Programme Officer

ONSITE AFGHANISTAN

GENERAL INFORMATION

Host Entity: UNICEF

Country of Assignment: Afghanistan
Duty station: Kabul
Volunteer Category: National UN Volunteer Specialist
Number of Assignment(s): 1
Expected Start Date: 15/09/2024
Duration: 6 Month(s)
Possibility of Extension: Yes
Sustainable Development Goal: 1. No poverty
DoA ID: 1767278778300672

DETAILS

ORGANISATION MISSION AND OBJECTIVES

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child,

everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy
and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged
and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s
rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an
opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without
discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal
chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions
— her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the
health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens —
addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfil
their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries.
This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards
realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of
UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also
supporting the equitable development of nations.

ASSIGNMENT CONTEXT

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child,

everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy
and in operations. The past two decades have seen important progress on child
rights, yet while much has been achieved, sharp disparities remain. In most
countries, inequality is higher today than a generation ago, including in middle
income countries where a majority of the world’s poor children now live. The
rapid pace of urbanization and the growing youth bulge in Africa and parts of
Asia will require significant expansion of the provision of essential services for
children. These challenges are compounded by the scale and complexity of
crises triggered by conflict, natural disasters or epidemics. The global
community faces these challenges when the political and economic
environments pose challenges of their own, testing the world’s commitment to
protecting the most vulnerable. In this environment, strong and consistent
leadership of UNICEF is critical to enable the achievement of results for
children.
The situation in Afghanistan remains exceptionally complex, with a protracted
emergency situation, characterized by recurrent natural disasters, an
increased number of people living in poverty, continued internal displacement,
unprecedented levels of food insecurity, which has been further compounded
since the COVID-19 pandemic. This complexity has greatly impacted the
situation of children and women in the country. The withdrawal of United
States military forces from Afghanistan in August 2021 and the establishment
of a de-facto government by the Taliban has exacerbated the complexity and
uncertainty of the situation. UNICEF is required to rapidly adapt the ways of
working to address the multiple operational constraints present in the highly
volatile and unpredictable context. This included the need to establish a
Project Management Unit (PMU) to provide operational and transactional
capacity to the Afghanistan Country Office (ACO) to ensure urgent lifesaving
and resilience building programmes can continue.
Under the supervision and guidance of the supervisor, the Programme Support
Officer supports the PMU by carrying out a range of programme support
functions to help develop, implement and monitor the Project’s managed by
PMU ensuring effective and timely delivery that is consistent with UNICEF rules
and regulations, to enable achieving ACO Programme Results. The Programme
Support Officer will primarily support the Cash Incentives and Cash Assistance
Projects managed by PMU.
The Programme Support Officer will work in close collaboration with a range of
staff in the ACO, external partners and agency counterparts in support of
programme design and delivery. S/He provides regular feedback on the status
of projects through monitoring milestones and contributes to efforts to keep
activities on track.

TASK DESCRIPTION

• Support through effective drafting, the preparation of documentation

required for implementation of project, with a primary focus on humanitarian
cash transfer and cash incentives payment projects.
• Support to conduct risk analysis for project management.
• Support coordination and communication among internal and external
stakeholders for effective project implementation.
• Support service provider contract monitoring and payment processing,
ensuring effective follow-up and coordination needed.
• Support to review Implementing Partner and Service provider progress report
and financial reports, and table analysis of findings for Programme Officer
review and clearance.
• Support regular Project financial analysis for effective project management,
as required
• Proactively, lead on documentation management for projects and ensure
systematic availability of documentation in keeping with UNICEF’s rules and
regulations.
• Coordinate setting up of internal and/or external meetings, making travel
arrangements, logistics requirements for meetings etc.
• Ensure availability of meetings records through timely drafting and
circulation of minutes, and undertake timely follow-up on agreed upon actions.
• Undertake any other tasks that would be assigned.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Age: 18-80
Nationality: Candidate must be a national or legal
resident of the country of
assignment.
Required education level: Bachelor degree or equivalent
Area(s) of specialisation: Bachelor’s degree in a relevant area
in social sciences, social policy,
project management, economics,
financial management or area related
to humanitarian assistance

REQUIREMENTS

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

3 year(s) of experience in the national and/or international level in project

management, humanitarian programming specifically cash management
activities, or other relevant programmes is required; • Experience with
protection mainstreaming is an asset.
• Experience working in the UN or other international development
organization is an asset;
Experience in liaising with partner organizations, grievance and redressal
mechanism oversight and “Accountability to Affected Populations and Risk
Communication and Community Engagement” is desired.
• Excellent analytical skills, demonstrated through data and/or financial
analytics is required.
. • Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting
skills is required.
• Accuracy and professionalism in fulfilling obligations is required.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work
inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots
community members, religious and youth organizations, and authorities at
different levels;
• Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging
environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international
and national personnel;
• Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various Microsoft
Office applications (Excel, Word, among others), email, and internet;
• Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with
tight deadlines;
• Have affinity with or interest in working for the wellbeing and rights of
children and women, and volunteerism as a mechanism for durable
development, and the UN system.

LANGUAGE

Language Proficiency Required

English Working knowledge Yes
Dari Fluent Yes
Pashto Fluent Yes

COMPETENCIES AND VALUES

Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability
• Sustainability
b) Core Competencies (For Staff without Supervisory Responsibilities)
▪ Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
▪ Works Collaboratively with others (1)
▪ Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
▪ Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
▪ Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
▪ Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
▪ Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

OTHER INFORMATION
LIVING CONDITIONS AND OTHER REMARKS

The situation in Afghanistan remains exceptionally complex, with a protracted

emergency situation, characterized by recurrent natural disasters, an
increased number of people living in poverty, continued internal displacement,
unprecedented levels of food insecurity, further compounded by the COVID-19
pandemic. This complexity has greatly impacted the situation of children and
women in the country. The withdrawal of United States military forces from
Afghanistan in August 2021 and the establishment of a de-facto government
by the Taliban has exacerbated the complexity and uncertainty of the
situation. UNICEF is required to rapidly adapt its ways of working to address
the multiple operational constraints present in the highly volatile and
unpredictable context.
As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be
responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials.
You can check full entitlements at the duty station at
https://app.unv.org/calculator.
The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at
https://explore.unv.org/cos.”
https://www.unv.org/
INCLUSIVITY STATEMENT

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes

applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving
diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their
adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to
combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights
and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender
identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability,
pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities.

This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for
missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability
during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during
the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.

NOTE ON COVID-19 VACCINATION REQUIREMENTS

In addition to duty station-specific vaccine requirements, appointments are

subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-
19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be
met prior to taking up the appointment. It does not apply to UN Volunteers who
will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises,
programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF
works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of
their contracts.

Interested in this Assignment?

APPLY NOW
PDF generated: 14/09/2024