humanitarian and development agencies, and (ii) that reporting and information exchanges on key developments are established and maintained among all interested stakeholders.

FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT
Accountability
-  National/local partnerships with development cooperation agencies and their government counterparts established to ensure policy dialogue and programming for refugees and local communities is informed by protection concerns and objectives from the outset;
- Medium term economic and social development programmes addressing forced displacement incorporate protection and solutions perspectives for refugees during their planning, preparation and implementation;
- Agreed monitoring mechanism established with development partners to track the progress of medium-term development programmes addressing forced displacement towards improved economic and social outcomes for local communities and refugees.

Responsibility
- Provide technical leadership and support for relationship building with development co-operation agencies through the different stages of policy and programme identification, preparation, implementation and review.
- Develop partnerships and networks with development cooperation actors to influence the policy dialogue with governments on institutional arrangements sectors, locations and programme content of consequence to UNHCR and persons of concern. This would, in particular, focus on supporting the coordination of the in-country relationship with the World Bank and the implementation of the IDA 18 financing for the refugee and local communities sub-window.
- Cooperate with development partners to assist them in incorporating the concerns of refugees, returnees and others of concern to UNHCR into the design and implementation arrangements of projects and interventions in a manner that impacts positively on protection circumstances.
- Identify, commission and/or contribute to studies and analytical activities that build the conceptual framework and evidence base for comprehensive, development-oriented responses, including preparedness work, to forced displacement.
- Engage with governments, development partners (both multilateral and bilateral), and with the private sector and civil society (as appropriate) to identify opportunities for UNHCR to contribute to the design and implementation of monitoring systems to track progress towards agreed outcomes.
- Facilitate coordination and collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and experience sharing between UNHCR and development actors and across UNHCR operations globally by documenting and disseminating good practices.
- Support local training activities aimed at the capacity building of UNHCR and partner agency staff to achieve greater coordination, effectiveness and synergies between humanitarian and development interventions.

Authority
- Reflect UNHCR's positions on policy and programming issues as they relate to the protection and solutions of refugees with medium-term economic and social development programmes;
- Represent UNHCR in meetings and fora related to the functions of the post and present positions to development and government counterparts that incorporate the protection and solutions and perspectives of refugees;

ESSENTIAL MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
- Graduate degree (equivalent of Master's) in Law/International Law, Political Science, Social Science, Development, Economics, International Relations or related field;
- Minimum 8 years of relevant professional experience;
- At least six (6) years of direct working experience with an international agency/organisation implementing development programmes, of which at least two (2) years in field operations,  preferably with knowledge of, or experience in, local or area based economic development;
- Experience in primary data collection, quantitative research methods and results-based management;
- Proven coordination and or networking skills engaging both development and humanitarian actors, familiarity with development and humanitarian processes;
- Excellent policy and development programming skills and familiarity with results based management;
- Solid understanding of development context and related operational challenges as they relate to refugees, including institutional arrangements;
- Excellent communication skills including ability to communicate and disseminate information effectively to a broad background of stakeholders;
- Excellent analytical skills, and good research capabilities; 
- Excellent English language skills, including drafting.

(NB: In offices where the working language is not English, excellent knowledge of the UN working language of duty station and working knowledge of English.)

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES
- Strong and up-to-date knowledge of development, state-building and peace-building in fragile and conflict-affected situations.
- Solid understanding of humanitarian operations, principles and coordination structures.
- Good grasp of refugee protection.
- Fluency in second UN language. C001L3 - Accountability Level 3
C002L3 - Teamwork & Collaboration Level 3
C003L3 - Communication Level 3
C004L3 - Commitment to Continuous Learning Level 3
C005L3 - Client & Result Orientation Level 3
C006L3 - Organizational Awareness Level 3
M001L3 - Empowering and Building Trust Level 3
M005L3 - Leadership Level 3
M004L3 - Strategic Planning and Vision Level 3
M003L3 - Judgement and Decision Making Level 3
X007L3 - Political Awareness Level 3
X005L3 - Planning and Organizing Level 3
X001L3 - Analytical Thinking Level 3
X008L3 - Stakeholder Management Level 3

Before applying to this position, we strongly encourage colleagues to read the country specific FAQs information leaflets which can be found  on the Intranet under Staff Resources > Duty of Care. The information leaflets are specifically designed to answer some of the key questions potential applicants might have before deciding to apply. 

