Programme Officer, P3, Beirut At UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships

The Programme Officer may be based in HQ, field/regional bureau, typically reporting to and be guided by the Senior Program officer and may supervise a small team of local and international staff. He/she may refer to UNHCR¿s Programme Manual (Chapter IV), UNHCR’s corporate and regional strategic priorities, operation plans and other relevant institutional rules and regulations for further guidance. The Programme Officer will provide programmatic guidance and support with regard to the implementation of protection and solutions strategies within available resources. S/he will coordinate with the other sections/units to ensure harmonized programmatic approaches at all levels and throughout the UNHCR Operations Management Cycle. S/he will work in line with the overall UNHCR directions which crucially require working with partners, including with persons of concern, governmental institutions and the private sector, ensuring that programme management is approached as per UNHCR¿s Strategic Directions, Global Strategic Priorities (GSPs), Global Compact for Refugees (GCR), corporate positions on SDGs. The incumbent is expected to work in line with the multi-functional team (MFT) approach as defined within the Program Manual, ensuring the participation of relevant stakeholders in all phases of the Program Management Cycle.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR¿s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties

– Support in assessing and analysing the needs of persons of concern in a participatory manner, using an Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective as basis for planning.

– Provide support on programmatic aspects of developing multi-year protection and solutions strategies and annual plans with corresponding priorities taking into account corporate priorities.

– Support Results Based Management and programme capacity in light of evolving requirements, programming approaches and gaps.

– Support the planning process in compliance with planning parameters outlined in the Programme Manual and the planning instructions.

– Review and analyse plans, mid-year and year-end reports of UNHCR office(s), ensuring quality assurance and compliance with established policies, guidelines, procedures and standards.

– Support in the provision of overall direction to broaden partnerships with key stakeholders in order to maximize the protection and solutions response for persons of concern.

– Provide support to ensure a consistent application of the framework for implementing with partners, including the effective implementation of the policy on selection and retention of partners, management of partnership agreements, risk-based project performance monitoring, and risk-based project audits, among others.

– Contribute to ensure consistent and coherent monitoring approaches, tools and systems in line with global standards and polices.

– Actively contribute to UNHCRs programming of community of practice and continuously contributing to improvements of programming tools and processes.

– Identify potential gaps and problems and in cooperation with other relevant sections recommend appropriate solutions to ensure the efficient implementation of programme activities.

– Oversee a timely and effective follow-up of internal and external audits observations and recommendations that relate to programmatic issues.

– Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Education & Professional Work Experience For P3/NOC – 6 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 5 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 4 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree.

Field(s) of Education Economics Business Administration Social Sciences or other relevant field. Essential Demonstrated experience in programme management including familiarization with the OMC and sound knowledge Results Based-Management. Demonstrated experience in field operations, sound knowledge on the centrality of protection in programming, Joint Needs Assessments and the principles of targeting.

Desirable Demonstrated experience in coordination within an inter-agency context and other actors, in a refugee or humanitarian context. Sound experience in program management training and capacity building activities.

Functional Skills PG-Programme Management (programme cycles and reporting standards) PG-Results-Based Management PG-UNHCR’s Programmes (Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential) Language Requirements For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English. For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language. For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination and abuse of power. As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise. This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.

Desired Candidate Profile

The incumbent should be an experienced programme officer with expertise in project and financial management, coupled with good command of UNHCR technical tools.

The programme officer will engage with field-based programme staff and various sectors in the country office, and should have a basic knowledge of standard UNHCR interventions. Given the large size of the operation and political sensitivities, excellent teamwork, political awareness and good interpersonal skills are essential for successfully performing in the role.

Experience in monitoring and evaluation and large-scale CBI implementation are assets.

Required languages (expected Overall ability is at least B2 level):

,

Desired languages

Arabic

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Operational context

Occupational Safety and Health Considerations:

To view occupational safety and health considerations for this duty station, please visit this link:

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel

Nature of Position:

The incumbent reports to the Senior Programme Officer. He/she is expected to supervise three programme and M&E staff. The incumbent should have a strong expertise on UNHCR ‘s programme policies, rules and standards, with relevant experience on project and solid financial management. S/he should possess a demonstrated technical capacity for the use of UNHCR systems including COMPASS and MSRP as well as a good technical knowledge in MS applications and collaborative and business analytics tools (Excel, Power BI, SharePoint, etc) ensuring their implementation in daily work S/he is expected to stay abreast of the challenges posed to the country by the political context, the UN and institutional developments. UNHCR has adopted many innovative approaches and reforms involving partners all aimed at enhancing financial accountability, efficiencies and managing for results. UNHCR Lebanon Operation is decentralized, therefore Programme Officer will play an important role in engaging with field-based programme teams to provide support and guidance to them on routine matters to support coherent approaches to programming across the operation. The Operation is engaged in activities across a wide variety of sectors, and the incumbent is expected to have a basic knowledge of standard UNHCR interventions in a refugee context, with excellent interpersonal skills to manage good working relations with colleagues from different backgrounds.

