General Functions:  

During 2017 and 2018 the humanitarian situation across large parts of Syria has continued to deteriorate, particularly in the north-western governorates of Aleppo and Idleb. This is characterized by poor access to basic life-saving commodities and services, large scale displacements, increasing vulnerabilities of population in need, damages to key infrastructures and restricted movement of goods and people, with large swathes of NW Syria not being accessible to humanitarian actors. The 2018 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) estimates that 13.1 million people inside Syria live in dire conditions and require humanitarian assistance; 5.6 million of whom face acute humanitarian needs. The operational constraints for humanitarian actors remain significant, with regulatory challenges and limited access to affected populations and the communities most in need of assistance.

As outlined in the HNO 2018, civilians in Syria continue to face an ongoing protection crisis. Amid active hostilities in many parts of the country, high levels of civilian casualties continue to be reported and point to violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL). Needs of affected populations are exacerbated by risk factors such as the lack/loss of civil documentation, loss or damage of housing, lands and properties (HLP) and HLP documentation, and effective legal support. Other key protection concern  include child labour preventing school attendance, early marriage, HLP issues, explosive hazards, domestic violence, family separation, economic exploitation, child recruitment, sexual violence, kidnapping/abduction, and sexual harassment. 

The protection assistant will provide support to the IOM cross-border protection team, which along with selected local implementation partners is providing wide-ranged stand-alone (ad hoc) protection projects in Northwest Syria (Aleppo and Idlib Governorate), including support to survivors of Gender Based Violence, provision of Child Protection, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support services, Protection Monitoring, Civil Status Documentation and Housing, Land and Property (HLP) support, Counter Trafficking, Family Tracing and Reunification (FTR) and Mine Action activities (risk education and victim assistance).

Under the overall supervision of the Cross-border Coordinator and direct supervision of the Protection Officer, the incumbent will be responsible for the day to day support to the activities of IOM’s cross border protection team, to follow up on protection cases and mainstreaming protection activities internally, liaision with the implementing partners for projects’ related activities, capacity building and reporting.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Draft and submit proposals, budgets and concept notes together with the Protection Unit, and tracking project progress, identify inconsistencies and deviations and propose corrective actions.

2. Provide administrative support in the project implementation including filing, preparing purchase and payment requests, following up of delivery and progress of activities and preforming other financial activities in coordination with procurement and resource management unit.

3. Coordinate with implementing partners on the drafting of the service agreement, planning activities and submission of weekly, monthly and quarterly reports in timely manner, and review and provide feedback accordingly

4. Track capacity building records for IOM and implementing partners (IPs) project staff, and coordinate meetings and appointments with the implementing partners (IPs), including preparation of agenda and minute taking.

5. Attend protection, protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), and gender workshops.

6. Conduct ongoing trend analysis on issues that may impact the protection environment in NW Syria, understand and identify the needs and the capacities of the persons of concern and advise the protection team and the Implementing partners accordingly, highlighting the specific protection needs of women and men, children, youth and older persons, persons with disabilities and marginalized groups.

7. Attend cluster and other protection related meetings and/or fora as required and if necessary.

8. Draft purchase requisition (PR) and follow up with procurement and finance units, and assist in planning and monitoring of programmes and budgets.

9. Follow up closely with the case management team in issues related to protection and family reunification.

10. Prepare and draft correspondences within the protection programme.

11. Conduct presentation management and training sessions to IOM staff and the implementing partner staff in close coordination with the national protection officer.

12. Organize and arrange safe-keeping of files such as implementing partners’ agreements, individual cases, and arrange data in excel sheets to retrieve numbers for reporting

13. Act as focal point for Protection-related reporting to other units, including the monthly SitRep and collating and sharing beneficiary numbers,

14. Assist the PSEA coordinator if and when needed.

15. Perform such other duties as may be assigned.

Required Qualifications:

Education: 

• University degree in Political Science, International Relations, Sociology, Law, Social Science or a related field from an accredited academic institution, with four years of relevant professional experience; or 

• Completed High school degree from an accredited academic institution, with six years of relevant professional experience.

