Protection Project Officer (South)

PROGRAM SUMMARY: The conflict that began more than three years ago in Syria has resulted in a steady increase in Syrian refugees to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.  To date, more than one million refugees have fled to Lebanon, and the numbers continue to mount. All refugees who have entered Lebanon are staying with host families or in rented accommodation.  As numbers rapidly increase, humanitarian conditions are deteriorating.  The burden on host communities and the financial and emotional stress on refugees and their hosts is tremendous. Mercy Corps is responding to these needs by addressing urgent basic needs, child protection as well as the psychosocial impact of the conflict and displacement.  A growing programmatic focus is on mitigating the emerging tensions between hosts and refugees, particularly over economic resources, by addressing both livelihood opportunities and conflict mitigation capacity. UNHCR recently calculated that approximately 34% of refugees have specific protection needs including women and children at-risk, and survivors of GBV. In response, Mercy Corps and Heartland Alliance International (HAI) will initiate a one-year project with the following goal: refugees and vulnerable host community members at extreme risk, including survivors of GBV in South Lebanon, are free from harm and benefit from an improved quality of life. The proposed project will develop and strengthen GBV and related mental health referral pathways in South Lebanon to improve access for survivors to critical lifesaving services, and build the capacity of three local organizations working on GBV issues. GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY: The Protection Project Officer will provide support to the Program Manager in all aspects of implementing the project to ensure that it meets its key deliverables on-time and within budget.  He/she will closely work with partner organizations and private companies to ensure accountability to Mercy Corps’ policies, as well as other local actors including municipalities.   ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:Do This Project Implementation: Support the Program Manager in planning and implementing project activities to meet key deliverables based on project timeline and scope; Support the Program Manager to improve the organizational and technical capacity of local NGOs and hospitals/health clinics providing to GBV and mental health-related services; Support the Program Manager to coordinate with partners, international and local NGOs, municipalities and other stakeholders; Support Program Manager in implementing activities, organizing meetings, community engagement and awareness raising/information dissemination events; Liaise with key stakeholders to build Mercy Corps acceptance within local communities to facilitate project implementation, including informing the wider community actors about Mercy Corps’ programming, as well as with relevant Mercy Corps staff to ensure programmatic synergies; Support the Program Manager to identify and assess local organizations for capacity building; Participate in monitoring and evaluation system design and implementation for all aspects of the project, including monitoring  project progress by developing and applying monitoring tools; Prepare weekly reports to be submitted to the Program Manager. Contribute to quarterly reports and other ad hoc reports to meet donor and internal requirements; Assist in filing and record keeping of project activities; Assist in analysis of data collected to facilitate assessment results and lessons learnt;  Implement Mercy Corps’ Gender Equity policy and applies Do No Harm approaches; Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission; Other assigned tasks, as necessary.   KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE: Protection-related projects experience preferred; Gender-based Violence projects experience required; Strong understanding of refugee issues in the current Lebanon context; Strong management skills, with good understanding of relevant cross-cultural issues and ability to work with refugee and host community populations; Strong written and oral communication skills in English, including report development, writing and editing; Positive, respectful attitude and collaborative approach to problem solving; Demonstrated attention to detail; ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently as well as cooperatively with team members; Significant knowledge and understanding of the current political, economic, cultural and historical context of South Lebanon preferred;