Senior Protection Officer.

International Rescue Committee · Ramallah

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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.

POSITION OVERVIEW
The Senior Protection officer will provide overall leadership, technical oversight, and management of IRC’s integrated protection portfolio in the west Bank, encompassing Women’s Protection and Empowerment (GBV prevention and response) and Child Protection programming.

The role is responsible for ensuring high-quality, survivor- and child-centred programming, strong partner management, and close coordination with internal IRC sectors and external protection actors. The Senior Protection officer will work closely with the Integrated Protection Coordinator to ensure coherence across protection interventions, alignment with humanitarian standards, and strategic growth of IRC’s protection response.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Program Leadership & Management

• In close collaboration with the Integrated Protection Coordinator, lead the establishment, scale-up, and ongoing management of IRC’s integrated Child Protection and Women’s Protection & Empowerment programs in the West Bank, with a particular focus on unaccompanied and separated children, children at heightened protection risk, and women and adolescent girls at risk of or experiencing gender-based violence.

• Provide overall strategic and managerial leadership for the CP and WPE portfolios, ensuring coherence, complementarity, and alignment across interventions, geographic areas, and partners.

• Ensure all CP and WPE activities are implemented in accordance with approved project proposals, including workplans, spending plans, procurement plans, and MEAL frameworks, and in compliance with IRC and donor requirements.

• Oversee and monitor program budgets across CP and WPE, ensuring effective resource allocation, value for money, projections and timely expenditure in line with approved budgets.

• Provide oversight of procurement and distribution processes for protection activities, including the review and follow-up of procurement requests and ensuring distribution plans are context-appropriate, timely, and compliant.

• Lead and oversee monthly and weekly planning processes across CP and WPE partners to ensure timely implementation, adaptive prioritization, and achievement of program targets in a volatile operating environment.

• Provide senior-level supervision and support to CP and WPE partners through regular field presence, mentoring of managers and team leads, and oversight of implementation quality, timeliness, and budget adherence.

• Coordinate closely with IRC Supply Chain, Finance, Grants, MEAL, Partnerships, and other relevant departments to ensure operational efficiency, compliance, and timely reporting across the integrated protection portfolio.

• Ensure close coordination and full compliance with IRC Security and Safety policies, proactively assessing and mitigating risks to staff, partners, and program delivery.

• Oversee the preparation and timely submission of high-quality internal reports, consolidating inputs from CP and WPE teams and partners, providing analytical updates on progress, challenges, risks, and lessons learned.

• Maintain regular and strategic communication with the Integrated Protection Coordinator on program performance, emerging protection trends, operational constraints, and opportunities for adaptation or scale-up.

Technical Quality

• Provide overall technical leadership, guidance, and quality assurance across IRC’s Child Protection and Women’s Protection & Empowerment programs in the West Bank, ensuring coherence, integration, and adherence to global standards.

• Ensure the delivery of high-quality, contextually appropriate CP and WPE interventions in line with international best practices and minimum standards (including CPMS and GBV Minimum Standards), as well as IRC program models, guidelines, and donor requirements.

• Oversee and strengthen case management, referral, and information management systems across CP and WPE, ensuring safe, ethical, and effective identification, response, and follow-up for:

• children harmed or at risk of harm, including unaccompanied and separated children, and

• women and adolescent girls at risk of or experiencing gender-based violence.

• Ensure that CP and WPE partners are provided support to deliver quality case management approaches that are survivor- and child-centered, rights-based, and fully aligned with established referral pathways and protection principles.

• Oversee the partners’ interventions for CP and GBV, and prevention activities for children, caregivers, women, and adolescent girls, ensuring fidelity to IRC curricula and appropriate adaptation to the context.

• Ensure that protection risk mitigation and prevention activities across CP and WPE are informed by analysis, implemented according to best practices, and coordinated with other sectors to reduce exposure to harm.

• Work closely with the MEAL Department to ensure the design, implementation, and use of robust MEAL systems, including ethical data collection, routine monitoring, learning, and evidence-based program adaptation.

• Ensure the meaningful participation of affected populations, including children, women, and adolescent girls, in program design, implementation, and feedback mechanisms, in line with IRC accountability commitments.

• Maintain regular, strategic communication with the Integrated Protection Coordinator to analyze protection trends, assess safety outcomes, and inform programmatic and advocacy priorities for women and children.

Staff Supervision & Development

• Facilitate ongoing coaching and capacity building for partners’ protection staff on technical and management skills; identify needs to further strengthen capacities of protection staff.

• Maintain open and professional relations with CP and WPE team members, promoting a strong team spirit, and providing oversight and guidance to enable CP and WPE staff to successfully perform in their positions.

Partner Management

• Maintain and strengthen effective working relationships with IRC’s local protection partners delivering child protection and gender-based violence.

• Support the regular performance monitoring of partners to achieve the set project’s objectives, in close collaboration with the Integrated Protection Coordinator and the Partnerships Teams.

• Provide regular technical support and guidance to IRC’s local CP partners in line with the partnership agreement.

• Work with partner organizations and IRC’s MEAL team to conduct regular analysis of data collected from the field to inform collective programming decisions.

Coordination & Representation

• Coordinate with other IRC sectors to receive and provide input and support regarding responses for children harmed and at risk of being harmed.

• Actively develop and maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders, including IRC’s implementing partners, local authorities, UN agencies, international and local NGOs, community actors and other relevant stakeholders

• Attend CP and GBV Technical Working Groups at the sub-national and national level, as well as other relevant coordination meetings, to contribute to coordination and advocacy for child protection and GBV responses across agencies.

Program Development

• Proactively identify new or emerging needs, gaps, and opportunities for IRC’s child protection and WPE programming to enhance the safety of clients in their homes and communities.

• In close collaboration with the Integrated Protection Coordinator, contribute to the development of project proposals and the strategic direction of the child protection and WPE program.

Other

• Attend trainings organized by the IRC

• 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.

• Consistently and proactively monitor and assess 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.

• Perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor to enable and develop IRC programs.
  

QUALIFICATIONS

• BA or equivalent in Social Work, Gender or women studies; Psychology, Education, Human Rights, Social Science, Humanities or other related field. MA preferred.

• Minimum 3 years of progressive professional experience in the design, implementation, and management of Child Protection and Women’s Protection & Empowerment / GBV programs in humanitarian and/or development settings, including emergency contexts.

• Demonstrated technical expertise in:

• Child Protection case management, including unaccompanied and separated children and alternative care considerations

• GBV case management and survivor-centered response

• MHPSS programming for children, caregivers, women, and adolescent girls

• Protection risk reduction and prevention activities across CP and GBV

• Demonstrated experience in project and budget management and reporting.

• Previous experience supervising and managing a team

• Demonstrated experience in capacity building and mentoring of staff/ partners

• Previous experience in emergency preparedness and response preferred.

• Demonstrated ability to liaise with partner organizations.

• Good planning and organizational skills, strong communication and interpersonal skills

• Good computer skills, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint.

• Personal qualities: Team player, network-builder, flexible, ability to multi-task and handle pressure well,

• Fluency in Arabic and English required.

• Available to travel within the West Bank.
  
  

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, colour, 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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