Senior Technical Expert – Development and Forced Displacement

The EU Action ‘Lives in Dignity – EU Global Facility for Refugees’ is a strategic, flexible operational structure to improve responses to forced displacement and ensure development oriented engagement in key displacement situations. The Action builds on the EU’s successful championing of a new approach to forced displacement through their engagement in the Middle East (Syrian crisis), the Horn of Africa and South Asia.

The overall objective of the action is that refugees and other displaced persons become productive members of their host communities and participate in furthering their common resilience, socio-economic growth and development 

The EU-UNOPS Lives in Dignity (LiD) Grant Facility was founded in 2020 to efficiently and effectively channel funding to promote development-oriented approaches to new, recurrent and protracted displacement crises, focusing on early operational engagement.

The LiD Grant Facility manages 14 partnership projects with 35 implementing partners across Asia, Latin America and Africa.  The Senior Technical Expert is part of a dedicated UNOPS Fund and Grant Management team who oversees the grant portfolio. The team is managed by a Senior Project Manager, with oversight from the Head of Programme in Geneva and the wider UNOPS Geneva Senior Management. The team is also assisted by the wider UNOPS Geneva Support Services Team. 

The Fund and Grant Management team consists of 6 personnel: Senior Project Manager, Grant Specialist, Senior Technical Expert, M&E Senior Analyst, a Finance & Grants Senior Analyst, and a Communications Specialist (part time). 

The Senior Technical Expert will act as the substantive lead and subject matter expert for the project and acts as the main subject matter expert for theLiD Grant Management facility.

Under the direct supervision of the Senior Project Manager, the Senior Technical Expert will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Provide subject matter advise on forced displacement and development to the project team, the governance bodies and the wider stakeholders throughout the grant management cycle;

• Review grantee reports and updates and provide quality control from a subject matter point of view.

• Participate in monthly calls with grantees to provide quality control from a subject matter point of view

• Provide input into assessment of grantee performance with regards to substantive issues. 

• Provide subject matter advice and guidance to the monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning efforts.

• Lead the Grant Facility’s learning component, which includes thematic webinars, community of practice (CoP), consolidation of learning from projects and sharing with relevant stakeholders, including organizing and moderating the thematic webinars and CoP meetings;

• Draft and share internal LiD leaning updates on a quarterly basis that provide a selection of lessons learnt received from grantees

• Draft jointly with grantees good practices for external knowledge platforms (e.g.GCR, IDMC, MCM)

• Contribute (both remotely and in person visits if needed) to LiD Grant Facility monitoring mission, in particular assuring that displacement affected persons perspectives, participation and satisfaction are assessed and reported

• Support and participate in 14 LiD projects' Local Project Advisory Committees (LPACs) 

• Act as subject matter advisor to the project's communications efforts. Contribute to the production of communications efforts (press releases, op eds, press conferences, workshops, donor briefings etc).

• Be the liaison between UNOPS and key subject matter stakeholders 

• Act as resource person for translating EU policy and wider substantive policy on forced displacement and refugees for purposes of the grant facility. 

• Act as substantive and technical liaison with other stakeholders to the project (including UNHCR and substantive units at the EU).

• Contribute to narrative reports as required in project agreement documents with inputs from the M&E Specialist and EU coordinator/advisor.

• Participate in relevant foras within the UN and/or forced displacement area, as relevant.

• A minimum requirement of 7 years of experience working on matters related to forced displacement, of which at least 3 years has been related to working on development projects, preferably in a field setting. 

• Demonstrated solid understanding of forced displacement dynamics, the humanitarian-development and peace nexus,and their relevance to sustainable development is required

• Strong analytical, policy and programme development skills is required

• Proven strategic development and prioritisation skills on both forced displacement and development is desirable.

• Knowledge of the UN system, Global Compact on Migration, Global Compact on Refugees, forced displacement inter-agency coordination mechanisms (e.g. UN Network on Migration), GP20 on Internal Displacement, World Bank, IMF and bilateral partners is  desirable.

• A Master’s degree preferably in an area such as Forced displacement, Migration Studies, Development Studies, Peace & conflict studies, International Law, International Relations or Political Science and/or other related fields is required.

• A first level university degree may be accepted in lieu of a Master’s degree, with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience.

• Excellent written and oral skills in English are required.  

• Knowledge of French and/or Spanish is desirable.

Contract type: International  Individual Contractor Agreement (IICA)
Contract level: ICS 11/  IICA 3
Contract duration: 12 months maternity cover

• 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.
• UNOPS embraces diversity and it is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, or disability.
  
• 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
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  
• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.
• Geneva, Switzerland is a UN family duty station.
• 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.
• Depending on the outcome of the process, this role can be Home Based or at the duty station in Geneva, Switzerland. For home-based positions: should the candidate be a national of the country where the position is based, a LICA contract at the same level could be applicable.
  

UNOPS – an operational arm of the United Nations – supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by successfully implementing its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development.

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


Working with us

We are proud of our people. With a wealth of knowledge and skills in various disciplines – engineering, finance, human resources, ICT, leadership, project management, procurement, and more – they help tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. Their work around the world supports progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).


At UNOPS, we offer a range of short- and long-term opportunities in various environments and duty stations – from Denmark and Kenya to Mexico, Switzerland, Myanmar, Senegal, Uganda, and many more.


Diversity

With over 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,400 personnel recruited on behalf of our partners, spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced and diverse labor force — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs. We continually strive to maintain our gender-balanced workplace. We encourage qualified underrepresented groups as per UNOPS Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy to apply for our vacancies.



Work life harmonization

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

Based in Geneva, the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR) supports UNOPS offices throughout the region through: management, financial and programmatic oversight of global and country-specific portfolios, clusters and operations centres, including hosting services; fund and management advisory services; project implementation; procuring goods and services; and managing human resources.

ECR ensures that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between business units and projects across the entire region.

 ECR strategy is to:

• Strengthen UNOPS role in operationalizing the Sustainable Development Goals with particular emphasis on health, environment and economic development.
• Position UNOPS in the Balkan sub-region, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
• Strengthen the implementation of ECR global and regional programmes, with revitalized partnerships in infrastructure, procurement and project management.

ECR operates global portfolios from offices in Geneva, Brussels and New York, and country-specific programmes from its operations and project centres located in Eastern Europe and Central Asian countries.