Hardship LevelE (most hardship)
Family TypeNon Family with Residential Location
Family TypeNon Family with Residential LocationDanger Pay
Residential location (if applicable)
Addis Ababa,Eth Fed Dem Rep
GradeNOB
Staff Member / Affiliate TypeNational Professional Officer
ReasonRegular > Regular Assignment
Remote work acceptedNo
Target Start Date2024-04-30
Job Posting End DateJanuary 20, 2024
Standard Job Description
Associate Protection Officer
Organizational Setting and Work Relationships
The Associate Protection Officer reports to the Protection Officer or the Senior Protection Officer. Depending on the size and structure of the Office, the incumbent may have supervisory responsibility for protection staff including community-based protection registration, resettlement and education. S/he provides functional protection guidance to information management and programme staff on all protection/legal matters and accountabilities. These include: statelessness (in line with the campaign to End Statelessness by 2024), Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) commitments, age, gender, diversity (AGD) and accountability to affected populations (AAP) through community-based protection, Child protection, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response, gender equality, disability inclusion, youth empowerment, psycho-social support and PSEA, registration, asylum/refugee status determination, resettlement, local integration, voluntary repatriation, human rights standards integration, national legislation, judicial engagement, predictable and decisive engagement in situations of internal displacement and engagement in wider mixed movement and climate change/disaster-related displacement responses. S/he supervises protection standards, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery in line with international standards.
The Associate Protection Officer is expected to coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern, ensuring that operational responses in all sectors mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. The incumbent contributes to the design of a comprehensive protection strategy and represents the organization externally on protection doctrine and policy as guided by the supervisor. S/he also ensures that persons of concern are meaningfully engaged in the decisions that affect them and support programme design and adaptations that are influenced by the concerns, priorities and capacities of persons of concern. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, authorities, protection and assistance partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection.
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
- Stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment.
- Promote International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct.
- Foster their consistent and coherent interpretation and application through mainstreaming in all sectors and /or in clusters in applicable operations.
- Assist in providing comments on existing and draft legislation related to persons of concern.
- Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to persons of concern; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documentation.
- Conduct eligibility and status determination for persons of concern in compliance with UNHCR procedural standards and international protection principles.
- Promote and contribute to measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness.
- Contribute to a country-level child protection plan as part of the protection strategy to ensure programmes use a child protection systems approach.
- Contribute to a country-level education plan.
- Implement and oversee Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities which integrate AGD sensitive procedures.
- Oversee and manage individual protection cases, including those on GBV and child protection. Monitor, and intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents through working relations with governments and other partners.
- Recommend durable solutions for the largest possible number of persons of concern through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.
- Assess resettlement needs and apply priorities for the resettlement of individuals and groups of refugees and other persons of concern.
- Participate in the organisation and implementation of participatory assessments and methodologies throughout the operations management cycle and promote AGD sensitive programming with implementing and operational partners.
- Contribute to and facilitate a programme of results-based advocacy through a consultative process with sectorial and/or cluster partners.
- Facilitate effective information management through the provision of disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems.
- Promote and integrate community-based approaches to protection and contribute to capacity-building initiatives for communities and individuals to assert their rights.
- Support activities in the area of risk management related to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, fraud, case-processing, data protection, and human rights due diligence at country level.
- Participate in initiatives to capacitate national authorities, relevant institutions and NGOs to strengthen national protection related legislation and procedures.
- Intervene with authorities on protection issues.
- Negotiate locally on behalf of UNHCR.
- Decide priorities for reception, interviewing and counselling for groups or individuals.
- Enforce compliance of staff and implementing partners with global protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services.
- Enforce compliance with, and integrity of, all protection standard operating procedures.
- 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 P2/NOB - 3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 1 year relevant experience with Doctorate degree
Field(s) of Education
Law, International Law, Political Sciences or other relevant field
Certificates and/or Licenses
Protection Learning Programme
(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)
Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Professional experience in the area of refugee protection, internal displacement, human rights or international humanitarian law. Good knowledge of International Refugee and Human Rights Law and ability to apply the relevant legal principles.
Desirable
Field experience, including in working directly with communities. Good IT skills including database management skills.
Functional Skills
*PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
*PR-Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD)
PR-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordination
MG-Project Management
PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards
PR-International Humanitarian Law
PR-Assessment of IDPs Status, Rights, Obligation
PR-Climate change and disaster related displacement
CO-Drafting and Documentation
(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.
Desired Candidate Profile -Previous experience in coordination is an asset, good knowledge of cluster coordination system and IDP response including working directly with communities. Knowledge of human rights or international humanitarian law is highly recommended.
