Terms of Reference
General Background
The Associate Programme Officer is placed under the overall guidance of the Representative of the MCO Senegal, in the absence of a Senior Programme Officer.
The UNHCR Multi Country Office (MCO Senegal) in Dakar, Senegal, covers Cabo Verde, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Sierra Leone and serves, as of the end of October 2023, a population of 19,235 forcibly displaced persons, including refugees, asylum-seekers and other persons of concern to UNHCR, 94% of whom are in protracted situations.
With regard to legal reform, the MCO Senegal; has successfully resumed and advanced the various legislative review processes. New asylum and statelessness laws were adopted for Senegal in April 2022. The MCO Senegal will continue to work with the Government to develop adequate implementing regulations and finalize ongoing legislative revisions. The prospects for legal changes on refugee and statelessness issues are positive for The Gambia and Guinea as well. Status determination legislation and procedures are nascent, with some progress already made and more expected. This will require the development of implementing regulations and significant investments in capacity building and systems development. This includes integrating statelessness variables into birth registration monitoring systems through national birth registration monitoring plans, including through joint UN activities/advocacy, as well as strengthening partnerships with key counterparts such as the Ministry of Justice. Most Governments under the coverage of the MCO Senegal have made relevant commitments to foster local integration under the Global Compact on Refugees or to eradicate statelessness through the 2019 High-Level Segment. These positive commitments and advances will continue to be implemented and advocated for inclusion in national development plans.

The solutions environment in most MCO Senegal countries can be defined as positive, with de facto social and economic integration, but without the legal component for some individuals. Thanks to this positive environment, refugee integration has been taking place for years in most contexts, with solutions strategies and roadmaps discussed, approved and partially implemented. However, not only do most refugees live in protracted situations, but a large number of them live in poverty with their host communities and face administrative barriers, discrimination and stigma that hinder their opportunities to integrate locally. This structurally hampers their prospects for solutions, even in contexts where the legal and policy protection environment is positive.
Similarly, the environment for integrating refugee and stateless issues into national development plans and UN Joint Action Plans is generally positive. However, UNHCR’s perceived small footprint in some countries and its limited direct injections of funds into these plans constitute a structural obstacle to identifying and measuring clear results. On the other hand, asylum systems in MCO Senegal countries all need to be supported by UNHCR funding, and more funding from governments is needed to support their asylum systems.


Purpose and Scope of Assignment
Overall Responsibilities
The Associate Programme Officer will provide programmatic guidance and support with regard to the implementation of protection and solutions strategies within available resources. S/he will coordinate with the other sections/units to ensure harmonized programmatic approaches at all levels and throughout the UNHCR Operations Management Cycle. The incumbent will work in line with the overall UNHCR directions which crucially require working with partners, including with persons of concern, governmental institutions and the private sector, ensuring that programme management is approached as per UNHCR’s Strategic Directions, Global Strategic Priorities (GSPs), Global Compact for Refugees (GCR), and corporate positions on SDGs.
The incumbent is expected to work in line with the multi-functional team (MFT) approach as defined within the Program Manual, ensuring the participation of relevant stakeholders in all phases of the Program Management Cycle.


Detailed responsibilities
• Support in assessing and analysing the needs of persons of concern in a participatory manner, using an Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective as basis for planning.
• Provide support on programmatic aspects of developing multi-year protection and solutions strategies and annual plans with corresponding priorities taking into account corporate priorities.
• Support Results Based Management and programme capacity in light of evolving requirements, programming approaches and gaps.
• Assist the planning process in compliance with planning parameters outlined in the Programme Manual and the planning instructions.
• Support the revision and analysis of plans, mid-year and year-end reports of UNHCR office(s) in the Area of Responsibility AoR), ensure quality assurance and compliance with established policies, guidelines, procedures and standards.
• Assist in the provision of overall direction to broaden partnerships with key stakeholders in order to maximize the protection and solutions response for persons of concern.
• Provide support to ensure a consistent application of the framework for implementing with partners, including the effective implementation of the policy on selection and retention of partners, management of partnership agreements, risk-based project performance monitoring, and risk-based project audits, among others.
• Contribute to ensure consistent and coherent monitoring approaches, tools and systems across the region, in line with global standards and polices.
• Actively contribute to UNHCRs programming of community of practice and continuously contribute to improvements of programming tools and processes.
• Oversee a timely and effective follow-up of internal and external audits observations and recommendations that relate to programmatic issues.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Monitoring and Progress Controls
The incumbent provides strong and timely technical guidance/assistance to UNHCR MCO Senegal senior management and partners.
Qualifications and Experience
Education (Level and area of required and/or preferred education)
Economics; Business Administration; Social Sciences; or other relevant field.
Work Experience
Essential
• Demonstrated experience in programme management including familiarization with the OMC and sound knowledge of Results Based-Management. Demonstrated experience in field operations, sound knowledge on the centrality of protection in programming, Joint Needs Assessments and the principles of targeting.
Desirable
• Demonstrated experience in coordination within an inter-agency context and other actors, in a refugee or humanitarian context. Sound experience in program management training and capacity building activities.
Number
• 3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with Graduate degree

Key Competencies
Accountability, Communication, Organizational Awareness, Teamwork & Collaboration, Commitment to Continuous Learning, Client & Result Orientation — Judgement and Decision Making, Managing Resources, Empowering and Building Trust — Analytical Thinking, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Political Awareness


Other information
This position doesn’t require a functional clearance