Experience: 

• Experience in the field of migration, IDP (Internally Displaced Person) and protection (including specific knowledge of GBV, Child Protection, PSS, and Human Trafficking);

• Experience in emergency operations and liaison with other UN and non-UN humanitarian actors;

• Understanding of complex social-political environments;

• Knowledge of the Syrian conflict and its impact on the affected population;

Languages: 

• Fluency in English and Arabic is required.  

• Knowledge of Turkish is an advantage.

Required Competencies

The incumbent is expected to demonstrate the following values and competencies:

Values:

• Inclusion and respect for diversity: 

Shows respect and sensitivity towards gender, culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, political conviction and other differences.

• Encourages the inclusion of all team members and stakeholders while demonstrating the ability to work constructively with people with different backgrounds and orientations.

• Promotes the benefits of diversity; values diverse points of view and demonstrate this in daily work and decision making.

• Challenges prejudice, biases and intolerance in the workplace.

• Integrity and transparency: 

Upholds and promotes the Standards of Conduct and Unified Staff Regulations and Rules.

• Delivers on commitments; manages the organization’s resources reliably and sustainably.

• Embraces and encourages transparency, balancing this with the need for discretion and confidentiality as appropriate.

• Maintains impartiality and takes prompt action in cases of unprofessional or unethical behaviour.

• Does not abuse one’s position and acts without consideration of personal gain. Is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns.

Professionalism: 

Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter and willingness to improve knowledge and skills.

• Seeks to raise professional standards in self and others through daily work and activities.

• Adapts quickly to change and is decisive and versatile in face of uncertainty.

• Shows self-control and persistence when faced with difficult problems and remains calm in stressful situations.

• Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.

Core Competencies – behavioural indicators level 1 

• Teamwork: Establishes strong relationships with colleagues and partners; relates well to people at all levels.

• Is fully aware of the team purpose, respects and understands individual and collective responsibilities.

• Willingly puts in extra effort without being asked and adopts a "hands-on" approach whenever necessary to achieve team objectives.

• Coordinates own work with that of the team to meet agreed priorities and deadlines.

Delivering Results:

•Produces quality results and provides quality services to clients.

• Meets goals and timelines for delivery of products or services.

• Manages time and resources efficiently, monitoring progress and making adjustments as necessary.

• Shows understanding of own role and responsibilities in relation to expected results.

• Managing and sharing knowledge: 

• Keeps abreast of new developments in own field of competence and creates opportunities for knowledge management initiatives.

• Shares knowledge and learning willingly, and proactively seeks to learn from the experiences of others.

• Puts new learning into practice and draws on diverse sources of ideas and inspiration.

• Contributes to the identification of improvements to work processes and assists in implementing them.

Accountability: 

•Accepts personal responsibility for quality and timeliness of work.

• Takes ownership of all responsibilities within own role and honours commitments to others and to the Organization.

• Operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules.

• Accepts and gives constructive criticism; acknowledges and corrects mistakes and apply lessons learned for improvement.

Communication: 

•Presents information using language and sequence of ideas that is easy for recipients to understand.

• Adapts communication to the recipient’s needs, asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication.

• Encourages others to share their views, using active listening to demonstrate openness and to build understanding of different perspectives.

Listens carefully and genuinely to the views and positions of others; acts on received information.

Other:

Any offer made to the candidate in relation to this vacancy notice is subject to funding confirmation. 

Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearances.

Only candidates residing in either the country of the duty station or from a location in a neighbouring country that is within commuting distance of the duty station will be considered. In all cases, a prerequisite for taking up the position is legal residency in the country of the duty station, or in the neighbouring country located within commuting distance, and work permit, as applicable.

Please be advised that this is a local position and as such only applications from candidates with a valid residence / working permit residing in Turkey will be considered.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are requested to submit their application including the most recent CV with a cover letter in English with contact details (name, position, phone and e-mail details) of three references by indicating  name of the position applied with its VN number in the subject line of the e-mail to to iomtrjobs@iom.int or to IOM Birlik Mahallesi Sehit Kurbani Akboga Sok. No:24  06610, Çankaya, Ankara Turkey by the end of  25 December 2018. 

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.