Assistant Protection Officer

This position is advertised open to internal and external applicants. Interested applicants should consult the Administrative Instruction on Recruitment and Assignment of Locally Recruited Staff (RALS). Applicants must be nationals of, and be locally recruited within the country of their employment. Assistant Protection Officer

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships

The Assistant Protection Officer reports to the Protection Officer or the Senior Protection Officer. Depending on the size and structure of the Office, the incumbent may have supervisory responsibility for protection staff including community-based protection, registration, resettlement and education. S/he provides functional protection guidance to information management and programme staff on all protection/legal matters and accountabilities. These include: statelessness (in line with the campaign to End Statelessness by 2024),  Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) commitments, age, gender, diversity (AGD) and accountability to affected populations (AAP) through community-based protection, Child protection, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response, gender equality, disability inclusion, youth empowerment, psycho-social support  and PSEA, registration, asylum/refugee status determination, resettlement, local integration, voluntary repatriation, human rights standards integration, national legislation, judicial engagement, predictable and decisive engagement in situations of internal displacement and engagement in wider mixed movement and climate change/disaster-related displacement responses. S/he supervises protection standards, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery in line with international standards.

The Assistant Protection Officer is expected to coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern (PoC), ensuring that operational responses in all sectors mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. The incumbent contributes to the design of a comprehensive protection strategy and represents the Organization externally on protection doctrine and policy as guided by the supervisor. S/he also ensures that PoC are meaningfully engaged in the decisions that affect them and support programme design and adaptations that are influenced by the concerns, priorities and capacities of them. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, authorities, protection and assistance partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection.


All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR's core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.


Duties
- Stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment.
- Consistently apply International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct.
- Assist in providing comments on existing and draft legislation related to PoC.  
- Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to PoC; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documentation.
- Conduct eligibility and status determination for PoC in compliance with UNHCR procedural standards and international protection principles. 
- Promote and contribute to measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness.
- Contribute to a country-level child protection plan as part of the protection strategy.
- Contribute to a country-level education plan as part of the protection strategy.
- Provide inputs for the development of protection policies and standards within the AoR.
- Implement and monitor Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities.
- Manage individual protection cases including those on GBV and child protection. Monitor, and intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents.
- Recommend durable solutions for the largest possible number of PoC through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.
- Assess resettlement needs and apply priorities for the resettlement of individuals and groups of refugees and other PoC.
- Contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of protection related AGD based programming with implementing and operational partners.
- Contribute to and facilitate a programme of results-based advocacy with sectorial and/or cluster partners.
- Contribute to and facilitate effective information management through the provision of disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems. 
- Assist capacity-building initiatives for communities and individuals to assert their rights.
- Participate in initiatives to capacitate authorities, relevant institutions and NGOs to strengthen national protection related legislation and procedures.
- Intervene with authorities on protection issues.
- Assist the supervisor in deciding priorities for reception, interviewing and counselling for groups or individuals.
- Assist the supervisor in enforcing compliance of staff and implementing partners with global protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services.
- Enforce compliance with, and integrity of, all protection standard operating procedures.
- Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Years of Experience / Degree Level
For P1/NOA - 1 year relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or no experience with Graduate degree; or no experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education
Law, International Law, Political Sciences 
or other relevant field.
(Field(s) of Education marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Certificates and/or Licenses
Not specified;
(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Knowledge of International Refugee and Human Rights Law and ability to apply the relevant legal principles

Desirable
Completion of the Protection Learning Programme, RSD- Resettlement Learning Programme.

Functional Skills
*PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
*LE-International Refugee Law
*PR-Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD)
PR-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordination
MG-Projects management
PR-PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards
PR-International Humanitarian Law
PR-Protection and mixed-movements
PR-Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Operations & IDPs Status/Rights/Obligation
PR-Climate change and disaster related displacement
PR-Community-based Protection
MS-Drafting, Documentation, Data Presentation
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements
For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.


All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.


