Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant

Organizational Context

The Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant is part of the Protection Unit, reporting to a Protection Officer or similar. The role involves direct engagement with communities of concern to identify risks and leverage their capacities for protection. This position requires significant fieldwork to build and maintain relationships with communities, impacting protection planning and programming.

Job Purpose

The Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant's primary purpose is to support the application of community-based protection standards and practices at the field level. This involves working directly with communities of concern to understand their risks and capacities, fostering their ability to protect themselves and their families. The incumbent plays a crucial role in developing and maintaining constructive relationships with these communities, which directly influences protection planning, programming, and outcomes. A key aspect of the role is ensuring that the community-based protection strategy is informed by direct consultation with the communities themselves, thereby enhancing the effectiveness and relevance of UNHCR's protection efforts.

Responsibilities

The Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant assists in integrating participatory and community-based approaches into the overall protection strategy. They maintain awareness of political, social, economic, and cultural developments affecting the protection environment by engaging with communities and partners, providing advice to the protection team. This includes understanding and highlighting the specific protection needs of diverse groups within the community (women, men, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, marginalized groups). The role supports initiatives involving host communities and national civil society to enhance the protection of persons of concern. They assist implementing partners and communities in developing community-owned activities addressing social, educational, psycho-social, health, organizational, and livelihood concerns, including child protection and GBV prevention. The incumbent supports participatory assessments, helps build the office's capacity for community-based protection, and aids communities in establishing representation and coordination structures. They ensure community understanding of UNHCR's accountability commitments and collect data for programme and budget monitoring from an AGD perspective. Additionally, they draft correspondence, maintain filing systems, act as an interpreter for routine information exchange, and enforce compliance of partners with protection policies and standards.

Work Experience

2 years of relevant experience with a High School Diploma, or 1 year of relevant experience with a Bachelor's degree or higher. Experience with UNHCR learning programmes (PLP) and knowledge of MSRP are desirable.

Skills

Community-based Protection - Principles and methodologies Multi-stakeholder Communications with Partners, Government & Community IT-Computer Literacy IT-Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) UN-UN/UNHCR Administrative Rules, Regulations and Procedures

Explore related opportunities