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OCHA-Civil-Military Coordination Officer-P3-Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (AULO)
Addis Ababa, AULOPosition Title: Civil-Military Coordination Officer
Receiving Agency: OCHA
P Level: P3
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (AULO)
Duration: 6 months
Language: English
Description of Emergency Outbreak/Upsurge
The current humanitarian landscape in Africa is characterized by increasingly complex and protracted crises involving state and non-state armed groups, which trigger significant displacements and generate severe humanitarian access constraints. These contexts make AU's role in peace support operations and broader political engagement extremely critical in supporting an enabling operational environment for humanitarian action. This critical role necessitates support in creating operational understanding of IHL and advocating respect and/or adherence to the humanitarian principles by and among relevant parties. Effective CMCoord and sustained liaison are essential to meeting these operational requirements. With the deepening and worsening humanitarian situation in Sudan particularly, Kodorfan and Darfur as well as related crisis in DRC, marked by an escalating protection crisis, displacement, food insecurity and access constraints, regional efforts led by the AU and relevant African Member states are becoming critical to ensure the humanitarian imperative is central to all the efforts. OCHA is critical to this, ensuring humanitarian space is maintained. The African Union Liaison Office needs the capacity to ensure it fulfils this mandate.
Surge Need Justification
The post is meant to support advocacy and humanitarian diplomacy efforts by the African Union (AU) on Sudan and related crisis. OCHA’s AU office has initiated strategic partnerships with the AU in support of its political efforts in Sudan and DRC, creating a platform for addressing the humanitarian challenges. The Office was re-opened in 2023, with a robust mandate to support AU and Member state engagement on critical issues. The Office is engaged in a number of mechanisms at the regional level in support of key crises including Sudan, DRC and the Sahel. Hence there is need for additional capacity to support with civil military coordination with key interlocutors at the continental level, on the DRC crisis.
OCHA's Role and Key Challenges
The African Union Liaison Office is supporting three key functions: (i) Link to operations, supporting advocacy at the Africa/regional level to address critical challenges, especially on humanitarian access; (ii) Support the African Union humanitarian initiatives; (iii) Identify and promote solutions to critical humanitarian solutions in partnership with the AU and member states.
Main Partners and Stakeholders in the Field
African Union Commission, UN agencies and INGOs with representation to the AU, Member states
Long-Term Plan after SBP Deployment Ends
National staff will be recruited to take on the functions and will act as understudy to the deployee
Main Tasks and Duties to be Executed
• Support the OCHA AULO Head of Office in liaising with AU institutions and relevant stakeholders, including government officials, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, diplomatic missions, and military attachés based in Addis Ababa, to promote understanding and awareness on UN- CMCoord and related challenges on humanitarian access and AU peace and security operations.
• Strengthen OCHA’s interaction with the AU, especially the Peace Support Operations Division (PSOD) and the African Humanitarian Agency, to promote and maintain, to the extent possible, common situational awareness on operational issues on UN-CMCoord, protection, humanitarian access and the broader preparedness and response to various
hazards.
• Liaise regularly with key AU departments to promote complementarity between OCHA's humanitarian agenda and relevant AU security policies and procedures.
• Understand key AU institutions’ policies, procedures, and key political and security developments and analyze potential implications on OCHA’s work.
• Contribute to AU-UN joint guidelines development for AU Peace Support Operations on Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination, ensuring alignment with global IASC Guidelines on UN- CMCoord.
• Prepare talking points, briefings, and reports on UN-CMCoord and AU-related issues for OCHA senior management, as requested.
• Build and maintain a strong working relationship with regional intergovernmental organizations, especially the AU, leveraging these to facilitate humanitarian access and coordinate effective disaster response.
• Act as a focal point for AU-related advocacy, ensuring that humanitarian principles and OCHA's priorities are well-represented in AU forums and related decision-making processes.
• Provide policy advice and practical recommendations, in close coordination with CMCS, on UN- CMCoord strategies to help resolve humanitarian access impediments, especially in conflict-affected areas under AU operations.
• Collaborate with OCHA regional and country offices in advocating the inclusion of UN-CMCoord and broader humanitarian considerations in peace operations and other training programs of AU military forces.
• Contribute to regional CMCoord capacity-building advocacy and activities.
• Optimize UN-CMCoord efforts in supporting advocacy on issues impacting humanitarian needs and response utilizing established networks through ongoing liaison activities.
