Humanitarian Affairs Officer - AAP at United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - UNOCHA

Job ID: 16154
Location: Maiduguri
Practice Area - Job Family: Crisis Prevention and Recovery
Vacancy Type: FTA Local
Contract Duration: 1 Year with possibility for extension

Background
Given the current crisis in Northeastern Nigeria, OCHA has to scale up its support to the Humanitarian Coordinator in mobilizing and coordinating an effective and principled humanitarian response. OCHA is particularly concerned about vulnerable communities and those at risk due to current conflict. Under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, OCHA has a presence in Abuja Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states; the primary objectives of OCHA Nigeria include the following:

• Advocate for access to basic services, especially water, sanitation, education and health for vulnerable communities, including collection, analysis and dissemination of information and negotiation of access.
• Coordinate the implementation of humanitarian response in Nigeria with UN agencies and programmes, national and international NGOs and local authorities/communities as appropriate with focus on strengthening the Cluster Approach.
• Enhance a protective environment that respects the human rights of all, including IDPs, returnees and minority clan.

Another key activity of OCHA in Nigeria is to ensure accountability to affected populations (AAP). AAP is an active commitment of humanitarian workers to use power responsibly by taking account of, giving account to, and being held to account by the people humanitarian organizations seen to assist. Engaging communities through various channels and in a systematic manner, helps to improve the response. This is done through: information provision; feedback and complaint mechanisms; and meaningful participation of affected populations.

The AAP Officer is expected to be the key support person to ensure all these activities take place and that both government partners and humanitarian actors across Nigeria are accountable to affected populations.  The AAP Officer should have comprehensive local knowledge of key partners in Borno such as; NOA, MOI, SEMA, NEMA and DSS.

The AAP Officer is also expected to have either experience or solid knowledge of humanitarian operations conducted by UN agencies and NGOs, operations of the Government and Community leaders. They need to work with little supervision in the field, but will have regular support from the AAP Coordinator in Abuja. They should be a natural communicator that can build rapport with key humanitarian partners and support the development of an Information and Feedback Working Group or the equivalent in Borno.

Summary of key Functions

• Information Collection in support of AAP activities
• Information Sharing in support of AAP activities
• Development of AAP coordination and cooperation mechanisms among stakeholders
• Monitoring and Reporting in support of AAP activities

Detailed Functions
Ensure accurate Information Collection in support of AAP activities, focusing on the achievement of the following results:

• Formulate and develop an AAP working group for engagement with UN, INGO, government partners and other relevant stakeholders for North East Nigeria,
• Gather and verify information from the communities on issues affecting them through the working groups and alternate avenues, emphasizing opportunities to tailor the response according to needs on the ground,
• Develop a clear and concise method of providing this information on a regular basis to the humanitarian community.

Ensure facilitation of information sharing among partners focusing on achievement of the following:

• Pro-actively share information with Sector leads and the AAP Coordinator on pertinent issues and affecting IDPs and ensure the key message are also delivered from the humanitarian community to the affected populations,
• Arrange sessions to provide briefings to sector leads on a needs basis on key issues arising from the consolidation of community feedback mechanisms,
• Identify key pieces of information that will assist with sector level and response level decision-making with a particular focus on improving humanitarian response to suit the key needs of affected communities,

Ensure the development of coordination and cooperation mechanisms among AAP stakeholders focusing on the achievement of the following results:

• Establish and strengthen relationships to support UN, INGOs, Government partners and other stakeholders to build stronger community feedback mechanisms in North East Nigeria (i.e. toll-free hotline, information desks, text message alerts, radio station messaging, etc.),
• Establish an AAP Strategy that is developed in coordination and cooperation with relevant stakeholders, and that there is sufficient buy-in. This strategy should ensure mechanisms are in place for information provision; feedback and complaint mechanisms; and meaningful participation of affected populations.

Ensure proper monitoring and reporting focusing on achievement of the following:

• Provide and prepare weekly/monthly reports as appropriate for internal and external purposes.

Impact of Results:
The key results have an impact on the overall effectiveness of the humanitarian response. Specifically, the impact of this position is:

• Improved basis for affected communities on the ground to make informed decisions because of the increase of information from government partners and humanitarian partners,
• Humanitarian response is becoming more coordinated and organized based on clear identified needs and priorities as identified by affected populations,
• Greater incorporation of IDP views and voices in humanitarian decision-making,

Requirements, Skills and Experience
Education:

• Master's Degree or equivalent in Development, Business Administration, Community Engagement, Protection, International Relations or other related fields with up to 3 years of relevant experience at the national or international level.

Experience:

• Up to 3 years of relevant professional experience, preferably gained from working in the international development/humanitarian/government partners e.g. NEMA/SEMA/NOA.
• Familiarity with UN policies, rules and procedures, particularly in relation to humanitarian response and coordination, and knowledge of institutional mandates, policies and guidelines pertaining to humanitarian assistance, especially the humanitarian reform agenda.
• Ability to research, analyze, evaluate and synthesize information.
• Ability to express clearly and concisely, ideas and concepts in written and oral form.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and experience in handling of web based management systems.
• Experience of working in North East, Nigeria (BAY states etc) is an advantage.

Language requirements:

• Proficiency in both oral and written English
• Knowledge of local language (Hausa, Kanuri, Fulfulde etc) is an advantage 

Competencies
Preparing information for advocacy:

• Identifies and communicates relevant information for a variety of audiences on AAP priorities

Building Strategic Partnerships:

• Maintaining a network of contacts
• Maintains an established network of contacts for accountability to affected populations related initiatives and to remain up-to-date on partnership related issues
• Analyzes and selects key AAP initiatives for strengthening strategic alliances with partners and stakeholders

Resource Mobilization:

• Providing inputs to AAP principles
• Collects, researches and analyzes information from affected populations, drafts report and documents and maintains information around the key needs of affected populations in North East Nigeria and relevant activities that are ongoing with partners

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Basic research and analysis
• Generates new ideas and approaches for integrating AAP into the North East response, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things
• Documents and analyses innovative strategies and new approaches to systematically

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise:

• Fundamental knowledge of own discipline
• Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of community engagement, and/or key stakeholder knowledge relating to the position
• Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning
• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments
• Demonstrates in-depth understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and community engagement principles and utilizes these regularly in work assignments

Global Leadership and Advocacy for OCHA’s Goals:

• Preparing information for global advocacy
• Identifies and communicates relevant information for advocacy for OCHA’s goals for a variety of audiences
• Maintains a functioning network of contacts in the media and civil society, to promote a better understanding of OCHA’s priorities and to support advocacy efforts

Client Orientation:

• Establishing effective client relationships
• Researches potential solutions to internal and external client needs and reports back in a timely, succinct and appropriate fashion
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines
• Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships within the work unit and with internal and external clients

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
• Self-development, initiative-taking
• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work
• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
• Creating synergies through self-control
• Managing conflict
• Preferably fluent in at least one local language in Borno state (e.g. Hausa)
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing are the responsibility of each staff member.
• Informed and transparent decision making