E (most hardship) Non Family with Residential Location Non Family with Residential Location Danger Pay Budapest, Hungary NOA National Professional Officer Regular > Regular Assignment No 2024-11-01 November 3, 2024

• Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making in risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks, issues and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).
• Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Years of Experience / Degree Level
For P1/NOA - 1 year relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or no experience with Graduate degree; or no experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education
Law; International Law; Political Sciences;
or other relevant field.

Certificates and/or Licenses
HCR Coordination Lrng Prog; Operational Context:

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been present in Ukraine since 1994 and substantially increased its presence and response after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The geographical presence within Ukraine has significatively expanded to deliver the emergency response. The country office is located in the capital, Kyiv, and sub- and field offices, as well as field units, are located in Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Kyiv, L’viv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Uzhhorod and Vinnytsia. However, the 2024 structure may be reviewed and slightly changed in 2025, in response to the evolving operational environment.
The war in Ukraine has caused death and suffering on a dramatic scale. In 2024, more than 14.6 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection, according to the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. Some 3.7 million people are internally displaced, while around 6 million refugees from Ukraine are recorded across Europe and beyond, most of them women and children. Ukraine also hosts a few thousand asylum-seekers and refugees and is home to more than 35,000 people who are stateless or at risk of statelessness.
The massive destruction of civilian infrastructure, with the energy sector being particularly targeted has made life extremely challenging for millions of people who have lost their homes and livelihoods, and has severely disrupted access to electricity, water, heating as well as critical services, including healthcare, education and social protection services. Humanitarian access continues to be hampered, particularly in areas in the East under the temporary military control of the Russian Federation.
Civilians remain exposed to serious risks to their physical security and integrity, particularly in eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. The risk of GBV, including sexual violence, is high particularly in areas of active hostilities. The separation of families is one of the problems most reported by protection actors among IDPs and war-affected people. Populations displaced or affected by the war live in situations of deprivation, following the loss or damage of their housing, loss of income, and the lack of access to essential services, such as health care or education.
The Government of Ukraine maintains a strong lead role in responding to the needs of its population and UNHCR supports the Government and its central and local institutions to provide protection, shelter/housing, cash and in-kind assistance to people impacted by the war. Currently, UNHCR has MOUs with four line ministries, 18 regional state administrations and agreements with 20 partners, including 16 local partners to deliver assistance and support the localization of the response.
Under the leadership of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, UNHCR operates as part of the inter-agency humanitarian response, working in close coordination with local authorities and humanitarian partners. UNHCR is leading three clusters - Protection, Shelter and NFIs, and CCCM and is part of the Durable Solutions Steering Committee.
The strategic orientation of UNHCR’s response is to reach people, particularly those with specific vulnerabilities, who remain in frontline and heavily affected areas with immediate relief while supporting displaced people and those who have remained in their homes, or returned, with protection advice, housing support and cash assistance to enable their recovery and attainment of durable solutions.
Protection is at the center of this response, as the highest critical needs of the population caused by the international armed conflict are in the area of protection, and UNHCR leads this sector through the Protection Cluster. Since Ukraine is a highly sophisticated country with a strong government leadership and well-established administrative, social protection and digital systems, it is essential to design and deliver UNHCR’s protection and assistance programs in a way which simultaneously addresses immediate needs and supports the further development of sustainable and inclusive national protection systems.
With the EU having voted to confirm Ukraine’s accession to the EU at the end of 2023, Ukraine will also embark on a series of substantial and long-term reforms in numerous sectors, including justice and home affairs, which presents an opportunity to contribute to strengthened and more inclusive protection, asylum and statelessness reduction systems. Working closely with government authorities, local community representatives and partners from the embassies, UN, civil society and international financial institutions, amongst others, is thus key to ensuring that UNHCR’s response is closely aligned with and complementary of national and local strategies and recovery plans.
As the war continues, new urgent humanitarian needs are created every day, alongside protracted ones and peoples’ and communities’ efforts to recover and rebuild their lives in war-torn communities. Among the IDPs and refugees from Ukraine, the majority express a hope and desire to return to their homes as soon as the security situation allows. The protection needs of the population thus need to be analyzed and addressed both from a humanitarian as well as from an early recovery and durable solutions perspective, with UNHCR playing a leading role in this work. As a result, the incumbent supports protection coordination in an environment that requires high standards of accountability and facilitation, in which respect for the principles of partnership and collaboration are essential. The candidate will be expected to directly engage with partners and to ensure effective coordination and engagement for the implementation of Protection activities. For this it is expected that the candidate coordinate partners implementing legal assistance, psychosocial support and community-based protection programming and establishing linkages with other sectors engaged in the response. The Assistant Protection Cluster Coordinator supports the Protection Cluster Coordinator in Inter-Cluster Coordination mechanisms at sub-national level, for advocacy and facilitation of protection mainstreaming and cross-cutting issues of age, gender, and diversity in the humanitarian response in non-protection sectors. Experience in protection response and humanitarian coordination is a plus. Familiarity with the Protection Cluster coordination tools would be also an asset, as the incumbent will be required to promote their use by partners at the sub-national level. Ukrainian English Bachelor of Arts (BA): International Law, Bachelor of Arts (BA): Law, Bachelor of Arts (BA): Political Science HCR Coordination Learning Program - UNHCR, Tri_Cluster Knowledge/Coord Skills - Other Accountability, Analytical thinking, Client & results orientation, Commitment to continuous learning, Communication, Empowering & building trust, Organizational awareness, Political awareness, Teamwork & collaboration This position doesn't require a functional clearance