UNHCR is mandated by the United Nations to lead and coordinate international action for the worldwide protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee problems, safeguarding their rights and well-being, seeking lasting solutions to their plight, ensuring that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum, find safe refuge in another State, and return to their own country or settle permanently in another.
UNHCR’s engagement in forced displacement is grounded in the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and emphasizes the centrality of protection in humanitarian action and solutions. UNHCR contributes to collective outcomes that enhance protection and promote solutions for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and wider displacement-affected communities including host communities. Aligned with UNHCR’s Strategic Directions 2022-2026, UNHCR commits to leveraging synergies between its engagement with refugees and other persons of concern (POCs) including IDPs, returnees, stateless people and others affected by humanitarian crises like host communities, considering different responsibilities vis-à-vis various categories of forcibly displaced people, and relevant interagency arrangements. UNHCR’s mandate and commitments require it to attend to diverse categories of POCs as described above; new and protracted crisis where UNHCR must tailor both protection and solutions and its advocacy efforts to the operational environment; work on the triple nexus and within different sectors including, but not limited to WASH, health, and education; and operate through diverse partnerships and modalities such as cash and in-kind.
UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes (EHAGL) was established in Nairobi in September 2019 as part of an organization-wide regionalization and decentralization process where, among other, the previous headquarter-based bureaus were moved to the field.
Taking mostly a second line role, the Regional Bureau in EHAGL is defined by oversight of performance and compliance, provision of technical support to UNHCR’s country offices in the region, by setting regional strategies and priorities, supporting learning, and identifying and monitoring emerging issues and risks. The Regional Bureau also takes on a first line role in relation to regional level liaison and coordination. The Regional Bureau for EHAGL currently supports and oversees 11 country operations, i.e., Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Aligned with corporate visions for Results-based Management(RBM)(referring to management for result and proactive use of both evaluation and monitoring) and effective delivery of protection and solutions for UNHCR’s POCs, the RB in EHAGL is supporting country offices in establishing strong evidence-based operational design and implementation through improved, comparable, and accessible data, enhanced analysis, strengthened monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems, and identification, dissemination and replication of best practices and lessons learnt across operations in the region.
At present, there is no dedicated staff in place at country level to plan and technically support implementation of M&E activities, yet, country operations are expected to establish and implement effective and robust M&E systems, including evaluations that inform operational interim and multi-year strategic planning, accountability, learning and advocacy.
To cost-effectively support country operation in implementation of UNHCR’s RBM system, UNHCR is establishing a surge capacity of individual M&E experts who can assist country operations in developing, managing, and implementing cost-effective and learner-centered monitoring and evaluation systems.
The support envisaged spans short-term clearly delineated M&E consultancy assignments of one to three months duration to more complex longer-term assignment of up to 11 months involving review and design of country approaches to monitoring and evaluation, establishment of gaps related to country office information flows, monitoring and evaluation systems design and implementation and help pulling it all together and making M&E functional and realistic. It may also involve identification of reporting and end-user information requirements, development of reporting formats considering different internal users such as senior management, staff in operations, programming and protection, and external reporting requirements that make use of information generated from monitoring and evaluation systems such as donor reporting. Longer-term missions may require consultants to take on a facilitative role, training UNHCR and partner staff, designing strategies to build staff ownership, and drafting recommendations for implementations of M&E systems that are owned and prioritized by senior management. Against this background, the skills of consultants may go beyond technical monitoring and evaluation skills and include expertise in capacity development and organizational change.
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The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.
Please note that UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing, training or any other fees).