Protection Coordinator

Background

The International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies, provides relief, rehabilitation and post-conflict reconstruction support to victims of natural disaster, oppression and violent conflict in 42 countries. The IRC is committed to bold leadership, innovation and creative partnerships. Active in public health, education, livelihoods, women's empowerment, youth development, and protection and promotion of rights, IRC assists people from harm to home.

The border between the U.S. and Mexico spans 1,969 miles and has more than 20 checkpoints along its route.The border fence between the two countries covers much of the area between Tijuana/San Diego in the east, and Juarez/El Paso in the center. The border fence has driven many people east towards the more porous border in Texas.All along the border, but particularly in the east, organized crime controls the majority of the border areas which are plagued by crime and violence including trafficking of drugs, weapons, money, and people. Recent changes in U.S. policy haveresulted in long waiting times to present at a port-of-entry along the border, which are most extreme in Tijuana. This, coupled with the insecurity in the east, is resulting in a ‘funneling’of more mixed-migrants into the central areas of the country, such as Nogales and Ciudad Juarez.

While waiting to cross the border (or after being pushed back under MPP), migrants and asylum seekers stay in shelters (mostly run by religious groups), in rented rooms, or on the street. The services that are available to them are almost entirely from the civil society, and they vary dramatically in both quality and availability, and between locations and service providers, most of whom are overwhelmed by the growing numbers of people needing support within the city.

Scope of work

The IRC is implementing a protection program featuring home visits to facilitate access to protection and integration services, local agency capacity building to deliver women’s protection and empowerment services, delivery of mental health, and psychosocial support. Based in Mexico City, the Protection Coordinator is responsible for for overall management of protection staff in all locations, providing necessary support, oversight and technical guidance to ensure successful implementation of protection programming, and ongoing strategic development of the IRC Mexico’s protection portfolio. This will include leadership of internal capacity building activities, activity design, including developing new related projects and garnering required funding, and implementation as well as monitoring and evaluation of all program activities. The Protection Coordinator will participate in coordination forums.

Objectives

Program Management & Implementation

• Provide strategic direction and vision to the IRC’s Protection programming in Mexico with an emphasis on ensuring quick program start-up/scale-up and implementation while observing high program quality in alignment with IRC’s best practices.
• Navigate complex relationships and program requirements among IRC, UNHCR and state providers relative to durable solutions and integration programming.
• Oversee implementation of IRC’s protection programming in Mexico including timely recruitment; development of work plans; budget management; procurement plans; and reporting per IRC and donor regulations.
• Undertake regular field monitoring visits to assess progress and identify technical quality issues and/or other implementation issues, provide solutions, and implement modifications as required.
• Plan and manage the program budgets and ensure IRC policies are adhered to by the team.
• Produce/contribute to IRC and donor reports as required (monthly, quarterly and annually).

New business development

• Develop/propose recommendations for the protection component of the country strategy action plan collaboration with the protection team, the DDP, and the Technical Advisor.
• Identify opportunities, design, and develop proposals to grow the Protection portfolio.
• Ensure all protection projects use the IRC theories of change and that outcomes are evidence-driven and evidence-generated.
• Utilize IRC Mexico’s multi-sector assessment reports and other relevant documents to guide protection program development.
• Identify opportunities for partnership and strategic collaboration.

Staff Management & Technical Guidance

• Directly supervise and support the protection team, promoting a strong team spirit and providing managerial and technical guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their duties.
• Coach, train, and mentor staff, strengthening their technical capacity and providing professional development guidance. Refine protection SOPs as relevant to program implementation and train protection staff on their implementation.
• Discuss job expectations, set objectives and conduct timely and quality performance evaluations and give regular and constructive feedback to staff throughout the year.
• Act as an exemplar in practices conforming to the internal ethical guidelines, “The IRC Way” and assure compliance by all staff.

Representation and coordination

• Attend relevant coordination forums such as cluster meetings and working groups.
• Forge connections with counterparts including INGO, Local NGO, governmental, UN, donor, and other non-governmental stakeholders.
• Collaborate closely with other program departments to ensure that linkages between programs are made and programs gain from cross-sector best practices.
• Identify opportunities for partnership and strategic collaboration.