Website and Database Associate (National Position) - Level (SB4-Level 1) - Jerusalem/OCHA oPt (Cancelled)

The OCHA office in the occupied Palestinian territory has responsibility for inter-agency coordination in complex emergencies and in natural disasters. In the context of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territory, the OCHA Office has specific responsibility for (a) disseminating information and policies to the humanitarian community, authorities, and donors, as well as supporting resource mobilization efforts; (b) assisting in the identification of humanitarian priorities and needs and the coordination of resource mobilization efforts, and (c) disseminating information on the impact of natural disasters, the response thereto and the need for international assistance.

In order to meet the increased requirements for coordination support, humanitarian advocacy and information, the OCHA Office in the occupied Palestinian territory will improve the capacity of Information Management, Advocacy and information dissemination in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, amongst humanitarian partners, local and international media, policy makers, governmental and non- governmental actors. The OCHA team will ensure adequate support to area-based operational coordination structures, sectoral coordination in priority areas such as health and food, security, etc., and national level coordination - both operational and policy.

The Website and Database Associate will be working closely with the Information Management, Research and Analysis, Protection, Advocacy, and Field Coordination Units. The Website and Database Associate will contribute to the development and improvement of information dissemination procedures and practices, ensuring that the UN OCHA oPt Websites function efficiently and provide the best possible functionality and usability to OCHA clients and stakeholders. The Incumbent will also contribute to strengthening and creating new relationships with partner agencies and NGOs. and will ensure that all procedures and processes under his/ her responsibility are properly documented.

Under the direct supervision of the Information Management Unit Manager, The Website and Database Associate will be responsible for the following:

• Develops OCHA oPt Website
• Supports the management of OCHA oPt web services
• Facilitates development and management of the cluster’s website
• Assists in the development of databases and applications
• Performs other related tasks

Daily work implies frequent interaction with the following:

• OCHA staff at all levels, NGOs, the humanitarian community, national counterparts, and donors.
• Representatives of other UN humanitarian agencies and member organizations in the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), UN Missions, and Member State personnel responsible for information management, humanitarian issues, and non-governmental  organization representatives.
• Delegations, government officials, involved actors in the crisis, partners in universities and research institutes, etc.
• Information Support Section (ISS) OCHA HQ

Develops OCHA oPt Website:

• Plays a lead role in the ongoing design and development of the local UN OCHA website using Drupal 8/9 framework and related web technologies (HTML5/XHTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and jQuery)
• A solid foundation of networking and Linux administration
• Conceptualizes and creates dynamic web pages. Draft, edit, and update web pages as needed and provide specialized design, database, and programming assistance in the oversight and maintenance of the materials posted on the UN OCHA website.
• Continuous enhancement of the website interface using state-of-the-art web technologies
• Monitors the latest trends in web design and creates new graphic designs to produce attractive and effective web pages using appropriate web authoring tools, graphics applications, and techniques.
• Develop tools to communicate humanitarian messages and transform them into web-based products for advocacy.
• Identifies and implements measures aimed at increasing the site's visibility for search engines (SEO) to draw visitors to the UN OCHA website. Perform custom indexing.
• Ensures cross browsers compatibility and performs compatibility checks.
• Creates and maintains online communication tools to enhance the dissemination of publications, RSS services, email subscription services, send to a colleague/friend etc.
• Develops and maintains users feedback functionality

Supports the management of OCHA oPt web services

• Resolves day-to-day requests concerning the production process of web pages.
• Research original and/or new UN documents and humanitarian materials that may be appropriate for a particular page of the UN OCHA website. Improve the content of the website to support the humanitarian community.
• Ensures correctness of entries and makes corrections as required; cleaning, editing, and updating document databases as needed for optimal access by search engines; oversee the linking of documents and determine appropriate categorization.
• Troubleshoot problems as they arise, consulting, as necessary, with the IMU manager, Research and Advocacy Units.
• Analyzes monthly statistics on web page usage and report trends.
• Maintains website visibility, accessibility and visibility, and availability for all browsers, operating systems, and computer settings (date, language, etc.)

