The Office of the UNHCR was established on 14 December 1950 by the UN General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to re-turn home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country (www.unhcr.org).

The Associate Protection Officer, IUNV will report to Head of Field Office, Wau, the position is based in UNISFA compound and supporting Abyei Administration Area.

S/he will provide field operation management, leads a small team in assessment of protection and humanitarian assistance in the AoR. S/he also will ensure that PoCs are meaningfully engaged in the decisions that affect them, and support programme design and adaptations that are influenced by the concerns, priorities and capacities of them. Abyei Administrative Area is disputed area claimed by the governments of both South Sudan and Sudan. It borders Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State (Aweil East County) to the south-west, Warrap State (Twic County) to the south, and Unity State (Abiemnhom County) to the south-east.

It also borders East Darfur State and West Kordofan State of Sudan to the north-west and north, respectively. The Security Council, by its resolution 1990 of 27 June 2011, responded to the urgent situation in Sudan’s Abyei region by establishing the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). The Security Council was deeply concerned by the violence, escalating tensions and population dis-placement. The operation has been tasked with monitoring the flashpoint border between north and south and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid and is authorized to use force in protecting civilians and humanitarian workers in Abyei.

UNISFA’s establishment came after the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) reached an agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to demilitarize Abyei and let Ethiopian troops to monitor the area. Due to Sudan crisis in April 2023, UNHCR reopened the office at UNISFA in May 2023, to ensure protection and humanitarian assistance to refugees and returnees, in collaboration with CRA, UNs and partners in Abyei Administration area. UNHCR recruited 5 national staffs, established a transit center for L1 registration, as well relocation to Wedweil settlement in Norther Bahr El Ghazal state.

Under the direct supervision of Head of Field Office, Wau, the UN Volunteer will under-take the following tasks:

• Through relationships with persons of concern, authorities and network of partners stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment and provide advice to senior management.

• Ensure that the perspectives, capacities, needs and resources of the persons of concerns are reflected in the protection strategy, planning processes and operations plan addressing the specific protection needs of women and men, children, youth and older persons, persons with disabilities, minority groups such as sexual minorities and persons living with HIV/AIDS.

• Utilize the IDPs footprint during the planning process.

• Coordinate the promotion of international refugee law principles and standards and also IDP legislation or policies ensuring that all sectors and clusters fulfil their responsibilities mainstreaming protection.

• Coordinate the implementation and monitoring of programmes ensuring that identified protection needs, including an Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) approach, are adequately addressed.

• Provide policy guidance and operational support to UNHCR and partners on all protection related issues.

• Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to internal and external interlocutors; ensure legal assistance is accessible to persons of concern; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documents to persons of concern (civil documentation, in particular birth certificates).

• Monitor, and assist with the intervention in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents through working relations with governments and other partners.
• Assist in the coordinated implementation and oversight of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities.

• Ensure that durable solutions through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement are sought and provided to the largest possible number of per-sons of concern.

• Ensure through direct action and advocacy with more senior protection staff that the necessary resources are allocated to enable protection activities to identify and address protection and assistance gaps.

• Support a consultative process with government counterparts at local levels, partners and persons of concern to develop and implement integrated strategies that address the key protection priorities, including, for example, child protection, education and SGBV, and solutions approaches.

• Promote confidence building and conflict resolution among populations of concern, authorities and host communities.

• Maintain protection presence through regular field missions and reports, making direct contact with persons of concern, host communities, local authorities and partners.

In operations applying the humanitarian cluster system, contribute to ensuring that the response of the Protection Cluster is grounded in an AGD-compliant strategy which covers all assessed and prioritized protection needs of the affected populations.

• Contribute to the Protection team’s information management component which: provide disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems; research, collects and disseminates relevant protection information and good practices to enhance protection delivery and provide technical advice if necessary.

• Ensure participatory, community-based protection and AGD approaches are included in, strategies and plans in the country operation.

• Support persons of concern to develop structures that enhance their participation and protection.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:

• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for in-stance in events that mark International Volunteer Day).

• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country.

• Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities.

• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.

• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers

• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

• Please add any other information as necessary

11. Results/Expected Outputs:

• Integrity and professionalism: demonstrated expertise in area of specialty and ability to apply good judgment; high degree of autonomy, personal initiative and ability to take ownership; willingness to accept wide responsibilities and ability to work independently under established procedures in a politically sensitive environment, while exercising discretion, impartiality and neutrality; ability to manage information objectively, accurately and confidentially; responsive and client-oriented.

• Accountability: mature and responsible; ability to operate in compliance with organizational rules and regulations.

• Commitment to continuous learning: initiative and willingness to learn new skills and stay abreast of new developments in area of expertise; ability to adapt to changes in work environment.

• Planning and organizing effective organizational and problem-solving skills and ability to manage a large volume of work in an efficient and timely manner; ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor (own) work; ability to work un-der pressure, with conflicting deadlines, and to handle multiple concurrent pro-jects/activities.

