Community-based Protection Assistant

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)

B

Family

UNOPS LICA4

2025-02-01

January 5, 2025

Operational Context
Thailand hosts 81,039 (UNHCR, September 2024) Myanmar refugees in nine temporary shelters on the Thai-Myanmar border, including 47,337 in three temporary shelters in Tak province.
UNHCR works with the refugees, community-based organisations, non-governmental organisations, international agencies, donors, and the Royal Thai Government (RTG) to address the protection assistance and durable solutions needs of these refugees in Tak province.
Refugees residing in the three Tak province government-run temporary shelters on the Thai-Myanmar border are of mainly Karen ethnicity, some of whom have lived in Thailand since the mid-1980s after fleeing armed conflict between ethnic armed groups and the Myanmar military.
The UNHCR Field Office in Mae Sot engages with refugees, and their community structures, in the temporary shelters in Tak province to build the community’s capacity to identify and address protection concerns, including child protection, gender based violence, and disabilities.
Desired Candidate Profile
The Community-Based Protection (CBP) Assistant will be based at UNHCR Field Office in Mae Sot, and will be a member of the Community-Based Protection team. S/he will report to the Assistant Community-Based Protection Officer. The position involves frequent travel to the temporary shelters in Tak province, including mission travel that may involve overnight stays at hotel accommodations in Umphang.
The CBP Assistant will engage with refugees in the temporary shelters, with special emphasis on refugees with specific needs such as persons living with disabilities and older persons, to support the community in identifing and addressing their needs. The CBP Assistant will counsel individual refugees on protection concerns, and also engage with community structures to build their capacity and support them to be representative of the diversity of the refugee community with the inclusion of girls and boys, youths, and women amongst other population groups.
The applicant should have significant experience of working with different population groups, preferably within refugee communities, be able to represent UNHCR before the community and local authorities. S/he should also have solid team-working experience, be flexible and able to complete a diverse range of tasks in the temporary shelters, as needed.
Languages
Required: Fluency in written and spoken English and Thai.
Desired: Knowledge of Karen and Burmese languages.

Standard Job Description

Community-Based Protection Assistant

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships
The Community-Based Protection Assistant is a member of the Protection Unit and may report to the Protection Officer, Community-Based Protection Officer, or another more senior staff member in the Protection Unit. Under the overall direction of the Protection Unit, and in coordination with other UNHCR staff, government, NGO partners and other stakeholders, the incumbent works directly with communities of concern to identify the risks they face and to leverage their capacities to protect themselves, their families and communities. S/he supports the application of community-based protection standards, operational procedures and practices in community-based protection delivery at the field level. To fulfil this role, the Community-Based Protection Assistant is required to spend a substantial percentage of the workday outside the office, building and maintaining networks within communities of persons of concern (PoC). The development and maintenance of constructive relationships with PoC that measurably impact and enhance protection planning, programming and results, form the core of the work of the incumbent. S/he also supports the designing of a community-based protection strategy by ensuring that it is based on consultation with PoC.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR’s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties
– Through relationships with PoC and network of partners, stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment and provide advice to the protection team. Understand the perspectives, capacities, needs and resources of the PoC and advise the protection team accordingly, highlighting the specific protection needs of women and men, children, youth and older persons, persons with disabilities, marginalized groups.
– Support implementing and operational partners as well as displaced and local communities to develop community-owned activities to address, where applicable, the social, educational, psycho-social, cultural, health, organisational and livelihood concerns as well as child protection and prevention and response to GBV.
– Assist in working with host communities to involve national civil society groups in improving the protection of PoC.
– Assist in the analysis that identifies the capacities of communities of concern and risks they face.
– Support participatory assessments and ongoing consultation with PoC.
– Support communities in establishing representation and coordination structures.
– Ensure community understanding of UNHCR’s commitment to deliver on accountability and quality assurance in its response.
– Collect data for monitoring of programmes and budgets from an AGD perspective.
– Draft and type routine correspondence, documents and reports and maintain up-to-date filing systems.
– Act as an interpreter in exchange of routine information, contribute to related liaison activities and respond directly to routine queries.
– Assist in the enforcement of participatory AGD sensitive analysis as an essential basis for all of UNHCR’s work.
– Identify and recommend which individuals or groups to prioritize for counselling and field visits based on agreed criteria.
– Enforce compliance of implementing partners with global protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services.

– Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making in risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks, issues and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).
– Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Years of Experience / Degree Level
For G4 – 1 year relevant experience with High School Diploma; or Bachelor or equivalent or higher

Field(s) of Education
Not applicable.

Certificates and/or Licenses
Development, Human Rights, International Law
Social Work, Social Science, Political Science,
(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Not specified.

Desirable
UNHCR learning programmes (PLP). Knowledge of MSRP.

Functional Skills
UN-UN/UNHCR Administrative Rules, Regulations and Procedures
IT-Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
*IT-Computer Literacy
PR-Community-based Protection – Principles and methodologies
CL-Multi-stakeholder Communications with Partners, Government & Community
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements
For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.

Required Languages

,

,

Desired Languages

Thai

,

,

Additional Qualifications

Skills

CL-Multi-stakeholder Communications with Partners, Government & Community, IT-Computer Literacy, IT-Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), PR-Community-based Protection – Principles and methodologies, UN-UN/UNHCR Administrative Rules, Regulations and Procedures

Education

Certifications

Development Studies – Other, HCR Learning Program – UNHCR, Human Rights – Other, International Law – Other, Political Science – Other, Social Sciences – Other

Other information

This position doesn’t require a functional clearance

Home-Based

No