Associate Development Officer at UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Duties and Qualifications

Terms of Reference

Title: Associate Development Officer, P2
Duty Station: Betou, Republic of Congo
Duration: 6 months (initially)
Contract Type: Temporary Appointment
Closing date: 2 June 2021
Start date: As soon as possible

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a 6-month Temporary Appointment/Assignment within the development team in our office in Betou, Republic of Congo.

UNHCR is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. We are in over 125 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.

UNHCR’s mandated responsibility for finding solutions to refugee situations has long required stronger cooperation with development partners and the inclusion of persons of concern within development planning and programming instruments, including national development programmes. Due to a variety of factors, the proportion of refugees and internally displaced persons in protracted displacement situations remains high. Moreover, the diminishing number of forcibly displaced people who have access to so-called durable solutions constitutes a worrying trend that has persisted in recent years.

The increasing scale of irregular migration, large scale refugee movements, internal displacement and the costs of responding to humanitarian situations have placed forced displacement high on the global agenda. Given the complexity and protractedness of many of today¿s forced displacement situations, often occurring in fragile contexts, awareness is growing that the humanitarian model of care and maintenance is unsustainable in the longer term and that forced displacement requires a development response to complement humanitarian assistance, address poverty and other development challenges in a sustainable and inclusive manner. The SDGs provide a yardstick for inclusive development based on the principles of Leaving No One Behind and Reaching the Furthest Behind First. It is also acknowledged that extreme poverty and human suffering associated with refugees and other forcibly displaced people need to be systematically taken into account existing when addressing development challenges and development prospects of host communities, countries, and regions.

The Global Compact for Refugees frames this new approach towards a more predictable and equitable responsibility-sharing, recognizing that more sustainable approaches to refugee situations cannot be achieved without the systematic engagement of a broader set of stakeholders, including development partners.

Among the most significant humanitarian-development cooperation partnerships strengthened in recent years has been between the World Bank and UNHCR on forced displacement. In the eighteenth replenishment (2017-2020) of the World Bank¿s International Development Association (IDA), which provides financing for low-income countries, an amount of US$ 2.2 billion has been included for those states receiving large numbers of refugees (Sub-Window for Refugees and Host-Communities). The IDA 18 allocation follows the operationalization of a Global Concessional Financing Facility (GCFF) for Middle-Income Countries (MICs) affected by large numbers of refugees. In addition, UNHCR has enhanced cooperation with the private sector wing of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and bilateral development donors.

Within the context outlined above, the role of the Associate Development Officer is to support UNHCR’s engagement and cooperation with development agencies¿ medium-term programmes assisting local communities and UNHCR¿s population of concern and the ability to leverage development partnerships to influence policy dialogue to enact institutional reforms toward improved protection environments, socio-economic inclusion, and self-reliance; taking into account and reducing the vulnerabilities of forcibly displaced persons. As such, the incumbent needs to have practical experience working with and an understanding of the interplay of different aspects of economic growth, governance, fragility and conflict, the main factors that influence the environment for inclusion and resilience for UNHCR¿s population of concern. Depending on the operating environments in the area of responsibility (AoR), the incumbent might need to have specific expertise in areas such as social protection, governance in fragile contexts, local governance and community development. It is anticipated that development responses to forced displacement will grow in significance in future years due to the greater importance attached to fragility and addressing protracted displacement situations.

The incumbent will assist in identifying potential opportunities and ensure complementarity between UNHCR’s protection work and the economic and social development objectives pursued by development partners and their government counterparts. It will, therefore, be important that the Assistant Development Officer supports relevant UNHCR staff within the AoR to contribute to the Operation¿s efforts to (i) align policy, operational and programme priorities between humanitarian and development agencies, (ii) establish and maintain reporting and knowledge, and information exchanges on key developments among all interested stakeholders, (iii) assist relevant UNHCR staff to engage in development planning, programming and coordination processes with Government entities and development partners; and (iv) assist relevant UNHCR staff in developing, contributing to and coordinating multi-year and multi-partner transition strategies for protracted forced displacement situations
The incumbent will work under the direct supervision of the Head of Office of Bétou, and technical supervision from the Senior Development Officer in Brazzaville.

Operational context
In the Republic of Congo, UNHCR is operated from three locations: CO Brazzaville, FO Bétou, and FO Gamboma supporting the protection needs of refugees (protracted situation and L1 emergency), IDPs, host communities, and people at risk of statelessness. As of 31 December 2020, the majority of refugees/asylum seekers come from CAR (40%) and from the DRC (38%) and 47% of the 52,644 refugees in RoC are located in the northern part of the country are located in the North of the country under the FO Bétou. UNHCR is in parallel leading the response to the CAR Situation in the North with an on-going influx of 7,444 individuals (March 2021) fleeing the post-electoral violence in CAR. In addition, in the Likouala department, UNHCR is supporting the response for populations displaced by the floods, under the lead of the RCO.

UNHCR works at the crossroads of emergency response, protracted situations, and development within the framework of the Global Compact for Refugees. In 2017, the Government committed to promote the socio-economic inclusion of refugees and to enhance basic social services delivery to their host communities and has since shown interesting results. In this context, UNHCR strongly seeks to enhance partnerships with government, humanitarian actors, development partners and the private sector, to continue strengthening the inclusion of refugees into national systems and their access to solutions. In April 2020, UNHCR signed an 18-month technical assistance to support implementation of the World Bank financed Lisungi social safety nets, a milestone for the organisation.

Duties and responsibilities

• Assist management in commissioning and/or conducting practical research and analysis to interpret long-term political, economic and social trends that will enhance opportunities for solutions, resilience and inclusion for populations of concern to UNHCR as well as more sustainable approaches to refugee protection.
• Support management in planning for resilience and inclusion with a clear shared vision of longer term protection and solution outcomes for people of concern that takes account of host communities and leverages the roles, resources and capacities of development partners, including International Financial Institutions, Multilateral Development Banks, and Bilateral Development donors.
• Assist in facilitating the development of comprehensive multi-year protection and solutions plans/strategies (incl. Multi-Year Multi-Partner Strategies) for Persons of Concern to UNHCR and/or facilitate the inclusion of populations of concern into national and local development planning and programming instruments.
• Assist management in identifying, strategically articulating and capitalizing development and resilience opportunities, including through Government pledges and or pledges made by bilateral or multilateral development and/or peacebuilding partners.
• Assist in facilitating relationship building with development co-operation agencies and peace and state-building agendas through the different stages of policy and programme identification, preparation, implementation and review.
• Support the development of partnerships and networks with development cooperation actors to influence the policy dialogue with governments on institutional arrangements related to sectors, locations and programme content of consequence to UNHCR and persons of concern. This would, in particular, focus on supporting the coordination of the in-country relationship with the World Bank and other multilateral development banks, especially where there is potential for specific funding directed towards UNHCR¿s persons of concern (e.g. WB IDA sub-window for refugees and host communities or the WB Global Concessional Financing Facility).
• Participate in the cooperation with development partners to assist them in incorporating the concerns of refugees, returnees and others of concern to UNHCR into the design and implementation arrangements of projects and interventions in a manner that impacts positively on protection circumstances.
• Contribute to the identification, commissioning and/or contribution to studies and analytical activities that build the conceptual framework and evidence base for comprehensive, development-oriented responses, including preparedness work, to forced displacement.
• Support the operation to ensure that development actors are provided relevant data to inform their planning, programming and advocacy around resilience for and inclusion of UNHCR persons of concern.
• Support the operations engagement with governments, development partners (both multilateral and bilateral), and with the private sector and civil society (as appropriate) to identify opportunities for UNHCR to contribute to the design and implementation of monitoring systems to track progress towards agreed outcomes.
• Support the facilitation, coordination and collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and experience sharing between UNHCR and development actors and across UNHCR operations globally by documenting and disseminating good practices and active participation in the Division of Resilience and Solutions¿, Development Partnerships Community of Practice.
• Support training activities aimed at the capacity building of UNHCR and partner agency staff to achieve greater coordination, effectiveness and synergies between humanitarian and development interventions.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required
Years of Experience / Degree Level
3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 1 year of relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education
Development Economics; Development Studies; Socio-economic Development; International Relations; Political Science; Law or another relevant field.
(Field(s) of Education marked with an asterisk are essential)

*Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Relevant work experience with an international agency/organisation implementing development programmes in field operations. Knowledge of, or experience in, local or area based economic development. Experience in primary data collection, quantitative research methods and results-based management.
*

*Desirable skills
(i) Excellent functional competencies relevant to the Operation
(ii) Excellent networking skills are essential.
(iii) Excellent interpersonal, networking and coordination skills. At least 3 year of experience in managing activities/programmes with the government and/or development partners is essential.
(iv) Experience in the conception and implementation of monitoring activities constitute an advantage
(v) Experience in negotiation and advocacy with the government is desirable.
(vi) Data collection and analysis skills and/or experience in design and implementation of M&E activities are highly desirable
(vii) Proactivity and innovation in seeking new solutions
(viii) Prior exposure working in peace-humanitarian-development nexus, as well as in remote areas, constitute a plus
Desirable working knowledge of French, essential working knowledge of English
*

*Functional Skills
*CM-Strategic Communication
*MS-Drafting, Documentation, Data Presentation
*MS-Networking
*MG-Partnership Development
*SO-Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
*PO-Policy Advocacy in UNHCR
*EX-Knowledge Management
CL-Strategy Development and Monitoring
MG-Project Analysis/Development/Implementation/Management/Coordination
SO-Negotiation Skills
PG-Results-Based Management
PR-Refugee Protection Principles and Framework
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements
Knowledge of English essential and French is desirable.
Competency Requirements

Core Competencies:
Accountability
Communication
Organizational Awareness
Teamwork & Collaboration
Commitment to Continuous Learning
Client & Result Orientation

Managerial Competencies:
Empowering and Building Trust
Judgement and Decision Making
Managing Performance
Cross-Functional Competencies:
Stakeholder Management
Political Awareness

Location
The successful candidate will be based with the team in Betou, ROC.

Living Conditions
Betou 1800 km 3 days trip by road from Brazza, 300 km from Bangui RCA. UNHAS flies every Wednesday to and from Brazzaville, Kinshasa and Mbandaka. The city is calm, with UN security level 1. The nearest bank is located at Ouesso 450 km or Impfondo 480 Km. Basic self-contained accommodation is available. The water distribution system and electrical connections are weak, however the UNHCR can rent a generator to staff. Staff can also choose to stay in the UNHCR Guest House (within the office compound). There are a few local restaurants in Bétou; however, precautions need to be taken due to the risk of bacterial infections. It¿s advisable to drink mineral water. Basics food items are available on the local markets. Other items can be ordered from BO Brazzaville through colleagues or found in the supermarkets of Ouesso or Impfondo. There is no pharmacy but a local hospital with limited service can provide basic medical aid. One is advised to have a medical kit for emergency and take necessary precautions for malaria prevention.

The duty station provides for an interesting and enriching environment, but also requires an appropriate level of cultural awareness, as well as strong commitment and motivation. Therefore, flexibility and the ability and willingness to live in remote environments are essential.

R&R (compulsory Rest and Recuperation leave) are every 12 weeks.

Betou is a security level 1 duty station according to the security classification system of the United Nations.