Careers at HIAS Refugee Trust of Kenya

POSITION SUMMARY:

HIAS Kenya seeks a Protection Associate to provide comprehensive protection services to vulnerable refugee populations. This role supports HIAS’s protection programs through assessments, case management, referrals, and follow-up to ensure timely and appropriate services for clients in need. The position strengthens HIAS’s overall protection response by promoting and protecting the rights of the most vulnerable refugees, asylum seekers, and other forcibly displaced persons.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Provide legal protection services using a protection case management approach, ensuring client-centered, rights-based, and survivor-informed legal assistance for refugees, asylum seekers, and other forcibly displaced persons.
• Conduct legal-focused protection assessments as part of case intake to identify legal risks, documentation gaps, detention concerns, custody issues, and access-to-justice barriers.
• Open, manage, and follow up legal protection cases in accordance with HIAS Protection Case Management SOPs, ensuring clear case objectives, informed consent, confidentiality, and safe information sharing.
• Develop legal case plans in collaboration with clients, outlining legal actions, referral needs, timelines, responsible actors, and risk mitigation measures, and regularly review progress.
• Provide legal counseling, information, and representation (where applicable), including:
  • Child custody and child protection–related legal matters
  • Legal support for survivors of violence against women, girls, men, and boys
  • Civil documentation, asylum procedures, and arrest or detention-related cases
• Ensure regular client follow-up on legal cases, providing timely feedback on case status, court processes, referrals, and outcomes, and adjusting case plans as circumstances evolve.
• Facilitate safe and confidential referrals between legal services and other protection subsectors, ensuring continuity of care and coordinated response.
• Provide legal services through Huduma Mtaani and other outreach/service delivery points, integrating legal screening into broader protection case identification and tracking.
• Conduct border and detention monitoring, documenting legal protection risks, and initiating individual or group case management interventions where rights violations are identified.
• Maintain accurate legal case documentation and case notes within the data management system, ensuring compliance with data protection and ethical standards.
• Provide technical guidance and supervision to protection monitors, ensuring they identify, refer, and document legal protection cases correctly using standardized tools.
• Review, analyze, and validate protection monitoring reports to identify emerging legal protection trends and translate findings into case referrals, advocacy priorities, and program adjustments.
• Develop legal protection training curricula and deliver capacity-building sessions for protection monitors, community structures, and partners on legal rights, referral pathways, and case management principles.
• Participate in inter-agency legal and protection coordination forums, contributing case-level insights to inform advocacy, system strengthening, and policy engagement.
• Contribute to legal protection and advocacy reporting, using aggregated case data and trends to support efforts aimed at improving the legal and operational environment for refugees and asylum seekers.
• Support community-based legal protection interventions, strengthening community awareness, early identification, and referral of legal protection cases.
• Assist in resource mobilization efforts by providing technical inputs, case statistics, and impact narratives drawn from legal case management outcomes.
• Assist in protection mainstreaming by providing insight into protection interventions for vulnerable refugees
• Facilitate stakeholder training on refugee protection.

Reporting

• Prepare accurate weekly and monthly activity reports highlighting protection trends, challenges, and service gaps.
• Monitor legal protection trends through data analysis and prepare summaries for presentation in psychosocial panels.
• Produce monthly analyses on emerging protection issues to inform programming, referrals, and community awareness activities.

QUALIFICATIONS & REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s degree in law and an advocate to the High Court of Kenya.
• Minimum of 1-2 years’ previous job experience related to refugee protection.
• Demonstrated experience working directly with refugees.
• Good knowledge of human rights and protection mainstreaming principles.
• Knowledge of Accountability to Affected Population.
• Knowledge in PSEA and Anti-Fraud

Remuneration: Gross of 79,875 per month.

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POSITION SUMMARY

HIAS Kenya seeks to recruit a Protection Officer who will support the implementation of integrated MHPSS and protection programming in Kenya to improve access to appropriate psychosocial care, strengthen protective environments, and promote the well-being and resilience of refugees, asylum seekers, and other vulnerable populations.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Mental Health & Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Programming

• Establish and support implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the provision of MHPSS services to refugees and asylum seekers in line with HIAS and IASC MHPSS guidelines.
• In coordination with protection colleagues, support intake processes by developing and applying brief psychosocial assessments to identify emergency and ongoing MHPSS needs.
• Provide and facilitate culturally appropriate individual, group, family, and community-based MHPSS interventions.
• Facilitate evidence-based MHPSS approaches, including Doing What Matters in Times of Stress and Self-Help Plus (SH+).
• Develop and facilitate structured psychosocial activities that promote coping, resilience, social cohesion, and wellbeing.

Protection & Case Management Integration

• Ensure MHPSS services are delivered within a rights-based, survivor-centered, and protection-oriented framework.
• Work closely with protection and case management teams to identify psychosocial risks and protection concerns.
• Support safe identification, referral, and follow-up of individuals requiring specialized protection, health, or mental health services.
• Promote safe, confidential, and ethical information management in line with protection and data-sharing protocols.
• Contribute to protection risk mitigation and strengthening of protective community environments through MHPSS interventions.

Vulnerable populations such as women, girls, boys, and men

• Facilitate MHPSS interventions tailored to the needs of vulnerable populations
• Facilitate positive parenting skills sessions to support caregivers and strengthen family functioning.
• Support vulnerable communities' community activities that promote safety, psychosocial wellbeing, and resilience.

Community-Based Approaches & Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP)

• Ensure community-based approaches are central to MHPSS programming, recognizing communities as key stakeholders and partners.
• Support community awareness-raising on stress management, coping strategies, and available services.
• Promote accountability, dignity, and participation by integrating feedback and complaint mechanisms into MHPSS activities.
• Document community feedback and contribute to adaptive programming.

Capacity Building & Technical Support

• Provide ongoing technical support, coaching, and PSS supervision to HIAS staff and implementing partners.
• Deliver capacity-building trainings on:
  • MHPSS guidelines and standards
  • Psychological First Aid (PFA)
  • Basic psychosocial support skills
• Support partners and local organizations to integrate basic PSS support within inter-sectoral services and referral pathways.

 Coordination, Partnerships & Representation

• Serve as the primary point of contact for HIAS on MHPSS-related matters with local partners and stakeholders.
• Actively participate in inter-agency, multi-sectoral technical working groups and coordination forums.
• Coordinate with partners to strengthen referral pathways and ensure integration of MHPSS across health, protection, and other sectors.
• Support capacity strengthening of local organizations delivering MHPSS and protection services.

Reporting

• Contribute to regular progress reports, situation reports (SitReps), and donor reporting.
• Support in ethical data collection, confidentiality, and informed consent practices.

QUALIFICATIONS & REQUIREMENTS

• Degree in psychology, sociology, social work, anthropology, or a related field.
• Minimum of 3 years’ experience in MHPSS programming, preferably with refugees, asylum seekers, or migrant populations in emergency or humanitarian settings.
• Demonstrated experience operationalizing MHPSS global standards, including IASC guidelines.
• Experience in capacity building, community-based training, and awareness raising.
• Strong understanding of protection principles, safeguarding, PSEA, and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP).
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work effectively in diverse, multicultural team environments.
• Professional, responsible, and ethical conduct

Remuneration: Gross pay of Kshs 108,000 per month.