Protection Officer

Reports to: Project Coordinator/Country Representative
Location: Tongogara Refugee Settlement, Chipinge, Zimbabwe
Duration: Fixed Term Contract
Deadline: 9th January 2025

Terre Des Hommes Italia (TDH Italy), a child rights organisation seeks to hire a competent, qualified and experienced Protection Officer to support the projects implemented by TdH Italy in the Tongogara Refugee Settlement.

Job purpose

The Protection Officer will be responsible to provide a variety of protection interventions including Child Protection and GBV casework, advocacy and awareness raising and psychosocial support services in Tongogara.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead implementation of appropriate prevention and response services to protect women, girls, boys and men from all forms of abuse.
• Ensure that a functioning case management system is operational and responsive to the needs of refugees and other persons of concern.
• Develop and implement youth development programmes that improve adolescent protection, health, education, and economic empowerment outcomes.
• Lead in developing and conducting targeted protection assessments, care plans and home visits to survivors of abuse and individuals at risk of rights violation.
• Document all protection cases and update UNHCR’s and Government protection information data bases
• Strengthen existing school and community-based child and adult led protection structures
• Ensure that the camp-based protection referral mechanism is responsive and is linked with the overall district referral system.
• Provide age and gender appropriate psychosocial support mechanisms ensuring that relevant technical measures are implemented to track changes is socio-emotional wellbeing.
• Provide technical support to operationalize camp-based policies on accountability to affected persons encompassing appropriate safeguarding mechanisms.
• Monitor progress of care plans and agreements with the clients and amend where necessary.
• Participate in stakeholder coordination meetings and strengthen partnerships for multi-sectoral service provision to ensure adequate and timely provision of services.
• Ensure that protection is mainstreamed across all programming areas with clear indicators relevant to the sector.
• Produce reports whenever they are required and carry out, from time to time, additional duties commensurate with your grade as required

Qualifications and Experience

• Education:
MSc in Social Work with at least three years’ experience in Child Protection & GBV Case Management.

A BSc with at least 5 years of relevant experience
Training in Child Protection Case Management, GBV Case Management, or equivalent.
Certification in Psychological First Aid (PFA) or similar psychosocial support training is an advantage.

• Work experience

Experience of working with Department of Social Department and implementing the National Case Management System
Prior experience of working with refugees and/or internally displaced persons is an added advantage
Experience in using standard Child Protection, Sexual & Gender Based Violence, etc. reporting and output/impact indicators assessment tools
Prior experience working with humanitarian organizations or NGOs is an advantage

Key Skills

The person is expected to have the following key skills:

• Technical skills

o Knowledge of child protection, psycho-social support services and GBV prevention and response services and facilitating adolescent girl’s empowerment programmes
o Knowledge of best practices in providing psychosocial support services for survivors of violence, including trauma-informed care approaches.
o Strong skills in planning and conducting awareness-raising campaigns on protection issues, including child rights, GBV prevention, and response.
o Proven ability to deliver training and capacity-building sessions for community members, stakeholders, and frontline workers.
o Familiarity with advocacy for human rights, gender equality, and the protection of marginalized groups.
o In-depth understanding of national and international legal frameworks related to Child Protection and GBV (e.g., UNCRC, CEDAW).
o Knowledge of refugee protection frameworks and policies, particularly relevant to Zimbabwe

• Soft skills 

o Strong attention to detail.
o Excellent organizational and time-management abilities.
o Strong communication and interpersonal skills to work effectively with diverse teams and stakeholders.
o Good oral and written communication skills in English.
o Emotional resilience, patience and empathy
o Good networking and teamwork skills.
o Good decision making and time management.

Working Conditions 

• The position may require flexibility in working hours.
• The role involves interaction with multiple stakeholders, requiring adaptability and responsiveness.