Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator

Org. Setting and Reporting

The Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) for Humanitarian Affairs in the United Nations and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator) is the Deputy to the Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

OCHA is the part of the United Nations Secretariat which is responsible for ensuring a coherent and effective response to humanitarian emergencies. OCHA does this through:

•Coordinating humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in disasters and complex emergencies;
•Developing policy on important humanitarian issues;
•Coordinating the assessments of needs in a disaster/ emergency/ protracted conflict and mobilizing resources in response
•Advocacy on behalf of those affected in crises.

Reporting to the Under-Secretary-General (USG), the ASG will be a deputy to the USG and assist the USG in the overall leadership and management of OCHA. S/he will be expected to serve as Officer-in-charge of OCHA in the absence of the USG.

Responsibilities

The ASG will assist the USG in the overall formulation, communication, implementation and evaluation of policies and activities related to humanitarian affairs.

The ASG will be primarily responsible for driving the achievement of results in OCHA through:

•Providing the USG/ ERC with strategic support across a range of operational and management issues
•Supporting the USG on OCHA managing OCHA’s financial position, budgeting and strategic planning processes;
•Helping ensure flexibility to adapt to rapidly changing humanitarian and emergency contexts, as well as protracted crises;
•Helping drive a performance culture across OCHA
•Helping ensure effective coordination and cooperation between New York and Geneva

The ASG will support the USG in building and maintaining good relationships with key stakeholders and partners, including member-states, regional organizations, UN missions, UN humanitarian agencies and departments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, academia and UN headquarters departments.

S/he will lead high level missions to countries in crisis on behalf of the USG/ ERC and s/he will lead advocacy campaigns and fundraising initiatives.

Competencies

Professionalism: demonstrated expertise in the management of a decentralized security system, preferably in an international context. Proven ability to remain calm and composed in stressful situations.

Leadership: proven leadership skills and demonstrated ability to manage and coordinate multiple different activities/operations, including disaster or crisis management. Demonstrated flexibility in leadership by performing and/or overseeing the analysis of complex security and programme issues; empowering others to translate vision into results and create an enabling environment; anticipate and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; continuously drives for change and improvement.

Vision: ability to identify key strategic issues, opportunities and risks and to clearly communicate links between the Organization’s strategy and UNDSS’s goals; ability to support and execute sound vision of internal management and oversight.

Judgement/Decision-making: strong, reliable and mature judgement and decision-making skills with the ability to make difficult decisions under pressure; identifies the key issues in a complex situation and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; checks assumptions against facts.

Managing Performance: ability to make timely decisions, establish priorities and coach, mentor, motivate and develop staff and encourage good performance; delegates responsibility, clarifies expectations and gives staff autonomy in important areas of their work; encourages others to set challenging goals; holds others accountable for achieving results related to their area of responsibility.

Integrity: resists undue political pressure in decision-making; does not abuse power or authority; takes prompt action in case of unprofessional or unethical behaviour.

Accountability: takes ownership of all responsibilities and honours commitments; delivers outputs for which he/she has responsibility; takes responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit.

Communication: excellent communication and negotiation skills required, particularly in emergency/crisis situations. Listens to others and is genuinely interested in having two-way communications; strong reputation of dealing honestly and openly with issues and staff; knowledge of modern management tools and practices and high level of information technology awareness needed to oversee appropriate utilization of information technology platforms and programmes.

Gender mainstreaming: provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives into substantive work and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing and creating a gender sensitive working environment that pays attention to work/life issues.

Education

Advanced university degree (Masters degree or equivalent) in law, international relations, public administration, security management, political or social sciences or related area.

Work Experience

Over 15 years of substantive experience in humanitarian assistance, international affairs, social sciences, or related field is required.
Senior level progressively responsible professional experience in leading and managing complex organisations is required.
Strong networking and relationship building skills, evidenced by an extensive network of contacts with key players and stakeholders at the international level is required.
Extensive experience in dealing with the diplomatic or donor community, governments, and actors in humanitarian/conflict situations is required.
Understanding of UN policies, procedures, and operations is desirable.
Knowledge of OCHA’s operating environment is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the official working languages of the United Nations. For this post, fluency in English, with excellent drafting skills is required. Working knowledge of another UN official language, preferably French, is desirable.

United Nations Considerations

According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Candidates will not be considered for employment with the United Nations if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. The term “sexual exploitation” means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. The term “sexual abuse” means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. The term “sexual harassment” means any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause offence or humiliation, when such conduct interferes with work, is made a condition of employment or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment, and when the gravity of the conduct warrants the termination of the perpetrator’s working relationship. Candidates who have committed crimes other than minor traffic offences may not be considered for employment.

Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment.

Applicants are urged to follow carefully all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira. For more detailed guidance, applicants may refer to the Manual for the Applicant, which can be accessed by clicking on “Manuals” hyper-link on the upper right side of the inspira account-holder homepage.

The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application.

Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.