Overview
The Protection Specialist will support the Protection Coordinator in leading Gender Based Violence prevention and response programming, providing technical leadership, quality assurance, mentoring, and supervision for GBV interventions.
Key Responsibilities
- Ensure DRC's and partner's protection interventions and GBV prevention/response activities align with best practices and interagency standards.
- Develop guidelines, SOPs, and tools for safe, sensitive, and quality protection activities.
- Provide technical oversight for GBV prevention, risk mitigation, and response, including case management, psychosocial support, Women and Girls Safe Spaces, community-based prevention, and referral pathways.
- Ensure GBV case management adheres to GBV guiding principles.
- Establish and maintain supervision, case review, and case-conferencing mechanisms.
- Support service mapping, referral pathway updates, and coordination with relevant services.
- Advise sector teams on GBV risk mitigation and safe referral.
- Provide technical leadership for the safe and ethical use of GBVIMS/GBVIMS+ and other approved GBV case-management information systems.
- Support GBV mainstreaming across the organisation.
- Assess staff and partner capacity, develop capacity-strengthening plans, and deliver coaching, mentoring, and training.
- Strengthen partner systems for safe service delivery, technical supervision, safeguarding, accountability, and ownership of GBV programming.
- Develop and maintain a community of practice for consistent approaches and peer learning.
- Coordinate with Protection Managers, Team Leaders, Specialists, and IM teams.
- Participate in relevant technical working groups and coordination forums.
- Support harmonization of approaches with inter-agency standards and national guidance.
- Support the Protection Coordinator and Head of Programme on planning and designing protection-related proposals.
- Develop protection-focused program monitoring tools.
- Monitor protection project work plans, M&E plans, and recruitment plans.
- Undertake quality control and site monitoring.
- Conduct program monitoring as per expected outputs and outcomes.
- Monitor the implementation of specialized services.
- Review project and programme donor reports.
- Explore new business and partnerships and develop quality proposals, concept notes, and budgets.
- Provide technical supervision to GBV staff.
- Contribute to the recruitment and performance management of protection staff.
- Develop staff capacities on rights-based approaches, participatory protection assessments and monitoring, interagency GBV guidelines, and inclusion of vulnerable groups.
- Conduct and supervise internal and external trainings on protection-related issues.
Required Experience
Minimum five years of progressively responsible protection experience, including at least three years focused on GBV programming in humanitarian, refugee or internal-displacement settings. Demonstrated experience in survivor-centred GBV case management and supervision, psychosocial support, referral systems, community-based prevention and GBV risk mitigation. Advanced practical knowledge of inter-agency GBV standards and tools. Experience designing, monitoring and adapting multi-site programmes; developing technical guidance; and contributing to proposals, budgets and donor reports. Strong record of training, coaching and mentoring staff and local partners, including remote and field-based technical accompaniment. Experience with coordination mechanisms, government counterparts, UN agencies and national/local organizations. South Sudan or comparable emergency experience is an advantage.
Qualifications
Minimum a university or graduate degree in social studies, international development, gender, or other relevant field.
