Associate Durable Solutions Officer, Mexico City

General

Description of assignment title

Associate Durable Solutions Officer

Assignment country

Mexico

Duty stations

Mexico City

Work location

On UN premises

Expected start date

11/15/2026

Duration

18 months

Sustainable Development Goal

8. Decent work and economic growth

Host entity

UNHCR

Modality

Onsite

Type

International

Volunteer category

Specialist UCoS from Apr2026

Work schedule

Full-time

Number of Assignments

1

Details

Mission and objectives

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (the UN Refugee Agency, also known as UNHCR) is an intergovernmental organization with a mandate to protect refugees and stateless persons worldwide. Since 1950, the agency has helped tens of millions of people restart their lives. Today, a staff of more than 15,000 people in 130 countries continues to help and protect millions of refugees, returnees, internally displaced and stateless people. UNHCR provides lifesaving assistance, protection, shelter, food, clean water, education and medical care to some of the world’s most vulnerable. UNHCR also provides assistance to refugees who want to return home when it is safe to do so and helps integrate refugees within their local host country or resettle to a third country when returning home is no longer an option. Non-governmental organization (NGO) partners work with UNHCR around the globe to assist and protect refugees and internally displaced people.

Mexico remains a key country of origin, transit, destination and return for mixed migration flows, while also experiencing increasing internal displacement linked to violence and insecurity. Despite a reduction in irregular entries, the number of asylum-seekers remains high, with 70,505 asylum claims registered by the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR) in 2025.These trends generate sustained needs related to local integration and livelihoods, particularly in urban and industrial corridors such as the Bajío region, which concentrates labour demand and serves as a key area for the relocation, local integration and job placement for refugees.

Context

UNHCR Mexico operates in a dynamic protection environment where increasing numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers are seeking opportunities for sustainable integration. Advancing durable solutions, particularly local integration through access to decent work and socioeconomic inclusion, remains a central pillar of UNHCR’s strategy in the country.

Strengthening pathways to formal employment, fostering private sector engagement, and promoting inclusive labour market participation are key to enabling refugees to become self-reliant and contribute meaningfully to host communities. Mexico offers a favorable context for advancing these objectives. The country hosts a significant presence of Japanese companies, particularly in the automotive and manufacturing sectors, which present strong potential for inclusive employment partnerships. In parallel, JICA Mexico brings over three decades of experience in industrial development, especially in the Bajío region, providing a solid foundation for collaboration around skills development, employability, and private sector engagement.

In this context, the objective of this JICA-funded position is to support UNHCR Mexico in advancing its livelihoods and socioeconomic inclusion agenda in priority locations, while generating strategic synergies between UNHCR and JICA cooperation frameworks. The role will contribute to expanding inclusive employment opportunities and strengthening partnerships under UNHCR’s Local Integration Programme.

At the same time, UNHCR Mexico is operating under significant financial constraints, including a substantial reduction in its approved 2025 budget, which has resulted in staffing reductions and the consolidation of field presence. Additional reductions are foreseen for 2026, even as needs related to integration and employability continue to grow. In this context, the position is also critical to sustaining core operational capacity and ensuring continuity of key programme activities. This request aligns with the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus priorities highlighted at the Global Refugee Forum (GRF) in December 2023, as well as with Japan’s diplomatic initiative toward Latin America and the Caribbean announced by Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in February 2024, which promotes strengthened political, economic, and development cooperation with the region. It is strongly supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, as well as by the Embassy and Consulate-General of Japan in Mexico.

Task description

Under the supervision of the National Durable Solutions Officer, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

• Support the implementation of UNHCR’s Local Integration Programme in line with México Integra, a national policy designed to make refugee inclusion a systematic part of the country’s development agenda. It brings together protection, access to rights and services, employment and socioeconomic integration through a coordinated, state-led approach, with the aim of enabling refugees and asylum-seekers to begin building self-reliance from the earliest stages of the asylum process.
• Support UNHCR in liaising with key Japanese stakeholders, when required for the durable solutions operation.
• Support coordination with other UN agencies in the implementation of of joint initiatives involved in formal employment, self-reliance, livelihoods, vocational training, documentation, financial inclusion and integration services.
• Support monitoring and evaluation of livelihoods and integration activities, including collection and analysis on results, challenges and good practices in coordination with the field and the Information Management unit.
• Assist in preparing inputs for internal reports, briefs, donor updates and presentations related to durable solutions and socioeconomic inclusion.
• Support the documentation of lessons learned and good practices from the Local Integration Programme.
• Support durable solutions’ teams to follow-up on employment placements, retention and basic working conditions, in coordination with partners and employers.
• Contribute to employer and private sector engagement by mapping companies in priority economic sectors, sharing basic guidance on inclusive hiring.
• Perform other durable solutions-related duties as required in support of operational priorities.