- Strong and up-to-date knowledge of development, state-building and peace-building in fragile and conflict-affected situations.
- Experience in the implementation of regional and national policy frameworks.
- Experience of working with national governments on development planning, development agencies and/or private sector.
- Experience in facilitating humanitarian and development actors¿ interactions.
- Experience in working in a Refugee Coordination Response context.
- Working knowledge of another UN language. Uganda currently hosts more than 1.3 million refugees making it Africa¿s largest refugee hosting country and one of the five largest refugee hosting countries in the world. The refugee protection environment in Uganda is progressive and provides refugees with freedom of movement, the right to work and establish businesses, the right to documentation, access to social services, and allocation of plots of land for shelter and agricultural production.  However, despite the fact that the progressive refugee policy has strong political support, this approach has come under increased pressure in 2016-2017, due to the massive refugee influx from South Sudan, which has resulted in a more than doubling of Uganda¿s total refugee population in less than 18 months.  In addition to the massive inflow, Uganda is currently facing three parallel emergencies which continue to result in refugee flows from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Burundi. The expected number of new arrivals in 2018 is 375,000. Despite daily arrivals of several thousand refugees, sustained for more than a year, Uganda has kept its borders open and maintained its settlement approach, with host communities and District Local Governments at the frontline of the country¿s refugee response. Managing host communities¿ expectations and ensuring that these communities recognize that refugees can be agents of development in their districts is one of the key challenges going forward.  The majority (84%) of both the poor and vulnerable amongst the Ugandan nationals are found in the same locations as the country¿s refugee populations, this means existing capacities, infrastructure and service delivery need Government investment and a strengthening across the board for both refugees and host populations. In a global context, Uganda is one of the focus countries, demonstrating the practical application of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) ¿ an outcome of the 19 September 2016  New York Declaration.  The CRRF requests UNHCR to initiate and develop a comprehensive response in situations of mass displacement through multi-stakeholder engagement. In Uganda this is applied through five pillars: admission and rights, emergency response and ongoing needs, resilience and self-reliance, expanded solutions, and voluntary repatriation. The key objectives for CRRF in Uganda are:
o Support Government policy and protect asylum space
o Support resilience and self-reliance of refugees and host communities
o Expand solutions, including third country options
o Support Uganda¿s role in the region and invest in human capital and transferable skills With the Government of Uganda taking lead of CRRF in Uganda, the Office of the Prime Minister that is mandated to oversee refugee management, through its Permanent Secretary has agreed on the establishment of a CRRF Steering Group. To date considerable progress has been achieved in terms of sensitization around the CRRF among key stakeholders. While the focus of the operation is to stabilize the services in the refugee settlements (WASH, health and education delivery), as well as finalisation of the settlement development plans in line with Uganda refugee settlement policy, these challenges require a stronger engagement of other actors to be successful. Hence, while the refugee response in Uganda already features many of the aims of the CRRF, more needs to be done to draw in additional actors and to manage the process going forward. With many staff focusing on the emergency response in multiple locations and for multiple refugee populations, the information management, policy analysis and multi stakeholder management is challenging.  Building on UNHCR¿s Refugee Coordination leadership and 3 regional planning platforms, and the relatively new efforts to ensure a whole of Government and whole of society approach, the incumbent will act as a facilitator and ensure that UNHCR plays a catalytic role in mobilising others. Given the above, the incumbent will need to foster both internal and external engagement at technical and policy levels, being able to draw on UN staff, the World Bank, national authorities and regional bodies¿ engagement and expertise. The incumbent will support the Head of the Solutions Unit as well as senior management to represent UNHCR and provide solid analysis and advice in where UNHCR currently lacks the expertise. These areas include the management of relationships with development actors, support to integrated service provision, national development planning and policies and stakeholder management etc. Experience of strategic planning, policy analysis, senior level engagement with donors, government and development partners, outreach and communications skills, as well as proven coordination abilities are key to the success. Houses and flats re available in Kampala.
International schools are available
Banking facilities are available.
Internet services, mobile services are available
Power supply is regular. But sometimes power cut off occurs
International schools and Medical facilities are available Although Kampala and Entebbe are considered under a moderate security levels ( Security levels III), many UN agencies and funds are headquartered  in Kampala including UNHCR¿s branch office to provide support on the mandate to protect and assist refugees of both Urban caseloads and those in settlements in the South west, Midwest and West Nile regions. Kampala is considered a family duty station with better social amenities- schools, recreation and health services. The major threat to staff includes and is not limited to prospects of terrorism allowed heavy security presence in both uniform and plain cloth,  high road traffic accidents, common law crimes and spontaneous outbreaks of water born disease like Typhoid, cholera plus occasional political /civil unrest mostly contained by Government. The security management systems have put in place mitigations measures to avert the impact of the threats therein and is a collectives responsibility of all staff members.

Please note that the closing date for all vacancies in the September 2017 Compendium is Monday 6 November 2017 (midnight Geneva time).