Organization: UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund
Location: Istanbul
Grade: Mid level – P-4, International Professional – Internationally recruited position
Occupational Groups:
Human Resources
Medical Practitioners
Humanitarian Aid and Coordination
Disaster Management (Preparedness, Resilience, Response and Recovery)
Emergency Aid and Response
Managerial positions
Closing Date: 2024-06-25
The person in this role will be responsible for coordinating the prompt and efficient provision of human resources services during emergencies. She/he will enable the end-to-end HR strategic and operational support needed to assist Regional and Country Offices in delivering a people-centric emergency response. The aim is to enable UNICEF to deliver on its Core Commitments for Children (CCC) and ensure timely, effective, and efficient delivery of all human resources needs in emergencies and support for humanitarian contexts. This includes collaborating with key partners to ensure human resource availability, forecasting, planning, and capacity development.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.
At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.
UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.
Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.
For every child, Commitment!
UNICEF is the leading humanitarian and development agency working globally for the rights of every child. Child rights begin with safe shelter, nutrition, protection from disaster and conflict and traverse the life cycle: pre-natal care for healthy births, clean water and sanitation, health care and education. For UNICEF to meet this mandate and its Core Commitments for Children, in the context of increasingly complex humanitarian crises, there must be effective systems and practices in place to attract, retain, develop, engage, reward, and deploy appropriately qualified people for humanitarian action, both preparedness and response, but also in building organizational resilience in humanitarian crises management.
How can you make a difference?
Purpose of the job:
Under the overall guidance of the Chief Human Resources in Humanitarian Action (Business Partnering and Response), the incumbent of this post will coordinate the efficient delivery of human resources response to emergencies.
The incumbent will facilitate efficiently and effectively the support to Regional and Country Offices by ensuring rapid identification and deployment of staff, solid coordination, tracking and enhancing of the different surge mechanisms. This will enable UNICEF to deliver on its commitments to children and ensure timely, effective, and efficient delivery of all human resources in emergencies and support for humanitarian contexts. These include but are not limited to working with key partners on human resource availability, forecasting. planning and capacity development functions as well as provision of rapid deployment, recruitment and sourcing needs (including Emergency Response Team Members, Surge, Staff, UNV and others), especially during times of heightened emergencies.
Summary of key functions/accountabilities:
Management of Unit
Support the Chief Human Resources in Humanitarian Action (Business Partnering and Response) in establishing the annual work plan, setting priorities/targets and performance measurements.
Monitor work progress and ensure results are achieved according to schedule and performance standards.
Establish clear individual performance objectives, goals and timelines; and provide timely guidance to enable the team to perform their duties responsibly and efficiently.
Technical HR Leadership
Provide technical leadership in implementing the UNICEF Surge Strategy and contribute to the further enhancement of the strategy and developing a culture of understanding within the Organization of surge mechanisms, standards and operating procedures and tools underpinned by a people centric approach.
Develop, implement, and oversee the interpretation and implementation of new human resources policies, practices, and procedures specific to Humanitarian Action. This includes defining the organisation’s stance on HR policies within the humanitarian context and deciding how rules and regulations should be applied to particularly sensitive or contentious individual cases that may impact other HR systems and UNICEF’s mandate.
Enhance and execute a strategic staffing and succession planning approach within the humanitarian context.
Response Coordination
Serve as the single point of contact for HR professionals operating in emergency and humanitarian contexts on advice about all aspects of the HR employment life cycle. Gather lessons learnt with the aim of improvement of surge mechanisms, tools and approaches.
Work with Regional and Country Offices to help fulfil their goals through advising on how to attract, retain and motivate staff of the highest caliber staff to meet most acute emergency and surge needs.
Provide accurate and timely advice to clients on HR processes and policies, ensuring the highest level of client orientation.
Proactively advise clients on resolving human resources issues, ensuring equitable and transparent solutions that protect both the staff and the organizations interests in accordance with policies, regulations and procedures.
Ensure the ongoing cohesiveness and efficiency of the Emergency Response Team (ERT) mechanism, primarily strengthening UNICEF’s ability to address humanitarian crises.
Coordinate Emergency Response Team members as a comprehensive mechanism, with well-defined accountability, responsibilities and greater impact.
Guide the response efforts of individual ERT members across diverse sectors while fostering collaboration with regional and country offices. This coordination aims to streamline and optimize our response to emergencies, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness.
Promote the organizational goals and targets for gender equity and cultural diversity.
Strategic Human Resources
Liaise with the HQ Divisions regional and country offices to support and contribute to corporate HR strategy formulation and global implementation. Provide feedback and make recommendations on establishing and improving HR systems, policies and processes.
Keep abreast, research, benchmark, and implement best and cutting-edge practices in HR management and contribute to the development of global policies and procedures and introduce innovation by sharing best practices and knowledge learned.
Responsible for strategic human resources forecasting for humanitarian responses, including identifying future human resource requirements in numbers, types and levels of staff and identifying emerging trends in profile requirements. Contribute to humanitarian response preparedness through inputting into the development and implementation of strategies to support of a talent pipeline for surge and longer-term humanitarian response.
Helps design optimal organizational staffing structures and levels and, in consultation with senior management, develops standards and benchmarks staffing norms.
Policy Advice and Implementation
Equity, transparency and consistency are demonstrated in the interpretation, implementation and administration of HR policy, procedures, and guidelines on HR
Continuously review, assess, enhance and develop SOPs, policies, guideline and processes to ensure effective and efficient HR delivery.
Participate in the review of different policies affecting staff in emergencies and humanitarian contexts.
Provide policy and procedural advise to HR staff in country offices and on mission as appropriate.
HR Data Analytics
Ensures appropriate data collection systems is in place to optimize data quality in support of an efficient surge management and reporting to promote decision-making and learning. Oversees up-to-date information gathering and monitoring system on uptake of surge globally and ensures regular reporting on impact and effectiveness.
Leads efforts on information and knowledge sharing by analyzing data. Ensures dissemination of key data, information and reports to promote organizational learning and effectiveness and inform strategic decision-making on processes and strategies.
Coordinate with country offices and partners to assist in their HR information management.
Contributes to the coordination of management reporting (periodic, annual etc) and office management work plan design in alignment with the UNICEF Strategic Plan and organizational frameworks.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Minimum requirements:
Education: Advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in human resource management, business management, international relations, psychology or another related field is required.
Work Experience: At least eight (8) years of relevant work experience in human resource management in an international organization or large corporation is required. Extensive experience and background/familiarity in emergencies, humanitarian response and surge capacity are considered strong assets.
Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of how an HR function operates in humanitarian settings is required.
Ability and willingness to travel to emergency countries is required.
Language Requirements: Fluency in English language is required.
Desirables:
Extensive experience and background/familiarity in emergencies, humanitarian response and surge capacity are considered strong assets.
Prior work experience in an emergency duty station is preferred.
Prior experience working in the UN System or other international development organizations is highly desirable.
Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values
The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (2)
Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
Works Collaboratively with others (2)
Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
Drive to achieve impactful results (2)
Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)
Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.
UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.
UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.
Remarks:
As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.
Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.
UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.
Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.
All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.