Protection Associate – G6 – QOB008 – UNOPS Contract - Qobayat, Lebanon

General Background

Nine years into the Syria crisis, Lebanon remains the country hosting the largest number of refugees per capita, with nearly 880,000 Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR. 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. 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. The Office has grown substantially in the past years and is currently operating with around 700 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 Protection Associate will report to the Associate Protection Officer in the Qobayat Field Office. The incumbent monitors protection standards, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery in line with international standards and provides functional protection support to information management and programme staff.The Protection Associate is expected to coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern (PoC) and identify opportunities to mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards in operational responses in all sectors. More specifically, the incumbent is expected to be involved in follow up on child protection cases and other vulnerable POCs and the monitoring of education activities and other programmatic activities. He/she will also be asked to engage in other protection outreach activities, according to the need of the field office, and is expected to spend a significant amount of time in the field. As such, the staff member willneed to be flexible, field-oriented and have excellent English drafting skills. The Protection Associate also ensures that PoC are involved 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. 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.

 

Purpose and Scope of Assignment

• Stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the
• protection environment.
• Consistently apply International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy,
• standards and codes of conduct.
• Assist in providing comments on existing and draft legislation related to PoC.
• Provide advice on protection issues to PoC; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance
• of personal and other relevant documentation.
• Assist in conducting eligibility and status determination for PoC.
• Contribute to measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness.
• Contribute to a country-level child protection plan as part of the protection strategy.
• Contribute to a country-level education plan as part of the protection strategy.
• Monitor Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities.
• Manage individual protection cases including those on SGBV and child protection. Monitor, and
• intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents.
• Assist in identifying durable solutions for the largest possible number of PoC through voluntary
• repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.
• Contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of protection related AGD based
• programming with implementing and operational partners.
• Facilitate effective information management through the provision of disaggregated data on PoC
• and their problems.
• Participate in initiatives to capacitate authorities, relevant institutions and NGOs to strengthen
• national protection related legislation and procedures.
• Assist the supervisor in prioritizing PoC for interview, counselling and propose protection support
• for individual cases.
• Assist the supervisor with enforcing compliance of local implementing partners with global
• protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services.
• Assist the supervisor with enforcing compliance with, and integrity of, all protection standard
• operating procedures.
• Submit individual payments request for PoC for approval.
• Perform other related duties as required.

 

 

 

 

Monitoring and Progress Controls

• Appraisal process: Objectives and tasks are set at the beginning of the apprisal year and reviewed
• according to emerging needs and priorities
• Regular monitoring meetings with the supervisor to ensure activities are in line with work objectives
• and intended achievements
• 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