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

Under the guidance and supervision of the Head of Office or Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator the Executive Assistant is responsible for ensuring the effective delivery of secretary duties by performing, under minimal supervision, the full range of office management and administrative support functions; typically provides direct assistance to senior officers or managers such as a Head of Office consistent with UN rules and regulations. The Executive assistant leads and provides guidance to OCHA’s Head of Office or Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator, fostering effective collaboration within the teams, with relevant OCHA and UNDP counterparts at headquarters and in the field, and with other UN agencies, promoting a client-oriented approach and ensuring optimal performance and efficient delivery of services.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

• Performs, under minimal supervision, the full range of office management and administrative support functions; typically provides direct assistance to a senior officer or manager responsible for a major programme, such as a branch or division.
• Maintains liaison with the Executive Office and with senior officials in other units regarding on-going programmes and other administrative matters; monitors processes and schedules related to the unit’s outputs, products, tasks, etc.
• Ensures smooth and efficient information flow within the unit; prepares and processes confidential information; assists in the development of office administrative systems and procedures.
• Researches, compiles and summarizes background materials for use in preparation of reports, briefs, speeches, etc.
• Provides assistance in the coordination of service-wide activities (meetings, training, etc.), special projects and events.
• Orients new staff to relevant administrative procedures and practices and provides general assistance to other office support staff, as required; may coordinate the work of office support staff in providing meetings servicing/administrative support to various sessions of commissions and other bodies.
• Attends meetings, prepares minutes, and monitors follow-up activities.
• Responds or drafts responses to a wide range of correspondence and other communications; uses standard word processing package to produce a wide variety of large, complex documents and reports.
• Manages, updates and further develops internal databases; updates website; generates a variety of standard and nonstandard statistical and other reports from various databases.
• Carries out quality control function for outgoing documents; proofreads and edits texts for adherence for format, grammar, punctuation and style.
• Responds to complex information requests and inquiries (e.g. answers requests requiring file search, etc.).
• Assists in the preparation of presentation materials using appropriate technology/software.
• May provide some specialized support to unit (e.g. technology support, editing, desktop publishing, etc.).
• Maintains calendar/schedules; monitors changes and communicate relevant information to appropriate staff inside and outside the immediate work unit.
• Performs a variety of administrative duties (e.g. leave recording, meeting organization, reservations, office supply and equipment orders, etc.), including preparing and/or processing administrative requests/documents (e.g., travel requests, expense claims, vouchers, visa applications, etc.).
• Maintains files (both paper and electronic) and databases for work unit.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

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
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member.
• Informed and transparent decision making

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
High school diploma or equivalent. University Degree in Business or Public Administration desirable, but it is not a requirement

Experience:
A minimum of six years of experience in general office support or related area of which at least three years are in an international organization is required. Experience working in a front office with senior management is required.
 
Language Requirements:
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is an advantage.

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Given the current crisis in Nigeria, OCHA has to scale up its support to the Humanitarian Coordinator in mobilization and coordination of 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 maintains an office in Abuja and a field presence in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Gombe states in North East; the primary objectives of OCHA Nigeria include the following:

1.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.
2.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.
3.Enhance a protective environment that respects the human rights of all, including IDPs, returnees and minority clan.

The HAO is expected to have comprehensive knowledge of North East of Nigeria, UNOCHA operations, humanitarian partners, operations of the government and NGOs. As such the HAO provides the elements of institutional memory and local networking essential to the credibility and authority of the statements and documents provided by OCHA and the Humanitarian Coordinator. They work with little supervision in the field, and are expected to prepare concise reports and analysis and are an integral part of the OCHA Team in Nigeria.

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
• 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

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
Master’s Degree or equivalent in political science, sociology, law, international relations or other related fields with up to 2 years of relevant experience at the national or international level

Experience:  

• Up to 2 years of relevant professional experience, preferably in complex emergency and inter-agency contexts, dealing with relief and transitional issues.
• 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.

Language requirements:  

• Proficiency in both oral and written English
• Knowledge of local language is an advantage 

go to method of application »

Under the guidance and supervision of the Administrative & Finance Analyst and direct supervisor, the Driver provides reliable and safe driving services ensuring high accuracy of work. The Driver demonstrates a client-oriented approach, high sense of responsibility, courtesy, tact and the ability to work with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

The Driver provides driving services to the operations and programme staff in the Country Office (CO), Consultants and Experts and UN staff on mission.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

• Provision of reliable and secure driving services
• Proper use of vehicle
• Day-to-day maintenance of the assigned vehicle
• Availability of documents/ supplies
• Ensures provision of reliable and secure driving services by a) driving office vehicles for the transport of authorized personnel and delivery and collection of mail, documents and other items and b) meeting official personnel and visitors at the airport, visa and customs formalities arrangement when required.
• Ensures cost-savings through proper use of vehicle through accurate maintenance of daily vehicle logs, provision of inputs to preparation of the vehicle maintenance plans and reports.
• Ensures proper day-to-day maintenance of the assigned vehicle through timely minor repairs, arrangements for major repairs, timely changes of oil, check of tires, brakes, car washing, etc.
• Ensures availability of all the required documents/supplies including vehicle insurance, vehicle logs, office directory, and map of the city/country, first aid kit, and necessary spare parts.
• Ensures that all immediate actions required by rules and regulations are taken in case of involvement in accidents.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
Secondary Education. Valid Driver’s license. 

Experience:
2 years’ work experience as a driver; safe driving record; knowledge of driving rules and regulations and skills in minor vehicle repair.

Language Requirements:
Fluency in English, knowledge of Local language of the duty station.