Associate Victim Assistance Officer

Peace and Security Cluster

The UNOPS Peace and Security Cluster (PSC) is a principal service provider in the field of mine action with the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), UNDP, UNICEF, Governments of mine-affected countries and other mine action partners. The Cluster is responsible to administer, provide support and oversight of the day-to-day management of the Project Field offices, both according to the client requirements and in line with UNOPS rules and regulations. It is headed by the Cluster Director who has the overall authority and accountability for the performance of the Peace and Security Cluster on behalf of its clients

UNMAS Sudan

UNMAS Programme in Sudan supports the Government of Sudan to meet its obligations under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (Ottawa Treaty) and other relevant international instruments with the aim of reducing the risk that explosive threats could pose to the civilian population. UNMAS Sudan’s main activities include land release, mine risk education (MRE) and victim assistance (VA) in South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur states of Sudan.  UNMAS also provides technical advice and training for Sudan National Mine Action Center (NMAC) and national mine action NGOs for improving national mine action capacity. 

The Associate Victim Assistance Officer will report to the Programme Manager and shall carry out the following responsibilities:

• Support National Mine Action Center (NMAC) victim assistance (VA) department to lead task force and committees for the implementation of the VA /disability program in Sudan technically support planning and organization of national events;
• Assist in developing assessment tools and conduct a needs assessment of the victims’/disabled communities in the target areas in conjunction with the existing disability teams, assessment of the existing victim support capacity, including examination of existing documents and extensive field survey in cooperation with NMAC on a regular basis;
• Support in updating and ensuring a comprehensive survivors/victim data collection mechanism through close cooperation with relevant stakeholders including NMAC;
• Assist in identification and capacity building of partners
• Support NMAC liaising current and potential stakeholders of victim assistance and disability activities, such as representatives from ministries, local authorities, UN agencies, NGOs, CBOs and civil society including landmine survivors groups;
• Coordinate Victim Assistance requirements within Sudan as they pertain to Mine Action;
• Support in monitoring VA activities and ensure proper application of VA national standard, strategy and action plan by the VA organizations;
•  Liaise with other pertinent organizations to ensure adequate coverage of the requirements
• Maintain a register of Victim Assistance/disability activities through Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database;
• Coordinate and focus humanitarian aid effort to ensure a complete coverage of the requirements for victim assistance/disability as part of the mine action & disability plans;
• Liaise with NMAC Operations Department to ensure updating of needs assessments for landmine/UXO awareness, work closely with the UNICEF, UNDP and UNAMID/ ODO Victim Assistance and MRE Associates in the regions and provinces;
• Prepare regular progress reports, final reports, ad-hoc reports and recommendations on the VA projects and other VA-related issues and submit them to IMSMA for proper entry and recording;
• Ensure promotion of gender mainstreaming through: participation of women in the development of national VA/disability plans and institutions; participation of women in victim assistance and disability program;
• Support Programme Officer in reviewing programme’s victim assistance and mine risk education activities, and verifying reported achievement.
•  Conduct field visits to monitor and verify programme’s VA and MRE activities.
•  Other duties as directed by Programme Officer or Programme Manager.

* CANDIDATES WITH NO UN OR UNOPS EXPERIENCE ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY!


Education and relevant years of experience:

• Advanced University Degree (Master’s Degree or equivalent) in business administration, project management, social science or related field 

• First level University degree (Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent) in a related field with 2 years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree;

 Work Experience:

• Relevant experience is defined as experience supporting programme or project activities
• At least 2 years’ experience in victim assistance and mine action

Language:

• Fluency in English (speaking, writing and reading) is required
• Fluency in Arabic (speaking, writing and reading) is required

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

Contract type: ICA
Contract level: Local 8 - ICA-8
Contract duration: Ongoing ICA – ‘Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.