Protection Coordinator- Iran At INTERSOS

INTERSOS is an independent humanitarian organization that assists the victims of natural disasters, armed conflicts and exclusion. Its activities are based on the principles of solidarity, justice, human dignity, equality of rights and opportunities, respect for diversity and coexistence, paying special attention to the most vulnerable people.

Terms of reference

Job Title: Protection Coordinator

Code: SR-58-9055

Duty station: Remote working with quarterly visits to the Country (3-4 weeks per visit)

Starting date: 01/11/2023

Contract duration: 12 months

Reporting to: Head of Mission

Supervision of:Protection Specialist

Dependents:

General context of the project

Iran faces a significant deterioration of the humanitarian situation which is likely to further worsen in the next months. The latest developments in Afghanistan (August 2021) are further worsening the humanitarian situation for thousands of Afghans who are currently obliged to flee their homes. It is widely anticipated that Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation may deteriorate further, given that the international support to key essential and social services – food aid, health, education, and other essential services, is currently frozen. The deterioration of the humanitarian situation led already to a massive number of displacements towards Iran (around 5 millions Afghan refugees in Iran as of August 2023).

Concerns are further increasing for both Iranians and Afghans with limited access to basic services, especially health care, due to the country’s ongoing economic crisis and the difficulty to import essential medical goods. COVID-19 had a severe impact on the socio-economic situation and causes loss of employment, especially for the poorest 40% of the population. Most vulnerable Afghans and Iranians increasingly resort to negative coping mechanisms; 46 million people live below or just above the multidimensional poverty line; 32 million people are affected by some food insecurity and malnutrition, with 1 million children already at risk of severe acute malnutrition prior to COVID-19; 3 million households are female-headed, and child-headed households are on the rise. Malnutrition is increasingly visible, in particular in rural and remote areas.

For these reasons, INTERSOS has decided to open its humanitarian operations in Iran in 2022. INTERSOS strategic presence in Iran will guarantee a strong and effective humanitarian response to the newly displaced as well as the most vulnerable Iranian host communities filling also the gap that the country is experiencing in terms of international humanitarian actors presence. The presence in Iran will also strategically boost INTERSOS capacity to respond to the Afghan crisis at regional level considering the over 20 years of humanitarian activity in Afghanistan.

General purpose of the position

In collaboration with the Head of Mission, define and coordinate the implementation of protection strategy and program of the mission.

Lead and provide technical guidance to protection staffs ensuring the different components of the protection programme are delivered according to internal guidelines and in line with international standards and principles, in order to ensure quality and achieve mission’s goals effectively, according to INTERSOS vision and values.

Main responsibilities and tasks

Definition of the strategy and implementation

• Design and draft the protection strategy for the mission based on context, identifying suitable approaches and interventions
• Design a Theory of Change (ToC) or a defined model of protection response and ensure it is aligned to the Global Protection Strategy
• With the support of our local partners, support the understanding of the community using participatory community engagement and strength based approaches. Ensure community mappings are done and adapt the program to the different scenarios
• Participate in exploratory missions, situation assessments in current and prospective areas of operations (providing technical inputs and recommendations for new and ongoing interventions in the country and defining protection operational priorities when needed) and support the development of the mission policy, annual plan, position papers, budget review and project proposal and reports to donors
• Ensure evidence based response through researches and evaluation of the interventions
• Draft position papers for issue based response depending on context and learning papers on challenges and best practices to ensure technical quality of protection activities
• Support the implementation and monitoring protection activities according to INTERSOS protection strategy and project plans, standards and protocols
• Identify and build Niche areas of technical expertise at mission level and share learnings and good practices with other missions
• Ensure proper integration and mainstreaming of gender, inclusion, disability and age in protection and other programs
• Ensure cohesion and harmonisation of protection activities and services across the different implementation sites within the mission
• Support the Programme Coordinator and/or Project Managers to finalize project proposals ensuring protection integration in the programme and the respect of international internal and donor’s protection standards and appropriate technical language
• Facilitate and guarantee protection mainstreaming in the other sectors

