Humanitarian Affairs Officer (Head of Sub-Office)

About the role

OCHA, the UN body that coordinates humanitarian actors' responses to emergencies, is recruiting a Humanitarian Affairs Officer (Head of Sub-Office) in Kosti, Sudan, under the Crisis Response Division. The post reports to the Deputy Head of Office, OCHA Sudan, and may be relocated to Kordofan or elsewhere in the country as the situation evolves.

Key responsibilities

• Maintain relationships with regional contacts to ensure timely support to operations and advocacy.
• Monitor, analyse and report on humanitarian developments, disaster relief and emergency situations in the assigned country or area.
• Organize studies on humanitarian and emergency relief issues, including interagency technical review meetings.
• Take part in complex projects such as disaster assessments, coordinate international assistance and draft situation reports for the international community.
• Partner with other agencies to plan and evaluate programmes, including gender-related considerations, and assist in producing appeals and ensuring proper use of donor funds.
• Build contacts with government officials, UN agencies, NGOs, diplomatic missions and the media, and support field missions and technical assistance.
• Coordinate Humanitarian Programme Cycle activities with partners and prepare analysis and reports on policy issues for decision-makers.
• Act as the main focal point on policy issues, advise on safeguarding humanitarian principles, and guide or supervise junior staff.

Required profile

• Advanced university degree (Master's or equivalent) in political science, social science, international studies, public administration, economics, engineering, earth sciences or a related field; a first-level degree plus two years of qualifying experience may be accepted instead.
• At least five years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian affairs, emergency preparedness, crisis relief, rehabilitation or development, including managing field teams in humanitarian operations.
• Experience chairing inter-agency or inter-cluster coordination groups and coordinating humanitarian forums and assessment missions.
• Experience in the UN common system or a comparable international organization is desirable; two years of recent field experience in complex emergencies or natural disasters is desirable.
• English is required; French is the other working language of the UN Secretariat.