Protection Assistant

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.

The Office of the UNHCR was established on 14 December 1950 by the UN General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and coordinate 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 return home voluntarily, integrate locally, or resettle in a third country (www.unhcr.org).

UNHCR initiated activities in Bulgaria in 1993 in tandem with the country’s accession to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. Since then, it has been engaged with national and local authorities, civil society organizations and refugee, stateless, and host communities to promote access to territory, legal status, and opportunities for legal and socio-economic inclusion. Currently, the office is supporting authorities and communities in the response to the needs of refugees fleeing the armed conflict in Ukraine and those from the Middle East, North Africa, and Near Asia, who are seeking protection and opportunities for meaningful inclusion in Bulgarian society.

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Senior Protection Officer or their designated mandated representative(s), the Protection Assistant will:
• 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 concern 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 people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics;
• 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 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);
• 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;
• Maintain protection presence through regular field missions and reports, making direct contact with persons of concern, host communities, local authorities, and partners;
• Contribute to the Protection team's information management component which: provide disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems; research, collect and disseminate 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.
• Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:

• 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 instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Provide annual and end-of-assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results, and opportunities.
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
• 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.

Results/expected outputs:

• As an active UNHCR team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNHCR and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including:
• Support in mapping community structures, monitoring CBP activities and strengthening Accountability to Affected Populations in UNHCR’s programming in Bulgaria.
• Enhance experience sharing of good practices amongst teams and partners.
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment.