Protection Coordinator

Introduction

The Danish Refugee Council assists refugees and internally displaced persons across the globe: we provide emergency aid, fight for their rights, and strengthen their opportunity for a brighter future. We work in conflict-affected areas, along the displacement routes, and in the countries where refugees settle. In cooperation with local communities, we strive for responsible and sustainable solutions. We work toward successful integration and – whenever possible – for the fulfillment of the wish to return home.

The Danish Refugee Council was founded in Denmark in 1956 and has since grown to become an international humanitarian organization with more than 7,000 staff and 8,000 volunteers. Based in Copenhagen (Denmark) and present in forty countries, the Danish Refugee Council is a non-profit-making, politically independent, non-governmental and non-denominational relief organization.

Our vision is a dignified life for all displaced. All our efforts are based on our value compass: humanity, respect, independence and neutrality, participation, and honesty and transparency.

Background

Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has had an operational presence in Nigeria since 2015. DRC Nigeria is the largest DRC country mission in the West Africa region and one of the largest DRC country missions globally. Currently, DRC delivers life-saving assistance and protection to vulnerable, conflict-affected populations including internally displaced persons, returnees, and host communities in the areas of armed violence reduction, humanitarian mine action, livelihoods, nutrition and food security, protection, shelter, and non-food items (NFI) and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in 30+ Local Government Areas (LGAs) across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states in northeast Nigeria.

Duties and Responsibilities

The role is dedicated to technical coordination, advisory, fundraising and representing DRC in relevant technical fora and working group.

The Protection Coordinator is responsible for formulating technical strategy for DRC Nigeria bringing addressing the root causes of displacement, contributing to solutions to displacement and enhancing protection of hard-to-reach. The Coordinator will provide effective, timely technical advisory to the implementation team and to the Country Office Team in line with the technical and country strategy. The role will be responsible for representing DRC in relevant technical fora and working groups on country level and area level, should that be necessary, and supporting the Head of Programme in fundraising efforts for their sector through well-designed strategy, timely updates, advisory and sector engagement.

The Protection Coordinator is based in Maiduguri – but expected to travel frequently to the nation’s capital and other Area Offices and field locations in Adamawa, Borno, Sokoto and Zamfara states and other areas as the geographic presence of DRC Nigeria develops.

The main responsibilities and tasks of the Protection Coordinator:

Technical Coordination and Advisory

• Provide technical advisory to the implementation teams and Country Office team on any stage of programme implementation.
• Lead on creation and roll out of the technical strategy with emphasis on needs of the affected communities, expansion to relevant sectors, and programme integration. Support the Head of Programme on creating the Country Strategy.
• Provide technical inputs and review to proposals, reports, assessments and evaluations in line with the technical strategy.
• Provide technical capacity building to implementation teams and partners.
• Prepare learning/knowledge products, SoPs and guidelines covering innovative approaches and good practices, to support overall Protection sector development and good-practice implementation.
• Guide the teams and review protection incident reports, alerts and protection monitoring products.
• Initiate and contribute to the systematic assessment of Protection sector capacity gap analysis, in collaboration with government and other stakeholders, and support the design of initiatives to strengthen capacities systematically.
• Analyse Nigeria Protection sector challenges, trends, programmes and projects, with a focus on Protection outcomes, using frameworks, analysis and tools available in the sector.

Representation, Fundraising and Advocacy

• Pro-actively lead on DRC’s Protection representation with relevant Sectors (Clusters) and working groups on country level and area level when necessary.
• Engage with relevant stakeholders incl. NGOs, donors and government to promote DRC’s Protection programme and support sector’s fundraising efforts.
• Actively seek out new viable partnerships for the Protection sector.
• Actively seek out appropriate funding opportunities for the sector in line with the sector strategy.
• Produce materials for Protection advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships and support fund-raising.
• Interact with global and regional initiatives and partnerships for Protection sector.
• In addition to the above, the Protection Coordinator may be asked to carry out other duties requested by the Head of Programme – but always in the scope of this job description.

Qualifications

Required

• At least 5 years’ experience working in the field of protection, at least 3 years of which at a senior technical level.
• Proven experience with proposal and report writing processes.
• Proven experience working with protection alerts, and protection monitoring.
• Direct experience with drafting and reviewing of technical SoPs and guidelines, technical papers and analysis.
• Proven experience with representation in Clusters, Working groups and other relevant technical bodies.
• Proven experience with impactfully engaging with stakeholders and advocacy initiatives.
• Experience across sectoral areas of responsibility. In-depth experience in case management, PSS, and protection advocacy are strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of current sectoral best practices and familiarity with humanitarian architecture.
• Full professional proficiency in English with the capacity to produce well-written products for formal reporting and communication.
• Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field (International Law, International Relations, Political Science, Social Work, Humanitarian Assistance, Sociology, Psychology, or another related field).

Desirable

• Master’s degree from an accredited academic institution in relevant field (International Law, International Relations, Political Science, Social Work, Humanitarian Assistance, Sociology, Psychology, or another related field) or equivalent.
• Experience with capacity building for national partners.
• Prior knowledge of Nigeria context.

General Regulations

• The employee shall follow DRC instructions on safety, confidentiality and ethical guidelines, including the Code of Conduct and the Humanitarian Accountability Framework
• Employee should not engage in any other paid activity during the DRC contract period without prior authorization
• Employee should not engage in any activity that could harm DRC or the implementation of any project during the DRC contract period
• Employee should not give interviews to the media or publish project-related photos or other material without prior authorization
• Employee shall return all borrowed equipment for the project to DRC after the end of the contract period or upon request

Required Skills & Qualities

• Core Competencies of DRC:
  • Striving for excellence
  • Collaboration
  • Taking the lead
  • Communication
  • Demonstrating Integrity
• Ability to work in a multinational and multicultural environment
• Proactivity, with a sound commitment to teamwork and with a spirit of genuine collaboration
• Excellent communication skills, as well as patience and politeness, are required
• Multi-tasking and Organizational skills is a must
• Adaptable and Flexible
• Proven analytical and critical thinking skills
• Exemplary sense of ethics in the workplace
• Team-oriented & good sense of humor