• Organize and/or participate in working groups, meetings, conferences, consultations with other agencies and partners representing the UN-CMCoord perspective and the broader humanitarian standpoint.
• Perform other duties as requested by the Head of OCHA AULO and/or CMCS.
Expected Outcome of the Deployment
1. Improved Coordination: Strengthened interaction and complementarity between OCHA AULO and AU institutions, leading to more coherent and effective humanitarian action.
2. Enhanced AU Capacity: Increased understanding and integration of UN-CMCoord principles, provision of relevant IASC guidelines, and protection considerations within AU policies, training, and operations.
3. Better Humanitarian Access & Protection: More effective advocacy and problem- solving related to humanitarian access constraints and protection challenges in areas of AU engagements.
4. Informed Decision-Making: Production of "high quality reports on UN-CMCoord support to humanitarian response, humanitarian access, protection and other related areas," supporting informed decision-making by OCHA and AU leadership.
5. Policy Development: Effective support to the "Head of OCHA AULO in undertaking policy development-related initiatives."
6. AU Working Group on HCMI Workplan: An adjusted workplan for the next 12 months that builds on progress and achievements for the last 12 months and incorporates new information and developments that make the workplan more realistic and responsive to the objectives of the AU WG.
7. Proactive Problem-Solving: Improved "monitoring, analyzing, and reporting of relevant information in relation to humanitarian access and protection impediments and generation of options to address them."
8. Long-term Benefit: Contribution to a more predictable and principled engagement between humanitarian actors and military/security forces involved in AU operations, ultimately benefiting crisis-affected populations.
Specific Required Skills
• A minimum of five years for an advanced Degree and seven years for a bachelor's degree. Working experience with the UN, NGO, or government agency required.
• experience liaising with regional intergovernmental organizations is required.
• In-depth knowledge of African peace and security affairs and experience working with AU institutions are required.
• Previous experience in Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination and/or experience in the military supporting humanitarian operations is required.
• At least two (2) years of humanitarian experience in the field (actual setting where a mission and/or project is being implemented) in emergencies (complex emergency or natural disaster) is desirable.
CANADEM and its partners have a no-tolerance policy for inaction to prevent, respond to and follow up on alleged cases of 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.
Receiving Agency: OCHA
P Level: P3
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (AULO)
Duration: 6 months
Language: English
Description of Emergency Outbreak/Upsurge
The current humanitarian landscape in Africa is characterized by increasingly complex and protracted crises involving state and non-state armed groups, which trigger significant displacements and generate severe humanitarian access constraints. These contexts make AU's role in peace support operations and broader political engagement extremely critical in supporting an enabling operational environment for humanitarian action. This critical role necessitates support in creating operational understanding of IHL and advocating respect and/or adherence to the humanitarian principles by and among relevant parties. Effective CMCoord and sustained liaison are essential to meeting these operational requirements. With the deepening and worsening humanitarian situation in Sudan particularly, Kodorfan and Darfur as well as related crisis in DRC, marked by an escalating protection crisis, displacement, food insecurity and access constraints, regional efforts led by the AU and relevant African Member states are becoming critical to ensure the humanitarian imperative is central to all the efforts. OCHA is critical to this, ensuring humanitarian space is maintained. The African Union Liaison Office needs the capacity to ensure it fulfils this mandate.
Surge Need Justification
The post is meant to support advocacy and humanitarian diplomacy efforts by the African Union (AU) on Sudan and related crisis. OCHA’s AU office has initiated strategic partnerships with the AU in support of its political efforts in Sudan and DRC, creating a platform for addressing the humanitarian challenges. The Office was re-opened in 2023, with a robust mandate to support AU and Member state engagement on critical issues. The Office is engaged in a number of mechanisms at the regional level in support of key crises including Sudan, DRC and the Sahel. Hence there is need for additional capacity to support with civil military coordination with key interlocutors at the continental level, on the DRC crisis.
OCHA's Role and Key Challenges
The African Union Liaison Office is supporting three key functions: (i) Link to operations, supporting advocacy at the Africa/regional level to address critical challenges, especially on humanitarian access; (ii) Support the African Union humanitarian initiatives; (iii) Identify and promote solutions to critical humanitarian solutions in partnership with the AU and member states.