This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.
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See below for this postion's Operational Context
======================================================================================================== The political context in Sudan remains complex, diverse, and fast-changing necessitating high levels of political sensitivity and solid coordination and communication skills. The operations in Sudan includes emergency response, regular refugee programmes, IDP support (emergency, durable solutions), voluntary repatriation, statelessness, and special projects, for example peacebuilding support funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund. UNHCR Representation in Sudan has presence in five main regions of Darfur, Kordofan, East Sudan, White Nile Kosti, Blue Nile. The Representation Office in Khartoum provides overall strategic guidance and implementation of the operations, security, policies, and liaison with key Government stakeholders, donor communities, UNAMID/UNITAMS, UNCT/HCT and NGO partners. The Representation Office in Khartoum provides an oversight of activities in Sudan being supported by 15 offices; 4 Sub Offices, 7 Field Offices, 3 Field Units and Damazine office that is being opened. The security threat level for most locations of Sudan remains moderate to high risk due to the number of security incidents, such as recurrent demonstrations all over Sudan as a result of the economic challenges and heightened insecurity, particularly in locations of Darfur and Kordofan states.
In the current configuration of the office, the Assistant Protection Officer serve under the direct supervision of a Protection Officer. The incumbent of this position should possess:
¿ Knowledge and previous experience of Mixed Movements is vital to the position. This in particular given, that the East of Sudan, is one of the main entry points to Sudan- being a Country of Asylum, Country of Origin as well as a Country of Transit.
¿ Good inter-personal and net-working skills are very important. A major part of the work involves coordination among many different stakeholders such UN agencies, INGOS and government counterparts and interlocutors.
¿ Experienced in research, data collection and documented drafting skills is also important as the need for well informed reports on the Mixed Movements is crucial in the Advocacy and Coordination work undertaken by UNHCR.
¿ An overall knowledge of SGBV, individual case-management and communications with communities is an added asset, as is a good understanding of durable solutions, such as resettlement. This will support the incumbent while also working with the most vulnerable of the persons of concern, among those Victims of Trafficking.
Gedaref is classified as E non-family duty station. The Gedaref Sub-office covers 3 refugee camps in eastern Sudan: Um Gargour in Kassala state, Um Rakuba in Gedaref state and Tunaydbah in Gedaref state with an additional fourth site planned for opening very shortly.  Gedaref also has two transit centers ¿ Hamdayet in Kassala state and village 8 in Gedaref state. Gedaref field office which was decommissioned in 2019 and  reactivated Nov 2020 to support staff responding to emergency in Ethiopia emanating from the conflict in the Tigray region. These respond to needs of the new arrivals which were settled in the newly established two camps Um Rakuba and Tunaydbah, to ensure continuous access for PoC, monitoring activities in the camps, and facilitating liaison and coordination with local authorities. 

Gedaref Sub-office has two guesthouses with about 26 international staff including the emergency response team and about 60 national staff. Both guesthouses are equipped with satellite TV and with a common room has a 55 inch flat TV screen and BeIn satellite decoder. Gedaref have two approved UNDSS hotels Al -Rabwah hotel and Almotwakil hotel. Food stuffs are  readily available in  local markets and you can eat/buy at two restaurants usually in the evenings. Bottled water and water dispensers are recommended as the quality of the tap water in Gedaref is hard and salty therefore bodywash and soap that can lather in hard water are recommended. There is a resident UNHCR doctor in Gedaref, and a backup doctor to support when away, t as government hospital and private hospitals in Gedaref state are not of the established UN standards. In case of emergency the UNHCR doctor will support with evacuation processes to this end the Sub-office will shortly acquire an ambulance. There are no recreational activities in Gedaref and internet connectivity even though stable but can be erratic at times. All the guesthouses have UNHCR internet connections and the office is working on having a consistent fiber internet connection. Inflation rate continues to fluctuate, and standard of living is high. Gedaref is usually hot but cold during the raining season with possible of flooding. Staff are strongly recommended to bring with them books, sun screen, windbreakers, gumboots, mosquito nets as well as Malaria medication. The closing date is 19 September 2021.