Associate Programme Officer

Job Summary

The JPO Programme of the OPCW equips outstanding young leaders with the skills and experience required to advance the Organisation’s goals and objectives. As a pathway into the world of International Public Sector professional employment, the programme offers young professionals excellent exposure to a multilateral organisation while providing a valuable entry point into the International Professional Environment.

During their appointments, JPOs benefit from the guidance of experienced OPCW staff members and are actively involved in supporting Divisions with the attainment and progress of projects and initiatives aimed towards the achievement of the OPCWs overall goals. This JPO appointment for a period of 1 year is funded by the Government of the United States of America, with the aim of sponsoring young professionals from developing nations, and from nations which may at times have lower numbers of staff members at the OPCW Technical Secretariat. In line with the OPCW regulatory framework, by applying to these vacancies, the candidates accept that their personal information may be forwarded to the donor State Party.

The International Cooperation Branch (ICB) is a part of the International Cooperation and Assistance Division (ICA) of the OPCW responsible for assisting the Member States in implementing the Article XI of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The ICA serves as international provider and platform for providing specialised and technical assistance in support of States Parties efforts to meet their obligations under the Convention through a portfolio of wide range of programmes and projects. These capacity building programmes are aimed at contributing to build and enhance States Parties capacity to fostering the use of chemistry for peaceful purposes for the economic and technological development of the States Parties, facilitating the national implementation and responding and dealing with threats involving toxic chemicals.

The ICB develops and runs a portfolio of international cooperation programmes, including capacity building projects aimed at fostering peaceful uses of chemistry for the economic and technological development of the Member States.

These programmes are focused in three strategic areas of Integrated Chemicals Management; Enhancing Laboratory Capabilities and Chemical Knowledge Promotion. These programmes and activities network experts in various fields to promote good practices to prevent re-emergence of chemical weapons and promote peaceful applications in chemistry towards the sustainable development of Member States.

Main Responsibilities

Provide support to the Branch Head and Programme Officers to design and enact efficient communication methodologies including through partnerships with universities, research institutes, associations, professional societies, etc. to enhance the outreach to technical stakeholders under ICB programmes; Lead and coordinate the branch efforts on establishing, maintaining, and strengthening International Cooperation Programme Alumni communities through proactive networks on social media, and ad-hoc initiatives (workshops, newsletters and publications, and mapping alumni resources for TS programmes); In cooperation with ICB staff, support branch-wide work on valorisation and dissemination of programme related contents and deliverables, including support to the preparation of publications and reports, designing e-learning modules, providing inputs to news items, etc. With the support from substantive officers, pioneer the data analytics initiative on International Cooperation, including i) development of a data framework (objectives, scope, criteria, methodologies), ii) data inventory and collection taking stock of former efforts and datasets (e.g. on needs assessment in the Member States and programme evaluation data in selected areas, iii) data assessment, review and presentation with the view to inform decision making, planning and coordination processes in ICB; Contribute to other crosscutting processes in ICB, including maintaining and reviewing the risk assessment framework, supporting staff on enhancing the efficiency of programme evaluation routines; Assist substantive officers in programmatic operations and perform other tasks as assigned by the Head of ICB.

Qualifications and Experience

Education

Mandatory:

An advanced university degree in a related field. A first level university degree in a scientific or related field in combination with qualifying experience (4 years) may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Knowledge and Experience

Mandatory:

A minimum of two years of working experience in the field of programme management, communications or data-based management, preferably in multilateral or international organisations;

Or

A minimum of four years of working experience in a relevant field with a first level university degree; Experience with drafting papers, analysis of information and facilitation of meetings.

Desirable:

Experience in the area of capacity building, programme management, public administration, evaluation and monitoring, communications, data analytics, or information management is desirable.

Skills and Competencies

Excellent written and spoken English is required; Required computer skills including Office (Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook, Teams, etc.)

Languages

Fluency in English is essential and a good working knowledge of one of the other official languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish) is desirable.

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