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Legal Officer- JAA (National contract)

Kabul

  • Organization: DRC - Danish Refugee Council
  • Location: Kabul
  • Grade: Mid/Senior level - Mid/Senior - Internationally recruited position
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Legal - Broad
  • Closing Date: Closed

Danish Refugee Council, one of the world’s leading humanitarian NGOs, is currently looking for a highly qualified Legal Officer, he/she is primarily responsible for providing legal counselling/advice to the project beneficiaries and targeted communities, case management and referrals. 
  
  
Who are we?   
  
  
Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is a leading global displacement agency working in 40 countries, in conjunction with our specialist mine action unit, Danish Demining Group (DDG), which has been working in Afghanistan since 1999. DRC commenced operations in Afghanistan in 2011 and is today a leading actor in humanitarian response with membership of the Humanitarian Country Team and recent high-level representation at the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan. DRC-DDG Afghanistan is part of DRC’s Central & South-West Asia (CASWA) region covering Afghanistan, Iran and Paki-stan. Within an overall strategic framework of responding to emergencies, seeking solutions to pro-tracted displacement; and tackling root causes, DRC-DDG Afghanistan’s current programming encompasses:  mine action, emergency response, protection, armed violence reduction, and livelihoods. With more than 500 fulltime national and international staff members, offices in Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif and a portfolio in 2016 of USD 13 million, DRC-DDG Afghanistan is one of the largest INGOs operating in Afghanistan.     
  
  
About the job   
 
 
The Protection Legal Officer, under the direct supervision of Senior Protection Officer in Jalalabad, is primarily responsible for providing legal counselling to the project beneficiaries and targeted communities, case management and referrals, follow-up, awareness raising and training, necessary support to partner organization, and liaising with government and other key stakeholders.  
  
Responsibilities:   
 
 
  • Provide legal counselling/advice to the project beneficiaries and targeted communities in Jalalabad IDP settlements and areas of high return; 
  • Provide support in conducting legal information awareness raising sessions in the targeted communities; 
  • Engage the men and women of the community in discussions around women’s rights and gender based violence; 
  • Ensure case-intake of legal counselling sessions, keep all the case in-take records locked and confidential; 
  • Provide referrals of legal and human rights’ violation cases to appropriate organizations for further legal and technical assistance; 
  • Maintain accurate and confidential records of the referred cases and follow-up of the cases; 
  • Support the development of referral system for protection related cases and the training of external stakeholders in the appropriate referral practices; 
  • Provide legal training and mentoring for peer-to-peer counsellors based on DRC methodology;  
  • Support the establishment of women’s shuras and hold regular meetings with their members to discuss ongoing cases and support mediation; 
  • Organize and facilitate regular meetings between peer-to-peer counsellor networks and community shuras/elders; 
  • With support from Senior Protection Officer in Jalalabad and Kabul, provide tailored training to community leaders in human rights, protection and Islamic and national laws and in conflict mitigation in accordance with best practices and Islamic and Afghan tradition, based on DRC methodology; 
  • Support the organization and delivery of joint trainings and conferences for community leaders and P2P counsellors; 
  • Draft reports concerning legal problems and issues related to family, inheritance, property and EVAW laws and documentation recovery, and efforts to mitigate them; 
  • Draft reports concerning human rights’ violations and issues related to protection/GBV and efforts to mitigate or eliminate them; 
  • Identify problems with GBV and access to justice and provide recommendation to mitigate them; 
  • Support protection related advocacy initiatives; 
  • Provide support in needs assessment surveys for future protection programming; 
  • Submit weekly progress reports of the activities to line manager; 
  • Perform other relevant duties, as needed or requested. 
 
 
Key Deliverables:
 
  • Legal counselling and case management for beneficiaries; 
  • Legal awareness sessions at community level; 
  • Training and coaching peer-to-peer counsellors; 
  • Legal and conflict mediation training for community leaders/shuras. 
 
 
About you   
  
To be successful in this role you must have:   
 
 
Experience and technical competencies:   
  
  • At least 2-3 years of work experiences in legal counseling or other activities related to the responsibilities of the position;  
  • Demonstrated experience in providing legal counseling to clients;  
  • Work experience with Afghanistan’s laws and/or Afghanistan judicial system;  
  • Experience with informal justice systems is an asset;  
  • Knowledge of and experience working with IDPs/refugees in Afghanistan;  
  • Strong knowledge of and experience in counseling on issues related to civil documentation, family law, housing/land/property rights, GBV.  
 
 
Education and Qualification:  
 
 
  • University degree in Law and a valid license to practice law;  
  • An understanding of the basic principles of humanitarian work, human rights, protection, and the needs of internally displaced persons and refugees in Afghanistan;  
  • Interest in humanitarian work and human rights, ability and willingness to learn;  
  • Ability to clearly express one’s thoughts, to analyze and present information clearly and concisely;  
  • Ability to set priorities and show initiative, to work independently and as part of a team;  
  • Strong organizational skills and attention to detail;  
  • Good interpersonal and communication skills.  
  
Languages:  
 
  • Fluency in English, both written and verbal  
  • Fluency in Dari and Pashto, both written and verbal  
 
 
Key competencies:  
  
  • Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process  
  • Collaboration: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback  
  • Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.  
  • Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly.  
  • Demonstrating integrity: You act in line with DRC-DDG vision and values.  
 
Conditions   
 
  • Availability: 01 April 2017.   
  • Duty station: DRC-DDG Area Office East, Jalalabad.    
 
We offer   
  
  
DRC-DDG will offer the successful applicant a 1 Year contract, renewable dependent on both funding and performance.   
Salary and conditions will be in accordance with Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment for national staff. This position will be placed at salary Grade D, level 1, basic 745 USD.   
  
  
Application process   
  
  
Interested? Then apply for this position by clicking on the apply button. All applicants must send a cover letter and an updated CV (no longer than four pages). Both must be in the same language as this vacancy note. CV only applications will not be considered.   
  
Applications close 29 March 2017.  However, please note due to the urgency of this position, shortlisting process will be ongoing. Should we find qualified candidates prior to expiry of this advert, interviews will be held immediately.   
 
This vacancy is now closed.
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