International Protection Officer

Job Title: International Protection Officer

Function: Programs

Duty Station: Multiple Locations (Ninewa Governorate, Northern Iraq)

Line Manager: Team Leader

Line Management Responsibility: None

ABOUT US

Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) is a dynamic, international non-governmental organization. We work to reduce violence and protect civilians in countries affected by violent conflict and its aftermath through the implementation of unarmed civilian protection programming. NP implements programming by deploying civilian protection teams to the field and is continuing to scale up to meet the growing needs of the communities we serve. Programming is founded on unarmed civilian protection and is thematically focused on protection in displacement, child protection, gender-based violence protection, and inter-communal violence reduction.

JOB PURPOSE

The International Protection Officer will implement community-based violence reduction and prevention programming in various locations in Iraq, in the context of ongoing civil conflict and high levels of displacement, GBV, and familial violence. You will be a person with a genuine commitment to working at the community level, skilled at building trusting relationships in an extremely polarized political climate. You are someone who is not deterred by the complexity of conflict; you are able to analyze conflict dynamics; you are motivated and unendingly persistent in finding and implementing protection and prevention strategies. You will be responsible for working together with other international and national colleagues to directly implement the project and to participate in reporting and documentation. You are comfortable living and working in a physically demanding environment, living full-time in a shared compound environment.

The successful candidate combines creativity, innovation, and demonstrated knowledge of conflict and violence prevention, protection, and/or peacebuilding and social cohesion. S/he is experienced and skilled at converting violence prevention, social cohesion, and/or conflict analysis theory into practical and locally appropriate solutions that effectively increase the safety and security of civilians affected by violence. S/he has excellent interpersonal skills and a flair for connecting and building trust with people from a wide variety of backgrounds. S/he is solutions focused, strategic, and driven by a keen interest and personal commitment to civilian protection. S/he is fluent in English.

KEY OBJECTIVES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Commitment to NP Principles

• Demonstrate a commitment to NP’s mandate, principles, and Code of Conduct.
• Facilitate a full-time approach to ensuring a positive image of the organization

Programme Implementation

• Information gathering and context analysis

  • Continuously monitor local conflict situations in order to track violence and conflict trends and identify protection needs.
  • Assess security risks and develop conflict mitigation strategies for both host and IDP communities and returnees
  • Work and live within conflict-affected communities to build trust, establish deep contextual understanding, and to effect nonpartisan position

• Community Engagement

  • Facilitate active participation and leadership of women in community peace and security strategies
  • Build relationships with key stakeholders, including government, security, and tribal leadership
  • Identify and flag communities or individuals in need of specialized support services, maintain updated referral pathways, ensure effective dissemination of information
  • Establish and support community protection mechanisms, including intensive follow-up and support.

• Training

  • Provide technical skills training in conflict analysis, nonviolent conflict resolution, and community-based protection strategies or other technical areas based upon previous experience (GBV, at-risk youth, Child Protection)
  • Develop training materials and tailor existing training materials to field-level contexts to be used with local communities

• Protective presence, accompaniment, and other interventions

  • Design and implement protection interventions appropriate to context and need within the parameters of mandate and projects
  • Provide protective presence and accompaniment to vulnerable groups and persons with specific needs, with particular focus on combating gender-based violence.
  • Facilitate communications and relationships between communities or individuals in conflict, providing proactive engagement to mitigate potential conflict including facilitated dialogue and shuttle diplomacy
  • Manage cases of individuals who are vulnerable or under threat, including working with other service providers and managing a follow-up process.

Administration and Operation

• Reporting

  • Produce activity, field, and training reports and support the Team Leader in internal and external reporting as needed

• Security

  • Support the team in consistent security analysis and development of security protocols.
  • Ensure all project work is consistent with agreed safety and security policies and procedures

• Logistics/Finance

  • Complete team-level finance reports as requested and support monitoring of team cash, spending, and financial documentation
  • Support team-level logistics and operations, including completing procurement requests, supporting asset management, and compound management
  • Assist with procurement of supplies or other logistical matters when delegated by the Team Leader

Other

• Perform any other work duties assigned by the Team Leader
• Be available to work in any field site as needed by the organization.

QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES

Education, Knowledge, and Experience

• 2+ years of work experience in conflict and violence reduction, human security, protection, social cohesion, and peacebuilding. 3-5 years of work experience preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze conflict, security, and political contexts
• Demonstrated ability to live, work and solve problems independently and effectively. Preferred experience in remote, highly challenging locations
• Preferred experience in working in complex security environments
• Preferred experience interacting with state authorities and security actors

Skills

Independent Judgment/Analytical

• Ability to set priorities, solve problems and analyze data
• Ability to manage information with discretion
• Demonstrable conflict analysis skills, identify entry points and design violence prevention and protection strategies
• Solutions-focused, creative problem solver

Interpersonal

• Ability to communicate effectively with individuals and motivate and provide leadership to the team and to work and live in a multi-cultural environment
• Proven ability to build relationships with the full range of actors including government, sheikhs, military, police and nonstate actors
• Genuine commitment and interest in living and working at the community level
• Flexibility and adaptability

Language

• Fluency in English
• Spoken Arabic highly preferred

Information Technology

• Good skills in Microsoft Office applications.