Protection Assistant

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)B

Family Type (not applicable for home-based)

Family

Staff Member / Affiliate TypeUNOPS IICA4

Target Start Date2025-01-01

Deadline for ApplicationsNovember 5, 2024

Terms of ReferenceOperational Context
India currently hosts some 269,000 refugees and asylum seekers. These include some 91,000 Sri Lankan refugees and 73,400 Tibetans directly assisted by the Government of India. There are as well 46,904 individuals registered under UNHCR’s mandate primarily from Afghanistan, Myanmar, and other countries. UNHCR works with the Government of India to offer protection and find solutions for registered refugees and asylum seekers. UNHCR’s main activities in India are focused on conducting registration and documentation, status determination, legal assistance, and the search for durable solutions for refugees. With refugees and asylum seekers spread across 13 different locations across the country, UNHCR relies on its 9 NGO partners for support. It funds activities that complement or facilitate access to essential services and assist the most vulnerable people with humanitarian assistance. UNHCR also works with various partners and key stakeholders to advocate for greater inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG). UNHCR’s office is in New Delhi and has a Field Office in Chennai, Tamil Nadu State.

Desired Candidate profile
The Protection Assistant will report to the Associate Protection Officer and will work closely with the Protection Unit to strengthen two-way communication with refugee and asylum-seeking communities. They will play a vital role in building and maintaining strong linkages with community-based structures, ensuring timely and effective communication through regular community engagements, protection monitoring visits and field missions. By conducting outreach activities and community engagement, the Protection Assistant will help adopt a robust community-based protection approach to address the protection and assistance needs of the communities. Additionally, they will be responsible for responding to queries from refugees and asylum seekers via email, letters, and in-person meetings. They will maintain and update individual case information in UNHCR’s proGres v4 database, update Specific Needs Codes (SNC), identify Persons with Specific Needs (PWSN), and facilitate their referral to partners and service providers for appropriate interventions.
Responsibilities:
• Be fully informed about community structures of the population of concern and develop strong links with a cross-section of members of refugee communities, using an AGD approach.
• Support communities in establishing representation and coordination structures.
• Promote conflict resolution among populations of concern.
• Maintain protection presence through regular outreach presence, protection monitoring field missions and reports, making direct contact with persons of concern and partners.
DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS & COMPETENCIES
- Good IT skills including database management skills.
- Proven communication skills, both oral and written.
- Demonstrated knowledge of community communication and engagement approaches.
- Demonstrated experience in counseling , negotiation and conflict resolutions
- Knowledge of Hindi and English.

This is a UNOPS LICA position and is open only to Indian nationals.
Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on the grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity. We work with skilled professionals who are committed to put people first and make a real difference to people’s lives.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted, and they may be required to undergo a written test and/or an interview. The selected candidate will work either from the UNHCR Office or other UNHCR partner locations in New Delhi, India.

Standard Job Description

Protection Assistant

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships
The Protection Assistant normally reports to a more senior Protection colleague. The incumbent provides functional and administrative support to the protection unit on protection related liaison, correspondence, monitoring, case management and reporting activities.

The Protection Assistant also supports the protection unit in designing a comprehensive protection strategy and in providing quality, timely and effective protection responses to persons of concern (PoC). S/he may liaise externally with local authorities and partners on correspondence and/or protection issues as guided by the supervisor.

The Protection Assistant also facilitates the involvement of PoC in making decisions that affect them, whether in accessing their rights or in identifying appropriate solutions to their problems. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, local authorities and protection and assistance partners.

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
- Consistently apply International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct.
- Observe and respect protection related Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
- Provide functional and administrative support in all protection related AGD based programming with implementing and operational partners.
- Provide functional and administrative support in implementing participatory approaches, needs assessments, monitoring, reporting and case management.
- Support assessments on durable solutions through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.
- Facilitate liaison with competent authorities for the issuance of personal and other relevant documents.
- Assist in drafting reports, routine correspondence, updating relevant databases and compiling statistics within the Area of Responsibility (AoR).
- Select PoC for preliminary interviews and decide which relevant information to share.
- Enforce integrity in the delivery of protection services by local implementing partners.

- 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 G4 - 1 year relevant experience with High School Diploma; or Bachelor or equivalent or higher

Field(s) of Education
Not applicable

Certificates and/or Licenses
Protection
(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Relevant Job Experience
Essential: Not specified.
Desirable: Not specified.

Functional Skills
PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
PR-Refugee Protection Principles and Framework
IT-Computer Literacy
(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.

Required Languages

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Desired Languages

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Additional Qualifications

SkillsIT-Computer Literacy, PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators, PR-Refugee Protection Principles and Framework

Education

CertificationsHCR Learning Program - UNHCR, HCR Protection Induction Prog - UNHCR

Work Experience

Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance

Home-BasedNo