OCHA is the part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA also ensures there is a framework within which each actor can contribute to the overall response effort.
    
POSITION : Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP)/HAO Officer
    
Contract Duration: Initial Contract Duration of One Year
    
Background

• Given the current crisis in North - Eastern Nigeria, OCHA has to scale up its support to the Humanitarian Coordinator in mobilizing and coordinating an effective and principled humanitarian response. OCHA is particularly concerned about vulnerable communities and those at risk due to current conflict.
• Under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, OCHA maintains an office in Abuja  with field presence in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Gombe states; the primary objectives of OCHA Nigeria include the following:
• Advocate for access to basic services, especially water, sanitation, education and health for vulnerable communities, including collection, analysis and dissemination of information and negotiation of access.
• Coordinate the implementation of humanitarian response in Nigeria with UN agencies and programmes, national and international NGOs and local authorities/communities as appropriate with focus on strengthening the Cluster Approach.
• Enhance a protective environment that respects the human rights of all, including IDPs, returnees and minority clan(s).
• The humanitarian response to crisis in North - Eastern  Nigeria does not only involve traditional national and international humanitarian agencies such as the United Nations and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), but also private individuals and companies who contribute to meeting the needs of the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and their host communities. In this regard, OCHA and the humanitarian community in Nigeria acknowledge the need to forge deeper and more effective partnerships with businesses in the private sector in an effort to align our work and maximize the use of limited resources and to improve the overall quality of the humanitarian response.
• The AAP Officer is expected to be the key support person to both government partners and humanitarian actors in Borno in order to reach the affected communities. 
• They will set up systems to help identify ongoing needs of IDPs and then lead advocacy with partners to adapt the provision of services to be in line with the needs on the ground. 
• The AAP Officer should have comprehensive local knowledge of key partners in Borno such as; NOA, MOI, SEMA and DSS.
• The AAP Officer is also expected to have either experience or solid knowledge of humanitarian operations conducted by UN agencies and/ or NGOs and operations of the Government.
• The AAP Officer would need to work with little supervision in the field, but will have regular support and supervision from the Protection HAO in Abuja. 
• He/She should be a natural communicator that can build rapport with key humanitarian partners and support the development of an Information and Feedback Working Group or the equivalent in Borno.

Duties and Responsibilities
Summary of key functions:

• Information Collection in support of Humanitarian Analysis and Response,
• Information Sharing
• Development of coordination and cooperation mechanisms among stakeholders
• Monitoring and Reporting

Ensure accurate Information Collection in support of Humanitarian Analysis and response, focusing on the achievement of the following results:

• Formulate and develop an AAP working group for engagement with INGO and government partners in Borno state,
• Gather and verify information from the communities on issues affecting them through the working groups and alternate avenues, emphasizing opportunities to tailor the response according to needs on the ground
• Develop a clear and concise method of providing this information on a regular basis to the AAP Coordinator and state sector leads,

Ensure facilitation of information sharing among partners focusing on achievement of the following:

• Pro-actively share information with Sector leads and the AAP Coordinator on pertinent issues and  affecting IDPs and ensure the key message are also delivered from the humanitarian community to the affected populations,
• Arrange sessions to provide briefings to sector leads on a needs basis on key issues arising from the consolidation of community feedback mechanisms,
• Identify key pieces of information that will assist with sector - level and response - level decision-making with a particular focus on improving humanitarian response to suit the key needs of affected communities,

Ensure the development of coordination and cooperation mechanisms among AAP stakeholders focusing on the achievement of the following results:

• Establish and strengthen relationships to support INGOs and Government partners to build stronger community feedback mechanisms at the Borno state - level (i.e. toll-free hotline, information desks, text message alerts, radio station messaging, etc) to ensure that the AAP Coordinator at the national level, and the OCHA HoO at the state - level have information to feed back to the sector leads, inter-sector coordination mechanisms and the HCT as required.
• Establish a core group of AAP partners through a regular working group and provide guidance and secretariat support for the group,
• Ensure there are mechanisms to provide timely and relevant feedback from IDP communities in camps, host communities and villages, and in turn to provide feedback back to the communities from the humanitarian stakeholders (this can be explored for context within the AAP Working Group)

Ensure proper monitoring and reporting focusing on achievement of the following:

• Provide and prepare weekly/monthly reports as appropriate for internal and external purposes, ensuring the AAP Coordinator in Abuja is provided with timely updates to advocate for issues relevant to Borno at the national level.
• Provide inputs to national reporting as required and advised by the AAP Coordinator 

Impact of Results
The key results have an impact on the overall coordination of humanitarian and emergency assistance and facilitate operational agencies/organizations in succeeding in their core objectives, building of strong partnerships with relevant parties and the achievement of OCHA’s objectives. Specifically, the impact of this position is:

• Improved basis for affected communities on the ground to make informed decisions because of the increase of information from government partners and humanitarian partners,  
• Humanitarian response is becoming more coordinated and organized based on clear identified needs and priorities as identified by affected populations,
• Greater incorporation of IDP views and voices in humanitarian decision-making,

Competencies
Preparing information for advocacy:

• Identifies and communicates relevant information for a variety of audiences for advocating OCHA’s priorities

Building Strategic Partnerships:

• Maintaining a network of contacts
• Maintains an established network of contacts for accountability to affected populations related initiatives and to remain up-to-date on partnership related issues
• Analyzes and selects key AAP initiatives for strengthening strategic alliances with partners and stakeholders

Resource Mobilizatio:

• Providing inputs to AAP principles
• Collects, researches and analyzes information from affected populations, drafts reports and documents and maintains information around the key needs of IDPs in Borno for the reponse.

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Basic research and analysis
• Generates new ideas and approaches for integrating AAP into Borno response, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things
• Documents and analyses innovative strategies and new approaches to systematically 

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

• Fundamental knowledge of own discipline
• Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of community engagement, and/or key stakeholder knowledge relating to the position
• Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning
• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments
• Demonstrates in-depth understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and community engagement principles and utilizes these regularly in work assignments

Global Leadership and Advocacy for OCHA’s Goals:

• Preparing information for global advocacy
• Identifies and communicates relevant information for advocacy for OCHA’s goals for a variety of audiences
• Maintains a functioning network of contacts in the media and civil society, to promote a better understanding of OCHA’s priorities and to support advocacy efforts

Client Orientation:

• Establishing effective client relationships
• Researches potential solutions to internal and external client needs and reports back in a timely, succinct and appropriate fashion
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines
• Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships within the work unit and with internal and external clients

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity 
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
• Self-development, initiative-taking
• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work
• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
• Creating synergies through self-control
• Managing conflict
• Preferably fluent in at least one local language in Borno state (e.g. Hausa)
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing are the responsibility of each staff member.
• Informed and transparent decision making

Required Skills and Experience
Education:

• Master’s Degree in Development, Community Engagement, Protection, International Relations or other related fields 

Experience:

• Up to 2 years of relevant professional experience, preferably gained from working in the UN/ parallel international organizations development/humanitarian/government partners (e.g. NEMA/SEMA/NOA).
• Familiarity with standard practices of international organizations / NGOs and procedures, particularly in relation to humanitarian response and coordination, and knowledge of institutional mandates, policies and guidelines pertaining to humanitarian assistance, especially the humanitarian reform agenda.
• Ability to research, analyze, evaluate and synthesize information.
• Ability to express clearly and concisely, ideas and concepts in written and oral form.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and experience in handling of web based management systems.

Language Requirements:

• Proficiency in both oral and written English
• Knowledge of local language is an advantage