Integrated Protection and Gender Coordinator

Job Title: Integrated Protection and Gender Coordinator

Duty station: Ramallah, with regular visits in WeWorld’s oPt offices in West Bank and Gaza Strip

Reports to: Global Protection and Community Engagement Expert

Accountable to: Global Protection and Community Engagement Expert

Work in Coordination with: Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA) Coordinator, Programmes Division, Operations Department, MEAL Department, Sectoral Technical Coordinators (WASH, Shelter, Education, Food Security & Livelihood etc.)

Duration: 8 months (including 3 months’ probation), renewable

WeWorld has been working in Palestine since 1992, operating in the field of human rights, humanitarian aid and development to guarantee Palestinian communities access to basic services and available natural resources, in particular with regard to integrated service management, the strengthening of the integrated protection of the population and the enhancement of local socio-economic development in a sustainable and innovative way, with particular attention to the social and economic empowerment of women.

WeWorld in Palestine has 5 offices (Jerusalem, Ramallah, Hebron, Tubas and Gaza Strip). Over the decades, WeWorld has implemented several interventions funded by multiple donors: ECHO and EU, UN agencies as UNICEF and OCHA, as well as national agencies such as AICS, SIDA, GIZ, JICA, GFFO, FCDO, and others.

With a people-centered approach, the priorities are always identified together with the communities we serve, with a specific focus on a triple Nexus approach. The significant amount of data and analysis collected and elaborated by WeWorld in oPt inform the intervention of multiple agencies in Country. WeWorld is a member of the Global WASH Cluster and is part of all the clusters at national level: WASH, Education, Food Security/Livelihoods, Shelter, Protection and Health. WeWorld is currently active in emergency operations and activities within Gaza to support the ongoing crisis.

Job Position Overview

WeWorld is recruiting an Integrated Protection and Gender Coordinator for its operations in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), who will report to and work under the technical mentoring and supervision of the Global Protection and Community Engagement Expert. She/he will contribute to addressing protection risks and barriers to humanitarian services, facing women, men, girls, and boys affected by violence and conflict, working in close collaboration with programme sector leads, as well as the Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA) Coordinator, the Head of Operations and the Programme/Project Managers, the MEAL Manager and Officers, the Protection Officers and the Community Engagement Officers. Furthermore, she/he will work in constant dialogue and cooperation with key partners, stakeholders and service providers, either governmental or non-governmental 

national and international, representing WeWorld in inter-cluster meetings and fora on issues falling within the scope of protection and other areas of responsibilities [GBV, child protection]. Yet importantly, she/he will contribute to creating and enhancing a protection culture within the mission, promoting gender equality, women and girls’ protection and empowerment, and integrating gender considerations into all aspects of the work. Yet importantly, she/he will play a crucial role in ensuring that gender perspectives are effectively incorporated into programming.

The Integrated Protection and Gender Coordinator will provide leadership and technical oversight of protection and gender activities in the oPt and will be committed to ensuring that protection and gender are duly mainstreamed across all programmes and projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in regular consultations with the WASH Coordinator, other WeWorld’s Cluster focal points and programme sector coordinators. She/he will actively search for fertile ground for integration of protection and gender crosscutting components - including a special attention to gender-based violence (GBV)’s prevention, mitigation and response - into WeWorld’s main humanitarian sectors of intervention in the oPt. She/he will have specific responsibility for overseeing WeWorld’s Individual Protection Approach (IPA) and referral system, holding accountability to related duties within the WBPC, in the role of Referral Focal Point. The Integrated Protection and Gender Coordinator will ensure that WeWorld activities in the oPt are inclusive and implemented in compliance with WeWorld‘s policies and standard operating procedures (SOPs), protection mainstreaming principles, do no harm, IASC guidelines and core humanitarian principles and standards. Yet importantly, she/he will strengthen the mission’s capacity on safeguarding and protection from sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (PSEAH), in compliance with WeWorld’s safeguarding policies and in collaboration with WeWorld’s Safeguarding Focal Point and the CEA Coordinator.

Main Responsibilities

The Integrated Protection and Gender Coordinator is responsible for ensuring the effective design, implementation, and monitoring of protection-oriented interventions within WeWorld, facilitating the definition of the integrated protection and gender strategy in-country, promoting protection and gender mainstreaming across programmes and projects as well as safe, confidential and effective referral pathways through high-quality referral system and solid SOPs, under the guidance of Global Protection and Community Engagement Expert and in close collaboration with other programme sector leads in the mission, other relevant staff members and external stakeholders.

The Integrated Protection and Gender Coordinator performs a cross-cutting role within the oPt mission, with a variety of functions and tasks. She/he is responsible for mentoring, training and building the technical capacities of the staff operating on the ground, particularly protection officers and community engagement officers, in coordination with the CEA Coordinator.

