Information Management 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.

Information Management Officer

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

In close coordination and consultation with the Senior Regional Information Management Officer and, as applicable, relevant units at Headquarters (e.g. FICSS, Bureau) the Information Management Officer will be responsible for designing and  implementing a country-specific Information Management strategy.

S/he will be responsible for broadly supporting the production and dissemination of information on the population of concern to the Country Office, including, but not limited to Protection and Programme information.

The Information Management Officer will liaise with sectoral leads to gather information for further analysis and dissemination and identify information gaps. Where information gaps exist, the Information Management Officer may help setting up primary data collection systems and organise needs assessments, which may also involve other stakeholders.

In the case of refugee operations, the Information Management Officer will coordinate information management activities relevant to all aspects of the operation and across organizations.

For IDP operations, the Information Management Officer will coordinate information management within and provide information management services to the UNHCR-led clusters and act as IM focal point for those clusters with OCHA.

2.2 FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT

Accountability

- The Office has a clear and comprehensive Information Management strategy which guides all IM activities in the country.
- The Office has stepped up to its leadership role in providing quality Information Management services and delivers reliable, accessible and user-friendly, relevant, predictable, appropriate and timely delivery of information. 
- The Office has an excellent Information Management capacity and deliver IM services to all partners.
- Global data standards, and where appropriate, the establishment of country-specific common data standards are adopted by UNHCR and its partners.
- Where required, UNHCR is meeting its cluster information management obligations.

Responsibility

- Draft the country/operation-specific Information Management strategy and define operational and funding requirements for the implementation of the strategy. The strategy must include the internal mangement of information within UNHCR including document mangement, flows of information and discovery of data/information within UNHCR.
- Support the promotion of data and information sharing within the humanitarian community as well as the adoption of global data standards, and where appropriate, the establishment of country-specific common data standards. To this end, maintain data and information-sharing relationships within the humanitarian community and with relevant governmental bodies.
- Identify and obtain the needed data and information elements required to produce standardized information products and design and manage respective data/information collection plans for baseline and context-specific data. 
- Support the Office in the analysis of processed data and information and perform data quality and consistency control.
- Design and implement a structured dissemination plan for all information products and services as appropriate (e.g. web portal, mailing list, information centres, etc.) including the definition of standard operating procedures for clearing information products for release.
- Organize and convene a Refugee Information Management Working Group (RIMWG) with releveant operational partners for efficient coordination of Information Mangement activities. Evaluate and organize, if needed, thematic sub-groups in areas such as geographic information management.
- Provide Information Mangement services to support Monitoring activities within Sectors in a refugee emergency and to UNHCR led Clusters in IDP related emergencies;  in areas of information flows, desimination, processing, analysis, standard setting and desimination.
- Leverage Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for map production and geographic data mangement while promoting data standards and harmonized mangement of geographic data/information.
- Provide Information Mangement services to support population data mangement activities including population estimation, information flows from established systems, movement tracking, standard-setting/promotion and  desimination.
- Provide Information Management support to needs assessments for all sectors (in refugee situations) and provide Information Management support to needs assessments within UNHCR-led clusters while participating in joint/harmonized needs assessments with other partners/clusters.  Support operational leads in making methodological decisions about how to conduct needs assessments.
- Perform other related duties as required.

Authority

- Chair a Refugee Information Management Working Group (RIMWG) (for refugee situations) and represent UNHCR-led clusters on inter-cluster Information Management Working Groups (for IDP situations).
- Assist in the recruitment and training of  data collectors and data entry personnel, if requested.

ESSENTIAL MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
- Undergraduate degree (equivalent of a BA/BS) in Information Technology, Demography, Statistics, Social Sciences or any related area plus minimum 6 years of previous work experience of which at least 4 years combined field and/or headquarters experience in international organizations (e.g. UN agencies, INGOs, IOs, bi-lateral cooperation agencies, etc.). Graduate degree (equivalent of a Master's) plus 5 years or Doctorate degree (equivalent of a PhD) plus 4 years of previous relevant work experience may also be accepted.
- Knowledge of the UN system and the humanitarian community.
- Knowledge of protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators.
- Proven skills to analyze statistical information.
- Advanced Excel skills (e.g. pivot tables, functions, etc.).
- Ability to formulate IM-related technical requirements and Operating Procedures.
- Ability to translate planning-specifications into technical briefs for data capture and analysis, and vice versa.
- Ability to compile and holistically analyze diverse datasets.
- Experience with handling confidential data.
- Demonstrated information management skills.
- Demonstrated understanding of different data collection methodologies.
- Understanding of relational data theory.
- Excellent written and oral presentation skills.
- Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.



DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES

- Successful participation in the Operational Data management Learning Programme.
- Experience in web design and software development is an asset.
- Experience with relevant software such as ArcGIS, Mapinfo, SPSS, EpiInfo6 , SQL Server, and/or progress.
- Experience with HTML, PHP, ASP and/or Java is an asset.
- Knowledge of additional UN languages.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR Information Management Officer positions. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates. 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
M002L3 - Managing Performance Level 3
M006L3 - Managing Resources Level 3
M005L3 - Leadership Level 3
M003L3 - Judgement and Decision Making Level 3
M004L3 - Strategic Planning and Vision Level 3
X003L3 - Technological Awareness Level 3
X001L3 - Analytical Thinking Level 3
X005L3 - Planning and Organizing Level 3 <p>The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.</p>
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See below for this postion's Operational Context
======================================================================================================== The incumbent of this position will be required to form and manage an information management team responsible for UNHCR augmented needs in information and data management as well as the needs of the humanitarian platform in Ecuador where collaborative actions are designed and coordinated as part of the inter-agency coordination. Therefore, the incumbent should have strong performance management skills and proven abilities for results oriented performance, robust stakeholder management as well as experience in designing innovative technological solutions and projects. Some of the protection interventions in Ecuador are community based and therefore the candidate should have understanding of the concept and abilities to provide information and data management support to such initiatives. Given the current emergency context the candidate should ideally have substantial and relevant information management experience in UNHCR or other UN agencies and programmes. Most importantly, s/he should have exposure to complex emergencies where regional and or multi agency response plans have been developed and implemented. This is required because Ecuador is one of the pilot countries where regional refugee response plan is pursued for which a humanitarian platform exists requiring expert guidance and support in the area of GIS, web development and management as well as designing and implementing information management solutions to support protection of PoCs. The candidate should also integrate experience in the humanitarian sector from culturally and geographically different operations as well as exposure to hardship situations as she/he may be required to undertake extended in country missions in a non-family duty stations and environment accompanied with security risks and measures. The candidate should have strong skills for data analysis and visualization and ability to formulate related technical solutions and operating procedures including for handling of confidential data and statistics. The candidate should have experience in different data collection methodologies and excellent written and oral presentation skills. Good knowledge of the region and excellent command of English and Spanish are essential whilst knowledge of another UN official language is desirable. Experience in project management techniques such as Prince 2 is deemed an asset. Proven and relevant experience in working with ArcGIS, Mapinfo 10, Vertical Mapper, QGIS, PostGIS, Java, Ms Access, SQL, etc. is a must. Ecuador is a State Party to the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (since 1955); the 1967 Protocol to the 1951 Geneva Convention (since 1969); and the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (since 1970); among other key human rights instruments. In 2012, it ratified the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. In 2017, Ecuador adopted the Human Mobility Law which is largely in line with international refugee protection standards. The steady increase in the number of arrivals of refugees and migrants from Venezuela in Ecuador posed a major challenge for governmental, humanitarian and development actors responding to the unfolding situation. There were some 806,000 arrivals of refugees and migrants from Venezuela from January through October 2018, compared to 288,000 in 2017. Ecuador is both a country of transit and destination for refugees and migrants from Venezuela and is second largest after Colombia in terms of the number of arrivals. Among those who entered the country regularly in 2018, an estimated 83 per cent (671,000) were in transit to Peru and other destinations, while 17 per cent (135,000) remained in Ecuador. This brings the total number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela to approximately 227,000 inside the country, according to official sources. Over the course of 2018, peaks in arrivals were observed in May, August and October to over 5,000 per day, putting response capacities under strain. According to UNHCR¿s protection monitoring (Oct 2018), approximately 36 per cent of refugees and migrants from Venezuela are travelling on foot for part or all their journey, often continuing onwards in very difficult conditions, pointing to heightened vulnerability. Over the course of 2018, the Government of Ecuador progressively adapted its response to the growing number of arrivals. A state of emergency was declared in the provinces of Carchi, El Oro and Pichincha in August 2018, enabling institutions to take extraordinary measures to address needs as well as public health and security risks. Despite these efforts, mitigating the impact of the increased number of arrivals remains challenging and resources became significantly overstretched. It is in this framework that an inter-agency Response Plan for Refugees and Migrants was developed, under the co-leadership of UNHCR and IOM, to meet the needs of Venezuelan refugees and migrants, both those in transit and staying in Ecuador. Ecuador is considered ethnically diverse: mestizo (mixed blood, 65%), Amerindians (25%), Euro-Americans (6%), Afro-Americans (3%), and Oriental (1%). Over 80% of the population identify themselves as Roman Catholics. Most Ecuadorians speak Spanish, though many speak Amerindian languages such as Kichwa and others.

Ecuador is governed by a democratically elected President, for a four year term. The current constitution was written by the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly elected in 2007, and was approved by referendum in 2008.

The country has road and utilities infrastructure as well as functioning internet and telecommunications (landlines and mobiles) are available. Property rental (house, flat, apartment¿etc) are available and affordable. The country also has a functioning educational system as well as medical and healthcare infrastructure. The country is a tourist destination and therefore sport and recreational facilities are easily accessible. Almost the whole Ecuadorian territory is under general security level  2-Low but it is relevant to consider that Crime level is Substantial or  High,  while the level of Hazards is Moderate or Substantial mainly  due to the threats of earthquakes and road traffic accidents.  Most frequent criminal activities are: petty crime at streets and other public places; residence break-ins; vehicle robbery; smuggling; murder; express kidnapping; and intimidation. Organized crime linked to drugs and smuggling is also a major concern especially in Esmeraldas North. Ecuadorian territory is subject to earthquakes.

Serious road traffic accidents frequently occur due to a combination of twisting roads across mountainous terrain, poor vehicle maintenance and reckless driving. During the rainy season, landslides frequently block the roads and cause serious accidents.

Please note that the closing date for all vacancies in this Flash Vacancy is Tuesday 18 December 2018 (midnight Geneva time).