Eligibility criteria

Age

18 - 80

Required experience

3 years

Donor priorities

Nationality

Candidate must be a national of a country other than the country of assignment.

Additional eligibility criteria

This assignment is funded by JICA, therefore only former Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JICA-JOCV) recommended by the JICA-JOCV Secretariat are eligible to apply. Please consult the JICA website (https://www.jica.go.jp/volunteer/obog/career_support/unv/index.html) for further information on the eligibility criteria.

Deployment is scheduled between 1 October and 30 November (no later than 31 December 2026).

Assignment requirements

Relevant experience

3 years

Languages

English, Level: Fair, Desirable

Spanish, Level: Working knowledge, Required

Required education level

Bachelor's degree in Political Sciences, Law, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Public Administration, Economics, Human Rights, International Relations or other relevant field.

Competencies and values

• Accountability
• Adaptability and Flexibility
• Building Trust
• Client Orientation
• Commitment and Motivation
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Communication
• Creativity
• Empowering Others
• Ethics and Values
• Integrity
• Judgement and Decision-making
• Knowledge Sharing
• Leadership
• Managing Performance
• Planning and Organizing
• Professionalism
• Respect for Diversity
• Self-Management
• Technological Awareness
• Vision
• Working in Teams

Skills and experience

Minimum 3 years professional experience (including JOCV) in:

• Community development and/or working with or within private sector entities, UN institutions, or non-governmental organizations is required.
• A strong interest in socio economic inclusion, financial inclusion, human rights, refugee law, humanitarian-development nexus is required.
• Previous experience as a volunteer and/or experience of another culture, (i.e. studies, volunteer work, internship) would be highly desirable.
• Good interpersonal, networking and communication skills.
• Willingness to contribute and work as part of a team dedicated to serve others.
• Flexible and open to learning and new experiences.
• Respect for diversity and adaptability to other cultures, environments and living conditions.
• Computer skills (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, social media, and others).

Area(s) of expertise

Project management, programme development, strategy, Community development

Driving license

Other information

Volunteerism is understood as a wide range of activities undertaken of free will, for the general public good, for which monetary reward is not the principal motivating factor.

Living conditions and remarks

Mexico City (CDMX) is the capital of the United Mexican States. It is a Category A, family duty station with well-developed infrastructure, services, and amenities.

• Health: Mexico City offers high-quality healthcare with numerous internationally accred-ited hospitals and specialized medical facilities.
• Education: A wide range of government and private schools are available. Most private institutions offer bilingual (English–Spanish) curricula, and there are several interna-tional schools following U.S., British, German, French, and Japanese systems.
• Housing: Apartments and houses are readily available, both furnished and unfurnished. Real estate agents are widely used. All international staff must obtain UN security clearance of their residences prior to signing any lease. Due to seismic activity, certain areas of the city are restricted for residential selection.
• Climate and Seismic Activity: Mexico City enjoys a generally pleasant, temperate cli-mate, although sudden weather changes are common. Heavy rains may cause local-ized flooding during the rainy season. The city lies within the Circum-Pacific Seismic Belt, one of the most active seismic regions in the world. Earthquakes are frequent and can occasionally cause infrastructure damage; staff are advised to familiarize them-selves with emergency and preparedness procedures upon arrival.
• Currency and Exchange: The official currency is the Mexican Peso (MXN). U.S. Dol-lars, Euros, and traveller’s cheques can be exchanged at authorized currency ex-change offices.
• Communications: Internet and telecommunications services are reliable and widely available. Contracts are required for household and office connections.
• Transportation: Public transportation is extensive and includes buses and a subway system. For taxis, staff are strongly encouraged to use registered “taxis de sitio” or reli-able ride-hailing services such as Uber.
• Security: Mexico City is classified as Security Risk Management (SRM) Area: Mexico - Central. There are no recent records of direct threats against UNHCR personnel or op-erations in Mexico City. However, as in other large metropolitan areas with high popu-lation density, common crime remains a relevant concern, particularly in the form of theft, pickpocketing, fraud, and extortion.

Throughout 2025 and early 2026, local authorities have reported a sustained down-ward trend in high-impact crimes (including homicide, violent robbery, and kidnapping), largely attributed to strengthened security strategies, intelligence efforts, and opera-tional deployment. Nevertheless, these improvements coexist with persistent localized criminal dynamics, especially in high-traffic areas and transportation hubs.

Demonstrations, marches, and road blockades continue to occur frequently along ma-jor roads and central areas, typically linked to social, political, or labour-related de-mands. While most of these events remain peaceful, they can cause significant mobility disruptions, operational delays, and localized security risks.

Inclusivity statement

United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

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