Technical Quality and Capacity building

• Is responsible for the capacity building of the entire protection team ensuring technical quality at the mission level
• Draft SOPs for protection interventions (Case Management, Protection Monitoring, Cash, Legal, MHPSS, CB/P) and ensure the respect of it in all projects
• Conduct regular case audits, critical case conferences and learning events to provide guidance and to ensure adherence to standards and quality
• Design training materials for capacity building of protection staffs and ensure staffs respect the basic principles of protection and are trained to implement good quality programs
• Deliver trainings and workshops to non-protection staffs to build skills and knowledge of protection principles and enable them to mainstream protection in different sectors
• Develop resources and guidelines to support protection activities targeting children and adults in Case Management, PSS, Community Based Protection, Cash, Protection Monitoring and Holistic Protection Prevention and Response
• Work along with the Protection team and Specialists to ensure that all interventions are coordinated and that technical resources are available
• Create opportunities for experience sharing and learning within the protection team to strengthen cooperation and collaboration + support the development of Iran “success stories”

Analysis and reporting

• Periodically (quarterly) analyse the protection trend and the data of INTERSOS protection intervention to identify needs, issues, trends
• Provide strategic protection analysis and development of periodic trend reports (including aspects of conflict analysis, gender and risk management) from programme experience to improve development, implementation and policy and advocacy activities
• Track indicators, ensure that protection data is collected, archived, processed, analysed and disseminated in ethical modalities, in line with internal data protection protocols. Manage protection database guarantying all the data are regularly encoded
• Ensure Protection reports are submitted to HQ on a monthly basis
• Support the Programme Coordinator and/or Project Managers to finalize external reports ensuring the protection integration, the respect of international internal and donor’s protection standards and the appropriate technical language

Coordination and support

• Contextualise and adapt internal and global guidelines, guarantying these are rolled out and known by staffs
• Update and inform the programme teams on the protection situation analysis
• Create opportunities for experience sharing and learning within the protection team in order to strengthen cooperation and collaboration
• Work with other coordinators for building integrated programmes in response to community needs
• Undertake regular quarterly field monitoring visits and provide support tools to monitor quality of programme implementation
• Ensure coordination with Iran and international protection actors

Supervision and Staff Management

• Technically supervise, coach and mentor Protection Specialists and Protection Officers and conduct regular performance reviews (IRP)
• Review work plans of Protection Specialists and Protection Officers and define priorities together with Protection Project Managers
• Organise regular meetings with Protection Specialists, Protection Officers and Protection team to discuss implementation and ensure quality
• Organise ad hoc meetings with SMT (Senior Management Team) and Project Managers to share challenges and priorities and develop action plans to address them
• Plan and supervise, in close coordination with the HR department, the associated processes (recruitment, training, performance evaluation, development and internal communication) of the staffs under her/ his responsibility in order to improve staff’s capabilities and activities and to ensure learning and development

Monitoring

• In collaboration with the INTERSOS Iran mission MEAL Manager, design MEAL tools for protection activities and interventions and provide guidance on use of the tools and ensure they are used
• Measure the impact of the activities and identify the best practices
• In cooperation with the accountability unit, support the development of complaints mechanisms for beneficiaries and make sure complaints are addressed properly
• In cooperation with the accountability unit, when required follow up on the implementation of the Child Protection (CP) and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) policies

Networking and partnerships

• Establish and maintain collaborative relations with relevant donors, partners, project stakeholders and other organisations
• Maintain effective relationships with Protection, GBV and CP clusters and related working groups at national level
• Ensure that Protection Specialist and Protection Officers maintain productive relationships with sub clusters at field level
• Ensure that main protection concerns are brought to relevant stakeholders to advocate for the respect of human rights and minimum protection standards
• Coordinate with other internal departments to guarantee good collaboration
• Network with Protection Coordinators from other missions to share best practices and resources and participate actively in monthly HQ Protection meetings and internal thematic Working Groups
• Collaborate and support HQ Protection Advisor in the development of Technical Resources and Guidelines

Required profile and experience

Education

• BA in relevant field (Social Science, Psychology, Social Work, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law or other fields related to social development and humanitarian work)
• Desirable Master degree (MA or LLM) in Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law or related subjects

Professional Experience

• Minimum 8 years of experience with NGOs in developing countries and more advanced countries of which minimum 5 years should be in protection technical roles
• Experience in implementation of key protection interventions related to Case management, PSS and Community based Protection

Professional Requirements

• Essential computer literacy
• Strong theoretical, technical and practical background in protection
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and ability to work and integrate in a multicultural team
• Ability to work under pressure, flexibility
• Ability to exercise patience
• Problem solver, dynamic, mature, proactive
• Diplomatic skills in networking with partners, authorities and donors
• Experience in complex emergency setting involving internal displacements
• Reporting skills, experience with monitoring tools and systems, data collection and analysis
• Stress management
• Commitment to INTERSOS principles

Languages

• English is mandatory. Farsi a strong asset.