Community-Based Protection Assistant – G4 – BEY148 – UNOPS Contracts

General Background

The Government of Lebanon (GoL) estimates the total number of Syrian refugees at 1.5 million, of which close to one million are registered as refugees by UNHCR. Lebanon is also host to around 16,000 refugees of other nationalities, in addition to the Palestinian refugees. This makes Lebanon the highest refugee-hosting country per capita in the world. There are no approved camps in the country and refugees are living in over 2,000 localities. The presence of such a large refugee population, in a small country that is struggling to maintain its own delicate balance and regain its pre-crisis economic growth, is seen as affecting the social stability in many municipalities. Pressure on infrastructure and services, competition over jobs and other factors are trying the patience and hospitality of the host community. At the same time, the refugees are facing a multitude of protection problems in their daily lives due to factors such as restricted access to legal stay and documentation, and limited opportunities to work and become self-reliant coupled with insufficient assistance to meet all of their essential needs, which increases risks of exploitation and other harm.

The now extended Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2017-2020 (2020 update), developed jointly by the GOL and its international and national partners, and seeks to provide a framework for an integrated humanitarian-development response in which the needs of the refugees are – to the extent possible – met by strengthening the capacity of national institutions and civil society to deliver services, and the impact of the refugee presence is mitigated through support to host communities and vulnerable Lebanese. Simultaneously, it provides for a robust, complementary humanitarian response, given the Government’s policy against any local integration and the consequent limitations on refugees’ ability to work and fully access national institutions, as well as on humanitarians’ ability to support sustainable shelter and community interventions

At the core of UNHCR’s work are efforts to identify, analyse, and respond to the impact of wider-environmental and individual risk factors on the refugees’ protection situation. This requires a continuous assessment and analysis of how different factors, such as legal residency, access to livelihoods and access to cash assistance, impact on refugees’ ability to resist exploitation and harmful coping strategies, coupled with robust monitoring and evaluation of how the programmes in place and activities undertaken prevent and respond to protection risks. It is also essential for UNHCR to be able to report, in a clear and compelling way, on the findings from these assessments, analyses, monitoring activities and evaluations in order to inform future prioritisation and resource allocation. Importantly, UNHCR needs to be able to demonstrate, and clearly report on the impact of its programmes on the refugees’ protection and solutions situation for purposes of accountability to affected people (AAP), as well as towards funding mechanisms and donors. A core component of UNHCR’s AAP policy is to ensure that refugees and others of concern, including communities affected by displacement, are at the centre of all that we do. This requires that women, men, girls and boys of diverse backgrounds have equal access to services and participate equally in the making of decisions that affect their lives, families and communities. Participation entails that refugees and others play a critical role, as partners, in assessing their needs, and in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the solutions to address them, including through their own involvement. It also means ensuring transparency by continuous communication. Through such meaningful participation, UNHCR ensures that protection and assistance programmes are effective and accountable to persons of concern, all in partnership with government, civil society and affected communities.

UNHCR’s operation in Lebanon is managed at the country-level by a Representation Office in Beirut, and at field-level by four offices, located in Mount Lebanon, Tripoli, Tyre and the Bekaa. The Community-Based Protection Assistant is a member of the Protection Unit in Beirut and may report to the Community-Based Protection Officer, or another staff member among the Community-based Protection Unit. Under the overall direction of the Protection Unit, and in coordination with other UNHCR staff, government, NGO partners and other stakeholders, the incumbent works directly with UNHCR sub/field offices to support communities of concern to identify the risks they face and to leverage their capacities to protect themselves, their families and communities. S/he supports the application of community-based protection standards, operational procedures and practices in community-based protection delivery at the field level. To fulfil this role, the Community-Based Protection Assistant may be required to spend a substantial percentage of the workday outside the office, building and maintaining networks within communities of persons of concern (PoC), in coordination with UNHCR sub/field offices and in support of their community mobilization, outreach and empowerment activities. The Community-Based Protection Assistant will also support interventions that aim to build the capacity of refugees and host communities to prevent and respond to the issues they face, including issues linked to mental health. The development and maintenance of constructive relationships with PoC that measurably impact and enhance protection planning, programming and results, form the core of the work of the incumbent. S/he also supports the designing of a community-based protection strategy by ensuring that it is based on consultation with PoC. The Community-Based Protection Assistant will also support in analyzing and reporting on feedback provided by refugees, community structures and community groups to inform programmes and activities, using an age, gender and diversity approach.

Purpose and Scope of Assignment

• Through relationships with PoC and network of partners, stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment and provide advice to the protection team. Understand and analyze the perspectives, capacities, needs and resources of the PoC and advise the team accordingly, highlighting the specific protection needs of women and men, children, youth and older persons, persons with disabilities, marginalized groups.
• Support implementing and operational partners as well as displaced and local communities to develop community-owned activities to address, where applicable, the social, educational, psycho-social, cultural, health, organisational and livelihood concerns as well as child protection and prevention and response to SGBV.
• Assist in working with host communities to involve national civil society groups in improving the protection of PoC.
• Assist in the analysis that identifies the capacities of communities of concern and risks they face.
• Support participatory assessments and ongoing consultation with PoC.
• Support communities in establishing representation and coordination structures.
• Ensure community understanding of UNHCR's commitment to deliver on accountability and quality assurance in its response.
• Collect data for monitoring of programmes and budgets from an AGD perspective.
• Draft and type routine correspondence, documents and reports and maintain up-to-date filing systems.
• Act as an interpreter in exchange of routine information, contribute to related liaison activities and respond directly to routine queries.
• Assist in the enforcement of participatory AGD sensitive analysis as an essential basis for all of UNHCR’s work.
• Identify and recommend which individuals or groups to prioritize for counselling and field visits based on agreed criteria.
• Enforce compliance of implementing partners with global protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services.

Monitoring and Progress Controls

• Objective setting at the start of the contract
• Workplans with clear tasks and timelines
• Mid-year review and evaluation of objectives on a yearly basis
• Issuing monthly reports related the assigned tasks