EXTERNAL RELATIONS SPECIALIST

Details

Mission and objectives

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is the largest UN operation in the Middle East with some 28,000 staff.

Context

UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from government (public) donors. Funding has however not kept pace with a growing refugee population and increased needs, which has resulted in recurrent financial deficits that threaten the ability of the Agency to provide critical services to Palestine refugees. The Department of External Relations (ERD) is responsible for raising funds for the entire Agency. UNRWA Fundraising Teams are based in Jerusalem and Amman. UNRWA is seeking a qualified junior expert to join the team in Jerusalem in mobilizing additional resources for the Agency, specifically from government donors from Asian countries, in light of substantial financial challenges.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Senior External Relation Projects Officer (SERPO) or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UN Volunteer will: 1. Assist in the development and maintenance of Donors portfolios, including multilateral platforms • Monitor key political, economic, and social trends in a targeted donor countries/multilateral platforms; • Conduct research on the foreign aid system of donor countries and advise S/ERPOs on ways to integrate this knowledge into fundraising strategies; • Update key donor tools (ex. dashboards, annual country plans, intelligence reports, etc); and • Coordinate intra and inter-department dissemination of data and information relevant for fundraising and advocacy activities; • Research potential new donors; 2. Support S/ERPOs in developing and maintaining relationship with donors • Assist S/ERPOs with drafting official correspondence as well as other outreach materials; • Provide talking points, briefing documents and presentations for senior management; • Liaise with Field Offices, Programme Departments and donors in the preparation of concept note, proposals, and reports; • Accompany CG, D/ERD, D/D/ERC, S/ERPO, etc to donor meetings and ensure timely follow-up with the donor on meeting items; • Coordinate donor visibility, including press releases; • Re-package and disseminate (and develop where required) marketing and fundraising materials (include briefs, stories, and the like) for existing and new donors; • Communicate with donors on projects and program updates, as directed by SERPOs; • Liaise with the Finance Department and the Programme Directors to verify information and clearances of proposals for submission to donors; • Provide guidance to Field Offices and Headquarters Departments to enhance the quality of proposals and report writing; • Liaise with S/ERPOs to identify bilateral visits for the CG as well as attendance at multilateral events; 3. Assist in the rollout and tracking of the 2022-2023 Donors Engagement Strategy a. Contribute to the implementation of ERD’s fund-raising strategy by gathering intelligence on selected donors; developing and strengthening contacts with donors at capital and local level as requested by SERPOs; exploring and undertaking resource mobilization initiatives; contributing to fund-raising documents including appeals and Department’s reports; b. Manage the donor Calendar of Events in specific areas, ensuring the document is regularly updated and circulated to key Agency actors; c. Work with S/ERPOs to develop background documents and outreach tools as needed for the strategy;