Senior Social Protection Officer at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Duration: 1 January 2021 - 31 December 2021

Contract Type: Temporary Appointment

Grade Level: P4

Organizational context

The Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) affirmed by the UN General Assembly in December 2018 has strengthened UNHCR¿s protection and solutions mandate. It calls for the inclusion of refugees in the societies that host them, pending solutions; and has provided an opportunity to assemble into a single framework of decades of good practices pertaining to inclusion.

Inclusion of refugees in government social protection programmes, in particular social safety nets, with the support of the international community is highlighted in the Compact. However, applying this is often challenging as refugees may be excluded from, or only have partial access to, the different government programmes making up the national social protection system. This is due to various reasons, including limited capacity of national systems to serve their own citizens, restrictive policies and legal frameworks, limited ability of refugees to pay into social protection schemes and other protection-related issues preventing access. The exclusion also applies to internally displaced, - and stateless persons in various contexts.

To meet these challenges, humanitarian and development actors, particularly in protracted displacement contexts, are increasingly working to transition refugees from humanitarian assistance to government social assistance (including shock-responsive mechanisms), social insurance and public labour intervention programmes. This contributes to the SDG Leave No-One Behind¿ principle and SDG-specific objectives working to increase the global coverage of social protection. Innovative financing such as the World Bank¿s IDA 18 Refugee Sub-Window (RSW) are opening up windows of inclusion in government social protection programmes for refugees using an area-based approach. Humanitarian actors are also providing assistance to refugees and host communities through socio-economic services and the delivery of cash and in-kind transfers providing similar functions as the government national social protection system. This assistance in some contexts is being aligned to national social protection programmes as the first key step for transitioning refugees to these programmes in the future.

As part of the implementation of the GCR, UNCHR is increasing its capacity to support initiatives aimed at including, where possible, its persons of concern (POC) to national social protection programmes whilst modifying its assistance in preparation for this. This requires capacities for operational analysis and planning, policy support, applied research and capacity building, and partnerships across the triple nexus.

The position

Within this context, the Senior Social Protection Officer's role is to support UNHCR operations to analyse government social protection programmes in order to plan for and support the transition of refugees, IDPs and stateless persons from humanitarian assistance to these programmes. The incumbent should have a demonstrated field experience in supporting and working with government social protection systems particularly in contexts of fragility and/or forced displacement; proven technical skills in implementing and monitoring of different types of social protection programmes; and relevant field experience in working with poor and humanitarian caseloads, particularly those impacted by forced displacement.

The incumbent is expected to work in line with the multi-functional team (MFT) approach of UNCHR and establish strong working relationships with staff supporting international protection, programme, livelihoods, economic and financial inclusion, education, public health, Cash-Based Interventions and partnerships with development actors.

The Senior Social Protection Officer will support the Regional Bureau for the Eastern Horn of Africa and Great Lakes region (EHAGL), working in the External Engagement Pillar, along with economists, Economic Inclusion/livelihoods and development officers and closely liaise with colleagues in the Protection Service. S/he will report to the Head of the External Engagement Pillar (60% of the position). The Senior Social Protection Officer will also support the UNHCR Kenya Country Office, working in the Programme Team and closely liaise with colleagues in the Protection Team and others. S/he may report to the Head of the Programme Team (40% of the position).

Duties and responsibilities

In close collaboration with Regional Senior Development Officer based in Nairobi, the Senior Social Protection Officer is expected to:

• Map out and analyse existing and planned government social protection and relevant COVID-19 response programmes and the key actors supporting this as a baseline, identifying how these could benefit UNHCR¿s Persons of Concern (PoCs), and transforming this into briefing papers and other deliverables.
• Develop a strategy for the inclusion of PoCs to social protection and COVID-19 response programmes (regional level and at the Kenya national level) and how to align UNHCR assistance to these programmes within the Area of Responsibility (AOR), working with a Multi-Functional Team to transform this into planning (including resourcing) in accordance with UNHCR procedures.
• Contribute to policy development and advocacy, providing operational and best-practice briefs to senior management and other technical staff engaged in external processes and partnerships linked to social protection, economic inclusion and COVID-19 responses.
• Leverage external partnerships to influence government and donor policy dialogue, considering the capacities and vulnerabilities of forcibly displaced persons within the AoR.
• Represent UNHCR and support advocacy and funding partnerships with the Government, key bilateral donors and international financial institutions working to strengthen social protection systems and COVID-19 responses in forced displacement contexts. Work to strengthen the role of UNHCR and to scale up operational support with other external agencies (e.g. ILO, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP and the World Bank Group) to rollout the alignment and transitioning of assistance to government social protection programmes.
• Promote and support applied research to build the knowledge base for UNHCR and other external actors for the inclusion of refugees and other PoCs to social protection and economic inclusion programmes and COVID-19 responses.
• Combine internal and external best practices, research and experience to help formulate training products and support the capacity building of regional and country operations staff.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required

The ideal candidate will have:

• At least a master's degree in Socio-Economic Development; Social Sciences; Development studies; Community Development; International Relations; Law; Political Science; Disaster Risk Management/Emergency Management/related Environmental/Earth science or other relevant field.
• At least 9 years of demonstrated experience in field programming and support related government social protection systems, particularly in contexts of fragility and/or forced displacement.
• Proven knowledge and technical skills in implementing and monitoring of social protection programmes.
• Relevant field experience in working with humanitarian and/or forcibly displaced caseloads.
• Preferably, a good knowledge of UNHCR and/or other institutions working with displaced populations. Experience in poverty reduction and/or graduation programmes is a bonus.
• Excellent English skills and additional language skills relevant in the region and Kenya a bonus.

Location

The successful candidate will be based with the team in the UNHCR Kenya Office (BO), reporting 40% to the BO and 60% to the UNHCR RB/External Engagement Pillar GCR section.

Conditions

The Temporary Appointment is for a period of up to 31 December 2021 and the start date is on 1 January 2021. It is a full-time role with working hours starting from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm Monday to Friday (40 hours per week).