The Position:
The Emergency Response Specialist (Operations) is part of the UNFPA’s first responder Global Emergency Response Team (GERT). As such, her/his primary responsibility is to rapidly deploy to emergencies worldwide to ensure timely institutional response. Specialist will work under direct supervision from the Emergency Response Coordinator supported by the colleagues from the Humanitarian Response Division, receiving Country Office and Regional Office.
Under the direct supervision of the Emergency Response Coordinator, the Operations Specialist will work in close collaboration with the Humanitarian Response Division, regional and country office staff, implementing partners, and other agencies to implement the humanitarian response plan by supporting and delivering a range of operational activities, and prioritizing effectively.
How you can make a difference:
UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.
In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.
UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.
Job Purpose:
The overall purpose of the Humanitarian Response Division (HRD) is to facilitate the delivery of the UNFPA mandate by leading emergency response and supporting humanitarian preparedness actions in increasingly complex humanitarian situations, within globally agreed frameworks (2030 Agenda, Grand bargain, Commitments, Sendai, Framework, etc.)
The HRD leads in leveraging and increasing effectiveness, efficiency, and capacity of UNFPA staff and partners to scale up UNFPA’s role as a key global humanitarian leader.
The ability to timely deploy emergency response staff is a critical factor for effective emergency response.
The GERT team represents first responders in a continuum of humanitarian deployments (deployed prior to surge with the purpose of setting the ground for an effective and coherent emergency response). As part of the GERT team, a selected expert is expected to deploy within 24 to 72 hours following the onset of an emergency or a specific request for support from the Country or Regional Office.
Deployments are ranging in duration from 2 weeks to 3 months with at least 2 weeks in-between down time.
Qualifications and Experience:
Education:
Advanced university degree in Finance, Management or Public /Business Administration, or other related field of Social Science study
Knowledge and Experience:
- At least 5 years of experience in a governmental, multilateral or civil society organization in a multicultural setting, including 3 or more years’ experience in managing teams in a complex organizational setting
- At least 3 years of field experience in humanitarian settings
- Ability to build strong relationships with clients, focus on impact and result, and respond positively to feedback
- Solid knowledge in procurement, financial and human resources management, contract, asset, and information and communication technology
- Ability to lead business process re-engineering, to implement new systems, and to positively affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal changes
- Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting, formulation and monitoring of projects/programmes
Languages:
Fluency in English is required; knowledge of other official UN languages, preferably French and/or Spanish, is desirable.
We are no longer accepting applications for this position.
