Result of Service
The consultant will be responsible for developing a system, processes, and tools for assessing and tracking organizational culture across OCHA duty stations and outline possible interventions to address identified challenges at the global and office levels.
The consultant will review the relevant material, including the results of the 2019 UN Staff Engagement Survey, COVID-19 Staff Well-being Survey, Psychosocial Risk Assessments, and Racism Perceptions Report and conduct interviews with key stakeholders in OCHA.
Work Location
Work can be preformed remotely
Expected duration
The position is being offered for a maximum period of 40 days over a four-month period, starting in November 2021
Duties and Responsibilities
This consultancy position shall be with the Duty of Care Section located in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) New York. The section supports the People Strategy and Management Committee which is chaired by the Assistant Secretary General. OCHA is the part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response efforts. OCHA’s mission is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies; advocate the rights of people in need; promote preparedness and prevention and facilitate sustainable solutions.
The People Strategy and Management Committee (PSMC) provides advice to senior management on the implementation of the People Strategy. Over the last four years, the committee’s priorities have been implementing the four-year action plan for the OCHA People Strategy in the following areas: (1) attracting, recruiting, and retaining talent; (2) learning and development; (3) performance management, and (4) health, wellbeing, safety and security. An additional priority for the committee is organizational culture, especially addressing racism and discrimination. The committee addresses these issues through a holistic approach, finding solutions through various lenses from across OCHA.
The first OCHA People Strategy (2019-2021) recognized that the people are the foundation of OCHA and envisioned a work culture where all staff can contribute to OCHA’s mandate and fulfill their full potential while doing so. With the expectancy of high performance under often difficult conditions, organizational culture impacts staff engagement, retention, and ultimately, OCHA’s results. Building on the change management process, OCHA has taken measures to improve its organizational culture, including leadership dialogues, scoping and diagnosis work on racism, racism and diversity and inclusion webinars, Unite to Respect campaign, mentoring and coaching pilots including 360-degree assessments, unconscious bias training, and OCHA award of excellence. OCHA is also working towards a culture of focusing on recognition and accountability and shifting from performance compliance to rewarding good performance. The work in this area to date has primarily focused on increasing knowledge, skills and action of managers and personnel on expected behavior, and their accountability.
While this work will continue, under the new People Strategy (2022-2025) the focus will increasingly be on ensuring that how OCHA works and how it delivers results reflects its core values. This will require systematic and transparent identification, monitoring and follow-up actions on organizational culture in real time, including tailored support to the HQ and field offices on identified issues, prioritization of activities or initiatives that will have the greatest impact, and strengthened accountability for organizational culture.
Qualifications/special skills
Academic Qualifications:
• Advanced degree in Human Resources Management (HRM), Diversity and Inclusion, Psychology, Communications, Business Administration, Organizational Development, Public Administration, or a relevant social sciences field.
Experience:
• At least ten years of experience in working or consulting on organizational culture, staff engagement, team collaboration, or organizational and individual behaviors.
• At least five years of experience in results-based management and development of targets and indicators to measure the results.
• Demonstrated knowledge of statistical analysis and use of surveys to measure the effectiveness and impact.
• Experience in working with the United Nations system is desirable.
Language: For the position advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of French is desirable.
No Fee
THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.