Protection Officer at Sign of Hope (SoH)

Summary of the job title

Protection officer is a being recruited to support a Germany Government (GFFO) funded humanitarian response project that covers specific disaster hotspots in Northern Kenya (Marsabit, Turkana and Isiolo County). He/she will work closely and in consultation with the Humanitarian Response project Manager, the SoH Area Manager and the regional humanitarian relief officer (HRO. S/he will responsible for the daily technical planning and support to local partners. With guidance from the Humanitarian Response Manager, she/he will collaborate with the local partners in conducting needs assessment, implementation, supervision, monitoring and reporting of the field activities and for ensuring proper coordination with national, regional and local government and/or authorities, stakeholders/NGOs, project beneficiaries and SoH colleagues

• Support project planning and budgeting for child protection, adult safeguarding and gender inclusion.
• Support the establishment of functional community children protection and project participants safeguarding reporting and feedback mechanism structures and provide the necessary actions in a timely manner
• In consultation with the supervisor and the partners, ensure that there is a contextualized Safeguarding Incidence Preparedness Plan(SIPP)
• Support implementation of the safeguarding and protection initiatives at SoH and among partners by ensuring that the Policy is well socialized and implemented in compliance with SoH standards.
• Submit a monthly update report on GBV and protection related cases
• Support partners to strengthen existing child/adults protection groups in all project sites
• On a weekly basis ensure that all partners staff are briefed on the specific activities to be carried out with an objective of ensuring that protection , gender and inclusion activities are implemented in an integrated manner with other project activities
• Support partners to organize and strengthen stakeholder’s forums on children and adults protection in the communities.
• Conduct engagement with County, sub county children officers, social development and gender officers, police and local administration to follow up on reported cases and response action including documentation.
• Support partners to prioritize initiatives that enable parents and caregivers acquire skill for championing participation and protection of boys and girls from harmful cultural practices, abuse, neglect, exploitation and all other forms of violence.
• Work closely with SoH, partners and the government stakeholders to facilitate learning and reflection forums on safeguarding and protection which will be used to improve program activities.
• In consultation with the supervisor, ensure that partners follow up and implement findings and recommendation on safeguarding and protection obtained from various accountability mechanisms such operational audits, program evaluations, program capacity review in a timely manner.
• Spearhead documentation of best practices on safeguarding and program participants interventions
• Collect, register and report beneficiaries’ feedback and complaints.
• Ensure consistent reporting and documentation to improve program efficiency and quality.
• Support the protection officer in mainstreaming of protection, gender and inclusion issues across the project areas
• Work closely with all stakeholders and ensure the community participation in the project activities.
• Support other humanitarian activities of SoH upon the request of the supervisors.

Minimum requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Child protection, Social science, community development, Education, humanitarian action, or any related field with at least 3 years work experience
• Related Diploma with at least 4 years of relevant experience in implementing child protection, adult safeguarding, advocacy and or Program accountability.
• Experience in working with partners and engagement with government departments and decision makers as well as networking and collaboration with other stakeholders.
• Understanding of Humanitarian protection, child protection, safeguarding
• Knowledge of SPHERE and other humanitarian programming standards
• Demonstrated success working effectively and respectfully with host communities, government, private sector, partners and other stakeholders in complex environments.
• Knowledge of community participatory approaches, disaster risk reduction, recharge, re-use and retention (3R) concept desirable.
• Experience working in multi-cultural and multi-ethnic settings is highly preferred
• High frustration tolerance/resilience and strong capability of working in a fragile context and fast-paced environment on highly dynamic topics
• Previous working experience in Arid and Semi-arid Land (ASAL) areas is desirable,
• Advanced knowledge of MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Excellent and persuasive oral and written communication skills, including report writing
• Good team player and experience in mentoring staff
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members.
• Excellent spoken and written English