Senior Protection Assistant/Call Operator

Deadline for ApplicationsSeptember 8, 2025

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)E (most hardship)

Family Type (not applicable for home-based)

Non Family

Staff Member / Affiliate TypeUNOPS LICA5

Target Start Date2025-09-10

Terms of ReferenceTitle: Senior Protection Assistant/Call Operator
Project: UNHCR Afghanistan/2025/00 - 24926-008
Duty station: Country Office Kabul, Afghanistan
Section/Unit: UNHCR Afghanistan, Protection Unit
ICA Level: LICA-5
Corresponding level: GS-5
Duration: from 10/09/2025 to 31/12/2025

General Background

The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has been facing a multitude of challenges as a result of protracted and ongoing conflict and insecurity (40 years) and frequent disasters, now exacerbated by COVID-19 and new conflict. Some 42 percent of the population were facing severe acute food insecurity in early 2021, while nearly half of the population live below USD 1 a day. Poverty and food insecurity are highest in rural areas, with women, children, the elderly, female-headed households and persons with disabilities the most vulnerable. COVID-19 is exacerbating this situation and under a worst-case scenario monetary poverty may have increased to 72 percent.
UNHCR Afghanistan¿s population of concern includes refugees, refugee returnees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) protracted and newly displaced, and members of the host community members. There are 72,000 refugees living primarily in Khost and Paktika Provinces as well as in urban areas in Kabul, Herat and Kandahar. In addition, since 2002, UNHCR has facilitated the voluntary return of over 5.2 million registered Afghan refugees through the Voluntary Repatriation programme from Pakistan, Iran, and other countries. Moreover, there is an estimated 4.9 million IDPs in Afghanistan largely driven by conflict, insecurity, and natural disasters. Due to the intensification of conflict across the country, leading up to the Taliban taking over the country on 15 August 550,000 persons were newly displaced in 2021, triggering an emergency. UNHCR Afghanistan maintains three Hotline Phones (two are operational at any given time during weekdays) and a Protection mailbox to receive queries related to asylum, assistance, complaints, information, and follow-up. With the change in regime and heightened concerns and needs, the numbers of queries to UNHCR Afghanistan’s hotline channels exponentially increased in August by 4,600% compared to July. From 15 August to 17 October, UNHCR received 43,720 Protection-related queries of which 1,824 were received through the Protection Hotline phone and 41,896 through the Protection mailbox. With the support of emergency response staff deployed in September, the Office is managing to review incoming email queries while gradually reducing the backlog in the Protection mailbox. However, the emergency support is a temporary solution while on the other hand, the Protection Hotline phone will remain a major challenge to manage under the existing circumstances as the phones are managed by incumbent staff bearing various responsibilities. This has led to a magnitude of missed calls rendering UNHCR unreachable by phone. To resolve this matter, UNHCR has been working with Awaaz, the Afghanistan interagency humanitarian call centre, to activate a voice message system whereby unattended calls will be transferred to Awaaz which will play a recorded message indicating UNHCR¿s counselling lines.
Given that the Office continues to receive a high number of queries (350 ¿ 500 per day as of 17 October), in order to effectively manage the number of calls an//d queries, the Office is seeking to recruit staff members who will be dedicated to handling and managing UNHCR¿s communications channels. The objective of the recruitment is to effectively manage UNHCR¿s communication with populations of concern. This includes reviewing and responding to email queries in a timely manner as well as attending to phone queries and conducting necessary counselling and dissemination of information by phone. In addition, the objectives also include communicating with beneficiaries and other persons of concern to conduct need assessments, displacement monitoring, post-distribution monitoring, and other requested activities.
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.

2. Purpose and Scope of Assignment
Based on the operational needs in the field, the staff members in positions are to fulfill their duties/ responsibilities as well as back up support to other team members while needed. Under the supervision of Protection Officer, the incumbent will undertake the following responsibilities:
Duties/Responsibilities:
- Respond to queries received through the Hotline Phone
- Review and respond to email queries in a timely manner
- Identify and flag vulnerable cases to the Protection Unit for further interventions
- Enter query data into the Hotline Tracking System
- Conduct data analysis to identify and monitor query trends
- Draft the weekly Protection Query Tracking Report and other related publications
- Conduct phone surveys and monitoring upon request by the Office
- Perform other tasks as directed

3. Monitoring and Progress Controls
(Clear description of measurable outputs, milestones, key performance indicators and/or reporting requirements which will enable performance monitoring)

4. Qualifications and Experience
a. Education
• Completion of High School Diploma or higher

b. Work Experience
• For G5 - 2 years relevant experience with High School Diploma; or 1-year relevant work experience with Bachelor or equivalent or higher.

c. Key Competencies
• Accountability
• Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Client & Result Orientation

Standard Job Description

Required Languages

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Desired Languages

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Additional Qualifications

Skills

Education

Certifications

Work Experience

Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance

RemoteNo