Environmental Affairs Officer

Jan 16, 2017 | United Nations
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The United Nation Secretariat maintains rosters of qualified and available candidates to fill anticipated job openings in peacekeeping operations, special political missions, and other field operations. The purpose of this job opening is to generate a list of qualified candidates for inclusion in the roster.

Responsibilities

Within delegated authority, the Environmental Affairs Officer will be responsible for managing the Environmental Unit (when created) and for coordinating and managing actions on environmental issues in the mission, chiefly establishing, implementing, monitoring and revising as necessary the mission's Environmental Management System (EMS), in accordance with the Department of Field Support (DFS) Environment Strategy. The duties listed below are part and parcel of this task on the DFS EMS implementation in the mission:

Policy and Guidance:

• Support the Director / Chief of Mission Support in the drafting and/or review of the mission’s environmental policy and objectives (including directives, Annual Mission Environmental Statement, Standard Operating Procedures, etc.);
• Conduct environmental assessments and surveys of operations in the mission, including Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA);
• Produce the mission’s Environmental Baseline Study (EBS), if no such study has been done, or update existing EBS as necessary;
• Produce the mission’s Environmental Action Plan (EAP);
• Produce the Environmental Emergency Preparedness Plan with relevant offices

Management of Environmental Unit:

• Manages/supervises the environmental unit of the mission;
• Oversee the administration and recruitment of personnel of the environmental unit;

Environmental Action Plan - Implementation:

• Lead development of, and coordinate and monitor the implementation of, the mission’s EAP, including data collection and reporting;
• Maintain a record of environmental issues and actions thereon at the mission, including, for example, a list of potentially hazardous installations within the Mission (e.g. petrol station, warehouse storing flammables) in cooperation with fire marshals or other staff at the mission designated to deal with emergencies;
• Investigate complaints or reports of pollution, contamination, health hazards and other environment-related incidents;
• Submit periodic reports on environmental issues at the mission, to the Director / Chief of Mission Support including policy compliance status reports as required for DFS;
• Recommend to the Director / Chief of Mission Support to undertake such measures as may be required to prevent or mitigate environmental problems;
• Advise relevant officers or offices on environmental issues arising from the assessments, studies and plans, including environmental information relevant to the operations of the mission;

Awareness and Training

• Promote awareness on environmental issues;
• Provide an environmental briefing to all mission personnel including police and military contingents during their induction training;

Coordination and Partner Relations:

• Liaise on environmental issues with local authorities and the office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator and relevant United Nations bodies and agencies present in the Mission area; and
• Carry out any other tasks required to support the DPKO/DFS Environmental Policy for UN Field Missions and the environmental objectives of the mission as directed by the Director / Chief of Mission Support.

Perform other duties as required.

Competencies

Professionalism - Thorough knowledge of environmental affairs with specific experience in sustainability, energy and waste management; ability to develop comprehensive arguments for and against the suitability of pragmatic and robust solutions that provide benefits towards environmental sustainability improvements in field mission operations; familiarity with the UN Environment policies and ability to demonstrate experience in successfully meeting similar requirements. Shows pride in work and in achievements; Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; Is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; Remains calm in stressful situations; Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

Communication - Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; Asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two- communication; Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience; Demonstrates way openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Client orientation - Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients' needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients' environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress and setbacks in projects; meets time line for delivery of products or services to clients.

Leadership - Serves as a role model that other people want to follow: empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; drives for change and improvements; does not accept the status quo; shows the courage to take unpopular stands. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.

Judgement/Decision-Making: - Identifies key issues in complex situations, and comes to the heart of problems quickly; gathers relevant information before making a decision; considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; checks assumptions against facts; determines that the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; makes tough decisions when necessary.

Education

Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in environmental management, sciences, engineering, law or related field. A first level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Work Experience

At least 7 years of progressively responsible experience in the environmental management field with a national government/administration, a large firm or international organization is required. Experience in project planning is required. Experience in evaluation and oversight of environmental compliance is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position advertised, fluency in English (both oral and written) is required. Working knowledge of French or Arabic is desirable.

Assessment

Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

United Nations Considerations

According to article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity, including but not limited to, respect for international human rights and humanitarian law. Candidates may be subject to screening against these standards, including but not limited to, whether they have committed or are alleged to have committed criminal offences or violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

Due regard will be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The United Nations places no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity and under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs. The United Nations Secretariat is a non-smoking environment.

Applicants are urged to follow carefully all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira. For more detailed guidance, applicants may refer to the At-a-Glance on "The Application Process" and the Instructional Manual for the Applicants, which can be accessed by clicking on “Manuals” hyper-link on the upper right side of the inspira account-holder homepage.

The screening and evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications, including but not limited to, their education, work experience, and language skills, according to the instructions provided on inspira. Applicants will be disqualified from consideration if they do not demonstrate in their application that they meet the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations. Applicants are solely responsible for providing complete and accurate information at the time of application: no amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to a reference-checking process to verify the information provided in the application.

Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at midnight (New York time) on the deadline date.

Special Notice

The United Nation Secretariat maintains rosters of qualified and available candidates to fill anticipated job openings in peacekeeping operations, special political missions, and other field operations.
The purpose of this job opening is to generate a list of qualified candidates for inclusion in the [insert job code] roster.

The entire assessment process takes an average of six months; all applicants will be notified in writing of the outcome of their application (whether successful or unsuccessful) within 14 days of the conclusion of the process. Successful candidates will be placed on the roster and subsequently will be invited to apply for field mission vacancies open only to roster members. Roster membership does not guarantee selection.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.