Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer

This position is located in the Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Branch (PRMB), Humanitarian Financing and Resource Mobilization Division (HFRMD), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

OCHA is part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA's mission is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors in order to alleviate human suffering in disasters and emergencies; advocate the rights of people in need; promote preparedness and prevention and facilitate sustainable solutions.

This job opening is being advertised for the position of Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer (Head of Office) and is located in Riyadh. The incumbent reports to the Chief of PRMB, in close day-to-day collaboration with the Chief of External Relations and Partnerships Section in PRMB.

**Responsibilities**:
Within delegated authority, the Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer will be responsible for the following duties:

- Represents and promotes OCHA’s priorities for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region through leading and developing strategic partnerships and outreach with a broad range of stakeholders from governments, regional organisations, foundations, NGOs, private sector, and international financing institutions for financial and non-financial support.
- Serves as a senior policy advisor to senior management in OCHA on partnerships, programmes, funding and issues of significant impact on humanitarian, emergency relief and disaster response/management efforts.
- Guides and supports other offices in the region on OCHA’s humanitarian mandate; influences the development and evolution of the UN approach to humanitarian affairs with partners; designs and implements significant policy and programme changes to address country, regional, global humanitarian affairs issues, including gender considerations.
- Establishes and nurtures high-level contacts and proactively disseminates relevant information to partners, peers and other agencies in the UN system.
- Conceptualizes, formulates and manages major projects; ensures necessary support (e.g. staff, funding, specialized equipment, supplies, etc.); prepares situation reports and analysis reports, apprising of situation to date and specifying unmet requirements of stricken countries.
- Leads regional advocacy efforts to mobilise resources for OCHA, the pooled funds and the broader Humanitarian Response Plans.
- Leads capacity building initiatives; organizes and participates as trainer/resource person in national and international training seminars.
- Serves as primary liaison with non-UN entities, including senior host government officials, donor representatives, NGO officials, the media, etc., in emergency situations.
- Establishes and manages implementation of the overall work plan and budget.
- Leads and directs a team of staff in Riyadh, provides strategic guidance and oversight to other offices in the region; plans and reviews work plans; coaches, mentors and evaluates staff; participates in recruitment, selection and training of new staff and in the development of training programs.
- Organizes and/or chairs inter-agency and other international meetings, conferences, task forces; presents views and policies of the unit/institution.
- Initiates, supervises and finalizes position papers and related submissions; prepares diverse reports, papers, policy guidelines, parliamentary documents, statements, presentations, etc. for senior management.
- Performs other duties as required.

Competencies
- Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.
- Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.
- Leadership: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow: empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutua