Terms of Reference

General Background

The role of humanitarian-development collaboration to increase socioeconomic development opportunities and other comprehensive and sustainable solutions for refugees, forcibly displaced persons and host communities is widely recognized in the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). To successfully support transition from delivering aid to more sustainable approaches and facilitate the operationalization of the GCR, UNHCR identified the need to strengthen our capacity to meaningfully engage with development actors and work with national governments to promote meaningful inclusion responses.

To promote the engagement with development actors UNHCR has invested in employing Economists, Development Officers, Development focal points, and technical leads from a variety of development-related and thematic backgrounds. These roles play a vital role in supporting joint analysis, planning and programming with development actors and governments. In addition, these functions support within UNHCR awareness raising and capacity building in areas relevant to development programming and processes in Country Operations.

Much of the knowledge gathered at the Country and Regional level is only now being gained and analysed, which is why UNHCR is now further investing in documenting experiences and embarking on a journey to systematically strengthen our knowledge management and enhance staff capacity.

Key areas identified for capacity building include strengthening the understanding of HQ divisions, Regional Bureaus and Development Officers as well as various staff categories at country operation level to engage with development actors and to build knowledge of specific staff on programming cycles of priority development partners. In addition, building the understanding of protection considerations that need to be taken into account when development actors programme and implement in forced displacement settings is a key priority for UNHCR.

Committed to supporting UNHCR in full-filling its mandate and its efforts to facilitate the operationalization of the GCR and strengthen cooperation with development actors, the German Development Cooperation has provided strategic support to UNHCR, notably through the Global Programme “Support to UNHCR in facilitating the operationalization of the Global Compact on Refugees in the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus” (SUN) that is being implemented in partnership with GIZ. The support includes a financial contribution to “Strengthening UNHCR staffs’ capacity to facilitate comprehensive responses at country and regional levels in the context of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus” managed by UNHCR’s Division for Resilience and Solutions (DRS).

Purpose and Scope of Assignment

The Associate Capacity Building Officer, under the supervision of the Senior Development Officer-Capacity Building, will contribute to implementing the above-mentioned BMZ-funded capacity building project, with particular focus on designing, organizing and facilitating the development of learning products and tools. In specific, the incumbent will contribute to:

1. Facilitate the development of learning tools (onboarding package, community of practice and e-learning) for UNHCR staff engaging with development actors, by:
a. Supporting DRS and the Bureaux to document, film, analyse, and draft key case studies – outlining the progress, lessons learnt, and suggested approaches of working to support sustainable inclusion approaches with development actors. The role will play a key authoring role in producing case studies, composing and editing videos, and creating a multimedia/digital Development Playbook;
b. Designing and developing learning tools and platforms (including developing a Workday onboarding journey, finalizing the Development Engagement 101 eLearning, and updating the Development Partners Community of Practice Sharepoint). These learning resources outline the requirements for sustainable programming and on provide critical information on working with specific development actors, processes, coordination structures and planning cycles;
c. Collaborating with technical sector specialists and development partners to design and host webinars and masterclasses on inclusion and engagement with development actors to further key sectorial strategies (such as the global energy and education strategies);
d. Supporting DRS and the Bureaux to transition the DevUP Programme – a national officer training programme on development engagement. This includes co-designing and facilitating masterclasses, coordinating stretch assignments, tracking engagement, and providing feedback to participants; and
e. Supporting DRS in delivering on forthcoming requests and initiatives related to capacity building and knowledge management.

2. Support the production of the regular Partnership in Practice bulletin, by:
a. Supporting the Bureaux and DRS in capturing key contributions that should be featured in the bulletin from across the Division;
b. Updating the Development Community of Practice (CoP) site with relevant documents, links and updates featured in the newsletter;
c. Coordinating with copy-editors, and adding final text, images and links to the CoP sharepoint site, and newsletter software to generate and send the newsletter; and
d. Tracking engagement with the newsletter and proposing ways to constantly improve content and update.

3. Support the production of the Development Playbook, by:
a. Assisting the Bureaus and DRS to identify good practices and conceptualize potential case studies and Playbook Labs;
b. Interviewing UNHCR staff and development partners, drafting write-ups, and refining submissions from countries and Regional Bureaus to develop well-articulated case studies;
c. Coordinating the production of the video features and podcasts to embed in the Development Playbook, with coordinate with the hired videographer and editors;
d. Building infographics and images to compliment the development playbook using CANVA;
e. Supporting the production of the final product by liaising with copyeditors and designers; and
f. Updating the playbook sharepoint site with all the relevant assets.

4. Support the development of Peer-exchange learning opportunities, by:
a. Coordinating bimonthly SDO and Economist Knowledge Exchanges;
b. Helping to development to coordinate mentorship matching, cohort-exchanges, and facilitating skillshare sessions as part of the DevUP training programme;
c. Updating the catalogue of (S)DO profiles and technical expertise and support the linkages between (S)Dos to promote virtual peer-support and accompanying missions.

5. Provide broader support to capacity building opportunities and efforts with technical DRS and Protection team by:
a. Supporting the DRS team, and the Director on hosting the quarterly Representatives Peer-to-Peer Platform on Solutions;
b. Assisting with the coordination and execution of the upskilling sessions for Snr. Managers on development engagement;
c. Maintaining a training tracker of workshop and training activities across DRS; and
d. Supporting the execution and reporting on Social Protection capacity components of the BMZ project.

• 3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with a Graduate degree; or 1-year relevant experience with a Doctorate degree
• Previous experience in capacity building support is essential
• Strong experience with web and video editing, as well as familiar with Canva
• Experience in developing training materials, as well as organizing or facilitating face to face and/or online workshops is essential
• Experience in innovative solutions for content building, including development of different forms of audio-visual learning tools (such as podcasts, interactive infographics and pdfs etc) is an asset
• Previous work experience in forced displacement settings; experience in the field and/or with development actors is an asset
• Experience of working on topics related to the humanitarian-development nexus (in forced displacement or fragile settings) is an asset

Key Competencies:

• Good knowledge of refugee issues, durable solutions and the GCR;
• Good knowledge of the humanitarian-development-peace nexus and the search for durable solutions of refugees and the variety of aspects related to solutions;
• Good understanding of the functioning of UNHCR;
• Excellent drafting and writing skills;
• Excellent English language skills. Knowledge of French or another UN official language is an advantage;
• Strong organization and administrative skills;
• Strong visual design, web-editing, video-editing, and familiarity with Canva
• Strong coordination, stakeholder engagement and inter-personal communication skills;
• Good prioritizing and self-management skills to work both independently and as part of a team.

Language requirements:
• Excellent written and spoken English is required.

Type of contract: UNOPS Individual Contractor Agreement
Duration: The assignment is expected to start as soon as possible. The initial contract will be granted until 31 December 2024 with the possibility of one-year renewal subject to satisfactory performance.