Protection Cluster & Sector Co-Coordinator –– Colombia Danish Refugee Council and Norwegian Refugee Council At Danish Refugee Council

About DRC

The Danish Refugee Council is one of the world’s leading humanitarian NGOs, working in more than 40 countries to provide adequate assistance with a rights-based approach to refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, returnees and migrants.

DRC has been present in Colombia since 2011, responding to both the internal armed conflict as well as the Venezuelan migration situation and other mixed migration flows. DRC is currently implementing a protection focused humanitarian response including protection monitoring, legal aid, MPCA, community-based protection, case management and GBV prevention and response.

About NRC

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee. NRC works in crises across more than 30 countries, providing emergency and long-term assistance to millions of people every year, delivering high-quality aid where needs are greatest and working to protect the rights of displaced and vulnerable people during crisis.

NRC has been operating in Colombia for 17 years through direct implementation and for 30 years through partners in response to the ongoing internal armed conflict in the country. Since 2018, NRC has also widened the scope of its operations to provide a response to the Venezuelan migration crisis and other mixed migration flows. Also, as since 2018 the regional impact of the Venezuela situation has grown in scale and scope, we scaled up our humanitarian assistance. We implement our core competencies: Education, Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA), Livelihoods and Food Security, Protection, Shelter, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). We also manage a large component of cash assistance.

About the job

DRC/NRC jointly co-lead the National Protection Cluster under the Humanitarian Country Team as well as the national-level Protection Sector for the R4V response in Colombia, through a newly established inter-agency Protection Coordination Team that integrates protection partners from both responses. DRC and NRC are currently looking for a highly qualified Spanish-speaking Protection Cluster & Sector Co-Coordinator to co-lead the National Protection Cluster (HCT) and Protection Sector (R4V) within the dual humanitarian coordination architecture in Colombia.

• The Humanitarian Country Team, led by OCHA and activated under the IASC Cluster System, coordinates the humanitarian response to the needs of people affected by the armed conflict and violence, disasters and the pandemic in Colombia. The Protection Cluster promotes interventions that prevent, address and restore human rights violations, through actions that complement the State’s response to the populations exposed to critical protection concerns. The National Protection Cluster is co-led by DRC/NRC and UNHCR.
• The R4V response in Colombia is led by the Inter-Agency Group on Mixed Migration Flows (GIFMM for its acronym in Spanish), which coordinates the humanitarian response to the needs of Venezuelan refugees, migrants, Colombian returnees in response to the Venezuelan migration crisis, in complementarity with the Government. It is co-led by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The GIFMM’s Protection Sector is co-led by DRC/NRC and UNHCR.

Given the dual coordination system and the increasingly intertwined reality of both humanitarian crisis and responses, the Protection Cluster and its Areas of Responsibilities (AoRS), as well as the Protection Sector and its Subsectors (R4V), have recently spearheaded and established joint coordination efforts and a restructure process at both national and sub-national levels – in order to bring together all protection actors from both HCT/GIFMM and ensure a timely, efficient and quality protection response across the country through an integrated area and needs-based approach.

The position will be based in Bogota with regular travels within Colombia. She/He will work on a daily basis with the Protection Coordination Teams of the HCT / GIFMM (including AoRs and Subsectors) and administratively be supervised by the DRC and NRC Country Directors.

Main responsibilities

Promote relevant and robust coordination mechanisms, including regular coordination meetings and information management, are established and maintained with Protection Cluster & Sector members, government counterparts and donors, for timely and effective needs assessments, planning, prioritization, implementation, reporting and evaluation;

Lead the process of development and implementation of the Protection Cluster & Sector strategies and work-plans throughout the humanitarian programme cycle and in collaboration with partners and lead agencies.

Ensure the adequate and effective functioning of the joint Protection Cluster & Sector coordination mechanisms and efforts within the dual humanitarian architecture in Colombia.

Liaise permanently with AoRs and Subsectors coordination teams, sub-national Protection Working Groups (GTPs & SLPs), Protection Cluster & Sector members, HCT and GIFMM National Coordination (OCHA and UNHCR/IOM), as well as with other Clusters, Sectors, Working Groups (e.g.: Cash Working Group) and the NGO Forum as needed.

Identify protection needs and support mobilization of resources through the HCT & GIFMM.

Identify gaps in the response and ensure there is no duplication of actions of the protection partners and ensure integrated protection responses within the dual coordination system through an area and need-based approach.

Conduct advocacy with local and national government as well as the humanitarian sector according to the Protection Cluster & Sector work-plans.

Provide training and capacity-building in protection related matters for members of the Protection Cluster & Sector, sub-national Protection Working Groups (GTPs & SLPs), as well as other humanitarian and key stakeholders as needed.

Continuously represent and advocate for both international and national protection NGOs within the humanitarian coordination structures, ensuring their meaningful participation, engagement and leadership at all levels of the response and in decision-making spaces. This includes ensuring and advocating for a balanced representation and engagement between NGO partners and UN Agencies within Protection Coordination spaces and the broader humanitarian response.

Proactively represent the Protection Cluster & Sector and its members within inter-cluster & sector coordination mechanisms as well as in other relevant fora, ensuring consultation and validation of key messages with protection members and in adherence to humanitarian principles of impartiality, independence, neutrality and humanity.

Promote an age, gender, and diversity (AGD) approach in protection analysis, planning and response; Work closely with information management colleagues within the Protection Coordination teams as well as the HCT/GIFMM IM teams to develop protection information management tools and products such as analytical reports.

Reports to: NRC & DRC Country Directors

Roles reporting to this position: IM Officer

Required experience and competencies

• A minimum of 4 years of experience in humanitarian protection in conflict and/or emergency settings;
• At least 2 years of experience in protection coordination in the humanitarian sector;
• Experience in protection information management;
• Experience and knowledge of mixed-migration and international protection*;*
• Excellent coordination and diplomatic skills;
• Training and capacity building skills;
• Knowledge about the Colombian internal armed conflict and the Venezuelan migration crisis
• Ability to manage competing priorities and to meet deadlines;
• Effective team-player and problem solver;
• Fluent Spanish and advanced English skills are required.

Desired

• Experience of working in the Latin America context.

Required education

• Master’s degree in Human Rights, Political Science, Sociology, Forced Migration, Refugee Law, or any other relevant field.

We offer

Contract length: 12 months with possibility of extension based on performance and funding.

Band F – No Manager

Start date: 15/06/202