Protection Team Leader (Community Engagement)

DRC has been responding to various humanitarian crises in Lebanon since 2004, working with Palestinian, Iraqi and Syrian refugees. DRC received registration from the Ministry of Interior in 2011, and since then has focused primarily on responding to the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon and the resulting impact on Lebanese host community. DRC Lebanon’s focus is to ensure that we are able to respond to critical emerging humanitarian needs whilst improve the living conditions of displacement-affected populations and contribute to the achievement of durable solutions.   With an annual portfolio of $12million, and with approximately 200+ staff,  DRC is focusing its response in protection and economic recovery (Ec-Rec) sector in Bekka, North Lebanon and Beirut. DRC is also contributing to the evidence base and coordination structures in country through our Evidence Generation and referral information management (RIMs) teams.

About the job

The Protection Team Leader (General Protection) has the overall responsibility for managing, supervising and coordinating DRC Protection activities in North Lebanon. The Protection Team Leader (TL) will be responsible for the day-to-day staff management and the management of the protection programming while ensuring quality implementation and donor compliance.

Your main duties and responsibilities will be:

Programming and Operations:

• In collaboration with the Area Protection Manager, provide technical support, supervision and guidance to the protection team;
• Ensure that staff adhere to best-practices, professional standards and principles, and relevant SOPs and guidelines through capacity-building and on-the-job coaching;
• Develop comprehensive and tailored capacity building plans for protection staff and implementing partners based on respective needs and ensuring quality services;
• Hold monthly meetings with the protection team and with the officers individually to share updates, discuss challenges and successes. Provide constructive feedback and discuss opportunities for improvement;
• Monitor the efficient and accurate updating of all relevant protection data, including referral data. Regularly compile relevant program data and make note of trends observed
• Develop and maintain effective working relationship with relevant stakeholders including partner agencies, implementing partners, community leaders and service providers;
• Contribute to the maintenance of an up-to-date service mapping of service providers operating in the area and ensure that protection staff are informed about the available services
• Work closely with DRC local partners and provide the needed field level support, including capacity-building and trainings;
• Remain abreast of SOPs and best practices at the field, on the national and global level
• Identify technical gaps in the program and identify/implement solutions to address these gaps;
• Act as focal point for DRC partners in North Lebanon while leading the implementation of the agreed technical capacity building and coaching plans;
• Support the monitoring of financial commitments and expenditures against budgets and provide timely feedback on budget follow-up;
• Coordinate proactively logistics and movements of staff from and to different operational areas and Initiate procurements and ensure their execution. 

Staff management

• Maintain updated job descriptions, conduct interviews, orient new staff to the DRC and the General Protection program;
• Day to day management and supervision of Protection staff (General Protection), and ensuring that staff implement and respect best-practice and international standards in protection;
• Prepare and submit weekly and monthly work plans in a timely manner;
• Build the capacity of Protection Officers and Assistants to improve their range of capabilities related to the protection program;
• Maintain positive work relationship within the team, and promote team-building efforts;
• Monitor staff working hours, complete performance review with staff, and ensure respect of DRC Code of Conduct;
• Ensure with the Area Protection Manager, field managers and the Safety team that protection activities are organized in a way that guarantees safety of beneficiary families, partners and DRC staff involved (i.e. confidentiality);
• Provide recommendations to the protection sector and program design based on evolving needs and field experience.

Grant Implementation and Reporting

• Ensure the implementation of protection programming and protection-related grants, including appropriate and timely spending plans of grants to achieve program goals, grants reporting contributions, use and distribution of supplies and resources;
• Understand and follow up on activities and assess progress of implementation, provide solutions and report issues when needed;
• Produce monthly reports and support the Area Protection Manager in the submission of timely, accurate and well-written donor reports and other reporting requirements of protection programming (including Donor reports and Activity info);
• Support the implementation of monitoring and evaluation tools and report on problems in the implementation of the program;
• With the support of Area Protection Manager and Protection Manager at country level, contribute to and provide field-related inputs for protection proposals during the proposal development process;
• Remain abreast of ongoing trends in Lebanon and in the region as related to protection programming, and provide regular updates on these trends and how they affect programming.

Sector Coordination and representation

• Actively participate in relevant field-working groups and co-chair the relevant working groups where relevant, and participate in other coordination meetings as relevant;
• Represent DRC Protection sector before relevant donors at field level

Monitoring & Evaluation

• Support the Area Protection Manager in overseeing and ensuring achievements of targets according to DRC and donors’ requirements through overall management of the protection programming (through the use of indicators performance trackers and project MEL tools).
• Ensure implementation of monitoring and evaluation tools and report on problems in the implementation of the program;
• Oversee and ensure analysis of results and guide Protection staff to use these results to enhance program effectiveness and quality.

Accountability

• Ensure that the Protection program is compliant with DRC accountability principles and Core Humanitarian Standards.
• Ensure that Age, Gender and Diversity principles are mainstreamed into all activities and work closely with other DRC sectors (incl. Economic Recovery and MEAL) to ensure that Child Protection is adequately addressed and mainstreamed across sectors and humanitarian interventions;

About you

To be successful in this role we expect you to have a Bachelors university degree, preferably related to social work, law, psychology, and development

 Moreover, we also expect the following:

Required

• At least 3 years of proven experience in implementation of protection programming; human rights and/or advocacy work,
• At least 2 years of previous managerial experience: managing a department or a sector with multiple subordinates
• Proven experience working in displacement and emergency settings
• Experience in organizing and facilitating capacity-building initiatives, including trainings for colleagues and partners
• Familiarity with community-based protection programming and ability to incorporate lessons learned from similar experiences
• Experience in implementing projects through local partners and providing direct technical support to local organizations
• Thorough understanding of best practices and minimum standards in protection programming;
• Significant knowledge of International Human Rights and Refugee Law.
• Proven experience in community mobilization and community-based programming, and experience with referral management;
• Experience in training facilitation and inputting to training contents.
• Ability to provide technical support and trainings to protection staff;
• Previous experience with data collection and analysis and understanding of different data collection methodologies;
• Excellent interpersonal and problem-solving skills, diplomacy skills, flexibility and pro-activeness
• Strong planning and time management skills
• Comfortable in a multicultural environment, flexible with working hours and able to handle pressure and high workload
• Strong written and oral communication skills, effective in representation and liaison with external parties.
• Above average computer literacy (incl. Excel)

In this position, you are expected to demonstrate DRC’ five core competencies: 

Striving for excellence: You focus on reaching results while ensuring an efficient process.  

Collaborating: You involve relevant parties and encourage feedback. 

Taking the lead: You take ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation. 

Communicating: You listen and speak effectively and honestly. 

Demonstrating integrity: Upholding and promoting the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in relation to DRC’s values and Code of Conduct, including safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

We offer

Contract length: Until 30 April 2023

Band/Level: G1,1

Duty Station: North of Lebanon

Start date: September 2022

Salary and conditions will be in accordance with Danish Refugee Council’s Terms of Employment; please refer to drc.ngo under Vacancies. For questions regarding the vacancy please contact [email protected].

Application process

All applicants must upload a cover letter and an updated CV (no longer than four pages) in English. Applications sent by email will not be considered.

Closing date for applications: 16 August 2022

For further information about the Danish Refugee Council, please consult our website drc.ngo.