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 40 countries and 29 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.
ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.
The IRC began planning to reopen an oPt country program in mid-2022 and launched an emergency response in Gaza in October 2023. The organization is currently supporting a network of local partners in both Gaza and the West Bank to sustain critical health, protection, food security, cash, education, and early childhood development interventions. The IRC is also deploying emergency medical teams to provide surge clinical capacity in hospitals and other health facilities.
The IRC is working to scale its emergency response while building a longer-term oPt country program in parallel. This effort is being jointly managed by the Emergencies and Humanitarian Action Unit (EHAU) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a view to eventually transition the country program fully under the MENA region.
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
Under the supervision of the Senior Protection Officer (MHPSS).The 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 Protection Team in Gaza. He/she will ensure that they are in line with IRC’s program guidelines and implemented according to child 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 Protection activities meet the needs of affected children and caregivers. We look for one to lead the implementation in south ( Deir Elbalah – Khanyounis and Rafah ) and one in North ( Gaza) .
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 Protection 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 protection services and ensure that children and caregivers are well-integrated into protection 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 Sr Protection Office.
- 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 Sr Protection Officer 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 Sr Protection Office and MEAL Team.
- As requested, contribute to the collection of MEAL data to support the development of project proposals and strategy of the Protection sector.
- Ensure that there is regular interaction between the IRC and community members.
- Regular communicate with the Sr Protection Officer 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 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 MHPSS activities.
- Support the implementation of and adherence with Protection work plans and MEAL plans.
Coordination and Representation
- Actively coordinate with staff from other IRC sectors, including women’s protection and empowerment (WPE), nutrition, Health , WASH, supply, security, finance etc. in the field.
- Actively develop, coordinate, maintain and strengthen effective working relationships with
- 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 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
QUALIFICATIONS - Degree desired in Social Work, Psychology, Education, Human Rights, Social Science, Humanities or other related field.
- At least 3-4 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 Individuals 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 and Gender Based Violence GBV.
- 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 preferred .
- Available to travel within Gaza, as required.
- Standards of Professional Conduct: The IRC and IRC workers adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Equality, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation. Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, colure, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Conflicts of Interest, Fiscal Integrity, and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe, and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.
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