Regional Protection Officer (P)

The Regional Protection Officer will provide thematic oversight and technical support for Protection, Return and Reintegration programmes in the East Horn and Southern Africa region. The role involves coordination with IOM offices, government counterparts, and partners to ensure high-quality protection outcomes for migrants and to support operational and policy guidance.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to drafting/reviewing protection assessments and identify risk mitigation strategies focusing on operational settings, accessibility of services, protection risks for vulnerable groups, key protection actors, and referral pathways.
• Provide technical guidance and support to national and international protection staff in the EHSA Region to ensure high-quality outcomes for migrants and advise on operational coordination and adherence to IOM policies.
• Ensure appropriate coordination in line with IOM and interagency standards and participate in relevant coordination mechanisms or task forces.
• Provide remote and in-person thematic support to Country Offices in the context of response setup and assistance provision, ensuring a coherent approach across interventions.
• Be available for short-notice international deployments outside the duty and home station to support urgent protection responses.
• Represent RO EHSA in technical meetings and forums, including with donors, partners, and stakeholders.
• Identify emerging operational priorities and contribute to the design and development of project proposals and activities based on results frameworks and donor requirements.
• Support the Senior Regional Migrant Assistance Specialist in case management coordination, including technical input to review complex Assisted Voluntary Return cases and internal approval processes.
• Contribute to developing and delivering specialized training on AVR, case management and protection interventions.
• Contribute to the exchange of lessons learned, best practices and tools at the regional and intra-regional level.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Social Sciences, International Relations/Affairs, Research, Law, or a related field from an accredited academic institution with five years of relevant professional experience; or, University degree in the above fields with seven years of relevant professional experience.
• Experience working with migrants, civil society, and governments.
• Experience working in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams.
• Proven experience supporting protection programming, as well as mainstreaming protection across operations, preferably across multiple countries.
• Proven experience providing protection and assistance to migrants in vulnerable situations and communicating with individuals who have complex needs.
• Experience working in return and reintegration programs.
• Experience in capacity building, training delivery, and the development of operational tools and guidance is preferred.
• Experience with IOM or other UN agencies, and specialized protection programs, is preferred.
• Strong knowledge of IOM and inter-agency protection standards and operational procedures and guidelines.
• Solid coordination skills.
• Ability to research and adapt to different operational and cultural contexts.
• Strong writing, editing, presentation, and training facilitation skills.
• Excellent computer skills, including proficiency in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, email/internet software, and relevant statistical analysis packages.
• Knowledge of UN cooperation frameworks and bilateral donor programming requirements.
• Ability to gather, consolidate, and attribute information from multiple sources.
• High degree of judgment and initiative, with the ability to work independently within assigned responsibilities.
• Strong interpersonal and teamwork skills.
• Proven ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people of diverse cultural and national backgrounds.
• Fluency in English is required (oral and written).
• Working knowledge of Portuguese and other official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish) is an advantage.

Skills

• Protection Programming
• Mainstreaming Protection
• Assisting Migrants
• Return and Reintegration
• Capacity Building
• Training Delivery
• Operational Tool Development
• Inter-agency Protection Standards
• Protection Operational Procedures
• Coordination Skills
• Research Adaptation
• Writing and Editing
• Presentation Skills
• Training Facilitation
• MS Word
• Excel
• Power Point
• Statistical Packages
• UN Cooperation Frameworks
• Bilateral Donor Programming
• Information Consolidation

Languages

English