Project Officer (Regional Border and Identity Solutions)

Context:

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) in Bangkok, Thailand is covering 40 countries across the Asia and Pacific region. The key responsibility of the ROAP is to formulate regional strategies and plans of action and to provide programmatic and administrative support to the countries within its region. Regional Thematic Specialists (RTS) in the various areas of migration management, policy and project development are based at the ROAP to fulfill this responsibility.

The IOM ROAP in Bangkok, Thailand provides guidance and technical expertise to IOM Country Offices (COs) in Asia Pacific Region aspiring to expand their Immigration & Border Management (IBM) programming and to respective governmental counterparts to aspiring to improve their migration and border management systems, processes and capacities.

In particular, the Document Examination Support Center (DESC) Initiative is coordinated by the IBM unit, with the financial support of the Government of Canada and in close collaboration with document examination experts of immigration authorities in Asia and the Pacific. In coordination with IOM’s COs, and in synergy with related projects, the DESC unit provides technical support in travel document examination and verification to immigration and border control officials in countries in the Asia and Pacific Region, thus assisting in the curbing irregular migration, including smuggling of migrants, human trafficking and transnational organized crime, through the development of regional trends on passport and identity frauds. Moreover, to further establish DESC as a regional initiative, the ANDEX (Asian Network for Document Examination) was formally established as the regional information-sharing platform for document examination and verification experts of the DESC countries.

The IBM Unit also facilitates the sharing of biometrics and other data among the participating Bali process member countries in order to contribute to the protection of migrants, the early detection of smuggling and trafficking of people, and provide support for States to exchange evidence for investigations, e.g. through the development of platforms to facilitate secure data exchanges.

The IBM Unit at the IOM ROAP marks an important role in contributing to the improvement of border and identity management in Asia Pacific region, with to the organization of the bi-annual Border Management and Identity Conference (BMIC). The organization includes the identification of the location of venue, development of themes and related workshops to be discussed during the Conference, the identification of relevant speakers and coordination for the development of the presentation, liaison with Governments to be invited to the Conference and dissemination of best practices among IOM’s offices.

Under the overall guidance of the Regional Director (RD) for Asia and the Pacific and the direct supervision of the Senior Regional Immigration & Border Management Specialist (RTS-IBM) based in Bangkok, Thailand, the successful candidate will provide technical support internally and externally on Border Management related issues.

Core Functions / Responsibilities:

1. Assist the RTS-IBM to manage the DESC related day-to-day operations including management of the regionally coordinated project across 19 countries of the Asia Pacific region, and support other country level initiatives that synergies with the operations of DESC. Responsibilities also include all aspects of project management.
2. Coordinate with government focal points, United Nations (UN) agencies, international organizations and relevant IOM offices to implement activities of the DESC initiative.
3. Contribute to capacity needs assessment and support with the development of the required capacity building programmes, maintaining and enhancing the network of IBM agencies as well as issuing authorities of travel documents; participating in promoting DESC’s initiatives in the region; and globally, responding to requests by officers in immigration and border control in need of DESC’s support; review, analyse, and share trends from the collected data, information and sample documents with relevant partner governments and agencies.
4. Assist in the development and design of new IBM programmes and projects, in coordination with IOM COs in the Asia and Pacific Region, relevant governmental authorities, international organizations, as well as partner organizations in the public and private sectors.
5. Assist COs in the Asia and Pacific Region where establishment of VerifierTD&B with development and implementation of related procurement plan as needed.
6. Support the development and design of quality concept papers, presentations, training programmes, manuals and reports, by researching on IBM information and topics in coordination with the Senior Regional IBM Specialist, IOM COs, relevant governmental authorities and other relevant stakeholders.
7. Support the development and design of IBM training programmes, tools curriculum and manuals in coordination with the Senior Regional IBM Specialist, IOM COs and relevant governmental and deliver relevant training and presentations in support of the capacity building endeavours of the Regional IBM Unit with a particular focus on areas related to the DESC initiative.
8. Contribute to information and data collection and analysis in migration, IBM, Identity Management, Travel Documents and related topics and draft specific portions of quality concept papers, presentations, and reports, in coordination with the Senior Regional IBM Specialist, IOM COs, relevant governmental authorities and other relevant stakeholders.
9. Support in the global expansion of the DESC initiative outside of the Asia Pacific region.
10. Organize and participate in meetings for the Regional IBM Unit when needed; including the preparation, finalization and dissemination of meeting minutes or notes for file.
11. Undertake travel duties relating to programme assessments, liaison with counterparts, delivering training modules and/or presentations, participate in working groups and assist with problem solving issues in the region and information and the development of related materials, reports and presentations.
12. Support to the overall work of the IBM Unit when and as required.
13. Perform such other duties as may be assigned.