Community-Based Protection Associate

Organizational Context

The Community-Based Protection Associate is part of the Protection Unit, reporting to a Protection Officer or similar. This role works directly with communities to identify risks and leverage their capacities for self-protection, often involving field work and building community relationships. The associate supports the development and implementation of community-based protection strategies.

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 significant amount of time outside the office, building and maintaining networks within these communities. The role is crucial for developing and maintaining constructive relationships with the People of Concern (PoC) that measurably impact and enhance protection planning, programming, and results. The associate also supports the design of a community-based protection strategy by ensuring it is based on consultation with PoC, thereby ensuring a participatory and community-driven approach to protection efforts.

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. They stay informed about political, social, economic, and cultural developments impacting the protection environment by maintaining relationships with PoC and partners, advising the protection team on community needs, including specific vulnerabilities of women, men, children, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, and marginalized groups. The associate works with host communities and implementing partners to develop community-owned activities addressing social, educational, psycho-social, cultural, health, organizational, and livelihood concerns, including child protection and GBV prevention. They support participatory assessments, planning, and monitoring of programmes and budgets with an Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) perspective. Capacity building for community-based protection through training and establishing systems for community mobilization is a key responsibility. The associate also supports communities in establishing representation and coordination structures, ensures community understanding of UNHCR's accountability commitments, and acts as an interpreter for routine information exchange. They contribute to AGD-sensitive analysis and interventions, identify individuals/groups for counselling and field visits, and intervene with authorities on protection matters. Compliance of implementing partners with global protection policies and standards is enforced, and payments to individual cases are recommended and prepared. Risk management and opportunity identification within their area of responsibility are also key duties.

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 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 IT-Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) IT-Computer Literacy UN/UNHCR Administrative Rules, Regulations and Procedures

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