Associate Protection Officer, UNOPS IICA-1, Cox’s Bazar at UN High Commissioner for Refugees


The Associate Protection Officer under the direct supervision of the Protection Officer or Head of Field Office and in collaboration with Protection Team in Cox`s Bazar will provide day-to-day support to UNHCR protection activities on Bhasan Char.

The incumbent is stationed in Cox’s Bazar. S/he is expected to travel to Bhasan Char on regular and frequent bases for missions that can take several weeks. The position might eventually be transferred to Bhasan Char.

Bhasan Char is an island currently hosting approximately 27,000 refugees. UNHCR maintains a field presence to deliver and coordinate services to refugees provided by NGOs and UN agencies. UNHCR leads Protection Sector Coordination at Bhasan Char level as well as at Cox’s Bazar level where most of the agencies have their main offices. In this regard, the Associate Protection Officer will play an important role in supporting the work of Protection Sector, including Child Protection and GBV, as well as other cross cutting themes such as AAP, Communication with Communities, gender and disability inclusion etc. The Associate Protection Officer will support Protection Sector coordination work including mapping of protection actors/activities, contributing to the development of protection strategies and specific programs, ensure timely and accurate reporting, etc.

The Associate Protection Officer will oversee overall referral system, which is still at the stage of development. In this regard, the incumbent will have to consolidate, analyze and strengthen protection and other cross sectoral referral of individual cases. Moreover, s/he will coordinate individual case referrals received through UNHCR Protection Hotline and will ensure timely and effective feedback. The Associate Protection Officer will provide necessary training to UNHCR and partner staff on referrals.

The Associate Protection Officer will work with UNHCR and partners to gather and analyze overall protection information and draft protection monitoring reports, updates and other documents. Furthermore, the incumbent will be actively involved in relocation monitoring: organize data collection for post arrival surveys, analyze data and draft reports.

Moreover, the Associate Protection Officer will oversee UNHCR protection partners, including close monitoring of partnership agreements, providing guidance and advice to UNHCR partners. This will include regular monitoring, reporting and planning activities, maintaining close oversight of project implementation progress, coordinate with program and other units to

ensure successful and compliant implementation of UNHCR funded activities. Regular guidance, training and support should be provided to national partners on the island in line with UNHCR protection guidelines.

The Associate Protection Officer will support the Protection Officer and/or Head of Field Office in overall management of the team, and in particular in the function of leading coordination agency and when necessary represent UNHCR with authorities and external visitors.

Title: Associate Protection Officer

Duty Station: UNHCR Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Duration: Initially 06 months (with the possibility of extension)

Contract Type: UNOPS, IICA-1 (equivalent to P2 level)

Closing date: 11 September 2022

Start date: 01 October 2022 (tentative)

Organizational context

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is mandated to provide international protection to refugees and to seek permanent solutions for them. In Bangladesh, UNHCR has been working with Rohingya refugees since 1992. Since 25 August 2017, Bangladesh has witnessed the largest and swiftest refugee exodus in the region in recent decades with more than 720,000 Rohingyas seeking safety in Cox’s Bazar District. They joined 34,000 Rohingya refugees who had been residing in the camps in Kutupalong and Nayapara since the 1990s, as well as nearly 300,000 others in makeshift settlements among host communities. More than 920,000 Rohingya refugees currently reside in Bangladesh in two locations: Cox’s Bazar and on the island of Bhasan Char.

In late 2020, the Government of Bangladesh began relocating refugees from the Cox’s Bazar camps to Bhasan Char located about 60 km from the mainland. In October 2021, UNHCR signed an MoU with the Government of Bangladesh to establish a framework in relation to the UN’s overall engagement on Bhasan Char, based on humanitarian and protection principles. As of July 2022 more than 27,000 refugees/7,400 households are residing on Bhasan Char. Among those on Bhasan Char, 51% are female and 49% are male, 56% children, 2% (541) older persons and13% with specific needs. GoB plans to relocate gradually up to 100,000 refugees from Cox’s Bazar.

UN engagement on Bhasan Char is to support and complement the work of the Government, in charge of the overall response, as well as NGOs who are present and have been delivering critical assistance on the island. UNHCR is leading overall coordination, as well as chairs Protection Sector (including GVB and Child Protection). In close coordination with the office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner and in partnership with UN agencies and NGOs, UNHCR operation in Bhasan Char works on three strategic protection priorities: 1) Strengthen the protection of refugees in an environment respectful of their basic rights and well-being, 2) : Increase access to protection services, including SGBV and Child Protection; 3) Enhance community and individual resilience (CBP, Education and Livelihoods) through a protection lens and Operationalize Accountability to Affected Population (AAP) Mechanism.

The position

Duties and responsibilities

  • Stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment.
  • Promote International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct.
  • Foster their consistent and coherent interpretation and application through mainstreaming in all sectors and /or in clusters in applicable operations.
  • Assist in providing comments on existing and draft legislation related to persons of concern.
  • Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to persons of concern; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documentation.
  • Conduct eligibility and status determination for persons of concern in compliance with UNHCR procedural standards and international protection principles.
  • Promote and contribute to measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness.
  • Contribute to a country-level child protection plan as part of the protection strategy to ensure programmes use a child protection systems approach.
  • Contribute to a country-level education plan.
  • Implement and oversee Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities which integrate AGD sensitive procedures.
  • Oversee and manage individual protection cases, including those on GBV and child protection. Monitor, and intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents through working relations with governments and other partners.
  • Recommend durable solutions for the largest possible number of persons of concern through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.
  • Assess resettlement needs and apply priorities for the resettlement of individuals and groups of refugees and other persons of concern.
  • Participate in the organisation and implementation of participatory assessments and methodologies throughout the operations management cycle and promote AGD sensitive programming with implementing and operational partners.
  • Contribute to and facilitate a programme of results-based advocacy through a consultative process with sectorial and/or cluster partners.
  • Facilitate effective information management through the provision of disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems.
  • Promote and integrate community-based approaches to protection and contribute to capacity-building initiatives for communities and individuals to assert their rights.
  • Support activities in the area of risk management related to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, fraud, case-processing, data protection, and human rights due diligence at country level.
  • Participate in initiatives to capacitate national authorities, relevant institutions and NGOs to strengthen national protection related legislation and procedures.
  • Intervene with authorities on protection issues.
  • Negotiate locally on behalf of UNHCR.
  • Decide priorities for reception, interviewing and counselling for groups or individuals.
  • Enforce compliance of staff and implementing partners with global protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services.
  • Enforce compliance with, and integrity of, all protection standard operating procedures.
  • Perform other related duties as required.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required

For P2/NOB – 3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 1-year relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Essential

Professional experience in the area of refugee protection, internal displacement, human rights or international humanitarian law. Good knowledge of International Refugee and Human Rights Law and ability to apply the relevant legal principles.

Desirable

Field experience, including in working directly with communities. Good IT skills including database management skills.

Field(s) of Education

Law, International Law, Political Sciences or other relevant field

**Certificates and/or Licenses -**International Law, Political Science or other related field

Desirable Certificates- Protection Learning Programme

Location

The successful candidate will be based with the team in UNHCR Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Conditions

The initial duration of the contract is for 6 months, to align with our budget year 2022/ 2023 proportionally. This is a full-time role with working hours starting from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm Sunday to Thursday (40 hours per week).

How to apply

For a full job description and to apply, interested candidates are requested to visit https://bit.ly/3PYgfur

Closing date of applications: 11 September 2022

The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.

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

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