-Core Competencies, Leadership, Managing Resources, Accountability, Communication, Organizational Awareness, Teamwork & Collaboration, Commitment to Continuous Learning, Client & Result Orientation, Managerial Competencies, Empowering and Building Trust
Required languages (expected Overall ability is at least B2 level):
,
,
Desired languages
,
,
Operational context
Occupational Safety and Health Considerations:
Nature of Position:
The Associate Protection Officer reports to the Protection Officer. Depending on the context, the incumbent may have supervisory responsibility. Under the leadership of the Protection Officer the incumbent will support the management of protection staff including Community-Based protection, registration, and education. S/he provides functional protection guidance to information management and programme staff on all protection/legal matters and accountabilities. These include: Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) commitments, age, gender, diversity (AGD) and accountability to affected populations (AAP) through Community-Based protection, Child protection, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response, gender equality, disability inclusion, youth empowerment, psycho-social support and PSEA, registration, asylum/refugee status determination, resettlement, local integration, voluntary repatriation, human rights standards integration, national legislation, judicial engagement, predictable and decisive engagement in situations of internal displacement and engagement in wider mixed movement and climate change/disaster-related displacement responses. S/he supervises protection standards, operational procedures, and practices in protection delivery in line with international standards.
The Associate Protection Officer is expected to coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of the forcibly displaced populations, ensuring that operational responses in all sectors mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. The incumbent contributes to the implementation of the comprehensive protection strategy and represents the organization externally on protection doctrine and policy as guided by the supervisor. S/he also ensures that persons of concern are meaningfully engaged in the decisions that affect them and support programme design and adaptations that are influenced by the concerns, priorities, and capacities of persons of concern. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, authorities, protection, and assistance partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection and assistance to as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection achieving solutions in the Amhara region. With the downscaling of the operation, the incumbent should be prepared to operate with extremely limited resources in a very challenging environment.
Living and Working Conditions:
Debark has been temporarily classified as D category duty station. The duty station is remote with minimum to no amenities available for international staff based at the location. There is no available suitable accommodation for staff and the only available hotel which has some minimum standards of amenities where staff are currently sleeping is frequented by military personnel, hence posing a risk to staff. It is recommended to establish a guest house for staff with basic amenities optimum for staff use and which will be developed to be MORSS compliant.
Restaurants and supermarkets with basic food and non-food items are not available at the duty station. The nearest town, where staff can access basic services is Gondar, located 98km South of Debark, otherwise for variety of items staff will have to travel to Addis Ababa the capital city. The banking system at the duty station is poor with almost all the transactions done using hard cash. There are no schools and suitable health facilities for staff and their dependents.
Debark town is served by the government water supply system, however the supply is erratic and often the tapes are dry. Power in Debark is connected from the main grid, but just like water the supply is not constant as there is frequent load shedding.
There are practically no sporting and recreation facilities in Debark.
Debarkโs altitude is over 2,800m above main sea level, which makes it one of the coldest places with minimum recorded temperatures of 5 degrees Celsius and average of 18.5 degrees Celsius throughout the year.
Although the road from Gondar to Debark is tarmac, it is curvy and there are animal and pedestrian hazards in the road which are risks to staff driving daily. During the cold months, some parts of the road are foggy with visibility of less than 10m which is another hazard. It is fortunate that there has been no accident involving UN personnel on the road.
For staff travelling beyond Debark to Zarema which is an IDP site, a clearance letter from the government is required.
The letter should be shown at every check point without which no one can proceed. From Debark to Zarema, its 36 km but there are at least 5 check points which are manned by the military and 2 by the Police.
Additional Qualifications
SkillsCO-Drafting and Documentation, MG-Project Management, PR-Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD), PR-Assessment of IDPs Status, Rights, Obligation, PR-Climate change and disaster related displacement, PR-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordination, PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards, PR-International Humanitarian Law, PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
EducationBachelor of Arts (BA): International Law, Bachelor of Arts (BA): Law, Bachelor of Arts (BA): Political Science
CertificationsHCR Protection Learning Program - UNHCR
Work Experience
CompetenciesAccountability, Analytical thinking, Client & results orientation, Commitment to continuous learning, Communication, Empowering & building trust, Judgement & decision making, Negotiation & conflict resolution, Organizational awareness, Political awareness, Teamwork & collaboration
UNHCR Salary Calculator
https://icsc.un.org/Home/SalaryScales
Compendium
Additional InformationAn eliminatory or complementary written test may be conducted which will be followed by a competency based oral interview.
Female candidates are encouraged to apply.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Functional clearanceThis position doesn't require a functional clearance