Government Liaison Officer

March 9, 2026

H (no hardship)

FamilyFamily

PR3

Professional

Reason

Regular > Regular Assignment

2026-07-01

Government Liaison Officer

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships
The Government Liaison Officer is usually located in country operations. S/he plays a crucial role in ensuring UNHCR's approach to the Government is consistent, strategic and coherent. The main aim is to ensure that UNHCR can fulfil its role to support the Government to lead the refugee response ensuring the protection of refugees and - in line with the GCR - promote the inclusion of refugees into national systems by coordinating with other actors - including development actors at the early stages of a refugee response and in mixed situations supporting the Government to prevent, respond to and resolve internal displacement while complementing and reinforcing national response efforts. This should be done in line with UNHCRs Mandate, the Global Compact for Refugees, the IDP policy, and agreed inter-agency commitments. More specifically, the incumbent advises the senior management on issues and processes concerning the relationship with the Government and related positioning, coordination, advocacy, information, resource allocation, fundraising, reporting, and communication with other UN agencies, NGOs, civil society actors, private sector, media and other relevant actors through strong engagement in humanitarian inter-agency processes, but also with a focus on development processes as they impact on UNHCR. This requires strong engagement in Government processes, and knowledge and interaction with national entities and processes. The Government Liaison Officer assists senior management with ensuring the Government is aware of the humanitarian architecture and can act in line with ongoing development processes related to the UNDS reform and the 2030 agenda as they impact on UNHCR. The overall goal of the position is to strengthen and enhance the effectiveness of UNHCR's leadership roles and responses to situations affecting forcibly displaced and stateless persons to UNHCR (refugees, asylum-seekers, IDPs, stateless persons, returnees, host communities) through an open and transparent partnership approach with the Government.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR's core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties
- Advise and assist senior managers to formulate and communicate UNHCR positions on Government-related matters on protection, assistance and inclusion of refugees, providing briefing notes, talking points and issue papers for relevant discussions with the Government.
- Promote UNHCR's policies and liaise with Government authorities on issues related to latest humanitarian and development processes.
- Establish and coordinate country-specific coordination mechanisms for situations co-led by UNHCR and the Government. Where applicable, support the development of country-specific refugee response plans (or refugee and migration response plan and refugee and resilience plan) and comprehensive responses.
- Contribute to ensuring the coherence of the work of the Multi-sector group (MSG) in accordance with the Government.
- Provide protection for forcibly displaced and stateless persons to UNHCR by ensuring the observance by the local authorities of the recognized principles of refugee law.
- Promote accession to refugee law convention in a way that reinforce the asylum institution in the country.
- Articulate UNHCR's priorities towards the Government, including the commitment to humanitarian principles.
- With support from senior management, promote the deeper understanding within UNHCR on agreements with the Government and inform other staff on developments with the Government. This includes promoting and stimulating UNHCR's implementation of key reforms with the Government;
- Where there is lack of clarity as to UNHCR's positions and priorities, identify the issues and bring this to senior management attention.
- Assist the Government to ensure timely preparedness activities, including through participation and where necessary coordination of inter-agency contingency planning processes.
- Liaise with the Government, inter-government agencies, UN agencies, local and international NGOs and other partners at the country level to find areas of cooperation, joint initiatives and where applicable negotiate joint agreements or work programmes to further protection and assistance for forcibly displaced and stateless persons.
- Organise and implement capacity-building seminars or training programmes for target groups (government officials, etc.).
- Maintain close relations with the press and develop public information activities to ensure greater knowledge in public opinion of refugee and asylum issues and promote UNHCR objectives.
- Maintain close contact with HQ on emerging issues.
- Maintain frequent formal and informal contacts with counterparts in other organisations.

- Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making in risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks, issues and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).
- Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Years of Experience / Degree Level
For P3/NOC - 6 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 5 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 4 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education
Political/Social Science;
Economics;
Law/International Law;
Business Administration;
or other relevant field.

Certificates and/or Licenses
Not specified.

Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Experience of working with partners at field or Headquarters level. Experience of liaising with governments and/or the donor community. Thorough understanding of UNHCR's protection mandate and core mission. Thorough understanding of humanitarian coordination processes and/or development coordination.
Desirable
Inter-agency coordination role. Drafting joint appeal/ refugee response plan/HRP. Experience with another UN agency or partner.

Functional Skills
CO-Drafting and Documentation
CL-Multi-stakeholder Communications with Partners, Government & Community
SO-Networking
TR-Training and Capacity Building of Governments and/or national programs
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements
For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.

Essential Attributes
Strong mix of experience in protection and external relations; experience in working with the relevant regional and national institutional and legal framework of the two countries. The incumbent must possess sufficient seniority and maturity and solid leadership and diplomatic skills. He/she is required to have an understanding and knowledge of UNHCR's global and regional agenda, but also of the complex legal and political environment of Switzerland with its 26 cantons. S/he must be familiar with the Swiss political and media landscape, the asylum system and key stakeholders at the Federal and cantonal level.
In addition to fluency in English, candidates are required to be fluent in either French or German, with a good working knowledge of the second language.

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French

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German

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Operational context

Occupational Safety and Health Considerations:

To view occupational safety and health considerations for this duty station, please visit this link: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel

Nature of Position:

UNHCR in addition to its headquarters in Geneva has a small presence in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, located in Bern. The Government Liaison Officer reports to the Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and works in close coordination with all entities of the Bureau, most notably the Protection and the External Relations teams.  

The Government Liaison Officer ensures a close and favorable relation with the Governments of Switzerland and Liechtenstein as well as with other key governmental and non-Governmental stakeholders at Federal and Cantonal level including relevant Ministries; the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), Parliament, Courts, NGOs and UN Agencies.

The Government Liaison Officer works to strengthen the domestic protection space with regard to policies and laws related to access to the asylum and statelessness systems, reception, resettlement and complementary pathways and ensures that issues prioritized by UNHCR are adequately present on the agenda of the media and civil society through appropriate communication and advocacy interventions to influence the Government and other actors to respond to refugees needs. This includes advocacy on issues related to local integration and fundraising for UNHCR, where appropriate, in line with the regional strategic priorities. 

The incumbent of this position pays particular attention to enhancing the participation of refugees and stateless persons in cooperation with the Swiss Refugee Parliament and other refugee-led organizations. The Government Liaison Officer also cooperates closely with UNHCR’s national partner for Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the foundation Switzerland for UNHCR.

Living and Working Conditions:
Bern, a small city of around 150 000 inhabitants, is the capital of Switzerland, situated on the river Aare, in the German speaking part of Switzerland. It is the location of the three levels of government (city, cantonal and federal parliaments). Bern is known for its quality of living, educational institutions, and healthcare facilities. It does not face any particular security concerns.

Additional Qualifications

Skills

Bachelor of Arts: Business Administration, Bachelor of Arts: Economics, Bachelor of Arts: Law, Bachelor of Arts: Political Science

Certifications

Competencies

Accountability, Client & results orientation, Commitment to continuous learning, Communication, Empowering & building trust, Judgement & decision making, Managing performance, Managing resource, Negotiation & conflict resolution, Organizational awareness, Political awareness, Stakeholder management, Teamwork & collaboration

https://icsc.un.org/Home/SalaryScales

Compendium

Bi-Annual 2026 Compendium - Part B

Additional Information

This position doesn't require a functional clearance