Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)A (least hardship)
Family Type (not applicable for home-based)
Family
Staff Member / Affiliate TypeUNOPS LICA1
Target Start Date2023-10-26
Job Posting End DateDecember 1, 2023
Terms of ReferenceUNOPS Contract - initial durantion until 31 December 2024
International individual contracts apply to a person who does not reside in the country where he or she is to perform the services.
Individuals cannot be hired under an international individual contract in the country of their nationality or permanent residence.
Selected candidate will be required to work from San Salvador, El Salvador
Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and may be required to sit for a test and will undertake a competency-based interview.
The evaluation of applicants will be conducted based on the information submitted during the application. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision, or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application.
UNHCR is committed to diversity and job inclusion, therefore, all people are encouraged to apply for this vacancy regardless of religion, age, sex, ethnicity, disability, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation.
Remuneration:
A competitive compensation and benefits package is offered. For information on UN salaries, allowances and benefits, please visit the portal of the International Civil Service Commission at: http://icsc.un.org
1. General Background
El Salvador has a population of 6.3 million people, with at least 20% of El Salvador's population living abroad. The country’s economy is heavily reliable on remittances, which constitute around 26% of its GDP. According to the 2021 Multipurpose Household Survey released in 2022, 24.6% of El Salvador’s population lives below the poverty line, out of which 7.8% are extremely poor.
Between 2006 and 2016, 1.1% of families in El Salvador were forcibly displaced raising the estimated number of internally displaced people to 71,500. According to the profiling exercise published in 2018 by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, most displaced people are socio-economically vulnerable young families.
El Salvador is committed to identifying and addressing protection and solutions for refugees, internally displaced people, returnees with protection needs, and stateless individuals. El Salvador is party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. In 2020, El Salvador approved the Special Law for the Care and Integral Protection of Victims of Violence in Conditions of Forced Displacement.
Since July 2019, El Salvador is actively engaged in the Comprehensive Regional Protection and Solutions Framework (MIRPS in Spanish), a regional application of the Global Compact on Refugees. Growing mixed population flows across the countries in the north of Central America is a priority to be addressed in the regional agenda. The increasingly complex human mobility context demands additional efforts for coordinating protection-oriented responses.
UNHCR is active in the implementation, coordination, and monitoring of the 2022-2026 United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), which prioritizes responses to the needs of internally displaced people and refugees. UNHCR is an active member of the Humanitarian Country Team. UNHCR leads the Protection Sector and co-leads the CCCM and Shelter sectors.
UNHCR seeks to meaningfully engage, empower, inform, and seek the views of people in decisions that affect their lives, as drivers for greater equality and social cohesion. UNHCR is currently present in over 40 communities and 17 Municipalities nationwide.
2. Purpose and Scope of Assignment
The Associate Protection Officer (CP/SGBV) reports to the Deputy Representative - Protection. The incumbent may have coordination responsibility for protection staff. S/he provides functional protection guidance to information management and programme staff on all protection/legal matters and accountabilities. These include: statelessness (in line with the campaign to End Statelessness by 2024), Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) commitments, age, gender, diversity (AGD) and accountability to affected populations (AAP) through community-based protection, Child protection, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response, gender equality, disability inclusion, youth empowerment, psycho-social support and PSEA, registration, asylum/refugee status determination, resettlement, local integration, voluntary repatriation, human rights standards integration, national legislation, judicial engagement, predictable and decisive engagement in situations of internal displacement and engagement in wider mixed movement and climate change/disaster-related displacement responses. S/he supervises protection standards, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery in line with international standards.
The Associate Protection Officer (CP/SGBV) is expected to coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of populations of concern, ensuring that operational responses in all sectors mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. The incumbent contributes to the design of a comprehensive protection strategy and represents the organization externally on protection doctrine and policy as guided by the supervisor. S/he also ensures that persons of concern are meaningfully engaged in the decisions that affect them and support programme design and adaptations that are influenced by the concerns, priorities and capacities of persons of concern. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, authorities, protection and assistance partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection.
3. Monitoring and Progress Controls
• 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.
4. Qualifications and Experience
a. Education
3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 1 year relevant experience with Doctorate degree. Field of studies: Law, International Law, Political Sciences or other relevant field.
b. Work Experience
Essential
Professional experience in the area of refugee protection, internal displacement, human rights or international humanitarian law. Good knowledge ofChild Protection, Prevention and Response to Sexual and Gender-based Violence, working with LGBTIQ+ persons, and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. .
Desirable
Field experience, including in working directly with communities. Good IT skills including database management skills.
c. Language
Fluency in English and Spanish.
d. Key Competencies
Functional Skills
• *PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
• *LE-International Refugee Law
• *PR-Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD)
• PR-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordination
• MG-Projects management
• PR-PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards
• PR-International Humanitarian Law
• PR-Protection and mixed-movements
• PR-Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Operations & IDPs Status/Rights/Obligation
• PR-Climate change and disaster related displacement
• PR-Community-based Protection
• MS-Drafting, Documentation, Data Presentation
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)
Core Competencies
• Accountability
• Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Client & Result Orientation
Managerial Competencies
• Empowering and Building Trust
• Judgement and Decision Making
Cross-Functional Competencies
• Analytical Thinking
• Political Awareness
• Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
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Skills
Education
Certifications
Work Experience
Other informationThis position doesn't require a functional clearance