JOB DESCRIPTION
Title: NES Senior Protection Coordinator
Location: NE Syria/ Al-Hasakeh
Travel: With regular travel to the field offices.
Job Family and Grade: Technical Family, T4
Pre hire checks
This role is classified as requiring standard pre-employment checks /enhanced due diligence
- Scope
Department: Protection Program
Reporting to: Northeast Syria Area Director, with technical reporting line to the WoS Protection Advisor in Amman
Direct reports: Direct supervision:
- Protection coordinator
Technical Support to:
- Protection Coordinator
- Senior protection Officer
- Protection officer
- Information analysis officer
Budget responsibility: Yes, up to 10,000 USD
Relationship management Area Director , Program Quality team in Amman., Other departments as necessary
2. Context
About Relief International
Relief International (RI) partners with communities impacted by conflict, climate change, and disaster to save lives, build greater resilience and promote long-term health and well-being.
Currently, RI is active in 14 countries around the world, including some of the most fragile: Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen.
Relief International includes the four corporate members of the RI Alliance: Relief International Inc., Relief International-UK, Relief International-France and Relief International-Europe Under our alliance agreement, we operate with a single, shared management structure.
About our Country Program/ Regional Programs
Middle East Region
RI operates in six countries in the Middle East region: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Yemen, with a focus on the four RI sector pillars: Health, WASH, Education and Economic Opportunity. We employ more than 4,000 staff (direct and indirect) in the Middle East region and implement a range of humanitarian and development programs valued at approximately $70 million USD on an annual basis.
3. Job Profile
The Senior Protection Coordinator (SPC) is a critical part of the NES Syria team based in NES, working closely with NES hub Area Director and other support departments, directly supervises the Protection Coordinator, and coordinate closely with the Amman-based Protection Advisor and the rest of the technical team.
The Senior Protection Coordinator is the “go to person” for all protection program aspects in NES (GBV, PSS support through women and Girls safe spaces and mobile protection units, protection monitoring, and any other future protection activity implemented in NES). S/he will track progress, contribute to the design and implementation plans of activities, contribute to lesson learnt and recommendations for program improvement. The SPC oversees the overall quality implementation of activities in NES including monitoring the progress of program activities, ensure that operational and financial activities are in line with RI policies and procedures, identify gaps and challenges affecting the implementation and support the field-based teams in addressing them in coordination with other support departments. The SPC will also have a key role in designing new interventions based on clear gaps identified at field level, contribute to proposal and report writing ensuring not only that data provided is accurate but also the monitoring of quality of services. The SPC will coordinate closely with the Amman based technical teams, including technical capacity building plans for the field-based staff are relevant, technical gaps are addressed on a timely manner and with quality results, keeping all relevant parties updated on the progress of the program. The SPC will represent the NES protection program in all internal coordination meetings, and will represent RI in the relevant external coordination meetings as guided by the supervisor and the protection advisor in Amman.
4. Key responsibilities
Accountability & Complexity:
- Provides informal guidance and support to more junior team members.
- Completes work with a limited degree of supervision.
- Impacts the quality, timeliness, and effectiveness of own deliverables within the team.
- Provides solutions to problems in situations that are atypical or infrequently occurring based on practice and existing precedents or procedures.
Technical supervision and program oversight
In coordination with the Area Director in NES and the Protection Advisor in Amman, the Senior Protection Coordinator will:
- Ensure proper implementation of all services and activities that are part of the protection programme
- Contribute to the design and implementation of monitoring activities (program, operational, financial) and program implementation and improvement plans.
- Ensure work plans for each project are properly developed and updated.
- Ensure sound budget management of all projects/activities related to protection; promptly flag budget-related issues concerning overspending and underspending and propose feasible and effective solutions.
- Provide support to the field-based teams through active engagement with both the Protection Coordinator and the Senior Protection Officers, ensuring the implementation of activities is in line with the set workplans, targets are met and advice changes based on needs/changes in the context
- Evaluate activity progress, define performance indicators, structure operational data collection in coordination with M&E department and implement protocols for quality assurance.
- Monitor level of project risk and the success of risk mitigation plans and report to NE Syria Area Director and Protection Advisor to promptly identify areas of concern and mitigate effectively.
