Country: Lebanon
Closing date: 23 Jul 2017
Background
Since the start of the conflict in Syria in March 2011, Lebanon has experienced a significant increase in the number of refugees crossing its borders seeking safe haven from the fighting in Syria. The number of Palestine refugees normally resident in Syria (PRS) seeking refuge in Lebanon has increased from a handful in the first year of the conflict to more than 42,000 by end of October 2015. Due to their precarious situation, Palestine Refugees from Syria are particularly vulnerable to threats to their physical safety and security and other human rights violations and protection concerns. In addition to that, it is worth to take into consideration the humanitarian situation of the main host communities, namely Palestine refugees in Lebanon (PRL), which already represented one of the most vulnerable groups in Lebanon. UNRWA is one of the largest humanitarian implementation organizations working in Lebanon and the primary provider of emergency, humanitarian and protection services to Palestine refugees.
Existing programme strategies and mechanism: Monitoring and reporting is already being undertaken within UNRWA's protection unit providing the Agency with in-depth knowledge on the nature and extent of threats, vulnerabilities and protection risks, including discrimination based on nationality, denial of access to safe territory and other protection concerns.
Among its various protection activities, the Unit is a key source of information for the protection situation of PRS (especially on their legal situation and the main humanitarian consequences deriving from it in education, health etc), and PRL with a special attention on their livelihood, work and to education. For all of them the close monitoring of access to service is one of the key components of protection work. For PRS the situation at the border found a stabilization in 2014, but new consequences are rising like the impact of refugees trying to illegally leaving the country, the continuous risk of deportation and the increasing pressure on their livelihhood in an environment where humanitarian funding is scarce and scarcer.
Staffing: The Protection Unit in UNRWA is led by the Field Protection Officer/Operations Support Officer (OSO) Team leader who manages four area-based OSO teams – comprising one international and one national staff member each: besides neutrality, their protection work is focused on protection monitoring, in-agency mainstreaming, and case –referral, besides a strong component of international protection related to the Syrian crisis and to the pre-existing difficult situation of Palestine refugees.
The team is integrated by a CP officer, GBV officer and Protection mainstreaming Officer, dealing with specific protection issues as well ensuring regular process of relevant data and information, with the support of an IM and reporting officer. In addition to that, the reinforced Legal Aid Unit provides legal advice and counselling to Palestine refugees from Lebanon (PRL) and PRS alike, and is the focal point for research and outreach on PRS legal status issues. International staff based in the Beqaa valley (Border monitoring Officer) provides a proactive protection presence at the main border crossing, monitoring and reporting on the situation and intervening on humanitarian cases with the Lebanese authorities at the border.
Information gathered by OSOs, Border monitoring officer and the Legal Unit feeds into interventions undertaken by UNRWA Lebanon’s Front Office. The UNRWA’s Protection Unit is seeking to enhance its response to protection concerns related to access to territory and legal rights through the addition of a Protection Advocacy Consultant, stressing at the same time the additional pressure on Palestine refugees, community in Lebanon.
The Field Protection Officer / OSO team leader directly reports to the Director of UNRWA Lebanon Affairs.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Build capacity of staff, particularly within Protection Unit, and strengthen their data collection, reporting and protection response tools and methods.
- Review/analyse data on protection issues to extrapolate relevant information, identify trends and develop adequate responses
- Based on the information collected prepare reports, presentations and briefings for internal and external stakeholders and respond to information requests.
- In close cooperation with the Field Protection Officer and senior management:
- Identify target audiences for outreach and advocacy and contribute to the development of policy positions and key messaging on PRS protection issues
- Initiate, coordinate and implement advocacy initiatives including designing the action plan for engagement with interlocutors
- Develop methodology and take responsibility for tracking the progress, impact and results of interventions with the authorities and other advocacy targets.
- Network with other UN agencies and international organizations undertaking protection work related access to territory and legal rights for refugees from Syria to find areas of collaboration and knowledge sharing.
- Represent the Protection/Operations Unit in relevant coordination mechanisms ( (core) protection working group and other sector fora ) and contribute during yearly strategic planning (SRP), as well to its regular follow-up.
- Assist with any other duties as required by the Field Protection Officer
Education:
- Master’s degree related to human rights preferably in law, political affairs, social science or development studies
Work Experience:
- Two years of relevant experience including proven experience in human rights, humanitarian and international advocacy work including at least one year of field work.
- Experience of working in refugee/IDP related programmes and in complex emergency settings
- Demonstrated familiarity with protection and human rights issues
- Proven experience of analysing political situations and designing advocacy interventions accordingly with demonstrated ability to tailor language, tone, style and format to match the audience
- Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive situations diplomatically
- Experience of working in the Middle East
Language Requirements
- Fluent in spoken and written English.
Nationality:
- This post is opened in the context of the JPO Programme sponsored by the Government of Belgium and is open exclusively to nationals of Belgium.
How to apply:
PLEASE APPLY HERE: https://jobs.partneragencies.net/erecruitjobs.html?JobOpeningId=10819&hrs_jo_pst_seq=1&hrs_s...