Protection Specialist

Contract

This is a International Consultant contract. More about International Consultant contracts.

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the centre of all its efforts.

UN Women is co-chair to the Protection Cluster with the Department for Community Development and Religion (DfCDR). As co-chair, UN Women is seeking a Protection Specialist to support the UN Women Country Office and the Government of PNG’s response to the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) health crises being experienced in Papua New Guinea and any other emergencies which frequently recur such as African Swine Fever (ASF), drought, flooding, earthquakes. The Papua New Guinea Government has has established a National Disaster Management Team which is primarily focussed on the COVID response.

The Government of PNG has limited capacity and resources to manage a large-scale response and is prioritizing the National Capital District, provinces with international borders/important air and seaports and provinces with important regional medical facilities.

The Protection Specialist under the supervision of the UN Women Country Representative in Papua New Guinea will assist the UN Women Country Office coordinate the Protection Cluster, improve gender integration across other sectoral responses to emergencies including in Health, Food Security, WASH and Shelter, build capacity of National Partners and provide technical input into mitigating and responding to gender and socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 and other emergencies in the country. S/he will promote strategic positioning of UN Women representation in humanitarian work as well as contribute to assessments and responses to other disasters if need be. The Protection Specialist will also support the roll out of a reporting and response mechanism for Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse within and outside the UN system.

Objectives of the assignment

Work required under this contract supports three key priority areas of UN Women’s humanitarian response. These include:

• Area 1: Coordination of all Protection Cluster and PSEA Taskforce Activities.
• Area 2: Gender and Protection mainstreaming Capacity Building of national and subnational disaster management teams
• Area 3: Coordination of UN Women’s emergency GBV response.

The Protection Specialist will provide day-to-day oversight and build strategic partnerships with key government, NGO, civil society groups, private sector, and relevant UN agencies to ensure effective delivery of all protection cluster activities. The Protection Specialist will also mentor and coach the new National Humanitarian Analyst who is a member of the eVAW team in UN Women.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under direct supervision of the Country Representative and in consultation with the Deputy Country Representative the Protection Specialist will be responsible for providing expert technical assistance and guidance through performing the following key tasks and delivery of the expected results:

Technical leadership and strategic planning:

• Develop and implement strategies that promote gender equality and empowerment of women, disability inclusion and child protection in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies.
• Advise, support, guide and provide substantive inputs to ensure the formulation of gender sensitive UN humanitarian response in emergencies, recovery, and post emergency development stages.
• Actively participate in country level programming processes, assessments, and recovery context.
• Assist the UNCT/HCT to secure expertise that will ensure commitment, quality control and resources for gender equality programming.
• Support the development and use of gender analysis and collection of sex and age disaggregated data and promote its institutionalization.
• Support the development of a UN Women proposal in any joint appeals.

Inter-Agency Coordination Support:

• Coordinate the Protection Cluster and provide overall coordination of the GBV and Child Protection and disability sub-clusters (and any others that emerge) in collaboration with UNFPA, UNICEF and GoPNG partners.
• Develop in collaboration with Protection Cluster members, guidelines and training for the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Code of Conduct for use by all humanitarian agencies responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Deliver training on PSEA to partners
• In Collaboration with other partners, develop a workable mechanism for reporting and responding to PSEA
• Provide key updates to the DMT Secretariat and UNCT as required.
• Support the DMT Secretariat through providing inputs into contingency and crises response planning at national and provincial level.
• Participate and provide gender related inputs to the interagency UN coordination mechanisms, government mechanisms and other relevant sectoral level processes focusing on humanitarian issues including the various assessments.
• Provide linkages with the gender machinery and the Protection Cluster for a sustainable approach to coordination efforts in the humanitarian action.

Strategic partnership building and resource mobilization:

• Propose programmatic areas of cooperation with and approach relevant UN Agencies, Government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society, women’s organizations in particular, and other specialized humanitarian partners such as the Red Cross, World Vision etc., to establish a partnership based on strategic goals of UN Women, and country priorities in DRR and humanitarian action.
• Identify opportunities and contribute to resource mobilization through contribution to proposals.