Programme Design and Management

• Design a comprehensive integrated protection and gender strategy in the oPt, contributing to the overall in-country programmatic strategy and in line with regional and global strategies and priorities, consistently to international standards.
• Provide strategic direction, leadership and overall technical management of WeWorld’s integrated protection response in West Bank and Gaza, ensuring high program quality and appropriately phased scaling up of interventions.
• Ensure technical programme quality and alignment with global core standards, including the Inter-Agency Minimum Standards for GBV in Emergencies Programming and the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action.
• Mainstream protection across the main humanitarian sectors of WeWorld’s interventions in the oPt, prioritizing ‘do no harm’, meaningful access and participation, safety and dignity, empowerment, and accountability, in close collaboration with the CEA Coordinator and the MEAL Department.
• Lead and directly contribute to the design, implementation, and coordination of WeWorld’s emergency integrated protection and gender programming, focusing on women and girls’ protection and empowerment interventions.
• Support the Head of Programmes in resources mobilization and seeking new funding opportunities for integrated protection and gender type of interventions.
• Manage, strengthen and monitor the proper functionality of WeWorld’s IPA referral system in the oPt, proposing simplification and improvements, in cooperation with the Data Analyst and the Digital Solutions Manager in the mission.
• Act as WeWorld’s Referral Focal Point for the WBPC, supporting the implementation of the Consortium’s multi-sector referral mechanism in line with the related ToR, understanding and promoting complementarities with the IPA.
• Promote alignment with WeWorld’s Code of Conduct, PSEAH and Safeguarding (including Child Safeguarding) policies on a programmatic level, in collaboration with the oPt Safeguarding Focal Point.
• Ensure Disability Inclusion is mainstreamed across WeWorld interventions in the oPt and meaningful access to assistance is guaranteed for all, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized groups and individuals.
• Dedicate a specific focus and efforts on identifying and plan for the most effective mitigation of potential and actual gaps and obstacles to inclusion across all intervention sectors and areas.

Technical and Operational Support

• Ensure technical program quality and alignment of other macro-sectoral interventions with global and minimum standards, including the Inter-Agency Minimum Standards for GBV in Emergencies Programming and the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action.
• Ensure high-quality implementation and monitoring of the strategic oPt Protection Roadmap, in coordination with the Global Protection and Community Engagement Expert, enriching it with context-specific insights and technical inputs.
• Promote inter-sectoral referrals such that individuals can claim their rights and access the entire minimum package of services across sectors.
• Ensure a holistic response to GBV cases is prioritized on the ground and mentor frontline -specialized and non-specialized- staff to follow standard operating procedures for safe and confidential referrals and disclosures’ reception.
• Develop and/or adapt technical tools and approaches and deliver creative solutions to mitigate challenges in the operating context and facilitate day-to-day implementation.
• Identify relevant capacity building opportunities to improve capacities of the protection staff related to gender-based violence and child protection through internal resources and external actors.
• Ensure that the field and protection officers always apply the IPA component in the field in full respect of ‘do no harm’ and protection principles.
• Ensure compliance of required procedures and recommended tools for the identification, assessment, monitoring, and referral of Persons with Specific Needs (PwSN).
• Provide technical support and assistance to projects teams and mainly in assessments design, planning, implementation, and reporting guaranteeing high quality standards.
• Participate in the identification and assessment of IPA cases and support/advise protection officers in monitoring of the referrals, in line with the IPA SOPs.
• Ensure integrated protection and protection and gender mainstreaming in all WeWorld projects and proposals, and implementation of the projects.

Staff Management and Capacity Building

• Recruit, on-board, and technically supervise protection teams, and provide targeted capacity building and professional development as needed, including technical guidance, on-the-job coaching and supervision, and capacity development plans on technical skills.
• Develop work plans for integrated protection and gender activities, highlighting milestones and key deliverables.
• Develop a plan to ensure a smooth and effective supervision of the implementation of the protection tools, proposing and creating new simplified ones, in compliance with minimum international standards.
• Provide regular capacity building, mentoring and coaching to the protection officers and community engagement officers to ensure that integrated protection and gender components are implemented according to the minimum international standards and that referrals are conducted safely, confidentially and effectively.
• Comply with and ensure that new protection staff are acquainted with WeWorld Code of Conduct and policies related to PSEAH and Child Safeguarding. This includes ensuring that staff and communities have knowledge of and safe, confidential access to reporting mechanisms and support services.
• Communicate effectively with WeWorld’s project managers, Head of Programmes, Head of Operations, Global Protection and Community Engagement Expert, sharing information and discussing protection and gender gaps and concerns.
• Assist in the coordination of visits and meetings related to integrated protection and gender issues on the ground in coordination with other projects teams.

Monitoring, Reporting, Research and Analysis

• Strengthen sectoral monitoring and reporting capacities to capture disaggregated gender, age, disability data and other relevant characteristics to understand protection risks specific to the context, in close collaboration with MEAL Department.
• Identify potential protection and gender risks and gaps in the current WeWorld’s humanitarian response in West Bank and Gaza Strip in other relevant sectors of action and develop a context-specific risk mitigation plan and related monitoring plan, with the support of the MEAL and Operations Departments.
• Ensure that multi-sector risks are incorporated into protection risk analysis and that threats that increase the likelihood of harm to a population are duly addressed and monitored within WeWorld response.
• Process and monitor IPA referrals on the IPA Information Management System, in cooperation with the protection officers, ensuring up-to-date reporting and analysis.

