Senior Protection Assistant

Organizational Context

The Senior Protection Assistant operates within UNHCR, a global organization dedicated to protecting refugees and stateless persons. This role supports the delivery of protection services in line with international standards, contributing to operational responses and engaging with communities, local authorities, and partners to ensure the rights and well-being of persons of concern.

Job Purpose

The Senior Protection Assistant's primary purpose is to provide effective and timely protection support to persons of concern (PoC) within UNHCR's operations. This involves monitoring protection standards, operational procedures, and practices to ensure alignment with international norms. The incumbent identifies opportunities to integrate protection methodologies into all operational activities and contributes to the development of a comprehensive protection strategy. A key aspect of the role is ensuring PoC participation in decisions affecting them, fostering their access to rights and facilitating solutions to their challenges. This requires building and maintaining strong relationships with communities, local authorities, and other protection and assistance partners to advocate for and implement protection safeguards effectively.

Responsibilities

The Senior Protection Assistant is responsible for consistently applying International and National Law, along with applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policies, standards, and codes of conduct. This includes providing direct counseling on protection issues to PoC and liaising with competent authorities to facilitate the issuance of necessary documentation. The role involves supporting protection-related activities, particularly those based on Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD), in collaboration with implementing and operational partners. Preliminary information gathering and interviews are conducted to support eligibility assessments, status determination, durable solutions, and social needs assessments. The incumbent contributes to initiatives aimed at identifying, preventing, and reducing statelessness, and participates in developing country-level child protection and education plans for PoC as integral parts of the overall protection strategy. Monitoring Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection and solutions activities is crucial, as is participating in individual case management, including cases of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and child protection. The role also involves monitoring and reporting on protection incidents such as refoulement and expulsion, and assisting in identifying durable solutions like voluntary repatriation, local integration, and resettlement. Drafting reports, routine correspondence, updating databases, and compiling statistics within the Area of Responsibility are also key duties. Furthermore, the Senior Protection Assistant contributes to enhancing national and local protection capacities, selects PoC for preliminary interviews, and ensures the integrity of protection services delivered by local implementing partners. Risk management, including identifying and managing risks and opportunities impacting objectives, is also part of the role, requiring risk-based decision-making and reporting of issues to supervisors.

Work Experience

2 years of relevant experience with a High School Diploma, or 1 year of relevant work experience with a Bachelor's degree or equivalent.

Skills

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

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