Child Protection Officer, Psycho-Social Support, Gaza

Job Description

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 50 countries and more than 25 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

The IRC launched an emergency response in oPt in 2023, responding to the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. Prior to October 7th, in June 2023, we conducted a scoping mission to oPt, in the West Bank, and subsequently developed a strategic plan to initiate programming in the West Bank. Since then, and in the context of catastrophic fighting and renewed violence, the IRC has initiated an emergency response in Gaza and developed a response plan with partners which includes Gaza and the West Bank. Implementing a diverse, integrated program of health, protection, cash, and scaling up in WASH and nutrition, these programs prioritize local partnerships with both public institutions and civil society, and span emergency, humanitarian, recovery, and development modalities, while serving vulnerable Palestinians in oPt.

In Gaza, the IRC is currently scaling up its direct program implementation in protection, with a particular focus on child protection and women’s protection and empowerment / gender-based violence (GBV) programming. IRC’s child protection program in Gaza aims to ensure that girls and boys are protected from and treated for the consequences of violence, abuse, and exploitation, family separation is prevented, and appropriate care is provided in emergencies.

Position overview

The Child Protection Officer will be responsible for supervising and coordinating all group mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) activities for children and caregivers implemented by IRC’s Child Protection Team in Gaza. He/she will ensure that they are in line with IRC’s program guidelines and implemented according to CP best practices, minimum standards and principles. He/she will be in charge of conducting regular support and supervision visits, verify records, write reports and support with other administrative tasks, as required. In addition, he/she will lead on implementing risk reduction activities for children and caregivers and liaising with other stakeholders (other IRC sectors, partner organizations, service providers, community members etc.) to ensure that the implemented Child Protection activities meet the needs of affected children and caregivers.

Responsibilities

Program Implementation

• Provide daily guidance and monitoring of community workers to ensure that group MHPSS activities and services for children and caregivers are implemented in line with IRC’s program guidelines, workplans and according to CP best practices, minimum standards and principles.

• Conduct daily support and supervision visits to group MHPSS activities organized for children and caregivers, conduct structured observations of community workers and document this.

• Ensure that CP activities, meetings, referrals and documentation happen in a safe, timely and quality manner.

• Support the identification of children who have been separated from their caregivers and who have been harmed or are at-risk of harm.

• Receive referrals from other sectors for child protection services and ensure that children and caregivers are well-integrated into CP activities and services.

• Ensure that children and caregivers with more specialized needs are referred to the relevant services and receive the information they need

• Ensure that registers of children, caregivers and community workers are accurately recorded and reported.

• Lead the recruitment and training of community workers, in coordination with community representatives and the CP Manager.

• Lead on the implementation of risk reduction activities together with community workers.

• Review comments received in suggestion boxes and other feedback mechanisms with community workers and report them to the CP Manager to discuss further actions.

• Ensure respect for children’s participation in all activities, including their regular and proactive consultation to support the quality and relevance of interventions.

• Support MEAL activities to support quality programming, in coordination with the CP Manager and MEAL Team.

• As requested, contribute to the collection of MEAL data to support the development of project proposals and strategy of the Child Protection sector.

• Ensure that there is regular interaction between the IRC and community members.

• Regular communicate with the CP Manager for updates on achievements, challenges, lessons learned and opportunities.

• Assist in regular performance monitoring of partners to achieve the set project’s objectives.

Supervision and Development

• Supervise and train community workers.

• Ensure support and ongoing capacity building opportunities for community workers on technical and managerial skills.

• Ensure timely completion and submission of attendance trackers / timesheets by community volunteers.

• Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions.

• As requested, assist in providing capacity building support for partners

Administration and Reporting

• Lead and coordinate all planning and reporting of CP-MHPSS activities.

• Prepare and submit weekly activity work plans, reports and other required documents in a timely manner to agreed-upon deadlines; contribute to monthly reports as requested.

• File and archive all important documents and correspondence related to CP-MHPSS activities.

• Support the implementation of and adherence with CP work plans and MEAL plans.

Coordination and Representation

• Actively coordinate with staff from other IRC sectors, including women’s protection and empowerment (WPE), nutrition, WASH, supply, security, finance etc. in the field.

• Actively develop, coordinate, maintain and strengthen effective working relationships with Partners.

• Actively develop and maintain effective working relationships with relevant local actors in the field, including community, non-governmental and governmental actors.

• Participate in relevant coordination meetings at the community level.

• Closely collaborate with organizations and partners working in implementation area.

Other

• Attend trainings organized by the IRC.

• Stay informed about the child protection situation and developments within the communities and surrounding areas.

• Consistently and proactively monitor the safety and security of field teams, promptly reporting concerns or incidents to IRC management and liaising with other external parties as required to maintain/enhance the security environment.

• Promote and adhere to the principles, objectives and code of conduct of the IRC.

• Act both professionally and personally in a manner that brings credit to the IRC and does not compromise its humanitarian mission.

• If necessary, provide translation and interpretation at meetings, training sessions and/or documents for a better understanding of all staff.

• Assist identifying new implementing partners and arrange meetings with partners to discuss their program implementation when necessary.

• Conduct any other task requested by his/her supervisor to enable and develop IRC programs

Job Requirements

Qualifications

• Degree desired in Social Work, Psychology, Education, Human Rights, Social Science, Humanities or other related field.

• At least 2-3 years’ experience in implementing child protection programs, preferably in the field of MHPSS programming for children, parenting programs for caregivers, and CP risk reduction in humanitarian or development settings.

• Demonstrated understanding of working with children who have been affected by conflict, disasters or other humanitarian crises, particularly unaccompanied and separated children and children at-risk of violence, exploitation, abuse or neglect.

• Previous experience supervising and coordinating a team preferred.

• Previous experience in capacity building and mentoring preferred.

• Previous experience in emergency response preferred.

• Positive and professional attitude, including ability to lead and work well in a team setting.

• Demonstrated ability to liaise with partner organizations.

• Good organizational and planning skills.

• High degree of flexibility and strong ability to organize work, meet deadlines, maintain composure, prioritize work under pressure, coordinate multiple tasks and maintain attention to detail.

• Highly motivated, interested and eager to learn.

• Fluency in Arabic; good English skills.

• Available to travel within Gaza, as required.

Standard of Professional Conduct:The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.

Commitment to Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: The IRC is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, respectful, and safe work environment where all persons are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. The IRC expressly prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or bullying of the IRC persons in any work setting. We aim to increase the representation of women, people that are from country and communities we serve, and people who identify as races and ethnicities that are under-represented in global power structures.

Job Details

Job Title Child Protection Officer, Psycho-Social Support, Gaza

Deadline 19 - Jul - 2024

Location Gaza Strip

Job Type Full time

Position Level Entry Level

Salary N/A

Degree Bachelor's degree

Experience 2 Years

Category Other

Application Instructions

Qualified candidates are encouraged to aply through Apply Now

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