Community-Based Protection Associate

Organizational Context

The Community-Based Protection Associate is part of the Protection Unit, reporting to a senior staff member. The role involves working directly with communities of concern to identify risks and leverage their capacities for protection. A significant portion of the work requires being in the field, building community networks and relationships to enhance protection planning and programming.

Job Purpose

The Community-Based Protection Associate's primary purpose is to work directly with communities of concern to identify the risks they face and to leverage their capacities to protect themselves, their families, and communities. This involves spending a substantial amount of time outside the office, building and maintaining networks within these communities. The role is central to developing and maintaining constructive relationships with the People of Concern (PoC) that measurably impact and enhance protection planning, programming, and results. The incumbent supports the design of a community-based protection strategy by ensuring it is based on consultation with PoC, integrating participatory and community-based approaches into the overall protection strategy and operational procedures, and advising the protection team on the specific needs of various demographic groups within the community.

Responsibilities

The Community-Based Protection Associate assists functional units, the Multi-Functional Team (MFT), and senior management in integrating participatory and community-based approaches into the overall protection strategy and operational procedures. By maintaining relationships with PoC and partners, the incumbent stays informed about political, social, economic, and cultural developments impacting the protection environment, providing advice to the protection team. They understand the perspectives, capacities, needs, and resources of the PoC, highlighting specific protection needs of women, men, children, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, and marginalized groups. The role involves working with host communities to foster national civil society involvement in improving PoC protection and collaborating with implementing partners and displaced/local communities to develop community-owned activities addressing social, educational, psycho-social, cultural, health, organizational, and livelihood concerns, including child protection and GBV prevention/response. The Associate supports participatory assessments and ongoing consultations with PoC, assists in planning and monitoring programmes and budgets with an Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) perspective, and builds office capacity for community-based protection through training and establishing systems for community mobilization. They support communities in establishing representation and coordination structures, ensure community understanding of UNHCR's accountability commitments, and may act as an interpreter for routine information exchange. The incumbent contributes to AGD-sensitive analysis and interventions, identifies individuals/groups for counselling and field visits, intervenes with authorities on protection matters, and enforces compliance of implementing partners with global protection policies and standards. They also recommend and prepare payments for individual cases, manage risks, and seize opportunities impacting their area of responsibility.

Work Experience

3 years of relevant experience with a High School Diploma, or 2 years of relevant work experience with a Bachelor's degree or equivalent or higher.

Skills

Community-based Protection Principles and Methodologies Multi-stakeholder Communications with Partners, Government & Community Stakeholder management and coordination with Implementing Partners (Gov/NGO/Corporate) Capacity Building Computer Literacy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) UN/UNHCR Administrative Rules, Regulations and Procedures

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