• Conduct research and analysis on integrating gender-based violence interventions in humanitarian action and particularly WeWorld’s main sectors and modalities of intervention in Palestine, such as WASH, FSL, Shelter, Education/Child Protection, Cash and Voucher, including Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance.
• Integrate protection analysis and information from Protection Cluster, sub-clusters and inter-sectoral technical working groups to reflect the different risks and barriers in accessing assistance (health, education, legal, financial etc.).
• Contribute to an effective Incident Reporting mechanism within the West Bank Protection Consortium, actively supervising the reporting and monitoring of the disruption of donor-funded infrastructures in the West bank and East Jerusalem.
• Prepare regular reports and briefings on integrated protection and gender-related findings and recommendations for internal and external purposes.
• Enrich and regularly update WeWorld oPt service mapping, with focus on Protection, Health, including MHPSS, GBV, Child Protection sectors.
• Develop and apply (integrated) protection and gender-tailored indicators for monitoring and evaluating the impact of programs and initiatives, in coordination with the MEAL Department.
• Plan, elaborate and ensure effective protection analysis and gender, age and diversity disaggregation of data collected, in collaboration with the Community Engagement and Accountability Coordinator and the Research and Data Analysis Specialist, to inform programmatic decisions and reporting.
• Support in donor engagement and reporting on integrated protection and gender-related topics.

Coordination, Representation and Communication

• Represent WeWorld in the fora and coordination meetings organized by the Protection Cluster, GBV Area of Responsibility (AoR), Child Protection AoR in West Bank and Gaza Strip, duly coordinating WeWorld response and proactively proposing relevant initiatives in cooperation with other cluster’s partners and key stakeholders, paying a special attention in minimizing overlapping and duplication risks.
• Networking and actively develop and maintain effective working relationships with key actors, including donors, government actors, UN agencies, international and local NGOs, and other relevant actors.
• Work closely with key external stakeholders and increase partnerships with crucial service providers in the areas of intervention, including maintaining and creating strong referral pathways to support IPA effective implementation.
• Ensure protection risks and concerns are brought to relevant fora to advocate for standards and procedures that systematize integrated protection and gender programming’s implementation, strengthening existent (formal and informal) coordination mechanisms on the ground.
• Coordinate programme sector leads and cluster focal points’ support on finding opportunities for inter-sectoral integrations and applying the oPt Protection Roadmap, in consultation with project managers and frontline staff.
• Coordinate with relevant stakeholders, including government agencies, NGOs, and community-based organizations, to ensure the achievement of effective and sustainable protection outcomes for the affected individuals and communities.
• Coordinate with cross-sectoral areas of work, e.g. MHPSS via the MHPSS Technical Working Group, to incorporate data and indicators that are relevant to the cross-sectoral work stream within each project.

Jobs.ps, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Job Requirements

Qualifications and Knowledge

• Educational background in Sociology, Social Sciences, Gender Studies, International Development, Psychology or other related fields
• Proven knowledge and studies on General Protection, Child Protection, Gender, GBV and Human Rights
• Deep understanding of the Palestinian context and challenges

• Good command of written and spoken English
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, and in particular Excel, Word and PowerPoint
• Valid driving license

Professional experience

• Proven experience (at least 4/5 years) in protection and gender programming or other related fields
• Previous experience/knowledge of protection referral mechanisms and integrated protection
• Representation experience with institutions and participation in coordination meetings
• Demonstrated experience in staff supervision, capacity building and mentoring, as well as project proposals design and writing

Personal Skills

• Strong analytical and research skills and attention for details
• Leadership, planning, organization and teamwork skills
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Proactive and dynamic attitude, as well as ability to adapt and work collaboratively with diverse teams and stakeholders
• Flexibility and ability to adapt and work under constraint, pressure and in complex situations
• Integrity with regards to humanitarian principles, NGO values and ethical standards
• Genuine interest in and commitment to collaborating with local and national NGOs and government partners in emergency programs

WeWorld is an equal opportunity organization and will not allow discrimination based upon age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, national origin, disability, race, size, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background, or any other status prohibited by applicable law. WeWorld has also a zero-tolerance approach to any harm to, or exploitation of, a child or a vulnerable adult by any of our staff, related persons or partners. Safeguarding checks are part of the selection process. WeWorld commitment to being a safe organization begins with the staff recruitment process which includes meticulous checks, such as criminal records checks or check disclosure of previous convictions, to ensure children and vulnerable people are safeguarded and abuse is prevented. WeWorld promotes a welcoming, diverse and discrimination- and harassment-free workplace and expects the highest standards of behavior from all its staff, who are requested to adhere to the principles and behavioural rules defined in the CoEC and the Organisational Policies. The CoEC and all the internal policies can be found here: https://www.weworld.it/en/about-us/transparency.

Interested qualified candidates should Click on (Apply Now) no later than 22 Oct. 2024. 

 Noting that the CVs and applications should be submitted only in English