Protection Officer / Psychologist at Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI)

Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI) is an Italian humanitarian non-governmental organization founded in Milan in 1965. COOPI aims to help the world’s poorest to improve their access to healthcare, food, and financial security, and to overcome their special vulnerability to wars, civil conflicts and natural disasters. For 50 years of long-term support and constant presence in the field, COOPI has been engaged in breaking the cycle of poverty and responding to specific emergencies in numerous sectors, including Food Security, Humanitarian Aid, Health, Socio-Economical Services, Water and Sanitation, Human Rights, Education and Training, Migrations and Sustainable Energy.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Protection Officer / Psychologist

Locations: Rabah, Goronyo - Sokoto
Base: Sokoto as main Base Office, with frequent trips to Rabah LGA, Goronyo LGA and sometimes visiting Kaduna
Employment Type: Full-time

Overall Responsibilities

• The protection officer / focal point is responsible for supporting implementing the minimum measures for mainstreaming protection and Psycho-social support services as outlined by the Humanitarian Principles, the SPHERE Standards, and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines.
• The Protection Officer/Psychologist is mainly responsible for PSS, mainstreaming gender and protection across the various components and activities of the DRR and Social Protection Project in Sokoto State.
• S/he will create and develop protection and Gender integration and Psycho-social support activities in line with the priorities determined by COOPI.
• S/he will ensure performance tools are available for local staff, in order to guarantee smooth implementation of the programs while taking into consideration the local cultural context.
• He will be responsible for the implementation, monitoring, and follow-up of the Gender mainstreaming, general protection, and Psycho-social support services activities of the project.

Main Responsibilities and Tasks
Duties and Responsibilities:
Under the direct supervision of the Program Manager and Project managers, the Protection Office/psychologist will perform the under listed tasks:

• Work closely with the project team and the beneficiaries to ensure activities are being implemented in a gender-sensitive manner.
• Prepare, organize and conduct the protection-oriented Focus Group Discussions and Gender Discussion Meetings during project implementation and Forster Psycho-social support services referrals.
• Ensure equal participation of women and men in the activities and ensure to have an appropriate complaint and feedback mechanism to collect the communities’ feedback in a gender-sensitive manner and ensure that the program includes these feedbacks throughout the project implementation
• Meet regularly with the program team to fine-tune programming, ensuring activities are implemented using a gendered lens whilst mainstreaming PSS.
• Ensure the Do No Harm approach is applied in all activities conducted with the site and host communities.
• Supports project staff to mainstream gender in beneficiary identification and verification.
• Ensures gender is mainstreamed in various stakeholder meetings and capacity building.
• Prepares and forwards to the Program Manager and Protection Manager monthly work plans and progress reports for the entire Child Protection project based on set indicators for the 5W matrix and any other required reporting to partners and donors;
• Collects and documents success stories and photographs for reports;
• Lead all implementation of psychosocial activities including Strategies for Trauma Awareness & Resilience (STAR) training to target beneficiaries along with providing basic level emotional regulation exercises to release trauma stress patterns;
• Ensure that COOPI’s psychosocial support models are delivered effectively;
• Provide psychosocial support education and supervision to staff members and case managers;
• Attend Psychosocial Review Meetings and provide support to beneficiaries involved;
• Ensure that case managers are making referrals for psychosocial critical incidents, such as child safety concerns, risk of suicide or self-harm to Search identified clinical actors and;
• Attend coordination meetings with other INGOs/ NGOs, sector working groups to help link COOPI Nigeria with other organizations doing similar work.
• Work with government partners and other relevant stakeholders to develop, implement and monitor referral pathways for those in need of mental health and psychosocial support.
• Lead and participate in psychosocial support capacity building for government partners and other relevant stakeholders
• Strengthen community capacity to identify, address and support residents in need of psychosocial support and resources.
• The Psychosocial Specialist will also support and debrief staff on psychosocial recommendations from noted issues that arise during his/her work, identify and address professional development needs

Networking and partnerships:

• Establish and maintain collaborative relations with relevant donors, partners, project stakeholders, and other organizations
• Maintain effective relationships with Protection, GBV, and CP clusters and related working groups at the national level
• Ensure that main protection concerns are brought to relevant stakeholders to advocate for the respect of human rights and minimum protection standards.

Requirements

• Interested candidates should possess a BSc Degree / Master's Degree in Social Work or related fields
• At least 2 - 5 years work experience.

Application Closing Date
28th July, 2021.