Partnership Officer – SRS UN Partnerships

Deadline for ApplicationsFebruary 24, 2026

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)H (no hardship)

Family Type (not applicable for home-based)

Family

Staff Member / Affiliate TypeUNOPS IICA2

Target Start Date2026-04-01

Terms of ReferenceTitle: Partnership Officer – SRS UN Partnerships
Duty station: Geneva, Switzerland
Section/Unit: UNHCR Self-Reliance and Inclusion Unit, Sustainable Responses Services (SRS)
ICA Level: IICA-2
Duration: from 01/04/2026 to 31/12/2026

1. General Background
Forced displacement is increasingly protracted and intertwined with broader development, governance, climate and peace challenges. Humanitarian assistance alone is insufficient to address the needs of refugees, internally displaced persons, stateless people and host communities. In response, UNHCR’s Sustainable Responses Strategy (SRS) promotes a shift towards solutions-oriented, development-aligned approaches that foster inclusion, self-reliance and resilience, in line with the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and UN development system reform.

Achieving sustainable responses requires strong, coherent and strategic partnerships across the UN system. UN agencies such as UNDP, ILO, WFP and FAO play a central role in advancing livelihoods, employment, food security, social protection, resilience, governance and peacebuilding. The UN Development Coordination Office (UNDCO/DCO) provides leadership on UN system coherence through Common Country Analyses (CCAs) and United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks (UNSDCFs), while system-wide reform initiatives, including UN80, shape collective UN engagement.

The Partnerships Officer-SRS UN Partnerships will report to the Head of Self-Reliance and Inclusion Unit within the Sustainable Responses Service (SRS) at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva.

2. Purpose and Scope of Assignment
The purpose of the assignment is to support SRS’ engagement with UN partners—particularly UNDP, ILO, WFP, FAO and UNDCO—to advance sustainable responses and solutions for forcibly displaced and stateless populations. The collaboration will be closely coordinated with Division of External Relations (DER)/Partnership and Coordination Service (PCS) to ensure our collaborative partnerships leverage synergies across the full range of thematic and technical engagements with the UN partners. This role supports and coordinates the SRS technical leads in line with their engagement and workplans with UN agencies. The position supports and strengthens this work through strategic, analytical, coordination and advisory functions.
The Partnerships Officer will undertake the following duties:
• Support SRS technical leads in advancing collaboration with UNDP, ILO, WFP, FAO, UNICEF and other UN entities, in line with SRS priorities and UNHCR corporate strategies, without assuming responsibility for partnership management.
• Serve as SRS’s internal focal point for consolidating and maintaining an overview of engagement with UN partners, including partnership agreements and areas of collaboration, to support strategic coherence and reporting. Coordinate and support technical teams in the development, monitoring and reporting of joint strategies, action plans, memoranda of understanding and collaboration frameworks with specific UN agencies.
• Working with PCS and the New York Office, consolidate SRS technical and advisory inputs to Regional Bureaus and Country Operations to support effective engagement with UN Country Teams across CCAs, UNSDCFs and joint programming. This includes engaging relevant technical/thematic focal points to advance the inclusion of refugees, returnees, IDPs and stateless people in national development plans, sector strategies and UN collective outcomes, in close coordination with PCS as lead of the UN Common Pledge to ensure alignment and coherence.
• Engage with PCS and the New York Office to monitor UN policy developments and UN reform initiatives, including UN80, and assess their implications for SRS technical engagement.
• Prepare briefing notes, background papers and analytical inputs for senior management related to UN partnerships and UN development engagement, in coordination with PCS.
• Contribute to guidance, tools, knowledge products, capacity-building initiatives and knowledge exchange related to engagement with UN partners.
• Support knowledge management, including documentation and dissemination of good practices and lessons learned.
• Support efforts to elevate visibility for refugee inclusion and self-reliance in global UN fora, including UNGA and UN partner convenings.
• Perform other related duties as required.

3. Monitoring and Progress Controls
• Progress will be monitored through contributions to partnership strategies, action plans and progress reports.
• Timely analytical and briefing products produced.
• Support provided to Regional Bureaus and Country Operations.
• Inputs to UN development processes and joint initiatives.
• Knowledge products and capacity-building activities delivered.

4. Qualifications and Experience
a. Education
• Advanced university degree in economics, development studies, political science, policy studies or a related field. A first level degree together with additional relevant work experience, may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.

b. Work Experience
• At least 6 years of relevant experience with Bachelor’s degree; 5 years with Master’s degree; or 4 years with Doctorate degree.
• Experience with UN agencies and development processes required.
• Demonstrated experience in inter-agency coordination, particularly with UN agencies, as well as engagement with government counterparts and other development actors, to advance the inclusion of refugees and returnees in national development plans, sector strategies and public service delivery systems.
• Experience in inter-agency coordination, joint programming and partnership development, including participation in inter-agency platforms and coordination mechanisms.
• Sound knowledge of UNHCR’s mandate, policies and operational approaches related to durable solutions and sustainable responses.
• Proven experience in supporting or contributing to development-oriented programming, including alignment with national development frameworks, UNSDCFs, recovery and resilience plans, and area-based approaches under the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus.

c. Key Competencies
• Strong analytical and coordination skills, with the ability to link humanitarian action with development and longer-term solutions.
• Effective drafting and communication skills, including preparation of briefing notes and analytical products.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and work collaboratively in a multicultural environment.
• Sound judgement, discretion and political awareness in institutional engagement.
• Proven stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent command of English; knowledge of French and/or another UN language is an asset.

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Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance

RemoteNo