Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact. The Team The Global Emergency Response Team (ERT) provides the agency with timely and effective leadership to prepare for, respond to, and learn from humanitarian emergencies, develops sharp, well-timed and influential humanitarian analysis to inform program design and implementation, and supports agency leadership and regional and country teams with safety and security expertise. At the onset of an emergency, protection is central to humanitarian action. Mercy Corps seeks to enable safe, dignified, and inclusive practices within its emergency response to minimize protection risks, maximize safeguarding, and meaningfully engage marginal and at-risk groups when meeting their needs. The Position The Emergency Response Protection Mainstreaming Senior Advisor is part of the Global Emergency Response Teamsโ rapid deployment team responding to or supporting at the onset of new emergencies. The Protection Advisor will contribute to emergency response start-up and initial response efforts by integrating a protection risk analysis within the rapid needs assessment and monitoring, orienting emergency responders to related protection and Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) risks, facilitating gender and social inclusion (including disability inclusion), assisting with incorporating protection mainstreaming best practices in activities, and preparing team to safely refer protection cases. The Advisor will also help ensure protection mainstreaming is incorporated into program design and budgeting, establish process indicators with sector leads and facilitate after-action activities to monitor quality and assess lessons learned. This is a deployable role, and the team member will have multiple assignments throughout the year in support of or to lead on the protection mainstreaming aspects of the emergency response. The role may also support assignments related to preparedness efforts. While this position is part of Mercy Corpsโ Global Emergency Response Team, they will have close linkages to the Technical Resources and Quality (TRaQ) Protection Advisor as well as Mercy Corpsโ Safeguarding, Accountability for Affected Persons (AAP/CARM), and Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) teams. Essential Responsibilities STRATEGY & VISION
Work with response leads and managers to ensure that Do No Harm and Protection Principles are incorporated in the emergency response.Align approach to protection mainstreaming through an informed assessment of contextually related protection risks in order to balance mitigation efforts associated with GBV, child protection, disability inclusion, mine action, restrictions to mobility, intercommunal tensions, etc. Ensure GESI analysis is an essential element of a protection risk analysis and protection risk mitigation plan. Support response teams to engage in direct consultation with marginalized and at-risk groups and actively encourage cooperation with organizations focusing on their needs and support. Work with response program managers to identify entry points for protection mainstreaming and suggest protection risk mitigation actions that are relatable to sector methodologies and practical to the context, while strengthening protection mainstreaming practices as each sectorโs emergency response evolves and progresses. Identify opportunities to integrate protection outcomes in program design and work into proposals. Contribute to program design and proposal development to ensure protection mainstreaming and safeguarding is highlighted in program design and budgeting, as well as aligns with donor and global protection and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) standards and guidance. Promote safe programming and support the program teams to link and coordinate evolving protection mainstreaming, safeguarding, GESI and AAP initiatives and processes. ASSESSMENTS SUPPORT
Work with response leadership to ensure that assessment tools include questions to support a Do-No-Harm and protection risk analyses of the emergency context and Mercy Corps response; be part of assessments where needed. Support response teams to follow protection principles when conducting assessments, this may include incorporating GESI tools and ensuring the inclusion of marginalized groups, assessing the ethical and appropriate approaches of assessment activities, training teams in data protection, disability inclusion, GBV risk mitigation, etc. Do a protection risk analysis to inform Mercy Corpsโ emergency response and proposal design. OPERATIONALIZATION OF PROTECTION MAINSTREAMING
Conduct safety audits, disability inclusion audits, and FGDs of Mercy Corps activities to identify and monitor potential protection and SEA risks. Collaborate with program teams to identify protection risks and establish plans to mitigate risks in their service delivery sector and activities. Identify and engage local partners who can enable enhanced outreach and response to marginalized groups such as organizations of people with disabilities (OPD), women led organizations (WLO), organizations supporting minority groups, LGBTQ led organizations, etc. Ensure that monitoring tools (such as those used for post-distribution monitoring) disaggregate data by sex/age as well as capture safety risks, preference, and inclusion that are intentional to different marginalized and at-risk groups; include additions where necessary and in coordination with sector leads and MEL. Support teams with the information sharing approaches and tools that they use to inform participants and communities, especially hard-to-reach populations, about safe and dignified processes to access/use of services and activities; where needed design the information materials and engage communities. Map locally available health, protection, psychosocial, and legal services and design user-friendly referral information sheets that can assist team members with accurate information for safe and timely
