Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)A (least hardship)
Family Type (not applicable for home-based)
Family
Staff Member / Affiliate TypeUNOPS LICA5
Target Start Date2023-12-01
Job Posting End DateNovember 20, 2023
Terms of Reference1. Operational Context
Under the mandate entrusted by the UN General Assembly, UNHCR is the UN agency tasked to work with States to protect and assist in finding durable solutions for asylum seekers, refugees, and stateless persons. As a State Party to the Refugee and Stateless Conventions, the Philippines has a generally favourable protection environment for asylum seekers, refugees, and stateless persons. UNHCR in the Philippines works with authorities, duty bearers, other stakeholders, and the people it works with and for, to ensure that asylum seekers, refugees, stateless persons, and populations at risk of statelessness have access to protection mechanisms, assistance and services, and durable solutions that would allow them to rebuild their lives in safety and dignity.
In 2022, the Philippines acceded to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, becoming the first and only country in Southeast Asia to do so. This is a major step in the efforts to end statelessness as it fortifies the countryโs commitment to prevent and reduce statelessness. Additionally, in line with the Philippinesโ implementation of its National Action Plan to End Statelessness, birth registration initiatives are being carried out to facilitate birth registration of Sama Bajaus and unregistered children in the context of displacement due to armed conflict. In 2021, these initiatives have been expanded covering priority municipalities in the island provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Given these developments, UNHCR is expected to continuously provide technical support to the Philippine Government in upholding its commitment to the Refugee and Statelessness Conventions. The incumbent will be expected to provide support to the teamโs activities in the field in relation to the conduct of birth registration initiatives and its components. The Senior Admin Assistant will provide administrative assistance to the UNHCR National Office to ensure that administrative tasks for the birth registration initiatives under the project funded by the Government of Japan are correctly and timely implemented and there is an efficient workflow.
The Senior Administrative Assistant may liaise with local suppliers and/or officials and/or Implementing Partners (IPs) on routine subject matters under the direction of the supervisor.
2. Purpose and Scope of Assignment
Following the success of earlier initiatives, UNHCR, the Ministry of Social Services and Development (MSSD), and partners with funding support from the Japan Government, will continue the implementation of birth registration initiative covering 50 municipalities in BARMM from 2023 to 2025. The initiative seeks to provide technical assistance to strengthen the capacity of the identified priority municipalities in formulating a participatory strategy in addressing the gap on birth registration. This includes provision of support to the priority municipalities through digitization and capacity building for relevant stakeholders and key duty bearers. In addition, advocacy activities on the importance of birth registration will also be carried out with active engagement and participation of youth groups and key duty bearers. This will be carried out to ensure sustainability of the initiative.
Furthermore, UNHCR aims to reinforce efforts to prevent deterioration of the protection space for Sama Bajau and unregistered children within the context of forcible displacement due to armed conflict as well as complement the normalization efforts of the Government through birth registration of former combatants. This will also ensure sustainability of the efforts initiated based on the below assumption that all implementations will be designed and implemented in partnership with the local government units, in consultation with representatives of all sectors of the target communities (e.g., community leaders, women, youth, children, people with special needs ). This is also in line with the key protection principle of meaningful community participation and empowerment.
As the Senior Administrative Assistant will render support to the Project team by providing administrative assistance to ensure that administrative tasks for this project are correctly and timely implemented and there is an efficient workflow, it is desired that the candidate will have sufficient experience on procurement and general administrative work. It is for this reason that the candidatesโ geo-political familiarity on the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi in BARMM is desirable. Prior experience working for and with the United Nations and/or other international humanitarian organizations is desirable.
Under the supervision of the Assistant Admin Officer, the Senior Administrative Assistant will be expected to:
3. Duties and Responsibilities
Assist in the procurement of the hardware component of the project funded by the Government of Japan (Birth Registration digitization IT equipment, vehicles and motorboats for Birth Registration Caravans).
Assist in interpreting and processing of entitlements, issuance of contracts and maintenance of various personnel records and files.
Attend meetings on day-to-day admin matters; administer the movement of UNHCR staff members and monitor their attendance records, leave plans, overtime and visa requirements.
Search office files and records relating to a variety of topics for information and reference. Select information and records in specified format or on the basis of general instructions for use by others in preparing reports, correspondence, technical papers, project or programme plans and general reference documents.
Assist in requisition of office supplies, equipment and arrange for distribution together with the appropriate inventory records.
Assist in administrative formalities related to travel arrangements and issuance/ renewal of visas, licences, travel arrangements and other similar documents.
Draft correspondence and reports, as required, on general administrative or specialized tasks which may be of a confidential nature within the assigned area of responsibility; Type correspondence, documents and reports, some of which may be highly confidential.
Arrange appointments and maintain supervisor's calendar, receive visitors, place and screen telephone calls and answer queries with discretion; Keep lists of names, addresses and telephone numbers of ministers, government officials and members of the diplomatic corps.
Assist the management to organize and run UNHCR Office and Residential (wherever applicable) compounds.
Facilitate various official missions of UNHCR staff (specifically staff working for the project funded by the Government of Japan) and relevant partners.
Perform other related duties as required.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Minimum Qualifications
Education & Professional Work Experience Years of Experience / Degree Level
For G5 - 2 years relevant experience with High School Diploma; or 1-year relevant work experience with Bachelor or equivalent or higher
Field(s) of Education Not applicable.
Certificates and/or Licenses
Business Administration, Finance, Office Management, Human Resources, or other related field. (Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)
Relevant Job Experience Essential
Functional Skills
*IT-Computer Literacy
UN-UN/UNHCR Administrative Rules, Regulations and Procedures IT-PeopleSoft Applications
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)
Language Requirements
Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.
CORE COMPETENCIES
- Accountability
- Communication
- Organizational Awareness
- Teamwork & Collaboration
- Commitment to Continuous Learning
- Client & Result Orientation
- Analytical Thinking
- Planning and Organizing
- Stakeholder Management
To Apply:
The deadline for applications is 20 November 2023.
UNHCR strongly encourages qualified female applicants for this position. UNHCR seeks to ensure that male and female employees are given equal career opportunities. UNHCR is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.
Recruitment as a UNHCR staff member and engagement under a UNHCR affiliate scheme or as an intern is subject to proof of vaccination against Covid-19.
UNHCR has a zero-tolerance policy against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA). SEA is unacceptable behavior and prohibited conduct for UNHCR personnel. It constitutes acts of serious misconduct and is therefore grounds for disciplinary measures, including dismissal. Any concerns or suspicions about a possible case of SEA should be reported immediately to the Inspector Generalโs Office (IGO) at inspector@unhcr.org or through the online complain form at https://www.unhcr.org/php/complaints.php or by confidential fax: +41 22 739 73 80.
The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, color, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity. Please note that UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing, training or any other fees).
Standard Job Description
Required Languages
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Desired Languages
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Additional Qualifications
Skills
Education
Certifications
Work Experience
Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance