Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant At UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Job Title: Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant

Location: San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Time type: Full time

Job requisition ID: JR2435089

Hardship Level: B

Family Type: Family

Staff Member/Affiliate Type: UNOPS LICA-5

Target Start Date: 2024-03-01

Job Posting End Date: January 20, 2024

Terms of Reference

Proven working experience with diverse communities’ structures e.g., women, children & youth, LGBTIQ+, ethnic minority, affected by internal forced displacement and violence in high-risk areas is highly desired.

Spanish level: Mother tongue (required)
English level: B2 (desirable)

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
This position is advertised to internal and external applicants. Candidates must be legally present in Honduras at the time of application, recruitment, and hire. Only Honduran citizens or candidates legally present in Honduras will be considered eligible.

Recruitment as a UNHCR staff member and engagement under a UNHCR affiliate scheme or as an intern, is subject to proof of full vaccination against COVID-19, independently of contract type and duration. The selected candidate(s) will be required to provide the proof of vaccination prior to recruitment.

Only short-listed candidates will be notified. The recruitment process might include written test and/or oral interview for this job opening. No late applications will be accepted.

UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing, training or any other fees).

Remuneration: A competitive compensation and benefits package is offered depending on relevant experience as per the requirements of the job advertisement.

The evaluation of applicants will be conducted based on the information submitted during the application. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application.

UNHCR is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, sexual orientation, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. UNHCR seeks to ensure that male and female employees are given equal career opportunities. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination, and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

UNHCR has a zero-tolerance policy against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA). SEA is unacceptable behavior and prohibited conduct for UNHCR personnel. It constitutes acts of serious misconduct and is therefore grounds for disciplinary measures, including dismissal.

Standard Job Description

Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships:

The Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant is a member of the Protection Unit and may report to the Protection Officer, Community-Based Protection Officer, or another more senior staff member in the Protection Unit. Under the overall direction of the Protection Unit, and in coordination with other UNHCR staff, government, NGO partners and other stakeholders, the Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant works directly with communities of concern to identify the risks they face and to leverage their capacities to protect themselves, their families, and communities.

The incumbent supports the application of community-based protection standards, operational procedures, and practices in community-based protection delivery at the field level. To fulfil this role, the Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant is required to spend a substantial percentage of the workday outside the office, building and maintaining networks within communities of persons of concern (PoC). The development and maintenance of constructive relationships with PoC that measurably impact and enhance protection planning, programming, and results, form the core of the work of the incumbent. S/he also supports the designing of a community-based protection strategy by ensuring that it is based on consultation with PoC.

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.

Duties:
– Assist functional units, the Multi-Functional Team (MFT) and senior management to integrate participatory and community-based approaches in the overall protection strategy.
– Through relationships with PoC and network of partners, stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment and provide advice to the protection team. Understand the perspectives, capacities, needs and resources of the PoC and advise the protection team accordingly, highlighting the specific protection needs of women and men, children, youth and older persons, persons with disabilities, marginalized groups.
– Assist in initiatives with host communities to involve national civil society groups in the protection of PoC.
– Support implementing and operational partners as well as displaced and local communities to develop community-owned activities to address, where applicable, the social, educational, psycho-social, cultural, health, organizational and livelihood concerns as well as child protection and prevention and response to GBV.
– Assist in the analysis that identifies the capacities of communities of concern and risks they face.
– Support participatory assessments by multifunctional teams and ongoing consultation with PoC.
– Support efforts to build the office capacity for community-based protection.
– Support communities in establishing representation and coordination structures.
– Ensure community understanding of UNHCR’s commitment to deliver on accountability and quality assurance in its response.
– Collect data for monitoring of programmes and budgets from an AGD perspective.
– Draft and type routine correspondence, documents and reports and maintain up-to-date filing systems.
– Act as an interpreter in exchange of routine information, contribute to related liaison activities and respond directly to routine queries.
– Assist in the enforcement of participatory AGD sensitive analysis as an essential basis for all of UNHCR’s work.
– Initiate AGD sensitive interventions at the appropriate level on community-based protection issues and to respond to protection concerns and incidents within the office and with persons and communities of concern based on agreed parameters.
– Identify and recommend which individuals or groups to prioritize for counselling and field visits based on agreed criteria.
– Enforce compliance of implementing partners with global protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services.

– Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making in risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks, issues, and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).
– Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Education & Professional Work Experience:
Years of Experience / Degree Level
For G5- 2 years relevant experience with High School Diploma; or 1-year relevant work experience with Bachelor or equivalent or higher.

Field(s) of Education

Not applicable

Certificates and/or Licenses

Development, Human Rights, International Law, Social Work, Social Science, Political Science

(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Relevant Job Experience

Essential:
Not specified.

Desirable:
UNHCR learning programmes (PLP).
Knowledge of MSRP.

Functional Skills

UN-UN/UNHCR Administrative Rules, Regulations and Procedures
*IT-Computer Literacy
IT-Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
PR-Community-based Protection – Principles and methodologies
CL-Multi-stakeholder Communications with Partners, Government & Community

(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements

For International Professional and Field Service jobs:

Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.

For National Professional jobs:

Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.

For General Service jobs:

Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination, and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.

Required languages

Spanish

Desired Languages

English

Additional Qualifications

Skills

CL-Multi-stakeholder Communications with Partners, Government & Community, IT-Computer Literacy, IT-Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), PR-Community-based Protection – Principles and methodologies, UN-UN/UNHCR Administrative Rules, Regulations and Procedures.

Education

Certifications
Community Development/Social Work – Other, Development Studies – Other, Human Rights – Other, International Law – Other, Political Science – Other, Social Sciences – Other.

Other Information

This position doesn’t require a functional clearance.