UNFPA Vacancy for Associate SRH Officer in Emergencies

Volunteer category: International UN Youth Volunteer

Host entity: UNFPA

Type: Onsite

Duration: 12 months

Number of assignments: 1

Duty stations: Kathmandu

Details

Mission and objectives

UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Our mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s goal is to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health, realise reproductive rights, and reduce maternal mortality to accelerate progress on the ICPD agenda, to improve the lives of adolescents and youth, and women, enabled by population dynamics, human rights, and gender equality.

Context

UNFPA Nepal implements its 9th Country Programme (CP 2023-2027). One of the primary objectives of this programme is to enhance national, sub-national, and community capacities to build resilience and reduce vulnerabilities to humanitarian stress. This effort is vital to ensure the continuity of inclusive, life-saving high-quality sexual and reproductive health and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) services in humanitarian settings.

Nepal is a priority country for emergency preparedness and response in Asia given its susceptibility to natural hazards such as earthquakes and floods. These vulnerabilities are compounded by poverty and inequality; around a quarter of the population live in extreme poverty and are among the most marginalised as it intersects with caste, ethnicity, gender and sexuality among others. Availability and quality of public services, including health care are limited, due to weak institutional capacities particularly at sub-national level. Nepal’s geographical terrain makes many remote and rural areas hard to reach, further complicating access to services and provision of humanitarian assistance.

Under the humanitarian architecture for coordination of humanitarian action, UNFPA leads the Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Sub-cluster, the Gender Based Violence (GBV) Sub-cluster and co-leads the Protection Cluster, together with relevant government counterparts. Addressing GBV in humanitarian contexts is a priority for UNFPA and cuts across all other areas of work including sexual and reproductive health, gender equality, the rights of adolescent girls, and the generation of high-quality population data. UNFPA is also the lead agency around the world for the provision of maternal health care and family planning services in humanitarian settings.

The Associate SRH Officer in Emergencies will build close relationships with the CO programme, implementing partners, national counterparts as well as the donor community for efficient and effective delivery of the country programme. S/he will provide quality support to programme/project activities, ensure coordination and reporting requirements are fulfilled and reported in a timely manner with quality checks, in line with UNFPA guidelines.

Task description

Under the overall guidance of the Deputy Representative and the direct supervision of Programme Analyst-SRH, Associate SRH Officer in Emergencies will perform the following tasks:

• Support humanitarian programme initiatives.
•  Contribute to establish effective coordination with GBV and RH sub cluster lead and its members.
•  Support to conduct cluster meetings.
• Support to collect information contributing to annual work plans with a focus on humanitarian and integrated programme.
• Contribute to track the project implementation by implementing partners.
• Support in reporting and data management.
•  Assist field monitoring activities in ensuring quality implementation is carried out along with humanitarian team in the project area.
•  Support in identifying, collecting, and reporting human centric case stories received from implementing partners.
•  Support UNFPA staff and Implementing Partners in preparing their quality reports.
•  Support to review reports from implementing partners; analyse them and identify to highlight the impact and track the project implementation.
•  Support the regular sharing of the humanitarian initiatives with UNFPA staff, Implementing Partners, and primary stakeholders.
• Contribute to knowledge networks and communities of practice.
• Working closely with the SRHR and humanitarian lead and support in program and financial monitoring and implementation as outlined in the Implementation Partners (IPs) agreement and work plan.
•  Support in development and revision of the work plan, including budgets following the requisite guidelines.
• Support in planning, managing, and monitoring of coordination forums pertinent to SRHR.
•  Support planning and undertaking of monitoring visits for SRHR.
•  Assist in program and financial management and monitoring of UNFPA supported activities and UNFPA IPs according to established programme policy and financial rules, regulations, and guidelines.
• Maintain up to date information on programme activities and prepare status, progress and knowledge sharing reports.
• Assist in compiling and verification of the SRHR related data for periodic reports.
•  Maintain a repository of programme-related documents, monitoring visit reports and other files.
• Perform any other tasks as required and assigned by UNFPA.

Eligibility criteria

Age: 18 – 80

Additional eligibility criteria

This assignment is funded by the Government of Switzerland and therefore specific criteria apply:

• Candidates must be Swiss nationals.
•  Candidates must be between 18 and 29 years of age at the time of application.
• Only candidates who have been pre-selected by Switzerland (cinfo) are eligible to apply.

Nationality

Candidate must be a national of a country other than the country of assignment.

Donor priorities
.

Requirements

Required experience

• 1 years of experience in (minimum 3 months)
• Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, Gender Based Violence (GBV).
• Knowledge and skills in Ms word, Excel and report writing.
•  Experience in reporting and project management would be highly regarded.
•  Previous experience as a volunteer and/or experience of another culture, (i.e. studies, volunteer work, internship) would be highly regarded.

Area(s) of expertise

Development programmes, Health, Communication

Driving license
–

Languages
English, Level: Fluent, Required

Required education level
Master degree or equivalent in Master’s degree in public health, development studies, disaster management, gender studies, international studies.

Competencies and values

•  Accountability
•  Adaptability and Flexibility
•  Building Trust
•  Commitment and Motivation
•  Commitment to Continuous Learning
•  Communication
•  Creativity
•  Ethics and Values
•  Integrity
•  Judgement and Decision-making
•  Knowledge Sharing
•  Planning and Organizing
•  Respect for Diversity
•  Self-Management
•  Technological Awareness
•  Vision
•  Working in Teams

Other information

Living conditions and remarks

Nepal is a country with population of 28.4 million in 2016 and with annual growth rate 1.35 per cent. It is in the middle of “demographic window of opportunity” with 40 per cent under the age of 18 years. GDP per capita is US$ 853 as of 2017 which categorize the country as a Least Developed Country. It is planning to graduate to a Middle-Income Country by 2030. In terms of poverty reduction, the country reduced the percentage of population below poverty line from 42 per cent in 1995 to 21.6 per cent in 2015. At the same time, the country does not have major industrial base for development. Remittance is the largest source of foreign exchange and equivalent to 30 per cent of GDP as of 2014.

A key feature of Nepal is its diversity. There are over 126 ethnic groups and castes and 92 different languages spoken in 3 distinctively different ecological zones, i.e. Terai (plain area bordering India), Hills and Mountains. Another key word is vulnerability. The country has been regularly affected by a wide range of natural disasters including landslides, floods, earthquakes and impact of climate changes.
The country is a federal state with substantial devolution of powers to local governments after the promulgation of the constitution in 2015 and multiple rounds of local election in 2017. Nepal offers many places of natural beauty and people that are welcoming and interested to engage with foreigners.

Kathmandu is rapidly catching up with the 21st century and has become a fragrant mix of heritage sites and modern life. Kathmandu is a safe place to live for foreigners, however traffic and seasonal air pollution are recognized hazards. Living conditions should be expected to be basic and although commodities like water and electricity have vastly improved over the last years, these are not at all times guaranteed. It is relatively easy to get out of the city into the hills around it through which you can access some of the national parks like Shivapuri.

Given the state of flux in which daily radical changes in the country’s institutional structure are a reality, flexibility and the ability to keep an eye on the goal at the horizon, while frequently changing direction are prerequisites to make a meaningful contribution to the larger process at hand.

Inclusivity statement

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements

Selected candidates for certain occupational groups may be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in line with the applicable host entity policy

Advertisement end date:24/10/2024