Refugee Field Assistant (Cash Based Intervention)

Details

Mission and objectives

Our primary purpose at UNHCR is to safeguard the rights and well-being of people who have been forced to flee. Together with partners and communities, we work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another country. We also strive to secure lasting solutions. For over half a century, UNHCR has helped millions of people to restart their lives. They include refugees, returnees, stateless people, the internally displaced and asylum-seekers. Our protection, shelter, health and education has been crucial, healing broken pasts and building brighter futures.

Context

The Office of the UNHCR was established on 14 December 1950 by the UN General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country (www.unhcr.org). This UNV assignment is part of UNHCR’s Protection activities within the context of Regional Refugee Response Plan for Ukraine situation. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization working to save lives, protect rights and build a better future for refugees, internally displaced communities, and stateless people. UNHCR works to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find refuge from violence or persecution. Slovakia’s status as both a transit and a destination country requires an approach that is focused on immediate service provision for those on the move and first arriving in Slovakia, and second area of supporting the medium and longer term stay for those fleeing Ukraine. These require the timely delivery of accurate, verified and relevant information on legal status, services available and how to receive urgent protection and assistance. Refugees also need information on how to stay safe and avoid the many risks they are encountering, such as trafficking an GBV, and access to health and education. For those staying in Slovakia, they will need easy access to information on services in the locations where they are and support on integration into Slovak communities, for instance school enrolment. Community engagement and community-based and led approaches to facilitate this will be essential to reach individuals of diverse ages, genders and backgrounds in the appropriate formats that they prefer. Supporting initiatives directly led by refugees and Slovak communities will be a key part of this strategy to further promote self-reliance and ensure active roles for communities in the response. Engagement of Slovak communities is also essential to promote social cohesion. This UNV assignment is subject to proof of vaccination against Covid-19 with WHO approved vaccine in accordance with UNHCR’s Administrative Instruction on Covid-19 Vaccination and related Safety Measures. Application to this assignment is exclusively open to individuals residing in Slovakia, with stateless, refugee or similar protective status, including Temporary Protection. Official document as a proof of refugee status is mandatory to submit. The applicant with abovementioned refugee status should submit the official document as a proof of refugee status before and/or during the interview. The applications without the respective document will not be considered for this assignment.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Protection Officer or their designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Refugee Field Assistant (Cash Based Intervention) will: • Assist UNHCR in developing a strategy to link with the identified groups to share up to date information and encourage communication by refugees with humanitarian agencies. • Establish partnerships or good working relationships with key Ukrainian and Slovak actors working on community engagement especially in social protection and inclusion. • Assist with creating content to share through UNHCR’s communication channels in collaboration with UNHCR teams to share information on available services and their providers, on the rights and duties of refugees and asylum-seekers in Slovakia. • Assist with the Complaint and Referral Feedback Mechanism with the CBI Mailbox, by reviewing and replying to the inquiries received from the community via e-mail or by directly contacting the people to inform them. • Participate in Focus Group Discussions with CBI/Community Based Protection CBP and the community. • Participate in CBI information sessions for Cash, with the community. • Listen to community members and stay up to date with information sharing and discussion channels to identify risks to refugees and Slovak communities or potential misunderstanding and misinformation that UNHCR can help clarify. • Contribute to the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of UNHCR’s engagement with refugees and Slovak communities through different approaches, including online and offline, and make recommendations to UNHCR teams on how to improve. • Regularly update and share information related to ongoing work in community engagement, utilizing agreed data collection methods to identify gaps, assess trends and developments. • Support two-way communication mechanism using community-based approaches between UNHCR and persons of concern (Ukrainian refugees) by passing on useful information to the different refugee communities while promoting and supporting community engagement, inclusion in education and other essential services, and resilience and active participation of refugees in the Slovak social, economic and cultural life. • Promote and support community mobilization for organizing social, cultural and recreational events among refugee and host communities. • Assist UNHCR in organizing participatory activities for the cash component and awareness-raising sessions with persons of different age groups, gender and background. • Assist in exploring opportunities for mainstreaming persons of concern into available national services and contribute to developing communication strategies with persons of concern to access such services. • In coordination with the supervisor, assist in monitoring visits to Community Based Organizations/Refugee-led NGOs/Initiatives and other partners to oversee Programme implementation and provide inputs for further planning. • Contribute to the planning, monitoring and evaluation of any further community outreach activities for CBI. • Contribute age, gender and diversity mainstreaming in all of UNHCR Slovakia activities. • Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor. Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities: • Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day). • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country. • Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities. • Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc. • Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers. • Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible. Results/expected outputs: • As an active UNHCR team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNHCR and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including: • Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment. • A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.