Housing Land and Property (HLP) Technical Advisor At Norwegian Capacity

This is an opportunity to work in the Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps face a series of Housing Land and Property (HLP) challenges linked to their displacement from Myanmar and settlement in Bangladesh. The main HLP challenges are linked to household proximity, lack of available suitable land for shelter, sale of shelters, increased cases of self-relocation between camps by Rohingyas, and competition over shared resources resulting in tensions between the refugees and the host communities which has resulted in forced evictions stemming from widespread tenure insecurity.

While the HLP issues remain the priority protection concern for Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar camps, the previously formed HLP Task Forum has now dissolved (June 2023) therefore has created a major gap and to fill this gap a Technical Advisor is needed to support the process.

Proficiency in English both written and oral is required for this 12-month contract with a possibility of extension.

Roles and Objectives:

The Government of Bangladesh has the primary responsibility to protect refugees as per international and national legal obligations. The HLP technical advisor will facilitate a systematic approach to identifying and addressing HLP issues affecting the Rohingyas and host communities in Cox’s Bazar to enhance social cohesion between the two. This objective will be achieved by a) promoting collaborative and complementary efforts within/between government entities and humanitarian agencies undertaking HLP activities, b) addressing identified technical gaps, and c) capacity-building relevant stakeholders d) monitoring of protection incidents related to HLP and advocate accordingly.

Main Responsibilities:

Under the direct supervision of Norwegian Refugee Council Head of Programme and in collaboration with Protection Sector Coordinator the successful candidate will:

• Strengthen the overall structure, capacity, and effectiveness of HLP partners for a harmonised and coordinated response.
• Support the identification and prioritisation of critical HLP issues in Cox’s Bazar by regular interaction with communities through partners, sectors, HLP assessments, and trend analysis.
• Provide technical guidance to sectoral partners and other stakeholders in addressing and resolving identified issues and providing HLP services.
• Update and contribute to comprehensive assessments/mapping of HLP legal frameworks, stakeholders, issues, studies, policy, and legal analysis on HLP rights.
• Develop appropriate HLP strategies and conflict-sensitive sectoral response plans that directly support the implementation of humanitarian programming in Cox’s Bazar.
• Identify advocacy priorities and undertake strategic, evidence-based advocacy. This includes the systematic and harmonised collection of evidence from the camps to inform advocacy, tailor action to address HLP needs.
• Contribute and support advocacy efforts by the ISCG (Inter Sector Coordination Group) Protection Sector, humanitarian actors, and development stakeholders (as appropriate) to support preventative, remedial, and reparative actions by the relevant authorities and international stakeholders according to their obligations.
• Undertake HLP mainstreaming training for partners and interested sectors.
• Provide targeted training on priority HLP concerns, policies, and tools to stakeholders (government authorities, host communities) and refugees.
• Advise and support resource mobilisation efforts for priority HLP activities in the JRP and HLP strategies/response plans.
• Monitor and evaluate the implementation of the priorities and activities in the JRP and the HLP strategies/response plans.
• Support sectors and intersectoral needs assessment during emergencies and ensure that HLP issues are represented in the response.
• Perform other relevant duties as required by the Protection Sector.

Qualification, experience and skills:

• Master’s degree in legal studies with housing land and property background or relevant fields
• At least three-year’s relevant experience with international organisations.
• Experience in inter-agency engagement, ideally with both the cluster system and refugee coordination model.
• Experience working on HLP issues.
• Extensive knowledge of current humanitarian issues
• Expertise in planning, formulation, implementation, monitoring and reporting on humanitarian operations.
• Excellent inter-personal, negotiation, coordination, and information management skills.
• Experience in cluster/sector coordination.
• Knowledge of protection coordination and leadership in humanitarian emergency.
• Demonstrated ability for technical advice for consensual decision-making process

The main competencies to be assessed during the interview of a NORCAP Expert are; 1) Building working relationships 2) Planning and organising 3) Adaptability 4) Resilience

We can offer

• Rewarding work for a renowned global organisation
• Access to a network of humanitarian, peace, and development professionals
• Join NORCAP’s team of experts and be considered for future assignments elsewhere
• A dedicated Staff Care Unit

Based on what you have read in the above, would you like to help strengthen the quality, relevance and impact of humanitarian response? If so, you are encouraged to apply to join NORCAP’s pool of Experts.