The Position:

The Emergency Response Coordinator leads UNFPA’s Global Emergency Response Team (GERT) in the Humanitarian Response Division (HRD) based in Geneva. Her/his primary responsibility is to ensure UNFPA’s timely and effective humanitarian response worldwide. The Emergency Response Coordinator will work under the overall guidance of the Director and direct supervision of Deputy Director in HRD. Once the Emergency Response Coordinator and the GERT is deployed to a county in humanitarian emergency, she/he reports to the Country Representative of UNFPA on a daily basis while keeping a dotted line to Director and Deputy Director in HRD.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

The overall purpose of the Humanitarian Response Division (HRD) is to facilitate the delivery of UNFPA’s mandate by leading humanitarian emergency response and supporting humanitarian preparedness actions in increasingly complex humanitarian situations. While responding to emergencies, the HRD also focuses on resilience building to support the implementation of globally agreed frameworks (2030 Agenda including Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Agreement and Sendai Framework, as well as the Grand Bargain commitments etc.)

The GERT represents first responders in a continuum of humanitarian deployments (deployed prior to regular surge with the purpose of setting the ground for an effective and coherent emergency response). As part of the GERT, the Emergency Response Coordinator is expected to deploy within 24 to 72 hours following the onset of an emergency or a specific request for support from UNFPA’s Country or Regional Offices.

Qualifications and Experience:

Education:

Advanced university degree is required, preferably in public health, social sciences, humanitarian response, international relations, or a related field.

Knowledge and Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience in coordinating, developing, and implementing humanitarian interventions in crisis settings.
• At least 5 years of field experience in complex emergencies, including humanitarian emergency response.
• Familiarity with Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) and other humanitarian coordination mechanisms, guiding principles and standards.
• Good knowledge of UNFPA’s humanitarian mandates.
• Good records of experiences in managing a big team in responding to humanitarian crisis.
• Demonstrated experience within a multinational and multicultural environment.
• Ability to deploy to humanitarian crisis counties globally on very short notice.

Languages:

Fluency in English is required; knowledge of other official UN languages, preferably French and/or Arabic, is desirable.