- Monitoring all levels of project cycle management and report to project program management team (NES and Amman based) to enable effective decision making by capturing detailed information on implementation of activities, identify and flag issues and propose mitigation measures and alternative solutions to overcome challenges.
- Contribute to the development of SOPs (program and operational), and ensure they are implemented in line with RI and donor procedures.
- In close coordination with the technical coordinators in Amman, provide/ensure technical guidance, oversight, and support to the GBV, PSS, outreach and protection monitoring teams in the provision of quality services, and ensuring safe and ethical data monitoring.
- Support in the development of community-based prevention activities and provide support to the field-based protection team in the oversight of implementing the community-based prevention activities to engage all community members including women, girls, men, and boys in protection activities.
- Uphold and promote RI’s commitment to ensuring the safeguarding and safety of the vulnerable communities we serve.
- Consistent with RI’s safeguarding and protection policies, ensure all people who meet Relief International are as safe as possible.
- Contribute to identifying the needs/gaps of the protection programs and ensure that the needs are addressed in coordination with technical and operations focal points in the hub and in Amman.
- Oversee development and implementation of procurement plans.
- Coordinate with operations to follow up on procurement and report back to the Area Director on delays.
- Work on realistic and accurate spend down plans and regularly flag any under-overspend and plan mitigation measures.
- Coordinate with NES hub finances any updates to spend down plan.
- Liaise with support departments to monitor risks and develop a log to measure improvements.
- Collaborate with other RI programs to ensure integration of activities where applicable, and support protection mainstreaming across RI activities.
- In coordination with HR and Amman based technical teams, recruit staff and work with supervisors to ensure Performance Management Plan for all staff is in place and followed up regularly.
- Ensure field-based protection staff understand and adhere to RI Way and protection and GBV-guiding principles, including strict adherence to confidentiality.
Program development and reporting
- Contribute to and ensure timely and quality reporting on project activities and progress on targets per set deadlines, and conduct regular on-track/off-track assessments with program team (for both internal and external reports)
- Participate and contribute to all grant opening, mid-term and closing meetings, and ensure compliance with donor regulations during implementation of projects in close coordination with the protection manager.
- In coordination with the grants department, ensure program follows RI and donor policies and procedures.
- Based on gaps identified at field level, actively participate in proposal development process to ensure relevance of proposed activities and link to the RI country strategy
Capacity building
- Support Amman-based technical team in organizing and following up on the capacity building training activities of RI staff (protection specific and protection mainstreaming).
Representation
- Represent RI in external protection coordination meetings, such as protection working group, GBV sub-working group etc.
- Develop and maintain strategic relationships with local partners and local authorities.
Accountability and M&E
- Work closely with the MEAL team to ensure complaints response mechanism, is up to date and all issues are closely followed up, with adherence to the confidentiality principle.
Behavior and conduct
- Ensures that behavior inside and outside of work promotes the values in RI’s code of conduct and safeguarding policies.
- Acts with integrity and holds themselves accountable for being respectful, inclusive and professional.
- Reports any concerns.
5. Person Specification
Essential criteria
- This position will require a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding and fast paced environment. This position requires an individual who is accustomed to the pace of emergency response programming, does not require close supervision or direction, is flexible and highly responsive, and has excellent organizational skills.
- Minimum of 4 years’ experience in implementing protection programs with supervisory responsibilities, preferably working with conflict affected populations.
- Bachelor’s degree in social work, political science, Gender/Women Studies, or other appropriate fields.
- Demonstrated experience in monitoring and evaluation and results-based management, including capacity in remote management.
- Excellent interpersonal, communication, public speaking, and strategic planning skills required.
- Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, deadlines, and tasks efficiently.
- Strong budgeting and budget monitoring skills.
- Excellent time management skills and resourcefulness with strong attention to detail.
- Strong communication, analytical and reporting skills and ability to present ideas effectively.
- Ability to communicate sensitively and without judgment, good diplomatic skills.
- Familiarity with principles and practice of monitoring and evaluation.
- Excellent knowledge of MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and email/internet software.
Language Skills:
Fluency in English is required.
Desirable criteria
- Experience with the Syrian context or emergency settings.
- Working knowledge of Arabic is an asset.
6. RI Values
Guided by the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, as well as “Do No Harm,” Relief International Values:
- Integrity
- Adaptability
- Collaboration
- Inclusivity
- Sustainability
