Protection Legal Counseling

Job Title:

Protection Legal Counseling

Job Location:

Gaziantep

Reporting to:

Senior Project Officer

The application deadline is the 07 Nov 2024.

General Description of the Programme:

SENED is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization licensed and registered in Türkiye with the number 27-15-175. SENED Organization was established shortly after the Syrian Nakba and in response to the suffering of millions of Syrian refugees in Turkey as well as internally displaced people in Syria, to alleviate suffering, achieving justice, equality, and freedom, strengthening the role of civil society, and supporting and developing the local community. SENED works in the humanitarian work sectors to support, empower, and educate the community through several programs, takes exceptional care of people with disabilities and their families and defends their issues.

SENED Association emphasizes creating safe, accessible, and participation-encouraging living conditions for individuals' emotional, intellectual, physical, and social development by focusing on people with disabilities. Beyond the medical perspective on disability, it tries to find solutions to the problems faced by disabled people with a holistic perspective by considering the disabled people, their families, and the society they live in, focusing on the conditions they experience. SENED Association aims to create a safe and supportive environment and space by conducting family-oriented activities to help disabled individuals and their families become stronger, discover their potential and stand by with their children. By collecting data on refugee-disabled people and identifying problems and needs, SENED strives to ensure harmony between disabled refugees and local people with a voluntary, professional team and a community-based approach. All activities, education, research, advocacy, etc., are carried out on platforms created by local and disabled refugee people.

Job purpose:

Under the supervision of Sr Project Officer, Protection Legal Counsellor will be responsible for ensuring quality implementation of legal protection activities in community center and field, to refugees and vulnerable individuals by offering legal information counseling sessions, assessing cases, identifying solutions, delivering legal awareness sessions, advocating for beneficiaries, making referrals, and liaising with internal teams and external partners.

Duties, objectives, and competencies

·       Provide legal and other relevant information to beneficiaries in person, on the phone and by email etc.

·       Research individual cases, assess problems and identify possible courses of action together with the client.

·       Provide awareness raising session legal content, keep it updated, train the Protection Team to disseminate the information. 

·       Ensure that at all times beneficiaries are aware of what options are available to them and that they are empowered to pursue chosen options and assisted to access resources.

·       Produce information for protection publications, leaflets etc.

·       Advocate and make representations to mainstream service providers on behalf of beneficiaries.

·       Refer beneficiaries to other sources of help, for example solicitors, social workers or special case workers who may represent the client in court, at tribunals or other official bodies.

·       Liaise with other internal departments and external organizations on behalf of beneficiaries.

·       Keep up to date with appropriate legislation and policies regarding Syrian refugees and refugees living in Turkey in general.

·       Interpret and explain legislation, official documents, or the content of letters to beneficiaries.

·       To work on a flexible basis by performing other tasks not included above, but as necessitated by the needs and changing circumstances.

·       To keep up to date with legislation and policy relevant to the post to ensure effectiveness and competence in delivering a high-quality service.

·       To work in partnership with service providers and key stakeholders to provide a holistic approach to meet service beneficiaries needs.

·       In coordination with team leadership, assist with broader advocacy efforts as requested by collecting case data, writing reports, briefings, articles, and case profiles.

·       Understand and follow up on activities and assess progress of implementation, provide solutions and report issues when needed.

·       Develop and maintain effective working relationships, including service as referral focal points, with relevant stakeholders including partner agencies, community leaders and service providers

·       Participate in inter-agency meetings.

·       Support Protection staff through the provision of technical support and guidance on legal aid.

·       Contribute to monthly reports.

·       Ensure impartiality, and confidentiality of beneficiaries, at all times, is respected.

·       Support and promote the standards outlined in the Code of Conduct and associated policies to project team.

·       Any Any other duties related to the nature of the job as directed by the supervisor.

Requirements (essential)

·       Turkish Citizenship.

·       University in Law degree; ability to practice law in Turkey, active member of Turkish Bar Association.

·       At least 3 years of general experience and 2 years of humanitarian sector experience.

·       Strong communication skills, both verbal and written in Turkish.

·       Experience of community-based programs, social work and/or field case management experience.

·       Understands rights and protection issues of refugees, children, and women.

·       Level of knowledge and practice with Word, Excel, Outlook, etc. required.

Requirements (desired)

·       At least 2 years’ work experience in similar position (in paid or voluntary capacity) preferably experience in Southeast of Turkey.

·       Experience working with people with disabilities is an asset.

·       Language skills of Arabic and English will be considered as advantage.

How to apply: Interested candidates may please send their resumes with the cover letter and fill out the application link.

General terms and conditions

Safeguarding

Disabled beneficiaries, children and vulnerable adults must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failings that place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury and any other harm. One of the ways that SENED shows this ongoing commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

Diversity

SENED is committed to creating a genuinely inclusive, effective, and representative organizational culture, encouraging employee equity and diversity, and eliminating discrimination. Having a diverse profile of employees, different age groups, backgrounds, cultures, etc., including various experiences and capabilities, helps us understand, represent, and serve children better. Therefore, all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment regardless of race, religion, gender, disability, or age.

Procedures

If needed, SENED will submit a work permit application for the selected candidate after the job offer is accepted. Failure to provide the required documents or rejection of a work permit application by the Government of Türkiye will result in rescinding the employment offer.

This Job Description only serves as a guide for the position available. SENED reserves the right to change this document. Any published closing dates are estimated. Due to the nature of SENED’s work, we aim to fill vacancies as quickly as possible. This means we will close adverts as soon as we have found the right candidate, which may be before the published closing date. We would therefore advise interested applicants to apply as early as possible.

SENED Organization does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. | SENED Kuruluşu işe alım sürecinin hiçbir adımında ücret talep etmemektedir.

SENED retains the discretion to re-advertise the vacancy, cancel the recruitment, offer a contract with a modified job description or for a different duration, or offer a contract at a lower grade.