Capacity Building:

• Conduct rapid capacity assessment of all agencies (UN, GoPNG, NGOs & FBOs) working in the Protection Sector on their abilities to respond appropriately to the needs of women and girls, men, and boys.
• Develop capacity strengthening initiatives targeting relevant stakeholders including office staff and women’s organizations and other key partners.

Advocacy and Communication:

• Support UN Women’s advocacy efforts to help raise awareness and stimulate action in addressing specific needs to displaced women and girls and advancing gender equality and women’s rights in PNG, especially in the context of COVID-19.
• Develop communication and advocacy tools that highlight issues women and girls face in crises and positive ways of mitigating these issues
• Develop Gender Alert, Situational Reports (SitReps), press release or other communication pieces as agreed with supervisor.
• Develop training on guidelines for face-to-face community awareness for utilization by cluster members in COVID-19 awareness sessions.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation of the protection cluster’s work. In collaboration with the UN Women M&E expert, establish a robust M&E framework for data collection and ongoing assessment of the reach and impact of the Protection Cluster work.

Specific Deliverables

1. • Progress update on the Protection Cluster and COVID-19 response, including update on capacity building or training provided on PSEA/Protection/DRR to stakeholders.
   • Progressive PSEA Coordination update

30 August 2021

2.

• Monthly progress update in the form of report submitted to UN Women, including monitoring reports of the projection project results framework.
• Capacity building of National Humanitarian Analyst

30 September 2021

3.

• Monthly progress update in the form of report submitted to UN Women, including monitoring reports of the projection project results framework.
• Facilitate Quarter 4 PSEA taskforce meeting and provide progressive PSEA coordination update to the UNCT
• Capacity building of National Humanitarian Analyst

30 October 2021

4.

• Monthly progress update in the form of report submitted to UN Women, including monitoring reports of the projection project results framework.
• Capacity building of National Humanitarian Analyst

30 November 2021

5.

• Submit final Protection Project Donor report
• Handover to staff

15 December 2021

Duration of the assignment

The duration of this assignment will be for seven (7) months with a possibility of an extension depending on the COVID-19 pandemic. Work will commence in the 1st week of August 2021 upon signing of the contract.

Submission of application

To enable you with your application submission, the requirements for the position can be accessed on the following site: https://unjobs.org/duty_stations/pom

Interested candidates are requested to submit electronic application to: email address required here: unwpng.hr@unwomen.org

Submission package:

1. Cover letter explaining suitability: applicants are encouraged to address experience and qualifications listed in the ‘criteria for technical evaluation’.
2. Curriculum Vitae (CV) of Consultant including references.
3. Personal History Form (P-11 Form). (download blank form from http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment.)
4. Copies of certified academic certifications.

The procurement process will be governed by the rules and regulations of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

Competencies

The Protection Specialist should fulfill the following requirements:

Functional Competencies:

• Substantive knowledge and experience related to current policies and practices in the fields of gender equality and humanitarian action, including humanitarian coordination.
• Strong communication skills, with proven expertise in writing cogent and convincing policy and/or programme documents.
• Proven ability to advocate and provide policy and technical advice.
• Proven analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Good planning, goal setting and prioritization skills including ability to work under stress.
• Effectiveness in establishing and fostering good relations with government counterparts, UN agencies, donors, and NGO partners.
• Ability to leverage information technology, executive information systems, management techniques and tools for optimal office performance.

Critical Competencies for Immediate Response situations:

Possess a comprehensive set of competencies enabling immediately taking on the challenging role of helping to lead early response recovery efforts in the designated area of responsibility – including:

• Integrity, results orientation, teamwork, good inter-personal skills.
• Well-developed communication skills.
• Sound judgement, analytical skills.
• Flexibility, proactive engagement, innovation.
• Risk management, gender and culturally sensitivity.
• Ability to work under pressure and demonstrates high tolerance for change, complexity, and unpredictability.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in social sciences, international relations, public administration, gender issues, or other development-related fields.

Experience and skills

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in gender programming, humanitarian, and recovery programming, including in disaster/conflict and post-disaster/conflict settings.
• Experience in operating within humanitarian emergency clusters
• Substantive and technical experience in inter-agency coordination
• Experience working with government partners, donors, and civil society organizations internationally and in the field.

Language and other skills

• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• Working knowledge of another local language is an asset.
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools, ability to use Internet and email.