Protection & Community Engagement Advisor

Country Programme: Ukraine
Base: Sloviansk with frequent travels to Kyiv and field offices
Reports to: Programs Director
Line Managing: n/a

Tentative starting date and duration: February 2021, for 6 months

About PIN Ukraine

PIN Relief and Development Department (RDD) has been active in Ukraine since 2014 and is one of major humanitarian organizations operating in eastern Ukraine, working in both government-controlled areas and in non-government controlled area, with three offices (Kyiv, Sloviansk, Stakhanov/ Kadiivka), 120 staff (national and international) and 7M EUR annual budget. The main donors are ECHO, BHA, UNICEF, EU and UHF. PIN is the lead of ECHO-funded ACCESS Consortium, established in 2017 and consisting of five international and national organizations.

PIN has a strong PSS component, but is not as such a Protection organization. Currently, in the context of eastern Ukraine and nexus, PIN seeks to achieve a smooth transition from emergency humanitarian assistance towards early and longer-term recovery, stabilization and peacebuilding efforts in the region. Humanitarian aid will continue to be provided to the most vulnerable people affected by the conflict, notably along both sides of the contact line and in non-government-controlled areas (NGCA).

About the role

Under the strategic guidance of the Programs Director, you will be responsible for developing, guiding and supporting mainly the national team in ensuring the good realization of principles and technical requirements of Protection, Community Engagement, and overall Quality management in light of Humanitarian Standards and Protection Principles in PIN Ukraine’s Programme and Advocacy. You will in particular advise and directly mentor with examples the national Protection and Community Engagement Technical Lead in the process.

The role has a special focus on Protection Mainstreaming, i.e. ensuring the good integration of the four Protection Mainstreaming pillars and 9 Commitments of the Core Humanitarian Standards (SPHERE). Under this mandate, you will focus in particular on mainstreaming an Age-, Gender-, Diversity-sensitive and Community-Based Approach in humanitarian response and programming in general, as well as ensuring that projects and advocacy efforts are compliant with PIN’s Do-No-Harm Policy and conflict sensitivity. Additionally, you are expected to contribute with protection-related special knowledge and skills through analyzing, trainings, workshops and on-the-job capacity building.

Main Duties & Responsibilities

Mentoring of national staff to advise project cycle management from the perspectives of Protection (Mainstreaming), Do-No-Harm, Community-based approach and Humanitarian Principles in general. Provision of initial guidance and coaching/follow-up with national staff at all stages of the project’s cycle: project design, implementation and MEAL. In particular initial technical guidance, then coaching/follow-up with national staff:

• to support teams to follow PIN needs assessment SoP, PIN guidance on vulnerability criteria, and prioritization of needs and humanitarian response in application of humanitarian principles;
• to analyse existing data: on protection and community engagement-related context and needs relevant in view of PIN’s mandate;
• to support teams in planning of humanitarian response and project design in application of humanitarian principles, Protection Mainstreaming, Do-No-Harm, Community-Based Approach perspective;
• to support the team in the implementation and MEAL of project activities in application of humanitarian principles, from Protection Mainstreaming, Do-No-Harm, AGD-sensitive Community-Based Approach perspectives
• to support teams in the implementation and MEAL of project activities in application of humanitarian principles, from Protection Mainstreaming, Do-No-Harm, AGD-sensitive Community-Based Approach perspectives;
• to provide solid overview, guidance and follow up/ quality assurance on the good realization of PIN’s Referral Pathway.

Contribution to the development and implementation of PIN’s strategy:

Mentoring of national staff to participate in strategic discussions and provide guidance in particular in key domains for PIN’s country programme strategy, i.e. relevance and opportunities for Protection standalone programming, matters of humanitarian access in NGCA (from Programmatic to Advocacy perspectives), and overall Quality management of humanitarian response.

