Chief of Communities Section (S3)

General Minimum Requirements

The general minimum requirements for working with the OSCE are:

• Excellent physical condition
• Possession of a valid automobile driving license and ability to drive using manual transmission
• Ability to cope with physical hardship and willingness to work extra hours and in an environment with limited infrastructure 

Field of Expertise Requirements

The general minimum requirements for working in this field of expertise are: 

• University education in political sciences, international relations, public policy, law, international human rights law or
  other human rights related fields
• Experience working with human rights, minority or gender issues
• Demonstrable organizational, analytical, communication and interpersonal skills
• Experience in drafting reports

Level of Professional Competence Requirements

Furthermore, this level of responsibility requires the following:

Education:

Advanced education/certified training course in a relevant field is desirable

Experience:

Minimum 6 years of relevant, diversified and progressively responsible professional experience including at least 3 years at the management level relevant to the actual position

Mission Specific Requirements

Additionally, this particular post has specific requirements:

Mandatory:

• Advanced university degree in human rights, law, political science, international relations or equivalent professional experience; 
• In-depth knowledge of international human rights standards and practices, especially relating to minority rights;
• Significant team management and supervisory experience;
• Previous experience in project cycle management, including responsibility for budgets;
• Previous experience working on minority rights issues with governments and other stakeholders;
• Previous experience in gender mainstreaming;
• Proven ability to design monitoring programmes for data collection on minority rights;
• Proven ability to develop strategic programming on minority rights;
• Knowledge of the political environment of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo;
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to work collaboratively as a member of a team, with people of different backgrounds and diverse political views;
• Demonstrated impartiality and objectivity;
• Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and judgment; 
• Flexibility and ability to work under pressure with limited time frames while maintaining equanimity;
• Ability to conceptualize, draft, and edit analytical reports;
• Ability to operate Windows applications, including word processing and e-mail;
• Professional fluency in English with excellent communication (both oral and written) skills;

Desirable:

• Sound knowledge of the Council on Europe’s Framework Convention on National Minorities and, more generally, the international policy and legal framework on minority rights;
• Knowledge of the legislative framework in Kosovo related to human rights and non-majority community rights;
• Experience in negotiation and/or mediation;
• Six or more years of progressively responsible management experience of large teams;
• Knowledge of a local language or most common lingua franca;
• Previous experience in field missions, preferably in South Eastern Europe.

Tasks and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Director of the Department of Human Rights and Communities, the successful candidate will be tasked with the following duties:    

1. Directly supervising the Communities Section (CS) team in HQ comprised of international and local staff. Provides strong programmatic guidance to the CS teams in five Regional Centres (RCs) in close coordination with the RC Directors, including regular visits to the RCs;
2. Identifying topical community-related issues, analysing options for Mission intervention and advocates with Kosovo institutions, including municipalities, for policies to achieve measured improvement in community rights;
3. Producing thematic reports on community rights using sound methodology and data collected from tracking tools, and develops advocacy strategies to implement recommendations in these reports;
4. Co-ordinating the proactive monitoring of Kosovo institutions at central and local levels to implement legislation, policies and procedures to further community rights;
5. Based on the findings of regular monitoring and evaluation, proposing the design and development of the annual Communities Section project within the Unified Budget Programme, with an emphasis on promoting gender equality through programming;
6. Providing capacity building expertise to the OSCE HQ offices and Field Teams on issues of community rights;
7. Reporting to the Director of Department on the work of the Communities Section’s programmatic portfolios through weekly bilateral meetings, and other regular communication;
8. Closely co-ordinating communities-related advocacy strategy with the Director of Department, as well as with the Office of Political Affairs and Communications (OPAC), and other relevant staff in the Mission;
9. Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of the community rights situation in Kosovo and the region, and proactively shares information with Director of Department, RC Directors and senior management;
10. Acting as a Mission focal point on community rights and liaises with relevant international organisations/embassies in Kosovo accordingly;
11. Facilitating dialogue and negotiated solutions between community representatives and institutional actors;
12. Performing other duties as assigned.

For more detailed information on the structure and work of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, please see: https://www.osce.org/mission-in-kosovo

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages the nomination of qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious, ethnic and social backgrounds. Please note that nationals or permanent residents of the country of the duty station are not eligible to apply.

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment, to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.

Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/our-competency-model.

Candidates should, prior to applying, verify with their respective nominating authority to which extent financial remuneration and/or benefit packages will be offered. 

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://vacancies.osce.org/. If your participating State does not provide the option to apply online for seconded positions, you are kindly requested to submit your offline application form available at https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/offline-application-form to the respective OSCE delegation whose address can be found at https://www.osce.org/contacts/delegations.

Please apply to your relevant authorities well in advance of the deadline expiration to ensure timely processing of your application. Delayed nominations will not be considered. The OSCE can only process Secondment applications that have been nominated by participating States. For queries relating to your application, please refer to the respective delegation as listed here: https://www.osce.org/contacts/delegations.

Please be aware that OSCE appointments are subject to medical clearance. 

Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.