Organizational Context and Scope :

Under the overall supervision of the Programme Coordinator (Protection) and under the direct supervision of the National Programme Officer (Protection), the incumbent will coordinate and monitor the provision of protection services through implementing partners (IPs) at the provincial-level, as part of IOM’s Protection programme in Pakistan.

The Senior Field Protection Associate will support the implementation of protection activities in Sindh in accordance with IOM’s standards, strategies and donor requirements. The incumbent will guide the protection team in Karachi, follow up on daily operations, coordinate with internal units and external stakeholders, and support quality, timely and context-sensitive delivery of protection interventions.

Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• Coordinate the work of provincial-level protection staff and implementing partners (IPs) for the delivery of specialized protection services, in line with project documents, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and agreed workplans.
• Conduct regular field visits to monitor service delivery and work performance of provincial-level protection staff and IPs, conducting regular meetings to discuss challenges and lessons learnt, ad hoc follow-ups, as well as identifying gaps and capacity-building needs.
• Coordinate with National Programme Officers in monitoring and improving the timely and safe implementation of specialized protection services in line with IOM’s SOPs, workplans and project objectives, including through weekly and monthly project tracking and reporting tools.
• Plan, develop, and provide capacity-building sessions to provincial-level staff and IPs on general protection, protection mainstreaming principles, gender-based violence (GBV), child protection (CP), safe referral pathways, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), data protection and other protection-related topics.
• Contribute to the preparation of reports and project documents by compiling and reviewing provincial level information.
• Coordinate the drafting and timely submission of weekly, monthly and ad hoc reports on provincial-level protection projects and activities to the Programme Coordinator (Protection)and National Programme Officers, capturing progress achieved, challenges faced, meetings, trainings and consultations conducted as well as action points.

• Supervise provincial-level protection staff, including attendance, task monitoring and performance review, as needed, while contributing to continuously strengthen the capacities of staff and IPs by identifying gaps. Assist in organizing and delivering training sessions and offer practical advice and support staff and partners during daily activities.

• Support coordination with the National Programme Officers, liaise with relevant provincial authorities as well as other UN agencies and partners through relevant provincial-level Working Groups, maintaining good relations with relevant services providers and providing clear and timely information on IOM’s protection programme.
• Act as Protection Focal Point for conducting referrals at provincial-level and directly follow up with at-risk individuals for the provision of urgent services, when required.
• Monitor the collection of protection case data by field protection staff and/or IPs and support accurate and confidential entry in relevant tools, databases and information management (IM) systems for reporting purposes.
• Supporting the Humanitarian, Resilience and Recovery Division (HRRD) and the Protection Unit with other specialized tasks and activities at provincial-level, upon request, including but not limited to conducting field visits, key informant interviews (KIIs), focus group discussions (FGDs), awareness raising sessions and other activities, as needed.
• Assisting with other tasks, as needed.

 Required Qualifications and Experience

EDUCATION

• Bachelor’s degree in development studies, political sciences, social sciences, gender studies, law, human rights or other relevant field from an accredited academic institution with five years of relevant professional experience; or,
• High school diploma with seven years of relevant work experience.

 EXPERIENCE

• Extensive experience working on general protection, child protection (CP), gender-based violence (GBV), including providing support to staff working directly with at-risk individuals.
• Strong experience in supervising and providing specialized protection services in protracted displacement contexts.
• Experience in supporting liaison and coordination with authorities, external actors, and relevant service providers.
• Good experience in providing practical advice and supporting capacity building on general protection, GBV, CP and other cross-cutting issues.

SKILLS

• In-depth understanding of the protection sector in Pakistan, its challenges, priorities and existing referral pathways, with demonstrated knowledge of principles applying to safe referrals.
• Understanding of critical data protection principles and knowledge of safe, confidential, and ethical data collection, processing and analysis.
• Advanced computer skills and literacy (MS Word, Power Point) and proficiency in Excel.
• Knowledge of the Afghanistan crisis in Pakistan and understanding of issues related to Afghan migrants and host communities in Pakistan.

REQUIRED

• For this position, fluency in English and Urdu is required (oral and written).

DESIRABLE

• Working knowledge of Pashtu, Dari or any other local language/s.

Only short-listed candidates who are matching required criteria for this position  will be contacted by IOM.

Any offer made to the candidate in relation to this call for applications is subject to funding confirmation