Community Liaison Officer, Multiple positions

UNOPS Sri Lanka

UNOPS office in Sri Lanka provides technical, operational and administrative support to 4 countries in the South Asia region: Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. UNOPS work in this region focuses on the construction and operation of high-quality sustainable infrastructure, sustainable procurement, project management for host governments, development partners and UN agencies.

UNOPS’ work in Sri Lanka focuses on the construction and operation of high-quality sustainable infrastructure and sustainable procurement, project management, timely provision of services, and the use of most relevant technologies. Such projects provide social and economic benefits to vulnerable populations across the country and contribute to poverty eradication. This includes construction of schools, hospitals, water networks, urban sewerage and drainage facilities, harbors and anchorages, waste management facilities, climate change mitigation, as well as a range of “soft” support in Capacity Building, operations and maintenance of public assets, local governance, etc.

The Community Liaison Officer shall acquire and demonstrate a good understanding of the terms, conditions, and the respective roles and responsibilities of the UNOPS and key stakeholders to ensure the project products are capable of meeting the business cases for both UNOPS and the client. The roles of the Community Liaison Officer shall include, but not limited to,

• Support implementation of the project for construction of 17000 permanent houses for conflict-affected displaced families in the Northern & Eastern province in Sri Lanka in collaboration with the SPM with a focus on Community Mobilisation, Communications, M&E, Reporting and Coordination of all Implementing agencies and Government stakeholders.
• Work progressively towards and ensure that objectives, as defined in the project, are achieved within the allotted time frame.
• Systematically support the implementation of housing construction adopting home-owner centric, with community-based organizations managing the construction, while the agency oversees the process ensuring quality and timely delivery and provides training on the technical, financial and administrative procedures.

Coordination, Communication and Reporting

• Assist in developing and maintaining a stakeholder communication strategy.
• Manage the coordination between UNOPS, the CBOs and the beneficiaries, via regular meetings and reporting, identify potential risk/issues, assist in troubleshooting.
• Assist the communications team in finding valuable stories of beneficiaries during the whole cycle of the project. Assist in achieving optimum visibility for UNOPS.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with local Government counterparts. Cooperate and maintain rapport with community-level stakeholders and government officials including Grama Niladaris, National Housing Development & Authority (NHDA), Rural Development Officer (RDO) and officials of the Community Organizations etc. to facilitate successful programme implementation.
• Provide information for the Reporting Strategy as required by the project document and to ensure efficient coordination with internal and external partners.

Communication Mobilisation

• Implement the Community Mobilisation Strategy and organize and conduct awareness activities among the community.
• Organize activities to promote goodwill, trust and cooperation within beneficiary communities.
• Disseminate information and encourage beneficiaries on behavior change including the adaptation of good hygiene, safe water, sanitation and green technology practices.
• Motivate and ensure beneficiaries participate in the process of housing construction.
• Support Associate Project Engineer in identifying the Community Based Organizations (CBOs) for housing construction.
• Provide training and capacity development to CBOs on non-technical matters.
• Guide and advise CBOs on documentation.
• Organize periodical community-level meetings to review gaps, delays and issues relating to the project and take remedial measures to resolve the issues with the concurrence of the Community Liaison team.
• Maintain an effective and cordial vertical and horizontal working relationship with all officials, staff and volunteers in order to attain project objectives.

Personnel Management:

• Lead and motivate the Community mobilizers
• Ensure that behavioral expectations of team members are established
• Ensure that performance reviews are conducted

Core Values and Principles:

• Understand and respect UNOPS sustainability principles

• Understand and Respect National ownership and capacity

• Partnerships and Coordination Understand the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and UNOPS, the project’s place in the UN system

• Accountability for results and the use of the resource i

• Excellence

• Demonstrates strong knowledge in social, economic and cultural aspects and commitment to continuous learning.
• Ability to plan work in a collaborative manner and to manage priorities
• Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve the goals of the project and in accordance with UNOPS shared goals. 
• The team player is essential.

Education:

• University Degree in Communications, Project Management, Business Administration, International Relations, Political/Security/Development Studies, or other relevant disciplines

Experience:

• At least 4 years of experience in the humanitarian and development sector.
• Multi-tasking, flexibility, and attention to the social, economic and cultural preferences of communities while maintaining a high service level are preferable.
• Experience in Community mobilization preferred

Language:

• Full working knowledge of English is essential.
• Fluency in Tamil is needed
• Knowledge of another local language is an asset.

Contract type: ICA Contract level: Local ICA Specialist
Contract duration: Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  
• This post is open to Sri Lankan nationals only.

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.