Senior Community-Based Protection Assistant – Italy

Italy remains one of the major points of arrival for persons of concern seeking protection to Europe, with most arriving by sea via the Mediterranean. In 2022, the population of concern to UNHCR in Italy increased considerably, mainly due to the war in Ukraine. By the end of December 2022, 174,000 Ukrainians had officially arrived, and 167,000 applied for temporary protection, making Ukrainians the biggest population of concern to UNHCR in the country. In parallel, more than 101,000 arrived by sea, increasing sea arrivals by 54%, compared to 2021. With many more women and children among the Ukrainian population, this also changed the composition of PoC, presenting other risks, needs and capacities.

A considerable Ukrainian population is expected to remain in Italy for years to come, and their arrival led to widespread use of family-based and other new reception models and the introduction of temporary cash assistance. During 2022, the needs in reception and integration multiplied and the dispersed reception and residence of the Ukrainian population brought pressure for a more prominent role of municipalities and local services in meeting needs.

The political and institutional stalemate in Libya and growing instability in Tunisia, the two main countries of sea departure along the Central Mediterranean route, highly impact the mixed movements towards Italy. The developments in Tunisia in 2023 meant that the country replaced Libya as main country of departure to Italy this year, with 90,223 people arrived (+372% increase) in comparison to the same period (1Jan-1Oct) of last year (19,119 people arrived). Overall, as of 1 October 2023, over 133,800 persons arrived in Italy by sea in 3,000 landings, an 86% increase compared to the same period in 2022 (72,000).

In Italy, UNHCR works with the Italian government, other organizations, the host community and refugees themselves to uphold the basic human rights of people forced to flee and stateless persons, and to improve laws and national systems so refugees and stateless persons stay safe, enjoy fundamental rights such as documentation, education, work and other socio-economic rights. Through its staff and partners, UNHCR is engaged in activities aimed at ensuring protection to persons of concern, addressing protection risks in an Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) sensitive manner, with a particular focus on persons with specific needs, such as unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) and survivors of gender-based violence (GBV). UNHCR’s protection delivery is based on a community-based an right-based approach, which aims at putting people of concern at the center of all decisions affecting their lives. Based on this approach, UNHCR promotes active refugee participation in all aspects of the UNHCR programme cycle, builds protection strategies and solutions in partnership with them and supports the community’s own goals, also through effective engagement and communication with communities.

UNHCR staff perform a variety of tasks country-wide, including: providing new arrivals with information on international protection and monitoring land border procedures and their potential impact on access to asylum and other relevant procedures, and supporting the authorities in identifying persons with specific needs; working with authorities, partners and refugee communities and organizations to identify persons with additional protection needs, such as UASC, survivors of GBV and other persons at risk, so that they can be promptly referred for follow-up and appropriate services; monitoring reception conditions, and providing support to the National (and local) Commission for the Right to Asylum, including on the reform of the RSD procedure. UNHCR also seeks to help refugees thrive in Italy and fully contribute to the economic, cultural and social life of the country, through support to the implementation of the Government’s national integration plan, as well as relevant guidelines on vulnerabilities, provision of information and counselling on rights, entitlements and obligations, promote communication tools and engagement with the private sector to promote refugees’ employment, and by working with relevant authorities and Italian universities to promote access to education at all levels. Furthermore, the agency engages on GBV and child protection and other specific needs’ response through dedicated and specialized programs.

Duties and responsibilities:

• Support in providing technical guidance to partners and government counterparts on CBP minimum standards, policies, guidelines and best practices under overall direction of the CBP Officer, consistently applying International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct.
• Assist in the design and implementation of the country-level CBP plans as part of the overall protection strategy.
• Contribute to assessing and analyzing protection needs, trends and gaps through multi-sectoral and protection specific assessments and support the implementation of integrated responses to PSN.
• Assist interagency coordination with other agencies as well as with civil society organizations at national level as needed.
• Support the GBV fp in policy and partnerships related technical tasks, in particular way, under the guidance of the CBP Officer and the GBV Associate staff, facilitate coordination and serve as liason between partners’ representation at national level and CBP staff field level as well as participate to inter-agency meetings to follow-up on specific joint projects with other UN agencies.
• Assist the CBP Officer who cover the role of PSEA coordinator/pf in Country in her related duties and responsibilities on this function.
• Carry out individual case management related tasks as per office/unit Area of Responsibility (HelpDesk) in coordination with the partner.
• Support the Child Protection (CP) fp of the unit to operationalize specific activities such as providing comments on existing and draft legislation related to PoC in particular way on child protection, contribute to the management of CP partnerships and advocacy-related tasks with institutional and non-institutional stakeholders and support the unit/CP fp in carrying out capacity building activities as well as designing and developing plans with key stakeholders as per need.
• Draft reports, update relevant documents within the Area of Responsibility (AoR), routine correspondence and provide general support to CBP team in daily/routine activities and perform other related duties as required.