Main Partners and Stakeholders in the Field
African Union Commission, UN agencies and INGOs with representation to the AU, Member states
Long-Term Plan after SBP Deployment Ends
National staff will be recruited to take on the functions and will act as understudy to the deployee
Main Tasks and Duties to be Executed
• Support the OCHA AULO Head of Office in liaising with AU institutions and relevant stakeholders, including government officials, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, diplomatic missions, and military attachés based in Addis Ababa, to promote understanding and awareness on UN- CMCoord and related challenges on humanitarian access and AU peace and security operations.
• Strengthen OCHA’s interaction with the AU, especially the Peace Support Operations Division (PSOD) and the African Humanitarian Agency, to promote and maintain, to the extent possible, common situational awareness on operational issues on UN-CMCoord, protection, humanitarian access and the broader preparedness and response to various
hazards.
• Liaise regularly with key AU departments to promote complementarity between OCHA's humanitarian agenda and relevant AU security policies and procedures.
• Understand key AU institutions’ policies, procedures, and key political and security developments and analyze potential implications on OCHA’s work.
• Contribute to AU-UN joint guidelines development for AU Peace Support Operations on Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination, ensuring alignment with global IASC Guidelines on UN- CMCoord.
• Prepare talking points, briefings, and reports on UN-CMCoord and AU-related issues for OCHA senior management, as requested.
• Build and maintain a strong working relationship with regional intergovernmental organizations, especially the AU, leveraging these to facilitate humanitarian access and coordinate effective disaster response.
• Act as a focal point for AU-related advocacy, ensuring that humanitarian principles and OCHA's priorities are well-represented in AU forums and related decision-making processes.
• Provide policy advice and practical recommendations, in close coordination with CMCS, on UN- CMCoord strategies to help resolve humanitarian access impediments, especially in conflict-affected areas under AU operations.
• Collaborate with OCHA regional and country offices in advocating the inclusion of UN-CMCoord and broader humanitarian considerations in peace operations and other training programs of AU military forces.
• Contribute to regional CMCoord capacity-building advocacy and activities.
• Optimize UN-CMCoord efforts in supporting advocacy on issues impacting humanitarian needs and response utilizing established networks through ongoing liaison activities.
• Organize and/or participate in working groups, meetings, conferences, consultations with other agencies and partners representing the UN-CMCoord perspective and the broader humanitarian standpoint.
• Perform other duties as requested by the Head of OCHA AULO and/or CMCS.
Expected Outcome of the Deployment
1. Improved Coordination: Strengthened interaction and complementarity between OCHA AULO and AU institutions, leading to more coherent and effective humanitarian action.
2. Enhanced AU Capacity: Increased understanding and integration of UN-CMCoord principles, provision of relevant IASC guidelines, and protection considerations within AU policies, training, and operations.
3. Better Humanitarian Access & Protection: More effective advocacy and problem- solving related to humanitarian access constraints and protection challenges in areas of AU engagements.
4. Informed Decision-Making: Production of "high quality reports on UN-CMCoord support to humanitarian response, humanitarian access, protection and other related areas," supporting informed decision-making by OCHA and AU leadership.
5. Policy Development: Effective support to the "Head of OCHA AULO in undertaking policy development-related initiatives."
6. AU Working Group on HCMI Workplan: An adjusted workplan for the next 12 months that builds on progress and achievements for the last 12 months and incorporates new information and developments that make the workplan more realistic and responsive to the objectives of the AU WG.
7. Proactive Problem-Solving: Improved "monitoring, analyzing, and reporting of relevant information in relation to humanitarian access and protection impediments and generation of options to address them."
8. Long-term Benefit: Contribution to a more predictable and principled engagement between humanitarian actors and military/security forces involved in AU operations, ultimately benefiting crisis-affected populations.
Specific Required Skills
• A minimum of five years for an advanced Degree and seven years for a bachelor's degree. Working experience with the UN, NGO, or government agency required.
• experience liaising with regional intergovernmental organizations is required.
• In-depth knowledge of African peace and security affairs and experience working with AU institutions are required.
• Previous experience in Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination and/or experience in the military supporting humanitarian operations is required.
• At least two (2) years of humanitarian experience in the field (actual setting where a mission and/or project is being implemented) in emergencies (complex emergency or natural disaster) is desirable.
CANADEM and its partners have a no-tolerance policy for inaction to prevent, respond to and follow up on alleged cases of 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.