Photo: UN Volunteer Rhea Mahanta, gender focal point for the UNMISS Civil Affairs' Bor Field Office, visits the Panyier Unified Military Training Center in Jonglei State where government and opposition forces undergo joint training to form South Sudan's National Army. Life in these environments is hard, and men and women have different needs. Undergoing training for months under these harsh conditions with almost no facilities, particularly in a State rife with conflict, can prompt many women to leave their training behind to return to their families. Rhea and her colleagues distributed sanitary napkins and hygiene kits for the women, for whom it was crucial to have those resources if they were to continue with their military training.
© UNMISS, 2020
Reassign your volunteer to meet your evolving needs
When operational requirements demand it, move quickly to reassign your volunteer to where their skills and experience will deliver the most value.
Feel empowered to make minor changes on your own with the volunteer. Involve UNV prior to effecting any significant changes to the assignment – here’s how:
Where only slight modifications to the Description of Assignment apply, you can make those changes directly, after consulting with your volunteer.
We do not need to take administrative actions for variations of this nature:
1. Edit background information, wording or spelling.
2. Amend the assignment title, without changing your volunteer’s responsibilities. For example, a ‘programme officer’ could be a ‘project officer.’
3. Change task descriptions while keeping the same assignment title, to adapt your volunteer’s role and responsibilities to new situations or needs.
4. Email ‘support@unv.org’ your updated assignment description.
You can authorize temporary mission travel of your volunteer for up to 3 months to a different project, duty station or mission area, with only minor changes to their responsibilities in their original Description of Assignment. To change their responsibilities, or travel of more than 3 months, you must ask for your UN Volunteer to be reassigned (see tab on reassignment above).
1. Reassure your volunteer that their monthly living allowance will continue to be paid at the rate of their original duty station, for as long as they’re working on temporary mission travel.
2. Tell them to expect wellbeing differential based on their original duty station for temporary missions of up to three months. No additional wellbeing differential is paid for stay at the temporary duty station.
3. Confirm your organization is processing and paying for transportation (air travel, all types of terminal expenses) and UN Daily Subsistence Allowance. These are not covered by the proforma cost and paid by the UN host entity.
4. Arrange internally with your volunteer, email ‘support@unv.org’ to record temporary mission travel in the system.
If your volunteer has served less than 4 years and has no pending investigations or disciplinary issues, you can reassign them to meet your operational needs. Ensure that your UN Volunteer:
- remains in their category and type - these cannot be changed.
- is reassigned for more than 3 months, any less is considered mission travel (see tab on mission travel above)
- must remain with your organization, and their experience and qualifications must meet the eligibility criteria of the new position.
You may for example change:
- the duty station (within the country or mission area)
- the core functions in the description of assignment.
Ask us to reassign your volunteer through Unified Volunteering Platform (UVP) before setting your volunteer work and leave the admin to us. We will get back promptly with our approval.
1. Remember to get consent from everyone involved. Your UN Volunteer must consent to be reassigned.
2. Confirm funding with your HR or Finance department, if you are extending their contract. Consider the financial impact of reassignment for your volunteer and their dependents. See UNV financial authorization requirements.
3. Make sure your volunteer's contract has at least 3 months remaining. If not, you will have to request an extension before the UN Volunteer is reassigned.
4. Ask your volunteer to update their profile in UVP for UNV to assess their suitability for any changes proposed.
5. See UNV Volunteer Services Centre swiftly process reassignment and pay related benefits and entitlements to your volunteer.
Contact our Regional Office to help you through the process, if needed.