Position Title: Humanitarian Affairs Officer
Receiving Agency: OCHA
P Level: P3/P4
Location: Mogadishu, Somalia
Duration: 6 months
Language: English

Brief description of emergency outbreak/surge and the consequences for OCHA:
The drought, the longest in more than 40 years, has devastated the lives of Somalis, resulting in the internal displacements of about 245,000 people between January and March 2023. Over 1.4 million people have been displaced by the drought since January 2022. Over 3.5 million livestock have also reportedly died since mid-2021. Recovery from a crisis of this magnitude may take years with sustained climate-sensitive development support complementing humanitarian assistance.

While famine has been averted for the time being, the humanitarian situation remains critical and alarming, with high levels of acute food insecurity reported nationwide. Over 8.3 million Somalis (49 per cent of the population) are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity between April and June 2023, and about 1.8 million children under five are likely to face acute malnutrition through June, including over 513,000 who are expected to be severely malnourished.




Main tasks and duties to be executed :

• Support Field Coordination Unit (FCU) to bolster linkages between the national and sub national clusters.
• Provide surge support (remote and on-site) capacity to new or ongoing crises or general field level coverage, including frequent travel to field offices during critical periods to backstop
• Support preparation for high-level visits/missions. This will include planning of activities, communication with the field offices (target area for visits) and development of mission reports.
• Support drafting of presentations for the ICCG by the HoFCU and document/follow up on meeting action points.
• Support the FCU weekly strategic team meetings, including drafting meeting minutes and tracking action plans.
• Support the field offices and follow up on issues identified or submitted by the S-ICCG and A-HCGS to the Head of Field Coordination.
• Work closely with the field office to collate and document S-ICCG meeting calendars and action points and follow through with the implementation of the action points.
• Support capacity building, training and coaching of staff as necessary/appropriate.
• Initiate, supervise and finalize position papers on humanitarian, emergency relief and related issues; organize follow-up work, including inter-agency technical review meetings to support policy development work and decision-making on important issues; and ensure the implementation of recommendations emanating from relevant studies.

Expected outcome of the deployment :

• More credible, comprehensive, and evidence-based situational analysis produced. Sub-Offices in need of internal surge are supported promptly.
• Regular support on the engagement of appropriate units, management, staff representatives and /or duty of care representatives on the field.
• Timely, succinct, and focused reporting and analysis on humanitarian developments and issues
• Support provided to the sub offices at least 80% of new crises.
• Ensuring -S-ICCGs and A-HCGs recommendations are updated and shared with ICCU and other units for follow up as needed.

OCHA’s role and key challenges:

• Advocacy and coordinating humanitarian action at the earliest stage possible
• To strengthen national coordination structures and facilitate the scale up of sub-national coordination,
• Since the initiation of the scale-up, increased efforts have been made to enable more granular and efficient response planning to support coordination efforts.

Main partners and stakeholders in the field:

• Humanitarian partners: UN agencies, clusters, national and international NGOs, Red Crescent Movement, donors, national and local authorities, and line ministers

What is the staffing plan to continue the work (if applicable) of the deployee, after the surge support period?

• Recruitment of national and international staff is ongoing to provide support to FCU.

What is the approximate percentage of time spent on duty travel and to which locations? (if duty travel within the country/region is expected, all associated costs are to be covered by the requesting OCHA office):
•   More than 50% of the time will be spent in Mogadishu
•   The surge staff will also be called upon to travel to the sub-offices to fill the gaps where needed. A roving job.

Specific required skills:

Education: Bachelor’s degree or master’s degree in social science, public administration, law, development studies, international affairs or other relevant disciplines.

Languages: Fluency in English

Experience: A minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in humanitarian affairs, emergency preparedness, crisis/emergency relief management, rehabilitation, development, or other related area. Significant experience in coordination of humanitarian assistance/relief is required.

•    Teamwork, Planning and organizing, commitment to continuous learning, communication, creativity, technical awareness, and accountability.



CANADEM and its partners have a no-tolerance policy towards Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (SEAH). For this reason, we adhere to all policies, procedures and training of the United Nations on The Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (PSEAH). CANADEM mandates all deployees successfully complete the PSEA online course. This e-learning course is composed of a set of lessons designed to raise awareness about SEAH, become familiar with a range of measures to combat SEAH, understand the impact on victims and the consequences for UN Personnel who commit Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment.