JO# 19092 – Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant – G5 – PN 10027698 – UNHCR Fixed Term Appointment - Tyre, Lebanon

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships

Eight years into the Syria crisis, Lebanon remains the country hosting the largest number of refugees per capita, with nearly 950,000  Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR, about 20,000 refugees of other origins - mostly Iraqi - and Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s mandate.  There are no formal camps for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and refugees are living in hundreds of communities and locations across the country.

The refugee response is led by the Government and UNHCR and UNDP, supported by the international community. As the designated lead agency in the refugee response, UNHCR has established a sector-based structure in Beirut and in the field. The structure brings together over 150 UN agencies, national and international NGO partners [over 150 actors, including UN agencies, national and international NGOs and Ministries] in identifying and agreeing on the strategic priorities to address the needs of Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese communities. The Lebanon Chapter of the Response Plan falls under the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), whereby UNHCR guides the refugee response and UNDP facilitates the resilience and stabilization component.

The UNHCR operational response in Lebanon is one of the largest for the organization. Media attention and the frequency of influential high-profile visitors is high. The Office has grown substantially in the past years and is currently operating with around 650 staff. Aside from the country office in the capital city of Beirut, UNHCR has field offices in Mount Lebanon, Qobayat, Tripoli, Tyre and Zahle.

The Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant is a member of the Protection Unit and may report to the Protection Officer, Community-Based Protection Officer, or another more senior staff member in the Protection Unit. Under the overall direction of the Protection Unit, and in coordination with other UNHCR staff, government, NGO partners and other stakeholders, the Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant works directly with communities of concern to identify the risks they face and to leverage their capacities to protect themselves, their families and communities. The incumbent 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 Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant is required to spend a substantial percentage of the workday outside the office, building and maintaining networks within communities of persons of concern (PoC). 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.
In FO Tyre, the incumbent will report to the Senior Protection Associate (Community-Based). Through close coordination with the supervisor, he/she may be responsible for ensuring the implementation of UNHCR¿s Child Protection strategy in South Lebanon.  protection. This includes providing quality, timely and effective protection support to persons of concern including children, children at heightened risk, unaccompanied minors, and separated children. Additionally, the incumbent will identify opportunities to mainstream Child Protection methodologies and safeguards in operational responses. This includes providing capacity building training to UNHCR, partner, and government staff on child protection principles, regularly interviewing and assessing cases to make the appropriate referrals, and closely monitoring and following up with cases which have been referred. The incumbent will ensure the effectiveness and impact of CP interventions, improve the quality of the BID/BIAs reports and tracking systems, strengthen partnerships including with UN agencies, local authorities and INGOs and NNGOs. This may also include acting as the Child Protection Focal Point for the child protection outreach volunteer programme. The incumbent might also represent the organization externally through relevant coordination such as the SGBV and CP working groups.

This position requires someone with experience in partner management and coordination, as well as experience child protection case management. Knowledge of international child protection principles and national child protection legislation and systems are essential for the position. He/she should have excellent written and oral communication skills including report writing and the ability to exercise diplomacy when communicating sensitive information. He/she should be able to work independently with minimal supervision to meet tight deadlines, while always exercising UNHCR¿s Core Values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity. Flexibility, adaptability, teamwork, attention to details, and very strong organizational skills are also essential for the successful fulfilment of the roles and responsibilities of this position.
In FO Tyre, the incumbent will report to the Senior Protection Associate (Community-Based). Through close coordination with the supervisor, he/she may be responsible for ensuring the implementation of UNHCR¿s Child Protection strategy in South Lebanon.  protection. This includes providing quality, timely and effective protection support to persons of concern including children, children at heightened risk, unaccompanied minors, and separated children. Additionally, the incumbent will identify opportunities to mainstream Child Protection methodologies and safeguards in operational responses. This includes providing capacity building training to UNHCR, partner, and government staff on child protection principles, regularly interviewing and assessing cases to make the appropriate referrals, and closely monitoring and following up with cases which have been referred. The incumbent will ensure the effectiveness and impact of CP interventions, improve the quality of the BID/BIAs reports and tracking systems, strengthen partnerships including with UN agencies, local authorities and INGOs and NNGOs. This may also include acting as the Child Protection Focal Point for the child protection outreach volunteer programme. The incumbent might also represent the organization externally through relevant coordination such as the SGBV and CP working groups.

This position requires someone with experience in partner management and coordination, as well as experience child protection case management. Knowledge of international child protection principles and national child protection legislation and systems are essential for the position. He/she should have excellent written and oral communication skills including report writing and the ability to exercise diplomacy when communicating sensitive information. He/she should be able to work independently with minimal supervision to meet tight deadlines, while always exercising UNHCR¿s Core Values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity. Flexibility, adaptability, teamwork, attention to details, and very strong organizational skills are also essential for the successful fulfilment of the roles and responsibilities of this position.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR¿s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties
- Assist functional units, the Multi-Functional Team (MFT) and senior management to integrate participatory and community-based approaches in the overall protection strategy. 
- 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 the perspectives, capacities, needs and resources of the PoC and advise the protection team accordingly, highlighting the specific protection needs of women and men, children, youth and older persons, persons with disabilities, marginalized groups.
- Assist in initiatives with host communities to involve national civil society groups in the protection of PoC.
- 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 the analysis that identifies the capacities of communities of concern and risks they face.
- Support participatory assessments by multifunctional teams and ongoing consultation with PoC.
- Support efforts to build the office capacity for community-based protection.
- 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.
- Initiate AGD sensitive interventions at the appropriate level on community-based protection issues and to respond to protection concerns and incidents within the office and with persons and communities of concern based on agreed parameters.
- 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.
- Perform other related duties as required.