INTERSOS – Protection Coordinator – Iraq

INTERSOS is an independent humanitarian organization that assists the victims of natural disasters, armed conflicts and exclusion. Its activities are based on the principles of solidarity, justice, human dignity, equality of rights and opportunities, respect for diversity and coexistence, paying special attention to the most vulnerable people.

Terms of reference
Job Title: Protection Coordinator
Code: SR-29-2512
Duty station: Erbil with frequent travel to project sites in Federal Iraq and KRI.
Starting date: 03/07/2022
Contract duration: 12 months (4 months as probation contract)
Reporting to: Head of Mission
Supervision of: MHPSS, GBV & CP Specialists (3) and technical supervision of Protection Managers (3)
Dependents: Accompanied duty station

General context of the project
INTERSOS has been present in Iraq since 2003 and currently operates across Ninewa, Salah Al Din (SAD), Erbil, and Sulaymaniyah Governorates. INTERSOS’ thematic sectors of intervention are Protection, Education, and Health. The INTERSOS coordination office is in Erbil with bases in Tikrit, Mosul, Telafar and Sulaymaniyah and programming presence in other areas of Ninewa, SAD and the Kurdistan region. As of 2021, INTERSOS has over 340 national staff, 18 expat staff and over 200 volunteers working in Iraq.
In the Protection sector, INTERSOS is one of themain actors in Iraq, providing a comprehensive package of protection services spanning both in-camp and out-of-camp locations. This includes protection monitoring (flagging urgent protection concerns and trends to UNHCR and the protection cluster, including beneficiary profiling and direct referral to specialized services), MHPSS, case management (for GBV, Child Protection and PwSN), and legal assistance, counselling and court representation. A current focus of the Protection team, in line with the transition in Iraq’s context from humanitarian/emergency to a durable solutions and development phase, which requires a longer, more sustainable approach to programming, is to strengthen its community-based protection approach.

General purpose of the position
The Protection Coordinator supports the design, coordination and implementation of INTERSOS’ protection programme in Iraq and will provide technical guidance and advice to protection staff ensuring high quality delivery of the different components of the programme.​

Main responsibilities and tasks
Technical Programme Design, Coordination and Support:
• Lead the development of the country protection strategy, with a focus on community-based protection approach, and provide technical support and assistance to its implementation;
• Ensure harmonization of protection activities and services across the different implementation sites in line with international norms and standards, including through the revision or development of internal SoPs and tools;
• Deliver training and workshops to protection staff to build their skills on specific protection topics;
• Create opportunities for experience sharing and learning within the protection team, strengthening cooperation and collaboration;
• Ensure that case management services adhere to international protection standards and principles and that safe and ethical referrals are made in a timely manner;
• Review internal case management platform and develop user guides for Case Workers and Managers;
• Advise Protection Managers and Protection Officers on complex protection cases and review minutes and agreed action points of internal case meetings;
• Monitor implementation of structured PSS activities for different beneficiary groups (children, adolescents, women and men);
• Strengthen protection monitoring and information management, including data collection, analysis and development of periodic trend reports;
• Undertake regular field monitoring visits and provide tools to monitor quality of programme implementation;
• In collaboration with MEAL team and HoM, support the management of complaints mechanisms for beneficiaries and make sure complaints are addressed properly;
• Contribute to the compilation of high-quality project reports for donors;
• Identify opportunities for new protection interventions and support in assessments and developments of new project proposals.
Supervision and Staff Management:
• Directly supervise, coach and mentor Protection Managers, Protection Officers, and the GBV, CP and MHPSS Specialists.
• Conduct or participate in regular performance reviews of Protection Managers & Officers;
• Review work plans of Protection Managers, Specialists & Officers and define priorities together with Programme Managers;
• Support nationalization of Protection Manager positions, including by designing and implementing capacity-building plans for national staff members;
• Organize regular protection meetings with Protection staff and Programme Managers in order to discuss challenges and priorities in the field and develop plans for the next period.
Networking and Partnerships:
• Establish and maintain collaborative relations with relevant donors, partners, project stakeholders and other organizations;
• Maintain productive working relationships with Protection, GBV and CP clusters and related working groups at the national level;
• Ensure that key protection concerns are brought to relevant stakeholders to advocate for the respect of human rights and minimum protection standards;
• Coordinate with internal Health and Education departments to maximize use of synergies and complementarities;
• Network with Protection Coordinators from other INTERSOS missions, contributing towards a community of dialogue, sharing of best practices and resources.
Other duties as requested by the supervisor.

Required profile and experience
Education
Advanced university degree in a protection-related subject (social science, social work, law, human rights, etc). A first level university degree with a relevant combination of academic qualifications and experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.​

Professional Experience
• At least 4 years of work experience in management/coordination of protection activities;
• Previous experience in a variety of contexts (humanitarian & development);
• Previous experience in working in Middle East (desirable)

Professional Requirements
• Strong theoretical, technical and practical knowledge, and very good understanding of protection, human rights law and international humanitarian principles;
• Demonstrated skills in community engagement and community-based protection programming approaches;
• Proven ability to develop and conduct training and provide mentoring to both expatriate and national protection staff.

Languages
Fluency in English; Arabic preferred (written and spoken).​

Personal Requirements
• Positive and solution-oriented person focused on team-building and collaboration;
• A high degree of flexibility and ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines in stressful environments;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, and diplomacy skills in networking with partners, authorities and donors;
• Strong confidentiality, respect and non-discriminatory attitude;
• Ability to take initiative and work autonomously
• Demonstrated ability to integrate and work well within multicultural teams.