• Teamwork and respect for diversity: ability to operate effectively across organizational boundaries; ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and harmonious working
relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity and gender.

• Communication: proven interpersonal skills; good spoken and written communication skills, including ability to prepare clear and concise reports; ability to conduct presentations, articulate options and positions concisely; ability to make and defend recommendations; ability to communicate and empathize with staff (including national staff), military personnel, volunteers, counterparts and local interlocutors coming from very diverse back-grounds; ability to maintain composure and remain helpful towards the staff, but objective, without showing personal interest; capacity to transfer information and knowledge to a wide range of different target groups;

• Flexibility, adaptability, and ability and willingness to operate independently in austere, re-mote and potentially hazardous environments for protracted periods, involving physical hardship and little comfort, and including possible extensive travel within the area of operations; willingness to transfer to other duty stations within area of operations as may be necessary.

• Genuine commitment towards the principles of voluntary engagement, which includes solidarity, compassion, reciprocity and self-reliance, and commitment towards the UN core values.

refugees and/or other people of concern in a protection capacity required.

• Field experience.

• Commitment to help persons of concern and willingness to cooperate with counterparts
.
This UNV assignment is subject to proof of vaccination against Covid-19 with WHO approved vaccine, unless the UNHCR Medical Service approves an exemption from this requirement on medical grounds.

Desirable Qualifications and Skills:

• Knowledge of UN policies and procedures.

• Good analytical skills.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills in a multi-cultural setting.

• Ability to live and work in the difficult and harsh conditions of developing countries is essential.

• Solid experience in coordination, protection assessment, monitoring, assistance, response, managing and leading refugees and or returnees and or internal displacement operation, from emergency assistance to durable solution.

• Experience in protection cluster coordination mechanism, information management, enable protection mandate, accountabilities, and prompt solution.

• Experience of UNHCR protection policies, guidelines and strategies, delivery results for assistance to Refugees/returnees/IDPs in coordination with local authorities and NGOs.

• Completed protection learning programme (PLP) and other relevant training related to the function and should also be able to provide advises in related to person of concern, programming, resources and managing staffs.

In addition, he/she should be able to prepare and submit regular quality reports.

• The candidate will need to be collaborative and able to work with a wide range of unit in the MFT, partners, from government to NGOs, UNISFA, other UN agencies, etc. S/he will need to be a professional with ability to capacity building (including facilitation of training), mentoring and coaching, and focused on evidence and result programming.

• The candidate should demonstrate the ability to adhere to UNHCR standard policies and procedures (refugees/returnees act, community-based protection, accountability to affect-ed population, SGBV, Child protection, PSEA, fraud and corruption) in the operation

This assignment is based in the UNISFA Headquarters – Abyei – Sudan.

Currently this duty station is designated as non-family. Due to the terrain, the area is prone to flooding during the rainy season which lasts from late May until Mid-November. The average rainy season temperature is 30°C and temperatures in the dry season average 37°C.

Accommodation: Due to the security situation in Abyei, coupled with the fact that there are limited residential accommodation options in the community that meet UN security and safety standards for staff, expatriate UN staff deployed to Abyei are generally provided secured UN accommodation in a camp-style environment.

The UN-provided accommodation is equipped with minimum room furniture and is configured as single room with bath and toilet facilities.

Power and water (including purified water) is provided inside the camp by the UN. As per OHRM rules, a reasonable cost recovery for accommodation is made from VLA.

Food and Diet: There is a UN managed cafeteria inside the UN Camp in Abyei. The standard and quality of food is limited with a repetitious daily menu. Wide varieties of food are not avail-able and may not be to the personal taste of UNVs. Volunteers may wish to cook their own meals in common kitchen facilities situated at convenient locations within the camp.

This would require the volunteer to obtain basic cooking items such as saucepans, fry pans, plates, knives, etc.

Health: UN Volunteers should be aware that they could be exposed to a number of tropical diseases and should complete all medical formalities specified in the Offer or Travel Advisory before traveling. Yellow Fever vaccination is compulsory before coming to the mission area, while vaccinations for Hepatitis A & B, Typhoid, Tetanus/Diptheria, Polio and Meningitis are recommended if confirmed by the volunteer’s physician.

UN Volunteers, like other international personnel, are to bring their Vaccination Card to the mission.

Malaria prophylaxis is highly recommended. Due to large numbers of various types of insects in the mission area, it is also recommended to use insecticide-impregnated nets and insect repellants. UN personnel have access during working hours to a Civilian Clinic (Level 1) inside the UN Camp at Abyei and 24-hour access to a fully operational military hospital (Level 2) within same camp at Abyei.

Rest and Recuperation: International personnel in UNHCR, including UN volunteers, are entitled to a 6 -week Rest and Recuperation (R&R) cycle.

This means that after every 6 weeks of being in the mission area, the volunteer is entitled to take a break any other destination out-side South Sudan. The entitlement is 5 calendar days R&R, 2 travel days as well 1555 USD as entitlement. The UN flight from Abyei to Juba can be used for free (return flight)