Scanning and Digital Archiving Assistant

General

Description of assignment title

Scanning and Digital Archiving Assistant

Assignment country

Sri Lanka

Duty stations

Colombo (4)

Work location

On UN premises

Expected start date

10/01/2026

Duration

2 months (with possibility of extension)

Sustainable Development Goal

17. Partnerships for the goals

Host entity

IOM Sri Lanka

Modality

Onsite

Type

National

Volunteer category

Community UCoS from Apr2026

Work schedule

Full-time

Number of Assignments

4

Details

Mission and objectives

International Organization for Migration (IOM) provides services and advice to governments and migrants. With 174 Member States, IOM continues to expand its scope of activities to address the evolving migration challenges by providing a comprehensive set of responses to complex migration issues at the operational and policy level.

IOM is part of the UN System in Sri Lanka and formally became a United Nations related Organization at the UN General Assembly in September 2016.

Context

The Migration Health Division (MHD) conducts approximately 50,000 migration health assessments annually, generating and maintaining a substantial volume of documentation containing sensitive personal and medical information. To ensure compliance with data protection requirements, facilitate secure record management, and optimize storage capacity, these records require systematic archiving and digitization on a periodic basis. The volume of documentation necessitates a structured digitization process to improve document accessibility, retrieval efficiency, storage management, business continuity, and overall operational workflow. The scanning assignment forms part of MHD’s broader transition towards enhanced digital records management. Under the supervision of Migration Health personnel, the UN Volunteers will support the implementation of the established scanning and archiving process for health assessment documentation maintained at the Migration Health Assessment Center (MHAC), contributing to the secure preservation and efficient management of sensitive records.

Task description

The UN Volunteer will support the Migration Health Division in the scanning and digital archiving of medical documents maintained at the two migration health assessment centers of IOM. The tasks will include retrieving and sorting documents, preparing records for scanning, scanning and saving documents using prescribed file-naming conventions, organizing electronic files in designated folders, conducting quality checks, returning/rebinding physical records, and supporting the preparation of eligible documents for authorized disposal. The UN Volunteer will maintain strict confidentiality and ensure that all assigned tasks are completed accurately, efficiently, and in accordance with IOM policies, SOPs, and data protection requirements.

The scope of work will include:

• Retrieving designated documentation boxes from the respective storage areas.
• Sorting documents according to the applicable retention/scanning requirements.
• Separating documents requiring scanning from documents identified for disposal.
• Organizing documents according to month/year and relevant sections.
• Preparing documents for scanning by removing staples, paper clips and other bindings.
• Scanning designated registration and medical documentation.
• Applying the prescribed electronic file naming conventions.
• Saving and organizing scanned documents in designated shared folders.
• Conducting quality checks to ensure scanned documents are clear, complete, legible, correctly oriented and accurately saved.
• Rebinding and appropriately returning documents after scanning.
• Supporting the preparation of eligible documents for authorized disposal in accordance with IOM procedures.
• Maintaining strict confidentiality and protecting applicant information throughout the assignment.
• The UN Volunteer will work under the supervision of the Administrative Assistants of MHD and overall supervision of Chief Migration Health Officer, Migration Health Division, with day-to-day coordination and operational guidance from the Administrative Assistants to ensure the timely completion of assigned tasks.
• Perform any other duties and responsibilities as may be assigned by the Supervisor from time to time.

Eligibility criteria

Age

18 - 80

Required experience

No experience required

Nationality

Candidate must be a national, legal resident or hold refugee status in the country of assignment.

Assignment requirements

Relevant experience

No experience required

Languages

• English, Level: Working knowledge, Required
• Sinhalese, Level: Native language, Desirable
• Tamil, Level: Native language, Desirable

Required education level

Bachelor's degree in in information technology, social sciences and international relations desirable

Competencies and values

• Accountability
• Adaptability and flexibility
• Creativity
• Judgement and decision-making
• Planning and organising
• Professionalism
• Self-management

Skills and experience

• Basic to intermediate computer literacy.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications, particularly Word and Excel.
• Ability to operate document scanners and basic scanning software.
• Ability to organize and manage electronic folders and files.
• Good typing and data entry skills.
• Ability to follow file naming conventions and standardized procedures accurately.

Area(s) of expertise

Administration, Information technology and telecommunications, Record processing, data logging

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

Sri Lanka is an island nation located off the south coast of India. It’s home to an estimated population of over 21 million people. It is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi- religious country. It is a tropical country with moderate temperate and high humidity all throughout the year. The climate is fairly temperate all throughout the year but humidity is usually high. From March to April the temperature averages around 32 degrees Celsius (88 degrees Fahrenheit). The only major change in the Colombo weather occurs during the monsoon seasons from May to August and October to January when heavy rainfalls occur. Colombo is situated in the Western Province of Sri Lanka and is the commercial capital of the country. The city is located on the west coast of the island, adjacent to the administrative capital, Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte. Bandaranaike International Airport is located 35km from Colombo and is served by the main international airlines. Sri Lanka currently has stable and safe living environment. Cost of living is relatively high with increased food and accommodation costs. The UN Volunteer will be based in Colombo, Sri Lanka (during the construction period, the UN Volunteer will be relocated to the field location). Colombo is the administrative centre and offers a range of accommodation, transportation, medical, banking and other services. Sri Lanka is classified as a Family Duty Station. The security level in Colombo is UNDSS Level 1 (Low).

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.

Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements

Selected candidates for certain occupational groups may be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in line with the applicable host entity policy

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