Senior Protection Officer

The Oxfam team in Lebanon implements integrated humanitarian, development and policy interventions in line with Oxfam’s country strategy for Lebanon as relevant to the Bekaa, North Lebanon, and Beirut areas, including protection, WASH, water governance, cash safety net/social protection, economic justice and human rights programming– all with a focus on partnerships.
The humanitarian pillar, in particular, ensures that marginalised women and men, particularly refugees from Syria, are able to have safe access to WASH, attain their rights to life, security, protection and assistance, and that they are enabled to support their own basic needs, develop their livelihoods, all in a manner that respects and maintains their dignity.

The Senior Protection Officer works within Oxfam’s humanitarian pillar, and is based in Zahle. The purpose of the role is to manage and provide technical support to the project team in the implementation of the protection humanitarian projects in the Bekaa and Baalback el Hermel. The role will combine management of Oxfam staff and coordination with partners , in the implementation of gender-sensitive community-based protection activities, including monitoring and evaluation of programme activities, as well as support to protection research and advocacy activities on protection issues. The Senior Protection Officer will ensure liaison and coordination of the partners’ work with the overall funded projects, and with the rest of the protection work in Lebanon. In addition, the Senior Protection Officer will be responsible for the team through daily management, activities and budget planning, monitoring and evaluation activities, donor reporting and will assist in responding to capacity building needs, in collaboration with other protection programme staff, and the Protection Advisor.

Project implementation and management
•
Under the supervision of the Project Manager, and together with project team members, develop and regularly monitor work plans, spending plans and procurement plans for project implementation that ensure projects are implemented in line with Oxfam’s quality and accountability standards, donor requirements and sector standards;
•
Coordinate the work of Oxfam protection teams and support partners with project activities with communities, ensuring the overall direction and objectives of humanitarian projects are maintained, and that activities are delivered in line with project scope, timeline and budget;
•
Support in preparations for all field activities, with particular focus on community mobilisation and establishment and capacity development of community-based structures;
•
Monitor and oversee protection field activities: community mobilisation, delivery of information about services and entitlements, training and capacity development of community members on technical knowledge, MEAL activities, local–level advocacy and monitoring protection risks affecting the target population.
•
Promote monitoring, evaluation and programme quality, by supporting the MEAL Officer with the design and adaptation of monitoring frameworks, including monitoring tools.
•
Review and follow-up on findings of monitoring activities, support learning reviews and evaluations, ensuring that learning from monitoring and evaluation informs continuous quality improvement of Oxfam’s humanitarian programme.
•
Ensure that all protection activities are implemented in line with the safe programming approach to ensure no harm is inflicted on communities we work with, partners and Oxfam.
•
Continuously identify risks within programmatic activities, communicate them to the project team and support with identifying risk mitigation strategies.
•
Ensure engagement with communities is maintained in target areas including with community-based structures as well as with the wider community, with particular attention to the needs of vulnerable individuals.
•
Contribute to donor reporting, ensuring that learning and adaptations are reflected, and review project reports submitted by partners, and provide feedback for continuous improvement.
•
Contribute to protection analysis reports and other internal and external reports, as needed.

People & Team Management
•
Recruit and manage a team of Protection Assistants and/or Protection Officers in line with organisational requirements, ensuring appropriate compliance with Oxfam’s Code of Conduct and Core humanitarian principles in line with Oxfam’s rules and regulations.
•
Solicit appropriate training and learning opportunities for team members in line with their performance objectives and ensure regular coaching of staff.
•
Oversee performance management and staff development of team members, and provide necessary and timely feedback to staff being directly managed.
•
Ensure the physical welfare, well-being, and professional development of protection staff.
Technical support and capacity development
•
Support or facilitate trainings, capacity-sharing initiatives, and provide technical support to the team and partners’ staff to ensure that the protection framework and sector standards, and Oxfam’s approach to protection are understood and implemented effectively, and in line with key principles.
•
Support team members in delivering capacity development activities for community-based structures and in preparing and facilitating community consultations on protection activities. Ensure a safe and inclusive environment where community members can openly share 

feedback and suggestions
, and ensure this information is used to inform project activities and approaches;
•
Collaborate with the project team and Protection Advisor to define inclusive and context-appropriate methods for community participation that actively engage the most vulnerable and marginalized groups. Provide ongoing mentorship to team members on implementing safe, meaningful, and accountable community engagement approaches, and offer feedback to strengthen practice as needed.
Working with Partners
•
Support Oxfam partners in defining the methods of community participation that ensure the greatest possible participation of vulnerable groups;
•
Support the engagement of partners in the design of projects and on the findings of protection analysis reports, monitoring and evaluation activities;
•
Regularly support to partner staff in the delivery of training sessions in field activities, monitor quality and ensure continuous quality improvement and documentation of lessons learned;
•
Support the identification of jointly defined capacity strengthening priorities on protection with partners, and share these insights with relevant managers to inform collaborative planning and learning;
•
Facilitate and encourage partners’ active and meaningful participation in protection coordination mechanisms and other inter-agency forums relevant to protection in the context of the Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel regions.

Protection Monitoring, Research and Program Design
•
Contribute to project design and proposal development, while leveraging their understanding of the protection environment, protection principles, and lessons from the field;
•
Contribute to Oxfam and partners’ strong analysis about protection trends and concerns and produce reports on the protection environment and threats facing vulnerable communities;
•
Support design, planning and implementation of programme-based protection research in coordination with the Protection Advisor and the Policy team;
•
Prepare, participate in and supervise the team in protection monitoring activities, ensuring that Oxfam approaches and tools are used properly, and ensure responsible data management;
•
Ensure involvement of and coordination with the Protection Research and Policy Advisor in all protection monitoring activities;
•
Provide technical and analytical input into key discussions around protection, including active participation in protection strategy elaborations and in local level advocacy activities.
External Coordination
•
Follow-up with external stakeholders (INGOs, national/local organisations, local institutions), and contribute to setting grounds for cooperation and identifying new possible collaborations and partnerships;
•
Represent Oxfam externally through participation in relevant protection coordination meetings (such as protection WG) and other relevant inter-agency coordination groups, as well as with local authorities.