The incumbent will play an active role in resource mobilization, together with external relation colleagues, by contributing to the development of the donor proposals and related budgets. The incumbent is expected to have experience in quality reporting on donor contributions and maintaining robust internal donor contributions tracking tools.

The incumbent will work with different national and international NGOs in addition to coordinating and working with different sectors experts and internal units within UNHCR, thus excellent communication and people skills are required. The incumbent must have a demonstrated record of collaboration and problem-solving as well as providing timely and appropriate technical advice on programme planning, budgeting, assessment and implementation in a dynamic setting. Moreover, he/she should have a firm understanding and sound expertise in monitoring and evaluation, and results framework. Good understanding of CBI interventions and/or experience is required.

With four UNHCR field offices, the incumbent is expected to regularly travel to the field, visit refugee sites, and meet with staff and partners on the ground. Given the different cultural dynamics and political sensitivities in the country, the incumbent must be a proven team-player, have excellent inter-personal, communication and negotiation skills.

Living and Working Conditions:

Lebanon continues to host the highest number of refugees per capita and per square kilometre in the world. As of 28 February 2023, there are 820,160 refugees and asylum seekers registered with UNHCR in Lebanon, including 808,088 Syrian refugees and 12,072 refugees and asylum seekers of other nationalities. The Government of Lebanon estimates that there are 1.5 million displaced Syrians living in Lebanon. Refugees live across nearly all municipalities in Lebanon in both within urban and rural areas, as well as in informal tented settlements. Since 2021, the Vulnerability Assessment for Syrian Refugees (VASyR) indicates that 9 out of 10 Syrian refugees are living in extreme poverty, even with assistance, up from 55% in 2019.

UNHCR co-leads with UNDP and the Government of Lebanon the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP), a joint, multi-year plan between the Government of Lebanon and 126 international and national partners developed to assist more than 3.2 million crisis-affected people living in Lebanon, including displaced Syrians, Palestinian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese host communities. The LCRP appeal for 2023 is $3.34 billion.

Compounding the refugee situation is the unprecedented economic and financial crises that Lebanon is facing, which have contributed to a substantial deterioration of the socio-economic situation since 2019 and affected everyone, including refugees and Lebanese people.

Deterioration of basic support services is affecting the overall living conditions across the country. The provision of reliable electricity supply is a major challenge across the country. While many residential buildings have generator-based back-up systems, due to diesel shortages and increased fuel prices, electricity cuts of 6 to 20 hours per day persist. The cost of reliable electricity supply has increased significantly and can cost up to USD 1,000 per month. Staff also face shortages of medical supplies, including medication, and limited availability of medical specialists. Due to the collapse of the banking sector, many international staff are not using local banks for their finances and relying more on international bank accounts or financial service companies to make transfers, incurring high service fees.

Anti-government protests have been ongoing since October 2019. It is assessed that protests will continue at the same pace with roadblocks and increased violence, and this may also result in an increase of theft and carjacking. UN staff in Lebanon are considered potential targets of crime. There is also increasing risk of terror threats. Relations remain tense between Lebanon and Israel, and the countries are technically still at war with one another; however, the risk of an armed conflict remains very low.

UNHCR in Lebanon has around 600 staff across offices in in Beirut and Tyre (classified by ICSC in 2022 as ‘C’ family duty stations), as well in Tripoli, Qobayat, and Zahle (classified as category ‘B’ family duty stations). New hardship revision of duty stations in Lebanon is planned by ICSC for the end of 2022.

The timely issuing of the entry visas and residence permits remains a challenge for UNHCR in Lebanon, which may delay the staff member’s assignment process, including for their dependents. Even though UN personnel can visit Lebanon using a UNLP and will receive a 6-month visa upon arrival, it is imperative that staff arriving from abroad to take up assignment in Lebanon receive the applicable entry visa at the Lebanese Embassy/Presentation closest to the point of their departure. The residency permit process can be only initiated when for the staff and their dependents are able to secure Lebanese entry visa on their national passports. Preapproval process of the Lebanese entry visa depends on the approval granted by the MFA and take 4-5 weeks to obtain.

Additional Qualifications

Skills

Education

BA: Business Administration (Required), BA: Economics (Required), BA: Social Science (Required)

Certifications

HCR Learning Program – UNHCR

Work Experience

Annual Budget OL in Operation/Office, Number of Workforce in Operation/Work Setting, Working with Persons of Concern: Asylum Seekers, Working with Persons of Concern: Internally Displaced Persons, Working with Persons of Concern: Refugees, Working with Persons of Concern: Stateless

Competencies

Accountability, Analytical thinking, Change capability & adaptability, Client & results orientation, Commitment to continuous learning, Communication, Empowering & building trust, Judgement & decision making, Managing performance, Managing resource, Negotiation & conflict resolution, Organizational awareness, Teamwork & collaboration

UNHCR Salary Calculator

https://icsc.un.org/Home/SalaryScales

Compendium

March 2023 Compendium – Part B

Additional Information

Functional clearance

This position doesn’t require a functional clearance