• Initial technical guidance, then coaching/follow-up with national staff to contribute to operationalizing PIN Ukraine’s strategy (goals, plans) on matters of Protection mainstreaming;
• Under country management supervision and Programme-Advocacy coordination, initial technical guidance, then coaching/follow-up with national staff to actively participate in internal and external processes of relevance to PIN on matters of humanitarian access in NGCA (from Programmatic to Advocacy perspectives);
• Proactively lead, then coaching/follow-up with national staff to review (for instance through ad hoc programmatic audits etc) and identify any further needs for improvement of the quality of PIN’s humanitarian response (and programming in general);
• Participate in Protection Cluster and other relevant Clusters and Working Groups meetings and other relevant platforms in coordination with relevant staff;
• Contribute to technical assessment of potential local partners, CSOs, NGOs and possible local grassroot organizations, to localize Protection work and to the preparation of MoU with selected partners;

Capacity building and mentoring of teams:

Mentoring of national staff to develop capacity building of teams on various aspects of Protection Mainstreaming, Do-No-Harm, Community-based approach and Humanitarian Principles in general.

• Lead and/or contribute to the development of internal tools and processes (SoPs, ToRs etc) upon needs.
• Initial technical guidance, then coaching/follow-up with national staff to develop and conduct capacity building plans.
• Initial technical guidance, then coaching/follow-up with national staff to ensure follow-up/Quality assurance of capacity building through feedback and on-the-job capacity-building / technical coaching over the good implementation of required improvements.
• Contribute with own special knowledge and skills on General protection, Child Protection (CP), Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), Psycho-Social Support (PSS), Community mobilization and/or other protection and community-engagement related field through creating PIN staff capacity building opportunities.

Requirements

• Educational background (master’s degree or above) in human rights, peace and conflict studies, social sciences or another relevant field;
• Understanding of Protection and Community-engagement in humanitarian context with trainings on plural relevant topics such as: general civilian protection, protection mainstreaming, GBV, International Humanitarian Law, Child Protection etc.;
• Minimum 6 years’ experience in humanitarian response within armed conflict and/or crisis context in relevant positions;
• Experience in an international non-governmental organization and/or international organisation, including field experience as protection team lead, technical lead, advisor etc ;
• Proven expertise and experience in running and developing a diversified range of Protection-related interventions, experience in community-based protection is required;
• Proven expertise and experience in the field of Protection Mainstreaming in at least 2 humanitarian sectors;
• Proven expertise and experience in Protection and Community engagement-related capacity building of national staff, mentoring and coaching, and facilitation in conflict-sensitive contexts;
• Proven experience in general context analysing, and protection analysing, reporting and monitoring.

Other general requirements

• Excellent interpersonal skills, and ability to advise and promote change at different levels internally within an organisation;
• Proven ability to engage and communicate externally with a wide range of interlocutors and stakeholders
• Knowledge of project cycle management;
• Organizational, critical analysis, problem-solving and result oriented skills;
• Fluency in spoken and written English, knowledge of Ukrainian and Russian is advantage;
• Good communication, negotiation and relationship building skills with cultural sensitivity;
• Highly motivated and proactive to stand on protection principles and humanitarian standards
• Ready to live, work and travel in field environment in Eastern Ukraine.

PIN Offers:

• Type of contract: consultancy contract or Czech employee contract for EU citizens
• Start salary range: 3100 – 3300 EUR per month including per diems
• Accommodation allowance in Sloviansk, guest house in Kyiv
• Reimbursement of travel expenses with travel to the country of residence once per every 6 months of work
• Reimbursement of costs of visas and vaccinations; assistance with visa application procedure
• Medical helpdesk and psychological consultation available online nonstop
• Medical travel insurance
• 12 days of paid leave annually per 6 months of work (compensational leave: if it occurs necessary to work over weekend or on holidays is compensated proportionally 1:1)
• Work laptop and mobile phone

How to Apply?

Are you interested in this position? Great! Send us your CV and short cover letter via this link. Please note only the shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Interviews will be conducted on rolling basis and the vacancy will be closed when filled.

People in Need staff are expected to perform job duties and responsibilities in accordance with People in Need Code of conduct and key policies (available at: www.peopleinneed.cz/policies).