Local Staff Support Consultant

GENERAL REQUEST INFORMATION

BACKGROUND DESCRIPTION

The current Full-scale Invasion and War on Ukraine has caused significant psychological and social suffering to Ukrainian society, including UNFPA personnel and dependents working in Ukraine. The psychological and social impacts of the War may be acute in the short term, but they are also undermining the long-term mental health and psychosocial well-being of those affected. One of the priorities from the onset of the War has been the “Duty of Care” towards personnel and dependents, by implementing a series of HR decisions letting personnel work from alternative, safer locations, extending relocation entitlements to personnel (beyond FTA/PA contract holders) and making available stress and psychological support through UNDSS locally and through UNFPA EECARO Staff Support Specialist, in an effort to protect and improve personnel and dependents’ mental health and psychosocial well-being.

With the War entering its 9^th month, and with no end in sight to the conflict, the impact that this protracted War will have on personnel and dependents will surely deepen, thus requiring a dedicated attention by the organization, complementing the current capacities existing through UNDSS locally and UNFPA/EECARO regionally.

Overall Objectives: 

Under supervision of the IOM, and under the guidance of the regional Staff Care Support Specialist, the Local Staff Support Consultant will work to assess and support the local personnel and dependents’ emotional wellbeing and support personnel manage their stress and priorities.

MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Local Staff Support Consultant will work closely with the IOM and Regional Staff Care Support Specialist on the assessment and then implementation of appropriate staff care and wellbeing interventions in Ukraine. The incumbent will work to build a sustainable stress management system that improves and supports the wellbeing and resilience of personnel and eligible dependents when necessary.   More specifically, this includes, but is not limited to the following duties and responsibilities:

• Where necessary conduct coaching sessions for the management team to provide information and tools on how to institute simple and robust mechanisms to support staff care and lead healthy teams (that remain in line with more overarching and institutional Duty of Care interventions).

• Conduct Peer Helpers training, and other online training sessions on family/domestic violence, intimate partner violence, stress and associated triggers for UNFPA personnel and their dependents.

• Refer personnel and eligible dependents to relevant physicians/mental health practitioners to ensure appropriate access to both immediate and adequate psycho-social services as well as access to other relevant psychosocial resources.

• Plan and facilitate preventative stress management training on a variety of stress related issues to all personnel.

• Identify, address and follow up on critical incident stress cases in the office;

• Monitor changes in staff care and wellbeing needs in the country context and bring to the attention of the IOM and Representative so that necessary action can be taken.

• Develop culturally specific local personnel & dependents care and wellbeing protocols, policy, guidelines and assistance programmes, as and if needed, in line with the corporate policy frameworks and ensure that they are appropriately disseminated and understood amongst relevant country office employees

• Work closely with the Regional Staff Care Support Specialist in the strengthening of a sustainable plan for personnel and their dependents in UNFPA Ukraine, which is accompanied by the development of regional, corporate or inter-agency (i.e. UNDSS) support needs at different levels.

Additional duties:

• Prepare regular progress reports and a final report on overall results and findings on the state of personnel & dependents’ care and wellbeing and provide suggestions, recommendations and guidance to the Representative to improve practices and day-to-day support to personnel & dependents.

• Perform any other duties as required by the Representative.

Qualifications and Skills Required:

Academic Qualifications: Tertiary degree in Health and Psychology (Preferably Clinical Psychology, Social Work, Counselling or Psychosocial in Emergencies)

Years of Experience and Skills:

• Fluency in Ukrainian and English essential.

• At least 7 years of professional experience in overall psychosocial support in emergencies, including psychological first aid, stress management, counselling, psychotherapy and or psychoeducation.
• Additional certification in trainings on mental health and psychosocial support, UN certified training in psychosocial service provision, training and or experience in a broad range of related fields, such as alcohol/substance abuse, stress management, grief and loss and associated responses related to conflicts in an emergency setting.
• Well-developed communication, leadership and team building skills.
• Demonstrated expertise in conducting participatory assessments and approaches.
• Prior experience in working with the United Nations agencies is desirable
• Experience in working in a hardship fragile context is an advantage
• Proficiency in current office software applications and online communication and collaboration tools is mandatory.

The consultant will be identified via open-call competitive selection process. To be considered for the role, one needs to submit to ukraine.office@unfpa.org by December 13, 2022 an application comprised of the following documents:

Professional CV;

Motivation letter

Only complete applications received by the deadline will be evaluated. In the subject line of the letter, please specify: Application for National Coordinator of Aurora online psychotherapy platform.

In the subject line of the letter, please specify: Application for Local Staff Support Consultant.