Finnish Refugee Council (FRC)

Job Vacancy Ethiopia

Protection Specialist

Finnish Refugee Council (FRC) (www.refugeecouncil.fi) is an international non-governmental organization with Head Office in Helsinki. FRC advocates for the rights of refugees, displaced populations and migrants, and supports their new beginnings. By reinforcing equality and creating opportunities for everyone to lead a good life, FRC promotes the establishment of stable and peaceful societies. 

Education forms the foundation of an equal society, and FRC´s activities in Ethiopia place emphasis on capacity building for the most vulnerable members of societies and supports their active participation in communities, thus strengthening basic democratic structures. At the core of FRC’s work is inclusion of vulnerable groups and therefore, special emphasis is placed on the protection of persons with disabilities, women and youth in all activities.  

FRC has been registered in Ethiopia and accorded legal personality with Registry Number 4184 on 11^th of June 2019 as a Foreign Organization.  

Purpose of the Position 

FRC is currently implementing a project in Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) in Gambela region, with special emphasis on inclusion of vulnerable groups; persons with disabilities (PWDs), women and youth, through specific activities and actions taken to ensure their access and participation in learning groups and literacy trainings.  

FRC is expanding its operations, both humanitarian and in development, through a more comprehensive selection of functional adult education courses but also in terms of geographical scope, sectors and target groups. In order to enhance its expansion plans, FRC is now looking for a qualified and dynamic Protection Specialist to enhance the provision of tailored and specialized protection services to vulnerable refugees, IDPs and host communities (e.g. women and girls, persons with disabilities, youth), thus ensuring the quality and purpose of our current and future interventions and contribute to the development of a comprehensive protection approach.  

The Protection Specialist’s primary responsibility will be to develop and lead on FRC’s protection strategy and its implementation, including Gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and mitigation responses, with specific emphasis on the identified vulnerable groups, and inclusion of persons with disabilities.  

The Protection Specialist will lead and coordinate the implementation of protection activities across FRC’s interventions providing technical support to the staff of FRC and its national implementing partners and ensuring timeliness and quality planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. The responsibilities and activities of the Protection Specialist will be extensive and fluid, depending on the shifting needs of the organisation, and are likely to include, but not be limited to, those listed below. 

Duties and Responsibilities  

 30% Protection Strategy and Planning  

• Lead the FRC Protection and Inclusion Strategy development and implementation through planning of relevant activities and developing guidance notes for implementation  
• Develop protection tools and provide trainings for staff and partners 
• Through relationships with identified vulnerable groups, authorities 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 senior management. 
• Support design and preparatory activities for assessments, baselines and evaluations. 
• Foster an understanding of the context – political, cultural etc and community expectations, within the Programs team and contribute to the development of contextually appropriate program design. 

  20% Coordination and Networks  

• Represent FRC and actively participate in all relevant national level protection clusters/working groups and networks, reporting back to FRC Management on the needs and focus areas  
• Support and guide the Field Offices’ assigned protection staff (disability focal point and program staff) in their active participation in relevant local level clusters, working groups and networks 
• Contribute to building the capacities of local actors through involvement in their capacity-building planning, localized protection network meetings and co-facilitating their training session where needed  
• Liaise with relevant public authorities and service providers in order to foster effective collaboration and encourage national interest and ownership in protection of refugees and other persons of concern.
• Act as PSEA focal person at country office level. 

 30% Programmatic Support  

• Advice, guide and build the capacity of the program team in the implementation of the protection and inclusion strategy 
• Ensure that the perspectives, capacities, needs and resources of the vulnerable groups are reflected in the organizational strategy, planning processes and operations plan. 
• Work with the Program Manager to ensure Protection program is implemented in ways responsive to communities, partners and target groups in line with FRC’s principles, values and strategic plan and compliant with FRC’s procedures 
• Promote confidence building and conflict resolution among the identified vulnerable groups, authorities and host communities. 
• Conduct follow-up monitoring visits to ensure that needs have been met in an appropriate manner and beneficiary have the opportunity to provide feedback on the assistance received. 
• Ensure protection implementation in projects across the country as per the strategic direction of the organization. 
• Ensure reasonable accommodation of inclusion in project intervention (in humanitarian as well as development interventions)  

10% Reporting  

• Provide verbal and written feedback to supervisor on progress, lesson learnt, achievements and gaps, issues and problems. 
• Guide and support the MEAL and Field Team in providing disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems; research, collects and disseminates relevant protection information and good practices to enhance protection delivery and provide technical advice  
• Ensure participatory, community-based protection approaches 
• Support persons of concern to develop structures that enhance their participation and protection. 
•  Other tasks as assigned by the line manager.  

Professional Standards:

FRC staff must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the FRC Code of Conduct. 

Location : Addis Ababa with regular travel to operational areas  

Duration :One year contract with possible extension

Job Requirements

Required qualifications:  

• University degree in Law, International Humanitarian law, migration and refugee studies, social or political sciences or other related fields; 
• Relevant professional experience of eight years with a Bachelor’s degree, and 6 years of professional experience with Master’s degree, preferably in humanitarian and/or refugee contexts; prior experience or familiarity of working with internally displaced persons and refugees would be a distinct advantage 
• Familiarity with international protection and human rights legal standards, with special emphasis on women rights and SGBV and/or disability inclusion, would be a distinct advantage
• Prior experience or familiarity within INGO sector would be an advantage
• Experience of working in the field of reporting and monitoring to include experience in developing plans, tracking results, reporting to different partnering agencies
• Good spoken and written English and relevant computer skills  
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills and respect for persons with disabilities and other vulnerabilities  
• Ability to work in a multicultural context as a flexible and respectful team player as well as independently
•  To be successful in this role you must be a self-starter, have great communication skills and be motivated by contributing to the development of a new and fast-moving INGO  
• Experience in management of a team and excellent analysis and reporting skills; with a high regard toward preserving confidentiality of work-related information and data will also be required.  

How to Apply

Applications (CV and cover letter including minimum salary requirement) shall be sent by mail to recruitment.ethiopia@refugeecouncil.fi  by 21^st December, 2021.

Note: Refer in the subject of your email to the following code: FRC/ADD/PS/8/21. FRC is an inclusive employer and we welcome applications especially from persons with disabilities, and women.