Protection Analysis Resource Design Consultant

Over the past 16 years, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has pioneered and implemented programs that prevent and respond to violence against women and children, as well as other vulnerable groups in refugee settings and in other conflict-affected contexts, making the IRC a global leader in this field. IRC seeks to bring together specific expertise involved in violence prevention and response in conflict affected settings to ensure collaborative and still specialized support to survivors and those at risk of violence. This expertise is housed in the Violence Prevention and Response Unit (VPRU), which is responsible for ensuring overall quality and communication of VPR work within the IRC through support to the field and promulgation of global best practice. The VPRU includes specializations focused on violence against women, violence against children, and protection/ rule of law for refugees, IDPs and other vulnerable populations. IRC presently implements VPR programs to support social and political environments that foster freedom from violence, discrimination, and exclusion for vulnerable populations in contexts of crisis.

Humanitarian leadership and protection thought leaders have emphasized the need for protection analysis to provide the foundation for humanitarian response. Despite this recognition of the importance of protection analysis and associated commitments to deliver, there remain significant gaps in translating principles into practice. There is no systematic, core approach to protection analysis and while some guidance, principles and tools exist, these are not practical, accessible or sufficiently tailored to those doing and using protection analysis.

This two-year BHA-funded project, led by the International Rescue Committee and Danish Refugee Council, is focused on supporting teams in strengthening the quality and use of protection analysis with the needs of protection frontline workers, coordination actors and those steering broader humanitarian response strategies firmly in mind. Using a human-centered design approach, piloted in Nigeria and Iraq, the project builds from the experience and observations of these key user groups to examine the existing practice of protection analysis and explore what guidance, tools, and supportive factors are required to make the process desirable – and findings actionable. Based on this learning, we are working with these same colleagues to develop, test and deliver a resource package that is easily adapted, practical, and fit-for-purpose.  Users will participate in three remotely-facilitated design sessions in February 2021 to share and validate findings of qualitative research, prioritize opportunity areas, and brainstorm solutions for creating a more desirable protection analysis experience.

The consultancy will join the project at this critical design moment, and will focus on the development of easy-to-use modular tools/resources to improve the quality, documentation and alignment of protection analysis with the needs of protection frontline workers, coordination actors and those steering broader humanitarian response strategies. The consultant will work with the IRC-DRC project team to develop, prototype, and refine these tools based on feedback from core project users.

Consultancy Deliverables:

In collaboration with the IRC-DRC Protection Analysis Project Team, the consultant will:

Participate in and/or co-facilitate workshops for designing, testing, and learning:

• Workshops to learn, validate and co-create will be conducted with country staff and other key stakeholders
• Workshops will focus on understanding key challenges, exploring existing solutions, generating new solutions and design guidelines. The consultant will support in assets development and synthesis for the workshop. 
• The consultant will then take the early stage outputs from these workshops and together with protection analysis experts, design and test new user friendly tools. 

Develop easy-to-use modular tools/resources for a protection analysis package:

• In collaboration with the protection analysis stakeholders and country teams, develop, prototype and refine potential tools based on existing research, analysis and extensive landscaping.
• Support country teams in developing and implementing prototyping plans for new solutions
• Support project teams and country teams in synthesizing findings 
• Incorporate feedback and engage in iterative tool development.