Field Associate, LICA-6

Title: Field Associate

Duty Station: Windhoek, Namibia

Duration: 6 Months

Contract Type: Individual Contractor

Closing date: 21 July 2022

Start date: As soon as possible

Organizational context:

UNHCR Namibia has a total population of over 6,800 asylum seekers and refugees registered on its PRIMES database, as of June 2022, and over 140,000 persons without civil status registration, potentially at risk of statelessness. Namibia is both a signatory to the 1959 Conventions and the 1967 protocols, as well as to the African refugee convention. It has yet to sign or accede to the Statelessness Conventions and has signed but yet to ratify the African Union Convention for the protection and assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (Kampala Convention).

The majority of asylum seekers and refugees reside in Osire Settlement, in the Northern part of the country. Registration and documentation related to refugees is undertaken by the Government of Namibia, with technical support as need be from UNHCR. The nationality breakdown of refugees registered with UNHCR is predominantly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and a few other nationalities. The refugee situation in Namibia is assessed as a protracted situation as some refugees have been in Osire since its establishment in 1992. The Osire Refugee Settlement is situated about 220 km from Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia and about 130 km from Otjiwarongo which is the nearest town to the settlement. Beyond the protracted nature of asylum, refugees in Osire are also subject to drought and limited self-reliance or durable solution options.

The Government of Namibia is responsible for Registration, Camp Management, Education and Health interventions at the Settlement. Under the GoN umbrella, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration/COR is responsible for land allocation, camp coordination and provision of security. The Ministry of Health is in charge of the Clinic. The Ministry of Education is covering needs related to the education of refugees. Two other partners of UNHCR – Society for Family Health (SFH) and LAC, are charged with specific programmatic (distribution of food and core relief items, WASH, Shelter construction, livelihoods, lighting, Specific needs issues, community outreach and counselling, warehousing, etc) and legal responsibilities in support of refugees respectively. The National Association for Child Care Workers (NACCW) will implement activities related to child protection and community-based child and youth care in Namibia. UNHCR plays a coordination, technical and financial support role, as well as advocacy in relation to UNHCR and other global refugee compact related issues. UNHCR also participates in the UN Country Team obligations and works closely with sister UN Agencies in the country.

In 2015, UNHCR has closed its office in the country and transferred protection monitoring and support responsibilities for the country over to the Southern Africa Office, with occasional technical visits to the country. Thereafter, the GoN requested that UNHCR re-establish its presence in order to enhance international protection support to the country. Under its mandate responsibility, and over the passage of time, there is a recognised need to support the country in arriving at achieving the realisation of its Global Refugee Compact commitments and pledges in different areas such as on solutions (self-reliance, local integration, resettlement and complementary pathways), statelessness issues, and Refugee Status Determination. The need to also strengthen foundational protection interventions in the areas of child protection, SGBV, community-based-protection, and protection counselling are also evident.

As of 2022, the impetus on UNHCR pillar (2) – Statelessness, as well as initiatives related to accountability for affected populations have both picked up pace, requiring an individual with multiple protection skills sets, to absorb in these emerging support needs of the operation, as well as offer reinforced partner support across operational areas, to ensure that protection is visibly mainstreamed and routinely monitored across all sectors. The operation is equally in a period of transition from in-kind assistance to cash-based interventions, leading to self-reliance at some point in future. There is therefore a need for a candidate with previous related experience, including with working with agencies like WFP for joint assessments and related surveys. In other words, an individual with a multi-facetted strong protection and operations background, over extensive period of time, in different settings: both humanitarian and governmental where applicable. As of Aug 2020, a Senior Legal Officer heads the UNHCR field presence in Namibia, reporting to the MCO Representative in Pretoria. The office is currently supported by a team of six staff: Snr Admin Asst, two drivers, and two RST AWF Staff. It will be further complimented by the current position, as well as both a protection and field associate up until Dec 2022.

Please also note that 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.

