Protection Cluster Information Management Officer (WoS)

Protection Cluster Information Management Officer (WoS)

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT
The conflict in Syria continues to cause massive displacement of Syrians now mostly within the country although sporadic influxes into neighbouring countries continue. Humanitarian needs in Syria critically increased since the beginning of the crisis, with 13.5 million in need of humanitarian assistance, including 6.6 million internally displaced people.

Recognising the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in Syria, the systemic gaps in coordination, and following the adoption of resolutions 2139, 2165 and 2191 by the United Nations Security Council, humanitarian actors operating inside Syria from Damascus and from neighbouring countries launched the Whole of Syria (WOS) approach to develop a principled, predictable and coherent response to prioritized humanitarian needs.

Given the complexity of operating across different hubs (Gaziantep, Damascus and Amman) the WOS approach requires the creation of a unique structure defined within the framework of the Transformative Agenda and anchored around the three pillars of better leadership, improved accountability, and improved coordination.

The WOS approach commits humanitarian partners to a coordinated response through the IASC sector / cluster approach to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of the collective response in the Syria crisis. This requires: (1) developing a prin cipled, predictable and systematic operational planning process; (2) ensuring greater coherence across the different operational modalities (i.e. cross-line, cross-border or regular programmes) through improved coordination; and (3) strengthening information-sharing and monitoring of response.

As lead agency for three sectors/clusters ¿ Protection, NFI/Shelter and CCCM ¿ UNHCR provides leadership (with NGO co-leads) at the Whole of Syria level and at the operational ¿hub¿ levels (Damascus, Gaziantep, and Amman) for its three clusters. This includes fulfilling commitments as cluster lead to ensure timely, relevant, and high quality information management services for the sectors/clusters and its members.

The WOS Protection Sector/Cluster Information Management must be performed in a technically sound manner, but the personality of the incumbent will be extremely important to ensure patience, empathy, political and situational awareness. The WOS Protection Cluster is the most complex and heavily scrutinized amongst all in the Syria response. It also has the greatest amount of coordinators, all of whom request devoted attention and time of the UNHCR WOS Protection staff. The incumbent must have the correct personality to gracefully manage these many and pressing requests and expectations.

The incumbent of this position will oversee Information Management at the Whole of Syria level for the Protection sector/cluster. The incumbent shall report to the Senior Regional Information Management Officer, with a functional line to the Senior Regional Protection Coordinator who serves as UNHCR¿s Whole of Syria lead for Protection, Shelter/NFI, and CCCM. The incumbent shall also work in close coordination and consultation with the Whole of Syria Information Management Officer (for the Shelter/NFI and CCCM Sectors/Clusters).

The Protection Cluster/Sector Information Management Officer (WoS) will report to the Senior Regional Information Management Officer, with a functional line to the Senior Regional Protection Coordinator who serves as UNHCR¿s Whole of Syria lead for Protection, Shelter/NFI, and CCCM.

FUNCTIONAL STATEMENT
Accountability
- The WOS Protection Sector/Cluster is able to implement an effective Information Management strategy.
- The WOS Protection Sector/Cluster delivers information reliable, accessible and user-friendly, relevant, appropriate and timely. 
- Global data standards, and where appropriate, the establishment of Operation/Sector-specific common data standards are adopted.

Responsibility
- Design and implement the WOS Protection Sector/Cluster information management system, process and products to facilitate the sector/cluster partners.
- Design and implement WOS Protection Sector/Cluster¿s information flow and feedback mechanism among the sector/cluster partners to strengthen sector/cluster coordination in consultation with sector/cluster leads and in line with inter-agency information management process.
- Liaise with IMOs in the hubs (Syria, Jordan and Turkey) to gather contextual and response data and information on activities and population of concern across the WOS operations.
- Work closely with the Protection Areas of Responsibility (Whole of Syria and hub-level, as necessary).
- Collect, compile, aggregate and analyze sector/cluster data and information elements required to produce standardized information products to facilitate coordination among the partners engaged with the sectors/clusters response.
- Perform data quality checks and provide feedback to the hub IMOs on consistency of information collection and processing.
- Support each sector/clusters leads on the WOS contextual and operational analysis in regular basis.
- Provide WOS overview for each sector/cluster through facilitation and analysis of information between the different hubs.
- Ensure harmonization of sector/cluster IM across the hubs and adherence to standards agreed to by the WoS approach.
- Implement, support and leverage geographic information system (GIS) for contextual and analytical map and infographic production related to WoS response by the sectors/clusters.
- Maintain, track and share WOS Protection Sector/Cluster related contextual and response data with partner agencies as well as maintain Portal population and sectoral performance indicator figures in-line with agreed frequencies.
- Produce Information Management products for the WOS Protection Sector/Cluster.
- Provide technical Information Management support to Needs Assessment processes, specifically in data collection, processing/collation and analysis.
- Establish and ensure information, data and product sharing protocols/confidentiality with sector/cluster partners and other stakeholders¿ adhering to sector/cluster information sharing protocols.
- Participate in WoS Information Management coordination meetings and provide technical input to inter-agency information management group related to sectors/clusters.
- Prepare and deliver presentations on WOS Sector/Cluster response.
- Perform other duties as required.

Authority
- Represent Protection Sector/Cluster in the SIMAWG and other IM-relevant groups and efforts.
- Assist in the recruitment and training of data collectors and data entry personnel.

ESSENTIAL MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
- University degree in Information Technology, Demography, Statistics, Social sciences or any related area.
- At least 6 years (8 years with BA) combined field and/or headquarters experience in international organizations.
- Knowledge of the UN system and the humanitarian community.
- Knowledge of protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators.
- Proven skills to analyse statistical information.
- Advanced Excel, Access, MySQL, web content management, GIS application, data visualization tools and other similar applications.
- Ability to formulate IM-related technical requirements and Operating Procedures.
- Ability to translate planning-specifications into technical briefs for data capture and analysis, and vice versa.
- Experience with handling confidential data.
- Demonstrated understanding of different data collection methodologies.
- Excellent written and oral presentation skills.
- Excellent knowledge of English and working knowledge of another UN language.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES. 
- Successful participation in the Operational Data Management Learning Programme.
- Experience in web design and software development.
- Experience with relevant software such as: ArcGIS, MapInfo, SPSS, EpiInfo6, HTML, PHP, ASP, Java, Ms Access, SQL, progress.
- Knowledge of Arabic.