Afghanistan: Emergency Shelter / NFI Coordinator

Terms of Reference

Emergency Shelter / NFI Coordinator

Afghanistan

Based in Kabul with travel inside Afghanistan

Background

With more than 2.7 million Afghan refugees in the region, and an estimated 3 million globally, Afghanistan has one of the largest refugee populations in the world. Since the fall of the Taliban at the end of 2001, the country has witnessed massive return, with 4.6 million refugees returnees assisted by UNHCR. The situation has changed considerably since 2013: the return rate has been reduced significantly but the number of IDPs has increased. The future is uncertain due to the transition the country is experiencing with the ongoing departure of the international forces, and the decrease in humanitarian assistance.

Shelter needs in Afghanistan are still unmet and likely to grow. The number of conflict-induced IDPs is increasing due to the complex patterns of the internal conflict which, in the short term, are expected to expand as the presence of international armed forces is reduced and the national forces assert themselves. The population growth, the urbanization, and the increasing number of natural disasters (particularly floods) are resulting in more IDPs caused by natural disasters. There are still around 2.5 Afghan refugees in the neighbouring countries that are returning to Afghanistan although not in the high numbers that were registered in the past years. As a result of these needs, the number of shelter actors in country is still quite considerable and they implement different types of shelter assistance ranging from the delivery of Non Food Items (NFIs) to longer-term shelter or permanent housing, from advice to acquire land to providing cash for shelter. An external evaluation commissioned in 2012 by UNHCR on its shelter programme undertaken by Mastricht University and Samuel Hall stressed the fact that shelter is still a cornerstone for the reintegration of refugee returnees and also required for (re)-integrating the growing number of IDPs. Additionally, the newly approved Afghan IDP policy emphasizes the importance of achieving durable solutions for IDPs, shelter being a key aspect of them. Finally, Afghanistan has been chosen as a pilot country (one out of three) to implement the UN Secretary General Policy for Durable Solutions for IDPs and Refugees.

The Afghanistan Emergency Shelter and NFI Cluster

The Afghanistan Emergency Shelter and NFI Cluster was established on the 2 March 2008 with UNHCR as the lead. The cluster was initially co-led by CARE until 2009 when IOM took over this role from CARE with a particular focus on natural disasters. Given the importance of shelter needs and NFI coordination, the complexity of the sector and the need for additional capacity building of Afghan counterparts, a dedicated shelter cluster coordinator has been deployed since mid-2013 and will be still needed in the future.

These are the Terms of Reference for the dedicated Emergency Shelter and NFI Cluster Coordinator.

Main duties and responsibilities

The Emergency Shelter and NFI Cluster Coordinator (hereinafter referred to as “the Coordinator”) will work under direct supervision of the UNHCR Deputy Representative (Operations) for Afghanistan or as designated by him/her. The Deputy Representative represents UNHCR as the cluster lead in the Humanitarian Country Team. In undertaking their duties the Coordinator is also responsible to the Shelter and Settlement Section in Geneva which leads the cluster at the global level.

The main objective of the Coordinator is to ensure that the cluster fulfills its core functions[1]:

1.Supporting service delivery

· Provide a platform to ensure that service delivery is driven by agreed strategic priorities

· Develop mechanisms to eliminate duplication of service delivery

2. Informing strategic decision-making

· Needs assessment and response gap analysis (across sectors and within the sector)

· Analysis to identify and address gaps, obstacles, duplication, and cross-cutting issues including age, gender, environment, and HIV/AIDs

· Prioritization, grounded in response analysis

3. Planning and strategy development

· Develop sectoral plans, objectives and indicators

· Apply and adhere to existing standards and guidelines

· Clarify funding requirements, prioritization, and cluster contributions for overall humanitarian funding considerations (CHAP, CERF, Emergency Response Fund/Common Humanitarian Fund)

4. Advocacy

· Identify and undertake advocacy activities on behalf of cluster participants and the affected population

5.Monitoring and reporting the implementation of the cluster strategy and results; recommending corrective action where necessary

6.Contingency planning/preparedness/capacity building.

To achieve these objectives, the Coordinator will perform the following key tasks:

· Be directly responsible for all inter-agency coordination matters in relation with the Shelter and NFI Cluster with the Humanitarian Coordinator/ OCHA, other cluster coordinators, donors involved in Shelter particularly ECHO, the cluster co-lead, and shelter cluster partners.

· Maintain and expand the contact with key sector stakeholders, including national and provincial authorities, national and international organizations, and representatives of affected populations for the cluster, respecting mandates and programme priorities of each of the stakeholders.

· Be the focal point for the Shelter / NFI activities related to the Humanitarian Programme Cycle including the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) and the Strategic Response Plan. Contributions to these processes should be done at the planning stage, mid-year review and the end of year report.

· Act as focal point for CERF/ ERF/ CHF allocations and advocate for funding from these funds to the shelter sector. If prioritised, manage the process of writing the strategy, assisting partners in preparing their proposals and allocate the funding in a transparent and inclusive way through a Strategic Advisory Group or working groups created for that purpose.

· Act as focal point for the Cluster with the donors and when requested provide information on the Cluster’s strategy, gaps and current resourcing. Advocate to donors for funding shelter actors to meet the needs of the sector.

· Prepare the cluster core documents as defined by the Global Shelter Cluster guidance: strategy, technical standards, and updated factsheet. These documents will be prepared with support and inputs from cluster partners and oversight from the Shelter and Settlement Section in Geneva.

· Ensure that the website of the shelter cluster is up-to-date and useful for shelter actors at provincial, national, and global level. Support can be provided from the Geneva Shelter and Settlement Section in the setting up and maintenance of the website.

