Jannat Durrani

Chief of Party , United Nations

Islamabad, Pakistan

Humanitarian aid, emergency response and development expert seeking international jobs in program management in various sectors such as WASH, project development, DRR, Gender, FSL, Countering Violent Extremism, CCA, Gender and Protection.

Contact Jannat Durrani
Area of Expertise:
  • Agriculture, Livelihoods, Microfinance, Rural
  • Capacity Building, Training, Advocacy
  • Disaster, Aid, Emergencies, Relief
  • Environment, Climate, Energy, Water, Sanitation
  • Fundraising, Business Development, Grants Writer
Professional Experience:

My professional career spans over 18 years, working with the government, NGOs, and UN agencies, including IOM Pakistan, for the past two years. I have senior-level experience in the humanitarian sector responding to emergencies but also leading programs in developmental contexts. Although most of my career has been spent in Pakistan, I also have international work experience. I currently hold the role of Chief of Party for a USAID-funded project (an OTI project) that implements community resilience activities but also flood response and recovery activities. As such, I am one of the most senior national staff in the mission and I am part of the senior management team. My work experience before IOM made me an Emergency response expert with a special focus on WASH and DRR. The positions I held in various UN agencies have allowed me to familiarize myself with the UN system at large and have allowed me to familiarize myself specifically with work on emergency response shelter, WASH, health, and protection all the while laying the foundation for disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness and Climate Change Adaptation. It has also given me insight into livelihoods, infrastructure rehabilitation and access to services, social cohesion and peacebuilding, durable solutions, and supporting returns in conflict and natural hazards settings. Over time, I have developed the skills required for the position as my strengths lie in donor and government liaison, advocacy, development of innovative and contextualized projects and their implementation, project management, and systematic monitoring and evaluation with an aspect of accountability and learning. I have multi-sectoral experience and have contributed by designing various projects in WASH, DRR, climate change, prevention of violent extremism, protection, and gender-based violence and this gives me a unique professional character with a multi-dimensional viewpoint and approach. I am seeking opportunities that will further my technical expertise and allow me to be an effective lead for a team assigned to me in my next job role.

Education:

Master and Bachelor of Arts from University of Peshawar

Affiliations and Achievements:

As I have mostly held senior-level positions as a lead of teams, Resource mobilization was one of the key responsibilities in my job roles. In my career, I have successfully mobilized funds of more than 100 million USD for standalone emergency projects from multiple mainstream donors such as ECHO, BHA, Humanitarian Pool Funds, JICA, and FCDO (former DFID). I have also mobilized more than 10 million USD from non-mainstream donors such as HP, Cummins, ADRA, UN agencies, Coca-Cola Foundation, and Muslim Diaspora in the UK. I have supported organizations in securing ADB-financed government grants of National Disaster Risk Management Funds. In addition, I am a trained Climate Change Adaptation projects development expert and have implemented projects funded by the UNESCAP, and developed projects on the Adaptation fund, GCF, and GEF. Owing to my expertise in resource mobilization during the pandemic of COVID-19 I was recruited by UNICEF to provide support to the National Disaster Management Authority for emergency response support. My role in Ghana was also focused on resource mobilization and operationalization of the country’s strategy.
With the resources mobilized, I have created programs and projects unique in nature and in line with global, country-specific, and community-based needs. During my tenures with UN organizations such as the UN-Habitat, UNICEF and now IOM, I have spearheaded the development of collaborative approaches, training programs and projects identifying strengths of the involved UN agencies, an example of efforts is the UN-Habitat and UNICEF WASH collaboration under the ONE-UN program in Pakistan.

I believe that my professional experience in general and my understanding of IOM represent an excellent combination of assets for working with you. In my current job as the COP, I am assigned to keep an oversight of the program development, effective execution and effectively strategizing from the lessons learned during the implementation of the program. In addition to my program and operation management skills, I also have strong personnel management and leadership skills. Indeed, I have managed a diverse team of more than 100 staff as a manager, to improve the cohesion and performance of the team, I established methodical processes, systems, and SOPs to support programs. While working with IOM, these skills have proven essential as IOM Pakistan is a large mission, and teams and workloads are very fluid. Thus, having standard and clear processes in place is essential for the coordination, compliance, and quality of programs. I believe I would be able to continue to apply and adapt these in a different context by applying both my hard skills but also my soft skills through connecting the staff of the office while providing guidance and technical knowledge on emergency preparedness and response.
I have exhibited skills of crucial importance, such as being able to deliver quality outputs under pressure and working in a culturally sensitive manner. Bringing added value from the experiences and expertise, I have recently cleared the pathway pool assessment for the P4 COM position which further strengthens my profile and exhibits me as a qualified leader and a proactive team player. I hope to be able to demonstrate my motivations further with an interview or in the next steps of the recruitment process. I remain available should you have any questions or further concerns.

Available for:

  • Job opportunities

Years of Experience:

15-20 years

Highest Qualification:

Masters

Languages:

English, Pashto, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Hindko

Nationality:

Pakistan