Protection and Accountability to Affected Population Officer I Bunia - DR Congo
Qualified women and people with physical impairments are strongly encouraged to apply.
WFP celebrates and embraces diversity.
It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status, disability.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL VACANCY
JOB TITLE :
Protection and Accountability to Affected Population Officer
TYPE OF CONTRACT :
Regular Consultant
UNIT / DIVISION:
Protection, AAP and Gender
DUTY STATION (City, Country) :
Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo
DURATION :
11 months
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
With 27.3 million highly food-insecure people, DRC is the largest food security crisis in the world in absolute numbers. The preliminary results of the latest IPC analysis (19th IPC) have been published. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has the highest estimated number of food-insecure people worldwide, with 27.3 million people who are food insecure between February and July 2021, representing about 28% of analysed population. Of this figure, 20.5 million people are facing “crisis” levels (IPC Phase 3) and 6.7 million people are facing “emergency” levels (IPC Phase 4) of food insecurity. An additional 41million people are in a “stressed” state with high risk of slipping into food insecurity. In Ituri, WFP implements nutrition, and unconditional emergency activities using in-kind and cash-based transfers.
Approved by the Executive Board in 2012, the first WFP humanitarian protection policy set out to embed protection in the organization’s work in conflict situations and disaster response in order to improve the impact of food assistance on people whose rights are threatened by violations and abuses. During implementation of the policy, WFP recognized the importance of applying the human rights and protection normative framework beyond humanitarian response. It also recognized that its role is to identify protection risks and take all means to mitigate them when responding. With this policy update in 2020, WFP acknowledges that it is required to prevent and respond to protection risks associated with hunger and WFP programmes in all contexts and to craft successful protection outcomes for affected populations. In turn, WFP further seeks to more effectively integrate protection considerations with its accountability to affected populations.
In practice, making protection and accountability central to WFP operations is simply good programming because it increases the quality of WFP programmes and the likelihood that they will have a positive impact. The integration of protection and accountability to affected populations requires dedicated human resources to support improving context analysis, capacity building of WFP partners and personnel on the centrality of protection and strengthening community engagement.
The protection and AAP officer will report directly to the Head of Office and have a technical reporting line to the Protection, Gender and AAP Advisor based in Kinshasa.
ACCOUNTABILITIES / RESPONSABILITIES :
- Draft and oversee the implementation of the Ituri protection and AAP workplan/action plan in alignment with the CO protection and conflict sensitivity strategy.
- Undertake protection risk assessments to inform WFP interventions, DRC's context analysis and better understand the barriers faced by affected populations in accessing WFP assistance, their preferences, perceptions of security and explore the link between food insecurity and protection risks.
- Conduct regular missions to sites of intervention (emergency, livelihood and resilience, nutrition and school-based programming) to work in close cooperation with the programme and other units to integrate mitigation measures to address protection risks including PSEA and gender in the project management cycle (design, implementation and monitoring).
- Organise and facilitate capacity strengthening initiatives and training opportunities for WFP personnel, cooperating partners, financial service providers and other stakeholders on the humanitarian principles, centrality of protection, obligations related to protection from sexual exploitation and abuse and safe and confidential referrals of protection cases.
- 5.Organise and facilitate awareness raising on WFP’s Protection Policy and Accountability Policy (2020), Protection and Accountability to Affected Population Strategy (2020), Gender Policy (2015-2020) and WFP DRC’s Protection and AAP action plan and related guidance such as standard operating procedures on protection and accountability to affected populations (AAP).
- Continuously advise cooperating partners on implementation of mitigating measures in operations and appropriate adjustments and work with partner protection and AAP assistants.
- Represent WFP in the GBV sub-cluster, Child Protection sub-cluster, protection cluster, housing land and property taskforce and other protection related forums.
- Support WFP colleagues to integrate protection in assessments, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting tools as outlined in the WFP DRC M&E and food security and nutrition assessment tools.
- Lead the implementation of the WFP community feedback mechanism (CFM) at the office level including supporting the training of partner CFM officers, the roll out of online complaints forms and drafting monthly reports about the cases received from community complaints committees, partner helpdesks and suggestion boxes.
- Act as a PSEA focal point and support the design and delivery of awareness-raising sessions for affected populations, WFP partners and WFP personnel.
- Liaise with protection partners on analysis, capacity development, referral procedures and pathways.
- Support community engagement, the implementation of the WFP DRC Accountability to Affected Populations Action Plan and the development and communication of appropriate messaging for affected populations.
- Other tasks as required.
DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:
- To be discussed during PACE and on the basis of the duration of the contract.
- Deliverables will include:
- Draft and oversee the implementation of the Kasai protection and AAP workplan/action plan.
- Minimum one protection risk assessment mission a month including key recommendations and oversight/follow-up of the implementation of these recommendations.
- Minimum one capacity strengthening initiative per month including on the job mentoring of implementing partners.
- Attendance and participation in the inter-agency coordination forums related to protection (including child protection and GBV).
- Minimum one awareness-raising session on PSEA per month.
- Demonstrate the ability to follow-up on mitigation measures identified when conducting protection and AAP missions including briefing notes and factsheets as required on the various locations and activities.
- Minimum one CFM report per month outlining information received and feedback provided though the community complaints committees, partner help and feedback desk and suggestion boxes.
- Other reporting needs as required.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Formation:
Advanced university degree in one of the following disciplines: social sciences, international development, gender studies, conflict studies, international relations, human rights, political science, or another related field.
Experience :
At least 3 years of professional experience relevant to the position in addressing protection issues in humanitarian responses.
- Experience working in the difficult contexts, in both development and emergency response, understanding the operational aspects of local, state and national level.
- Experience in delivering trainings and debriefings.
- Demonstrated knowledge of protection mainstreaming and accountability to affected populations.
- Experience in mainstreaming protection into humanitarian programmes.
- Experience conducting protection risk assessments and draft protection analysis reports.
- Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan and those under his/her supervision.
- Ability to explain projects to field counterparts and communicate with Government and partners clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing.
- Flexibility in accepting work assignments outside normal desk description.
Knowledge & Skills:
In-depth knowledge of protection and protection mainstreaming tools
- In-depth knowledge about international standards and policies, especially those centred around food-insecurity.
- Previous work experience with a protection actor in a humanitarian or development setting is a plus.
- Knowledge of International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law and Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women is a plus.
- Good analytical skills.
- Proven knowledge and ability to effectively use basic software packages and commonly used office equipment.
- Ability to multitask while working under pressure.
- Ability to maintain and establish professional working relationships with a variety of actors.
- Ability to gain cooperation of others in a team through technical inputs in abroad range of operational issues.
Languages :
A very good working knowledge (proficiency/Level C) of French and at least an intermediate knowledge (level B of English).
OUR VALUES AT WFP:
- Integrity
- Collaboration
- Commitment
- Humanity
- Inclusion
APPLICATION DEADLINE
05/10/ 2023
Please note that the only documents you need to submit at this time are your CV and cover letter. Additional documents such as passports, letters of recommendation, university certificates, etc. may potentially be requested in the future.
For candidates who have difficulty accessing the WFP e-recruitment platform and require support in applying, please contact us at the following e-mail address: [email protected], quoting the vacancy number in the subject line.
All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free from sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and abuse of power. Consequently, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
No appointment under any contract will be offered to members of the United Nations Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), the FAO Finance Committee, the WFP External Auditor, the WFP Audit Committee, the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities for WFP, either during their service or for three years following termination.