Associate Field Officer (Protection)

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, was established on 14 December 1950 by the UN General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and coordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally, or to resettle in a third country (www.unhcr.org).

The UN Volunteer will be embedded within the Protection Unit of the National Office and will support the overall delivery and strengthening of protection interventions at field level, under the supervision of the Head of National Office. The assignment is situated within a dynamic operational context, where effective protection responses require close alignment with international and national legal frameworks, as well as UNHCR’s protection standards, policies, and priorities. The Volunteer will contribute to ensuring that protection delivery is consistent, timely, and responsive to the evolving needs of persons of concern.

A central component of the assignment is to support the design, implementation, and continuous refinement of the Office’s protection strategy. This includes contributing to evidence-based planning processes by ensuring that strategies are informed by participatory assessments and grounded in the actual needs, risks, and capacities of affected populations. The Volunteer will help integrate a strong Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) perspective across all aspects of the response, ensuring that protection interventions are inclusive, equitable, and tailored to different groups, including women, children, older persons, and persons with specific needs.

Building and maintaining strong working relationships will be a key aspect of the assignment. The Volunteer will engage regularly with persons of concern, government authorities, implementing and operational partners, and other relevant stakeholders. Through these interactions, the Volunteer will support the coordinated implementation of protection programmes and contribute to strengthening partnerships that enhance protection outcomes. Daily contact with communities will also help ensure that their voices are heard and reflected in programme design and implementation.

The assignment further includes supporting the application of community-based and rights-based approaches to protection, promoting the meaningful participation of persons of concern in decisions that affect their lives. This will reinforce accountability to affected populations and ensure that UNHCR’s interventions remain people-centred and responsive. The Volunteer will also contribute to capacity development efforts by providing on-the-job support, coaching, and mentoring to national staff and partners, including implementing partners, thereby strengthening local ownership and sustainability of protection responses.

Throughout the assignment, the Volunteer will ensure that AGD principles are systematically applied, integrated, and documented across all activities. In addition, the Volunteer will contribute to reporting and documentation, including capturing achievements related to the assignment and promoting the value of volunteerism in development and humanitarian contexts. This includes reflecting on contributions made, capacities strengthened, and community engagement supported during the course of the assignment.

Under the direct supervision of the Head of National Office, the Associate Field Officer (Protection) will undertake the following tasks::
• Stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment and provide advice to senior management;
• Support UNHCR’s consultative process with local government counterparts, partners and persons of concern for effective needs assessment and planning;
• Facilitate UNHCR’s responses in addressing Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) priorities and other specific protection needs of women and men, children, youth and older persons, persons with disabilities, marginalized groups such as persons with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities;
• Manage individual protection cases including those on SGBV and child protection;
• Monitor the integrity of UNHCR operations management standards and procedures in the Area of Responsibility (AoR) and facilitate the respect of deadlines
• Maintain protection presence through regular field missions and reports, making direct contact with persons of concern, host communities, local authorities and partners;
• Monitor and report on the protection, security and safety situation of persons of concern;
• Facilitate and monitor programmes on an Age, Gender, Diversity (AGD) basis to address identified protection needs;
• Support communities in establishing representation and coordination structures. Promote confidence building and conflict resolution among populations of concern, authorities and host communities;
• Provide advice and guidance on protection issues to internal and external interlocutors; ensure legal assistance is accessible to persons of concern; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documents and services to persons of concern;
• Contribute in developing and implementing an education plan for the AoR as part of the protection strategy;
• Intervene in cases of expulsion, arbitrary deprivation of nationality, and other protection incidents through close working relations with governments and other partners.
• Assess resettlement needs and apply priorities for the resettlement of individuals and groups of refugees and other persons of concern;
• Support the effective systematization and management of data to enhance monitoring, response and evaluation mechanisms;
• Contribute to initiatives to build the capacity of local partners and civil society through training and other initiatives to protect persons of concern.