Protection Officer at INTERSOS Nigeria

INTERSOS is an independent, no-profit organization which, through its own humanitarian operators, intervenes to effectively answer the needs of people in serious crises situations, mainly in the world's poorest regions, who are suffering, deprived of rights, dignity and essentials goods. It maintains a flexible operating structure. The head office in Italy coordinates, supports and monitors the planned activities in the countries of intervention carried out by decentralised offices. The statutory bodies of INTERSOS, are: the Members Assembly, the Council, the Society for Auditing and Certification of Accounts.

Intersos, established in 1992, is recognised by the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the European Commission and the principal UN agencies; it is privileged to hold an advisory status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Protection Officer

Location: Magumeri, Borno
Reporting to: Senior Protection Officer

Role Purpose

• INTERSOS Nigeria is recruiting for a Protection Officer in its area of operation LGA. The Protection Officer is responsible for ensuring excellent organization and coordination of all protection activities implemented within the Community Centre (CC) and at the field level in the geographical area of implementation.
• Provides information, counselling, vocational training and social activities to beneficiaries (women and children). In addition, s/he is responsible for supervising Case Workers in assessing women and children’s immediate needs, developing immediate care and treatment goals, and implementing and monitoring women and children clients’ care action plans

Key Job Tasks and Responsibilities

• Ensure - through clear weekly and monthly work plans - protection monitoring and field assessment activities are carried out in a timely, effective and technically sound manner.
• Supervise gathering data on the types of GBV risks faced by women and children and the ability of both families and the community to provide care for and meet the needs of GBV survivors;
• Identifying vulnerable women and children and trying to understand the reasons or causes of their vulnerability;
• Respect the standards of confidentiality at all times
• Mapping out the resources or services that can provide support to women, girls, men and boys also families in order to verify also existing self-protection and coping structures amongst the beneficiaries;
• Referring GBV survivors to the case workers in order to address their needs, such as access to welfare support, medical attention, food, shelter and education among others;
• Acting as a focal point for reporting GBV concerns, including physical or sexual abuse, violence or exploitation;
• Coordinating activities within the community in prevention of GBV;
• Engaging in discussions/dialogue sessions with women, girls and boys on the issues that affect them on an ongoing basis and working with the community to find or develop appropriate solutions;
• Supporting and promoting the genuine participation of women and girls in decision-making that affects their lives - in part by modelling good practices of communication between women and men;
• Supervise the conduction of individual interviews and facilitate participatory protection field assessment – applying the Age, Gender and Diversity approach - to fully understand the displaced population in its diversity, their protection concerns and priorities, and the resources available to them.
• Support the collection of information/data about vulnerability, protection needs and concerns of the targeted population.
• Act as focal point for the identification and referral of Extremely Vulnerable Individuals and People with Specific
• Protection Needs for adequate assistance according to INTERSOS pre-defined criteria.
• Manage individual protection cases, including maintaining strict protocols for confidentiality and consent.
• Update case files on individual developments, following international SOPs and ensuring beneficiaries’ data are protected.
• Conduct follow-up monitoring visits to ensure that needs have been met in an appropriate manner and beneficiary have the opportunity to provide feedback on the assistance received.
• Ensure dissemination of clear and reliable information on service provision and other preselected key topics.
• Contribute to the establishment/maintenance of a referral pathway, respectful of the confidentiality principle and international SOPs.
• Prepare and timely submit activity plans and reports to hierarchy.
• Provide constant feedback to supervisor on progress, lesson learnt, achievements and gaps, issues and problems.
• Liaise with relevant public authorities and services providers in order to foster effective collaboration and encourage national interest and ownership in protection of IDPs, refugees and other persons of concern.
• Any other duties as may be assigned by the Project Managers and Protection Coordinator;
• Conduct duties in accordance with INTERSOS Nigeria programme and protection Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs);
• Conduct duties in strict accordance with INTERSOS Code of Conduct and the principle of confidentiality.

Qualifications And Skills
Essential:

• Previous professional experience in the humanitarian sector.
• Relevant protection professional experience of two(2) years, preferably in emergency and/or development context.
• Prior experience working in Protection, GBV and familiarity with persons of concern (including internally displaced persons and refugees-returnees) would be an advantage
• Familiarity with international protection and human rights legal standards, with special emphasis on women rights and SGBV, would be a distinct advantage.
• Excellent knowledge and understanding of local communities and customary rules.
• Excellent analysis and reporting skills
• Proven ability to work as part of a team
• Strong understanding of the situation of protection context in Borno State.
• Strong communication skills.
• Knowledge of Hausa language.
• Strong writing skills
• Commitment to and understanding of INTERSOS’s aims, values and principles including rights-based approaches Application Process.
• Good spoken and written English and relevant computer

Skills:

• Knowledge of Kanuri is an asset.
• University degree in Social Sciences or related field
• Previous experience in protection programs

Application Closing Date
5:00pm; 19th April, 2019.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV and Cover Letter (in PDF format) to: recruitment.nigeria@intersos.org indicating the object the position for which they apply (example: “Protection Officer”). Please send your CV with the following format “Surname_Position you applied for”.
 
Note: INTERSOS will not ask for any form of payment at any stage of recruitment. We regret that only short-listed applicants will be contacted.