Deadline for ApplicationsNovember 8, 2025
Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)B
Family Type (not applicable for home-based)
Family
Staff Member / Affiliate TypeCONTR Local Entry and Mid-Level Support
Target Start Date2025-10-26
Terms of ReferenceRequesting office (hiring office): Tehran
Title of project: Data Innovation Fund
Purpose of project (summary):
The proposed innovative idea can address the challenge by finding a solution through the use of an AI supported system to capture, categorize, respond, and route calls received. AI can act as the first line of contact which can answer the large number of generic queries received, routing non-generic calls to human agents. This can free up call centre agents to respond to calls that require UNHCR counselling/protection support enabling use of available human resources more efficiently. This is particularly important in the specific context of the Iran operation – which is the largest refugee hosting country with limited financial and human resources as well as limited physical access to refugee communities. Therefore, this solution will support the operation to respond
to refugees and dedicating its limited human resources to provide support to the most vulnerable especially that the office has no other regular way of reaching out to them given access restrictions. Based on the CwC survey
conducted by the operation, forcibly displaced persons highlighted their most preferred channel of communication with UNHCR as one-on-one counselling on the phone. Considering the operational capacity, it is important to effectively prioritize the most vulnerable for one-to-one phone counselling and referral for UNHCR protection support while addressing generic queries on rights, obligations and available services potentially through conversational AI. While the challenge is applicable to the entire operation, the pilot project is intended
to be tested only in Sub-Office, Shiraz (which hosts some 400,000 forcibly displaced Afghans). Considering the demographic of the population, language needed for the AI engine/bot is Farsi/Afghan Dari.
Contract Type: Individual Contractor, Full-Time, Entry Level Support
Monthly Fee: 900USD
Duration: 6 months, preferably Nov2025--April2026
General Background of Project or Assignment, Operational Context:
The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the largest refugee hosting countries in the world, hosting around 2.8 million refugees and persons in need of international protection. UNHCR Iran operates a Helpline to provide information, counselling, and support to forcibly displaced people (FDSPs). With the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing tools, there is an opportunity to enhance CwC activities and providing immediate responses to FDSPs or redirect their queries to staff member. To support this initiative, UNHCR Iran is seeking a GenAI individual contractor to assist in piloting and validating AI-enabled solutions for the Helpline.
The GenAI individual contractor will support the Helpline team in testing and applying generative AI solutions, focusing on data mapping, transcription, validation of AI outputs, and quality assurance. The individual contractor will help ensure that new technologies are used responsibly, effectively, and in line with data protection standards.
. Purpose and Scope of Assignment:
Terms of Reference for Individual Contracts
Concise and detailed description of activities, including measurable outputs and delivery dates, impact indicators
• Support on preparing the dataset to train the model by timeline: Nov 2025 to Feb 2026.
• Support the testing and validation of AI-generated responses to callers. Timeline: Feb to April 2026.
• Review AI model outputs to ensure accuracy, clarity, and consistency with UNHCR terminology and
protection-sensitive language. Timeline: Feb to April 2026.
• Identify errors, gaps, or potentially misleading outputs and provide feedback to the implementing
company. Timeline: Feb to April 2026.
• Assist in preparing training/validation datasets for improving AI model performance. Timeline: Nov
2025 to April 2026.
• Document issues, findings, and recommendations to guide further refinement of the AI system.
Required qualifications, language(s) and work experience:
Degree: Graduate Degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering,
or another data-related engineering field
Field of expertise, competencies:
-Strong coding skills for data science work in Python and SQL
-Strong interest in artificial intelligence applications within humanitarian contexts.
-Familiarity with Farsi and/or Dari natural language processing (NLP), speech-to-text, text to speech, or AI chatbots and conversational systems is an asset.
-Excellent attention to detail and ability to validate outputs against established standards.
-Strong communication skills and ability to work with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
-Proficiency in English and Farsi (written and spoken)
Minimum years of work experience (NOTE: candidates with less years of experience cannot be short-listed or
recommended): 2 years of experience in AI or related field.
Language: Required: English, Farsi Desirable: Afghan Dari
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Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance
RemoteNo