Protection Assistant – G4 – TRI111 – UNOPS Contract - Tripoli, Lebanon

General Background

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, 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 Protection Assistant reports to senior national staff under the overall supervision of the Protection Officer. The incumbent will be expected to provide quality, timely and effective protection responses to persons of concern by counselling refugees on civil registration procedures at the UNHCR Reception Centre. Where appropropriate, he/she will also assist refugees to have the birth of their children registered with the Lebanese civil registration authorities. The Protection Assistant will liaise with competent authorities on a regular basis for the issuance of birth certificates, and stay abreast of any changes related to civil registration procedures and requirements. He/she may also liaise with partners on correspondence and/or protection issues as guided by the supervisor. The incumbent will be expected to assist the Protection Unit with support in other activities, as needed.

 The Protection Assistant facilitates the involvement of persons of concern with the Office in making decisions that affect them, whether in accessing their rights or in identifying appropriate solutions to their problems. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, local authorities and protection and assistance partners.

Purpose and Scope of Assignment

Responsibility (process and functions undertaken to achieve results)

Consistently apply International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct.

Observe and respect protection related Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Provide functional and administrative support in all protection related AGD based programming with implementing and operational partners.

Provide functional and administrative support in implementing participatory approaches, needs assessments, monitoring, reporting and case management.  

Support assessments on durable solutions through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.

Facilitate liaison with competent authorities for the issuance of personal and other relevant documents.

Assist in drafting reports, routine correspondence, updating relevant databases and compiling statistics for the protection unit/section.

Authority (decisions made in executing responsibilities and to achieve results)

Select persons of concern for preliminary interviews and decide which relevant information to share.

Enforce integrity in the delivery of protection services by local implementing partners.

Monitoring and Progress Controls

Clear description of measurable outputs, milestones, key performance indicators and/or reporting requirements which will enable performance monitoring

Accountability (key results that will be achieved)

The protection of populations of concern is met through the application of International and National Law, relevant UN/UNHCR protection standards and IASC principles.

Protection activities are guided by the UNHCR country protection strategy.

The participation of persons of concern is facilitated through supporting participatory, rights and community based approaches.

Regular monitoring to ensure that weekly targets of refugees counseled and assisted with birth registration are met.