Protection Programme Development Manager (Tegucigalpa, Honduras – North of Central America and Mexico) At Norwegian Refugee Council

Duty station: Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Please note fluency in both Spanish and English is required for this position. Candidates who do not command either of the languages will not be able to be considered.

1. Background/Context

All NRC employees are expected to work in accordance with the organisation’s core values: dedication, innovation, inclusivity and accountability. These attitudes and believes shall guide our actions and relationships.

In recent years, the populations of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala (often referred to as the countries of North of Central America, NCA) have been affected by devastating violence, extreme weather and other natural disasters. The number of displaced people has been growing dramatically: every year hundreds of thousands become internally displaced or flee their country trying to make their way to the US or Mexico and often get stuck in between or are sent back to their country, where they face additional challenges. From 2018 on, Mexico has de facto become a country of refuge, accommodating significant numbers of vulnerable migrants and refugees, despite being self-declared as a non-safe third country. The increasing restrictions to accessing asylum in the United States have led to an exponential increase of asylum applications in Mexico and a similar increase in asylum cases is being registered in Central America, for different reasons.

NRC has been responding to mounting internal and external displacement since 2015, focusing on the protection crisis, but also integrating education, shelter, and WASH interventions and recently launching a livelihoods and food security programme.

The Protection Programme Development Manager (PDM) for North of Central America and Mexico will be responsible for the Protection strategy, technical guidance, capacity building and quality control, and for support to fundraising across the four countries of operation.

In Honduras and El Salvador the Protection PDM will provide technical support to the Protection teams who are under the leadership of the Area Manager, who is also responsible for project implementation. In Guatemala and Mexico (forthcoming), the Protection PDM will design, develop, and be responsible for implementation of the NRC Protection programme including managing and building up the growing protection team.

The Protection PDM will also lead the identification of priority protection concerns, guide protection interventions, planning and developing stand-alone protection activities, to promote an improved humanitarian response for victims of other situations of violence (OSV), deportees, refugees, internally displaced persons and people in need of international protection.

2. Role and responsibilities

The following is a brief description of the role:

1. Development of Protection strategy, technical SOPs / guidelines and macro-logframe.
2. Compliance and adherence to NRC policies, tools, handbooks and guidelines.
3. Responsible for the development of Protection funding proposals, project budgets and donor reports.
4. Overall management of designated project staff in Guatemala and Mexico.
5. Coordination and management of Guatemala and Mexico Protection project implementation (activities, budget and project documentation) in line with proposals, strategies and donor requirements.
6. Ensure capacity building of and transfer of key skills to overall programme staff across the four countries of operation.
7. Liaison and collaboration with relevant local and national authorities and stakeholders and representation of NRC in relevant forums/cluster/working groups.
8. Promotion of the rights of displaced people and people affected by violence in line with the advocacy strategy.
9. Ensure participation in Project Cycle Management (PCM) key events.
10. Responsible for the oversight of M&E of the project in Guatemala and Mexico, including data collection, analysis and evaluation.
11. Collaborate closely with Area Manager on implementation of protection projects in Honduras and El Salvador.
12. Contribute to the development of Country and Area strategies.
13. Ensure that Protection interventions address both programmatic and relevant policy issues and contribute to national, regional and global tools, guidelines and policy and research studies.
14. Ensure that key learnings are extracted from implementation of protection programmes, and incorporate them in programme and staff development processes
15. Lead the development of alliances with key Protection actors.
16. Support programme and partners’ staff in incorporating protection into all aspects of NRC’s programme activities.
17. Ensure the provision of high quality analysis on the humanitarian situation and, in close coordination with the Advocacy team, articulate concerns and organize evidence relevant to Protection issues for populations affected by violence and displacement in the North of Central America and Mexico, positioning NRC as an effective voice on protection and humanitarian principles.
18. Support the Country Director and the Country Management Group to position NRC with donors to access opportunities for Protection programming.
19. Technically supervise the design of trainings for humanitarian actors, government officials, community leaders and other stakeholders.
20. Ensure that key learnings are extracted from implementation of protection programmes, and incorporate them in programme and staff development processes.

3. What We Are Looking For

• Minimum 3 years of experience from a senior level project implementation position in a humanitarian/recovery context.
• Advanced academic qualification in a relevant field (law, social sciences or related disciplines).
• A clear understanding of protection issues, legal frameworks and professional standards in humanitarian and displacement contexts.
• Experience from working in complex and volatile contexts.
• Experience with protection case management and community interventions.
• Documented results related to the position’s responsibilities.
• Knowledge about own leadership skills/profile.
• Fluency in English and Spanish, both written and verbal.
• Experience and knowledge of the Latin American context.
• Knowledge of relevant legal and policy frameworks, international and domestic, with focus on International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights and Protection of Children in Armed Conflicts.
• Experience with start-up of new protection programmes, including assessment, developing programme strategies and proposals.
• Ability to use ICT software to develop proposals, budgets, work plans, and monitoring and evaluation tools.
• Knowledge and understanding of humanitarian standards such as Sphere and HAP.
• Experience in training and capacity building of staff, and aptitude for community mobilization.

Find more details about the role HERE with the Job Description (JD) of the position.

4. What We Offer

• Type of contract: 18 months.
• Salary/benefits: According to NRC salary scale, terms and conditions.
• Duty station: Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
• Travel: 40%.

Internal candidates are encouraged to apply but we are also open to external applicants who can show a commitment to NRC and being part of a challenging, but important mission to make a difference.

NRC might review applications before the adverted deadline, therefore interested candidates are encouraged to apply early.

Please note fluency in both Spanish and English is required for this position. Candidates who do not command either of the languages will not be able to be considered.