· Promote and adopt standardized methods, tools and formats for common use in shelter needs assessments by ensuring predictable actions within the framework of an agreed common shelter strategy. These methods, tools, and formats will, when possible, be in line with those promoted by the Global Shelter Cluster in their partnership with the REACH initiative.

· Ensure an appropriate distribution of responsibilities amongst cluster partners by ensuring their commitments in responding to needs and filling gaps with clearly defined focal points for specific issues where necessary. In particular, ensure appropriate sharing of responsibilities with IOM as co-lead of the cluster with a focus on natural disasters.

· Ensure appropriate coordination at regional and provincial level. Support the existing regional clusters with regular visits, meetings, guidance, and contact.

· Chair the Emergency Shelter and NFI Cluster coordination meetings in Kabul. Ensure that the meetings are effective, and action-oriented. Find ways to reduce the number and duration of cluster meetings by having bilateral meetings, creating smaller working groups or a Strategic Advisory Group. Ensure the same at regional level.

· Act as focal point and, where requested by the Cluster Lead (UNHCR) or the Humanitarian Coordinator, as spokesperson, for inquiries on the Emergency Shelter Cluster’s response plans and operations.

· Ensure utilization of participatory and community based approaches in the planning and implementation of projects in order to ensure that humanitarian responses build on local capacities.

· Ensure effective links with the Shelter and Settlement Section in Geneva and other clusters in country; represent the Emergency Shelter and NFI Cluster in inter-cluster coordination mechanisms; and ensure that the cluster is adequately represented in meetings of the Humanitarian Country Team and other relevant meetings.

· Ensure integration of agreed priority cross-cutting issues in sectoral needs assessment, analysis, planning, monitoring and response (e.g. age, gender, environment, HIV/AIDS, and diversity); contribute to the development of appropriate strategies to address these issues.

· Draw lessons learned from past activities. Revise strategies and action plans according to lessons learned and needs as they evolve.

· Ensure that cluster partners are aware of relevant policy guidelines, technical standards and relevant commitments that the Afghan authorities have undertaken; promote adherence to agreed standards and best practice by all cluster partners, taking into consideration the need for local adaptation; request guidance, share and receive input from the Global Cluster on such guidance. Ensure exchange of good practices and lessons learnt amongst cluster partners by organizing presentations, joint visits, sharing documents, and other activities.

· Develop information management strategy for effective integration and sharing of data and information for planning, monitoring, and reporting.

· Ensure common monitoring mechanisms are in place to review impact of the cluster and progress against implementation plans by ensuring partners’ active contribution to and involvement in joint monitoring activities

· Ensure adequate reporting and information sharing, both within the cluster and with other clusters and OCHA; collect 4W (Who/What/When/Where) information from partners and provide information and regular updates to OCHA (or other relevant inter-agency coordination body) and the Shelter and Settlement Section in Geneva.

· Ensure that updated and relevant cluster-specific information is included in general reports, common web platforms, country cluster factsheets etc.

· Use the Coordination Performance Monitoring System periodically and at least every six months in order to assess how the cluster is achieving its objectives.

· Activate global shelter cluster responsibilities at the national level and coordinate the reports on national interventions

· Maintain effective information flow, communication channels with, and implement initiatives of the Global Shelter Cluster through the UNHCR Shelter and Settlements Section in Geneva

QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

REQUIRED

Academic:

University Degree (advanced preferred) in related areas or equivalent work experience

Experience and skills:

• Minimum of 6 years of relevant experience with a Master’s Degree of which a minimum of 2 years of international field experience


• Minimum of 8 years of relevant experience with a Bachelor’s Degree of which a minimum of 2 years of international field experience


• Relevant experience in different international organizations (e.g. UN agencies, INGOs, IOs, Donors, Red Cross Red Crescent Movement). Work experience in Afghanistan or in the region would be an advantage.


• Excellent leadership, coordination and information management skills.


• Excellent knowledge of the Humanitarian reform process and the role of the UN System, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, and the NGO humanitarian community in the Shelter Cluster.


• Extensive knowledge of current humanitarian issues.


• Good knowledge of shelter-related technical guidelines and standards, including Sphere.


• Good knowledge of Shelter standards including methodologies, monitoring and advocacy.


• Demonstrated empathy and experience in understanding the position duties and needs of national partners, as well as contributing to build their capacity.


• Ability to travel to field locations throughout Afghanistan and liaise with local authorities.


• Good skills in using Microsoft Office software and other commonly used reporting, editing, presentation, communication, browser and database software.

Core Competencies:

• Leadership and coordination


• Capacity to work in a team


• Empowering and building trust


• Negotiation and conflict resolution


• Strategic planning and vision, including development of shelter strategic frameworks with special focus to cultural and social aspects, gender related issues and environmental considerations


• Judgment and decision making


• Analytical thinking


• Innovation and creativity


• Providing technical support and advice


• Management of resources and teams


• Coaching and developing staff including UNHCR and other stakeholders


• Managing performance, monitoring and evaluating


• Mobilizing external support


• Political awareness

Languages: Fluency in English is essential and the national languages of Afghanistan desirable.

Desirable

• Training on Cluster Coordination (Shelter Cluster Coordination training or Coordination and Leadership training).


• Applied knowledge in UNHCR programme management, project formulation, its programme cycles and reporting standards.


• Previous exposure to cluster approach, preferably both at the global policy level and with a field implementation approach.


• Expertise in planning, formulation, implementation, monitoring and reporting on humanitarian operations.

Duration: 12 month recruitment, expected commencement 15 November possibly earlier.