Anticipatory Action Officer

UNICEF in Turkey works to protect the rights of children and adolescents in Turkey since 1951. UNICEF's programme in Turkey focuses on the needs of the most vulnerable children in the areas of education, child protection, health care, social policy, adolescents and youth, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Office of Emergency Programme (EMOPS) provides strategic and coordinated support to Country Offices preparing for and responding to humanitarian crises, in collaboration with Regional Offices, to ensure that they have the right capacities to respond effectively and deliver on its Core Commitments to Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs). EMOPS leads efforts to ensure that UNICEF’s role in complex emergencies and natural disasters is clearly defined, that the organisation is properly equipped to fulfil that role, and that all levels of the organisation are prepared to deliver our mandate.

The Risk Analysis and Preparedness Section (RAPS) in EMOPS main purpose is to support UNICEF in being ready to meet the CCCs in humanitarian emergencies and thus to contribute to UNICEF’s general ability to assess and adapt to a multitude of risks. RAPS’ aim is to help UNICEF be best prepared and impactful in saving and protecting lives, and in reducing children’s vulnerability around the world.

UNICEF’s anticipatory action work is expanding rapidly to help country offices and regional offices design, implement and document anticipatory action frameworks that protect children and communities from predictable hazards. This assignment will support both the technical content and coordination aspects of this growing portfolio, including documentation of good practices, development of communication materials and support for country office capacity building. Another part of the role will be to support the organization of events, training sessions and other capacity-building activities at country and regional levels. The International UN Youth Volunteer will have the opportunity to work closely with country and regional offices where frameworks exist or are being developed, gaining valuable experience in humanitarian preparedness, climate resilience and knowledge management.

Under the direct supervision of the Emergency Specialist, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

1) Content development and knowledge management
• Support country and regional offices with documentation and reporting on existing anticipatory action frameworks
• Assist in developing templates and guidance for country offices to collect video stories, photos and beneficiary stories
• Contribute to knowledge sharing products such as case studies, good practices and lessons learned

2) Coordination and proposal development
• Support country offices in developing concept notes and proposals for new frameworks
• Assist with drafting resource mobilization concept notes in collaboration with Programme Group, clusters, and relevant divisions such as the Public Partnerships Division (PPD) and Private Fundraising and Partnerships (PFP)
• Coordinate with country and regional offices to gather inputs, templates and updates

3) Support for organizing events, training sessions and capacity building
• Provide support for planning and delivering trainings, workshops and capacity-building sessions for country offices
• Assist with coordination for country and regional learning events related to anticipatory action
• Contribute to documentation of key outcomes and lessons learned from these activities

• Perform any other duties as delegated by the supervisor.


Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:
- Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day, 5th of December).
- Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country.
- Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities (for instance at https://vra.unv.org),
- Contribute articles/wrjte-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.
- Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers.
- Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.