The position:

The Field Associate reports to the Protection Officer or the Senior Protection Officer. Depending on the size and structure of the Office, the incumbent may have supervisory responsibility for protection staff including community-based protection registration, resettlement and education. S/he provides functional protection guidance to information management and programme staff on all protection/legal matters and accountabilities. These include: statelessness (in line with the campaign to End Statelessness by 2024), Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) commitments, age, gender, diversity (AGD) and accountability to affected populations (AAP) through community-based protection, Child protection, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response, gender equality, disability inclusion, youth empowerment, psycho-social support and PSEA, registration, asylum/refugee status determination, resettlement, local integration, voluntary repatriation, human rights standards integration, national legislation, judicial engagement, predictable and decisive engagement in situations of internal displacement and engagement in wider mixed movement and climate change/disaster-related displacement responses. S/he supervises protection standards, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery in line with international standards.

The Field Associate is expected to coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern, ensuring that operational responses in all sectors mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. The incumbent contributes to the design of a comprehensive protection strategy and represents the organization externally on protection doctrine and policy as guided by the supervisor. S/he also ensures that persons of concern are meaningfully engaged in the decisions that affect them and support programme design and adaptations that are influenced by the concerns, priorities, and capacities of persons of concern. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, authorities, protection, and assistance partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection.

Duties and responsibilities:

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR’s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

• Monitor the situation in the AoR, collect data and other information relevant to UNHCR and report to the supervisor accordingly.
• Monitor the implementation of UNHCR programme including the delivery of all assistance items and monitoring of infrastructure, in close collaboration with the implementing partners and government officials on ground.
• Undertake regular visits to various sites in order to assess needs of persons of concern, with particular attention to vulnerable groups.
• Operational reporting on all field refugee settlement activities that include amongst others: food distribution, warehouse management, shelter assistance, livelihoods programmes; education data and needs, health data and needs; cash-based interventions; etc
• Keep regular contacts with local authorities and implementing partners as requested by the supervisor and undertake joint periodic reviews and assessments, as well as participate in PPA discussions.
• Contribute to the preparation of status and progress reports by providing info, preparing tables, etc.
• Assist in administrative tasks as required such as preparation of reports and meeting authorized personnel and assisting them during field missions with varied stakeholders and including operational partners like fellow UN Sister agencies and other actors. This would include familiarity and undertaking of joint assessment missions.
• Inform and act on the reports received on persons of concern within the refugee community or from the local authorities.
• Support in the roll-out of and monitoring of cash-based interventions
• Strengthen livelihoods projects to simply transcend family meals to a commercial level-based undertaking
• In coordination with implementing partners, assist in the reception, registration, and provision of assistance to persons of concern to UNHCR.
• Negotiate with local authority counterparts, partners, and populations of concern on issues of mutual interest and varied interventions.
• Represent UNHCR in physical monitoring of projects, as per the level of authority accorded.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required:

The ideal candidate will be required to have demonstrated and recorded professional maturity, in addition to:

Education:

• 3 years relevant experience with High School Diploma; or 2 years relevant work experience with Bachelor or equivalent or higher

Field(s) of Education:

• Development studies
• Supply/logistics
• Cash-based interventions
• Livelihood expertise
• Humanitarian sturdies
• Field project management

Relevant Job Experience:

Work Experience

Essential

• Rural and field experience
• Fundamental supply and logistics
• Cash-based interventions
• Livelihood’s expertise
• Development work
• Humanitarian work

Desirable

• An ability to mobilize and bring together communities
• A strong ability to coordinate and advance projects
• Working in hardship conditions – remote setting, long working hours, complex environment.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and working knowledge of another relevant UN language or local language. (In offices where the working language is not English, excellent knowledge of UN working language of duty station and working knowledge of English.)
• An ability to draft good reports and project proposals

Competency requirements:

• Core Competencies
• Accountability
• Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Client & Result Orientation
• Managerial Competencies
• Empowering and Building Trust
• Cross-Functional Competencies
• Analytical Thinking
• Planning and Organizing

Stakeholder Management

Location:

The successful candidate will be based with the team In Windhoek, Namibia.

Conditions:

The contract is for six months, and the start date is ASAP. It is a full-time role with working hours starting from 8.00am to 5pm Monday to Friday (40 hours per week).