Protection Assistant

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Protection Officer or their designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Protection Assistant will:

• Assist UNHCR in developing a strategy to link with the identified groups to share up to date information and encourage communication by refugees with humanitarian agencies;

• Establish partnerships or good working relationships with key Ukrainian and Slovak actors working on community engagement;

• Assist with creating content to share through UNHCR’s communication channels in collaboration with UNHCR teams to share information on available services and their providers, on the rights and duties of refugees and asylum-seekers in Slovakia;

• Listen to community members and stay up to date with information sharing and discussion channels to identify risks to refugees and Slovak communities or potential rumors and misinformation that UNHCR can help clarify;

• Contribute to the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of UNHCR’s engagement with refugees and Slovak communities through different approaches, including online and offline, and make recommendations to UNHCR teams on how to improve;

• Regularly update and share information related to ongoing work in community engagement, utilizing agreed data collection methods to identify gaps, assess trends and developments;

• Support two-way communication mechanism using community based approaches between UNHCR and persons of concern (Ukrainian refugees) by passing on useful information to the different refugee communities while promoting and supporting community engagement, resilience and active participation of refugees in the Slovak social, economic and cultural life;

• Promote and support community mobilization for organizing social, cultural and recreational events among refugee and host communities;

• Assist UNHCR in organizing participatory activities and awareness-raising sessions with persons of different age groups, gender and background;

• Assist in exploring opportunities for mainstreaming persons of concern into available national services and contribute to developing communication strategies with persons of concern to access such services;

• In coordination with the supervisor, assist in monitoring visits to Community Based Organizations/Refugee-led NGOs/Initiatives and other partners to oversee programme implementation and provide inputs for further planning;

• Contribute to the planning, monitoring and evaluation of any further community outreach activities.

• Contribute age, gender and diversity mainstreaming in all of UNHCR Slovakia’s activities;

• Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.

Results/Expected outputs:

• As an active UNHCR team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNHCR and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including:

• Ensure that relationship and communication of UNHCR with refugee communities and acting partners are smooth, and refugee needs are adequately identified and reflected in UNHCR protection programming;

• Ensure that communication strategies with persons of concern are in place in a manner to enhance their access to such services such as education and health;

• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment;

• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.