Facilitates development and management of the cluster’s website:

• Development and management of the cluster’s website (Humanitarian Response Portal) to include tools to support coordination e.g., meeting calendar, searchable contact list.
• Uploads documents and other materials provide by clusters on the website Updating the contact list and meetings calendar.
• Extends and adds new functionalities to the website based on analysis of clusters/sectors’ needs/requirements.
• Maintains and uploads data repository, standard operation datasets, and functional operational datasets Maintain a client-oriented approach to understanding requirements.
• Trains Information Management focal points on the use of the portal and promote its use among the humanitarian community.

Assists in the development of databases and applications:

• Develop interactive multimedia applications for the web, combining text, graphics, animation, and sound to create dynamic multimedia products for humanitarian advocacy.
• Develop in-house databases/systems to support internal office processes in close coordination with the administration unit

Perform other related tasks:

• Provide tutoring to staff on the use of the remote posting.
• Monitors and trains staff involved in the maintenance and enhancement of OCHA website.
• Assists in the selection of photos used for UN OCHA oPt’s publications and revises photo captions for website posting.
• Promotes the adoption of OCHA Information Management tools and techniques by OCHA oPt staff.
• Contributes to the application of OCHA Internet Publishing Policies and Record-Keeping Policies, including but not limited to the application of metadata standards, project documentation standards, and document management conventions.
• Maintains a client-oriented approach that ensures providing high-quality information management services and products to the OCHA office and to members of the humanitarian community.
• With the contribution of other members of the team, develop and implement a dissemination strategy for all information products (e.g., Reports, data, maps) through, for example, hard copy, stand-alone executable programs, CD-ROMs, and websites.
• Performs other related tasks requested by the OCHA Head of Office and the head of the information management Unit.

Corporate Competencies:

• Achieve Results: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, and delivers quality work by the deadline.
• Think Innovatively: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem-solver, makes improvements 
• Learn Continuously: Open-minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback.
• Adapt with Agility: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible.
• Act with Determination: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident.
• Engage and Partner: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: Appreciate/respect differences, be aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge Generation: Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need.
• Knowledge Facilitation: Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally.
• Communication: Ability to communicate in a clear, concise, and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience
• Digital Awareness and Literacy: Ability and inclination to rapidly adopt new technologies, either through skillfully grasping their usage or through understanding their impact and empowering others to use them as needed.
• Working with Evidence and Data: Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making.
• Customer Satisfaction/Client Management: Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs. Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. Look for ways to add value beyond clients' immediate requests. Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.

Education:

• A first-level University Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Management, Management Information Systems (MIS), or any related field is required.

Experience:

1. Five years of progressively responsible experience in web development, maintenance, and design, with proven experience in Drupal 8/9, MySQL, MS SQL server development and administration, HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript, AJAX, jQuery, and PHP is required.
2. Programming knowledge and experience in database management and administration is required.
3. Experience implementing modular user interfaces on an application framework/platform (Drupal 8/9), maintaining AWS infrastructure (VPC, EC2, Security Groups, IAM, ECS, CodeDeploy, CloudFront, S3) is required.
4. Experience implementing frontend integrations with backend services via RESTful web service API experiences/components is required.
5. A solid foundation of networking and Linux administration is required.
6. Knowledge and experience in data security is required.

Additional Experiences:

1. Practical knowledge of standard software packages (MS Office – Access – Visio – Adobe) is desired.
2. Practical knowledge of web development using MS Visual Studio and other web development tools is desired.
3. Hands-on experience in Azure DevOps/ Azure Database administration is desired.
4. Working experience in a development or humanitarian environment is desired.

Language requirements

Fluency in English and Arabic language both spoken and written, is required.

How to apply

To start the application process, applicants are required to apply via OCHA oPt’s vacancies website by registering their profile and completing OCHA Personal History Form (P11). Only applications received through https://www.ochaopt.org/vacancies which should include an up-to-date and complete P11 will be considered. Due to the large number of applications received for OCHA vacancies, only applicants short-listed for interview will be contacted.

The United Nations does not charge fees at any stage of the recruitment process.

The United Nations does not concern itself with information related to bank accounts.

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: 13 October 2022

Applications received after this date will not be considered.

Women are encouraged to apply