The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. The UN-Habitat Afghanistan country office is part of the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP). The position is located in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Learning from the experience in the last 30 years and recognizing the realities of the current context in the country, UN-Habitat in Afghanistan designs and implements projects in settlements of all sizes, putting the needs of people first, targeting the most vulnerable and meeting local needs by focusing on area-based and community-driven outputs. The portfolio currently covers projects ranging from humanitarian responses to supporting recovery and meeting basic human needs. UN-Habitat collaborates closely with the UN country team as well as with technical and financial partners in Afghanistan, in alignment with the UN Strategic Framework for Afghanistan (UNSFA) and the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plans (HNRP). In alignment with those frameworks and the new UN-Habitat global strategic plan (2026-2029), UN-Habitat Afghanistan has recently published its strategic priorities for 2026-2027 for the office.
Afghanistan is experiencing a continuous humanitarian crisis, with over half a million people in the need of humanitarian assistance. Many people are displaced due to climate change, internal displacement or massive returns from neighbouring countries, and many have sought refuge in the relative safety of cities, which are growing rapidly. The number of people living in unplanned, underserviced and informal settlements, including in risk prone areas, is increasing and living conditions as well as access to services is inadequate. The unfolding crisis in Afghan cities and settlements of all sizes, which is accelerated by climate change impacts and natural disasters, is occurring in a context of underlying vulnerabilities, including infrastructure deficits, insecure livelihoods and pervasive tenure insecurity. Most at risk are displaced people in informal settlements, with women, disabled and ethnic minorities being particularly vulnerable.
UN-Habitat applies a participatory, community-driven and area-based approach, using participatory spatial planning and action planning processes to enable communities to identify and implement priority service and infrastructure investments to support their socioeconomic recovery processes and creating an enabling environment for durable solutions and sustainable infrastructures. UN-Habitat's community-centered “People's Process” is a proven and effective approach to reduce vulnerability at scale in the Afghan context. UN-Habitat builds upon its long tradition of partnering with communities in informal settlements to create sustainable and safe settlements, improve living conditions and adequate livelihood opportunities to those most in need.
Operations Division:
Operations Section, UN-Habitat Afghanistan Programme is responsible for providing professional, timely, accurate, effective, and efficient support to the country office programme by ensuring that financial resources are unitized in the best interest of the organization and in line with UN rules and regulations. The Operations Section comprise of Finance Management, Human Resource Management, ICT, Transport and security
Reporting Relationships
The Junior ICT Assistant will report directly to the ICT Associate under the overall supervision of the Administrative Officer
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Installing, configuring, and upgrading various PC application software packages, as well as performing tasks related to LAN setup and maintenance.
- Support maintaining Local Area Network and client machines.
- Experienced with network testing, cabling, troubleshooting etc.
- Provide support to the implementation of ICT strategies and new technologies in accordance with corporate information management and technology standards, guidelines, and procedures.
- Perform repair and maintenance of IT equipment, including both hardware and software, such as desktop PCs, laptops, printers, scanners, and other peripherals.
- Provide technical support and advice to ACO and Programme Presence staff.
- Performing problem analyses and problem determination for all hardware and software systems.
- Implementing appropriate recovery procedures as required.
- Help maintain IT inventory records including hardware, software licenses, and accessories.
- Assist in setting up, video conferencing tools, and other AV equipment for meetings and events.
- Assisting Procurement Officer in selecting appropriate technical equipment.
- Other duties assigned by supervisor
Competency
Professionalism: Ability to identify and resolve budgetary problems and identify sources for data collection. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.
Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.
Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to clients.
Qualifications & Experience
The Junior ICT Assistant must have a diploma in Computer Science. He/she must have at least Two years’ experience in the respective field. Fluency in both oral and written English will be vital since all the reporting and correspondence will be carried out in English.
Language
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the advertised post, fluency in oral and written English is required. In addition, fluency in a local language is required.
