Gender and Protection Officer at Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI)

Cooperazione Internazionale is a leading organization dedicated to enhancing resilience in vulnerable communities through increasing climate smart agricultural productivity, emergency response to disasters, protection and peace building. We are committed to empowering communities through sustainable practices, innovative solutions, and capacity building.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with EU, is implementing a project aimed at improved Community-driven reintegration and reconciliation of former armed nonstate combatants and associates in Yobe including those who were forcibly displaced. 

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Gender and Protection Officer

Location: Potiskum, Yobe
Employment Type:

Job Summary

• The Gender and Protection Officer will be responsible for supporting implementing the minimum measures for mainstreaming gender and protection as outlined by the Humanitarian Principles, the SPHERE Standards, UNDP Policy on Gender and Protection and the Inter Agency Standing Committee Guidelines.
• The Gender and Protection Officer is also mainly responsible for mainstreaming gender and protection across the various components and activities of the UNDP-funded Project in Yobe State.
• The officer will create and develop protection and Gender integration activities in line with the priorities determined by COOPI.

Main Responsibilities and Tasks

• Under the direct supervision of the project coordinator, the Gender and Protection Officer will perform the under listed tasks:
• Work closely with the project team and the beneficiaries to ensure activities are being implemented in a gender and age sensitive manner.
• Prepare, organize and conduct the protection-oriented Focus Group Discussions and Gender Discussion Meetings during project implementation
• 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 programme 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
• Support vulnerable individuals identified during project implementation.
• Ensure 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 Project coordinator monthly work plans and progress reports for the entire projects based on set indicators for the 5W matrix and any other required reporting to partners and donors;
• Identify program gaps and suggests to the Project manager mitigating actions in periodic reports;
• Collects and documents success stories and photographs for reports; Follows and enforces all COOPI codes of conduct and policies (globally and in-country); Protection, gender and AAP are to be integrated into the partner monthly narrative report. Additional reports to be shared include: safety audits, protection monitoring scorecards, protection risk assessments and outcome of consultation with PMCs and the affected population on the impact of food assistance.
• Submit weekly and monthly work plans along with detailed activity reports to the Project Manager/coordinator.

Capacity Strengthening:

• Build the capacity of the project staff on Protection and GBV-related issues, in order to enhance internal knowledge and expertise and provide qualitative delivery of activities with high protection standards and enhance protection sensitive approach within the targeted communities.
• Translate gender and protection mainstreaming into concrete, practical actions (awareness- raising, training and on the job mentoring) of project colleagues.
• Lead the delivery of the protection and gender components of the social behavioral change communication;
• Conduct training and/or awareness raising for project teams on mainstreaming protection and integrating gender;
• Support to implement good practice in data protection and privacy;
• Support awareness-raising of the food security team and the affected population on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Protection Analysis: 

• Conducting joint protection risk and gender analysis with Donors and Internally as required;
• Accountability to Affected Populations (consultation, information provision and complaints and feedback mechanism management)
• Contribute to the design and implementation of approaches related to information provision, community consultation, feedback and complaints mechanisms;
• Establish and consult Project Management Committees.
• Understanding the conflict context;
• Carefully considering the interactions between planned or ongoing interventions and the
• Analyze the conflict context, identifying the conflict drivers/ dividers and the connectors;
• Acting upon the understanding in programme design and implementation, to minimize
• potential negative impacts by emphasizing the connectors and diminishing the dividers; and
• Responding to changes in conflict dynamics by adjusting programming.

Networking, Integration, Peacebuilding 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 national level
• Ensure that main protection concerns are brought to relevant stakeholders to advocate for the respect of human rights and minimum protection standards.
• Reduce the risk of a lapse or relapse into violent conflict by directly addressing root causes and consequences of conflict;
• Strengthen national, community and individual capacities to address conflict constructively; and
• Lay and support foundations for sustainable peace and development.

Protection Monitoring and Gender:

• Monitoring and communicating to the project manager changes in the protection environment; Document barriers faced by certain groups in accessing safe and meaningful assistance (child headed households, people with disabilities, separated and unaccompanied minors, women headed households) and provide Project Manager with appropriate adjustments to ensure inclusion of most vulnerable and at-risk categories;
• Mapping and communicating protection (including gender-based violence and child protection) referral pathways to Project Manager and on-site help and feedback desk;
• Ensure safe and confidential referrals of protection cases for the provision of food assistance to COOPI Programmes.
• Coordinate and ensure implementation of gender mainstreaming in all EFP-funded COOPI’s program
• Lead and conduct gender analyses, technical studies, and assessments on gender in relation to UNDP project activities
• Ensure that program activities are carried out with cultural sensitivity while promoting gender equality and inclusion of marginalized groups
• Leads in integrating gender into program processes, setting specific indicators for process monitoring and advising team in obtaining gender specific information.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Gender studies, Social Sciences, Development studies. Humanitarian studies or related field.
• Minimum 4 years experience in gender programming, safeguarding, protection, or GBV-focused intervention in humanitarian settings.
• Strong understanding of gender justice, women’s rights, and power analysis methodologies
• Experience working with rural communities and former NSAG in Northern Nigeria
• Strong facilitation and training skills.
• Knowledge of local languages (Hausa/Kanuri) is an advantage.

General Conditions for this position:

• Willingness to travel frequently to rural communities.
• Adherence to project policies on gender equality and conflict sensitivity.
• Collaborate with other project teams

Application Closing Date
24th December, 2025.