West Bank Protection Consortium (WBPC) Representative

The distinctive characteristics and drivers of the humanitarian crisis in the oPt remain directly related to the impact of prolonged belligerent occupation, now in its fifty-first year. A protection crisis persists, driven by the systematic denial of Palestinian rights, structural barriers to Palestinian development, conflict and lack of accountability for violations of international law, which in turn result in chronic humanitarian needs and dependence on relief. In the West Bank, 881,000 Palestinians are in need of protection (oPt Humanitarian Response Strategy 2018-2020) due to recurrent violations of IHL and IHRL. In Area C, East Jerusalem and H2 Hebron – the areas of focus of the Consortium – a coercive environment prevails, which encourages the non-consensual displacement of Palestinians from their homes and lands, in contravention with international law. This coercive environment is generated through push factors that lead to forcible transfer, including demolitions, settler and military violence and harassment, as well as restrictions on movement and access to resources, basic services and humanitarian assistance.

The West Bank Protection Consortium is a strategic partnership between DG ECHO, like-minded EU Member States and five International NGOs (NRC, as lead Agency, ACTED, Action Against Hunger, GVC and PUI) formed in 2015 to prevent the forcible transfer of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem through a protection-oriented, multi-sectoral humanitarian response that encompasses emergency assistance, community-based protection, the provision of basic and social infrastructure, legal aid and humanitarian advocacy. 

The purpose of the Consortium Representative will provide strategic leadership and management accountability to the Consortium, leading representation towards external stakeholders, fundraising, program development, and grants management

Role Specific Information

1. Provide strategic leadership to consortium partners to ensure high quality implementation of activities, compliance with donor and consortium rules, and accountability to beneficiaries.
2. Ensure robust risk mapping, of Consortium activities and implement appropriate risk mitigation measures.
3. Work with stakeholders and the steering committee to mobilise and maintain financial and political support.
4. Provide timely and accurate reports to the UN, donors and diplomats on critical incidents affecting the Consortium’s partners, activities and targeted communities
5. Advance the Consortium’s advocacy strategy nationally and internationally, working closely with advocacy actors.
6. Coordinate donor, diplomatic and media visits to project sites, in coordination with the Consortium Technical Coordinator, in collaboration with advocacy team members and with the approval of the Steering Committee.
7. Research new funding prospects, engage potential new donors and motivate funding to expand the Consortium’s resource base and promote sustainability.
8. Work closely with consortium partners (and Steering Committee) to solve problems that arise during implementation.

Our Ideal Candidate:

We are searching for a Consortium Representative who will build on the program’s success over the past four years, find new ways to remain relevant in a rapidly changing context, and foster more sustainable approaches to protection. This requires providing leadership and management accountability to a strategic partnership of five humanitarian NGOs; ensuring effective coordination with a broad range of external stakeholders, including the Clusters and Palestinian Authority; leading advocacy and resource mobilisation efforts with the EU and EU Member States; and further improving the Consortium’s integrated protection programming.

Our ideal candidate seeks to challenge violations of international law that lead to forcible transfer, believes in the power of coordinated humanitarian NGO programming, is comfortable with innovation, and is able to provide thought leadership within the Consortium and towards the humanitarian community in Palestine.  

This role offers the possibility to influence policy change and help shape the humanitarian community’s protection response in the West Bank, working with a team of dedicated colleagues from five partner agencies, who are determined to make a difference.   

 Additional Information:

Contract period: 24 months

Salary/benefits: According to NRC’s salary scale and terms and conditions

Duty station: Jerusalem

Approved health certificate will be requested before contract start