Protection Adviser Colombia - Multiple locations - Only Nationals

NRC Colombia implements its Protection from Violence Core Competency, which includes the following streams of work: Community Safety & Prevention of Violence, which includes NRCs Civilian Self-Protection programme (a proactive protection programme which comprises protection by presence, protection accompaniment and protection advocacy), Individual Protection Services, which incorporates Protection Case Management for persons at risk of violence, such as community leaders threatened by armed groups, and Protection Influence & Policy, which includes Protection Monitoring. NRC also implements its Protection from Violence programme in rapid emergency responses. 

The Protection Adviser (National) position will work with NRCs Civilian Self-Protection (CSP) programme, which aims to prevent violence and offer protection to communities. The CSP programme has a new project with NORCAP that will implement three activities in complementarity to the wider programme:

1. Protection by presence: presence with communities facing repression or violence, if and when the communities themselves request such a presence, taking advantage of the complementary protective impacts of national and international staff presence. 
2. Protection Advocacy and Influence: Discrete, indirect, and collective advocacy with other actors, to encourage all armed actors to comply with International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law. 
3. Protection Capacity Building: Support and protection to local actors to enable their active participation in national dialogue and planning processes that promote solutions for their protection challenges. 

The staff of this initiative will include both Colombian nationals and International staff, initially to be deployed in Bogota, Quibdo, Tumaco and Puerto Asis, who will work together as a team to take advantage of the added value that each can contribute to the protection objectives of the project. Staff will share a strong commitment to protecting communities and promoting their empowerment. The objective of proactive protection demands that staff will spend a large portion of their time visiting rural communities under duress. Their work with advocacy and influencing will require them to engage in intensive networking at both the regional and national level. The aim of the capacity building arm of the programme will be to encourage local participation, and will require the development of close relationships with community representatives. This initiative provides a unique first-hand insight into the intense pressures faced by Colombian communities, and their resilience and courage in responding to find solutions.

The Protection Advisers (National and International) will work together as a team under the leadership of NRC-Colombia’s Protection from Violence Specialist and the technical guidance of the NORCAP Senior Protection Adviser, within the structure of NRC’s existing Protection from Violence program, and in close collaboration and coordination with other NRC Protection from Violence staff.