Associate Inter-Agency Coordination Officer

The Office of the UNHCR was established on 14 December 1950 by the UN General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country (www.unhcr.org).

Although Bangladesh is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 Protocol and the Government does not recognize the Rohingya as refugees, referring to them as “Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals”, the country is generously hosting some 1.2 million Rohingya refugees across 33 camps. This includes over 130,000 new arrivals who fled renewed violence and persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and have entered the camps since 2024 despite the border being officially closure. The presence of large numbers of refugees – who now represent two-thirds of the local population in Cox’s Bazar – has had important impacts on local communities, service delivery, the economy and the environment. The Government considers return to Myanmar, as soon as possible, as the only viable solution. This policy approach impacts on the humanitarian operation, with the Government discouraging medium or longer-term approaches, including the development of permanent infrastructure, providing formal education or livelihoods opportunities for the refugees and the use of cash to deliver assistance. Following significant global funding reductions in 2025, the Rohingya response entered a period of structural transformation. In close consultation with the Government of Bangladesh, the overall coordination architecture has been streamlined and aligned more closely with the Refugee Coordination Model (RCM). As part of this transition, coordination functions are now organized under the Rohingya Coordination Platform (RCP), led by UNHCR, with a lean inter-sector coordination secretariat based in Cox’s Bazar. The principal inter-agency planning and fundraising framework for the response remains the Joint Response Plan (JRP). The RCP Secretariat plays a central role in supporting inter-sector coordination, partner engagement, reporting, and the preparation and follow-up of JRP-related processes, while ensuring continuity and coherence across sectors during a period of transition and constrained resources. Within this context, the RCP Associate Inter-Agency Coordination Officer will provide day-to-day coordination and process support to the RCP Secretariat, contributing to effective information flow, follow-up, documentation, and planning across sectors and partners. The Associate Inter-Agency Coordination Officer reports to the Senior Inter-Agency Coordination Officer, RCP Secretariat, Cox’s Bazar. S/he will support the functioning of the RCP Secretariat by facilitating inter-sector coordination processes, maintaining systematic follow-up with sectors and partners, and contributing to planning, reporting, and documentation—particularly in relation to the Joint Response Plan and related coordination priorities.

Under the direct supervision of Senior Inter-Agency Coordination Officer, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: - Support day-to-day engagement with Sector Coordinators and Co-Coordinators through written and verbal communication, including follow-up on agreed actions related to planning, reporting, and coordination processes. - Maintain regular contact with UN agencies, NGOs, and other stakeholders to support information exchange and coordination. - Assist in organizing inter-sector and ad hoc coordination meetings, including scheduling, agenda preparation, and logistical arrangements. - Contribute to the preparation, drafting, and revision of coordination documents, guidance notes, presentations, and briefing materials explaining processes, timelines, and next steps. - Actively support the preparation and drafting of the Joint Response Plan (JRP), including consolidation of sector inputs, narrative drafting, and quality control under guidance from senior staff. - Support reporting processes linked to JRP implementation, funding updates, and inter-sector reporting requirements. - Prepare summary notes, meeting minutes, status updates, and internal reports for the RCP Secretariat as required, while ensuring regular follow up. - Liaise with sector Information Management (IM) focal points to support timely submission and validation of data related to planning, reporting, and monitoring frameworks. - Maintain organized records of correspondence, meeting documentation, and coordination products. - Contribute to maintaining continuity, consistency, and institutional memory within the RCP Secretariat. - Support donor liaison, reporting, and visibility efforts for Japan-funded activities, including regular coordination with JICA, in close collaboration with the JICA Bangladesh Office. Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to: - 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); - Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country; - Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities; - Contribute articles/write-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.