Associate Protection Monitoring Officer

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 return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country (www.unhcr.org).

The Central African Republic has experienced an acute crisis since 2013 that has caused over 1.5 million people into forced displacement including over 700,000 refugees who fled to neighboring countries and close to 750,000 internally displaced persons. Just during the most recent crisis in the context of the presidential and legislative elections, 133,000 newly displaced persons are still in forced displacement in very precarious situations with limited humanitarian access. While humanitarian needs across the country remain huge, the situation in CAR has, for years, been one of the most consistently overlooked and underfunded emergencies in the world, forcing UNHCR and its humanitarian partners to reduce critical activities. In this IDP context, UNHCR is the Lead of the Protection Cluster as well as co-leads the CCCM The national cluster is based in Bangui while regional clusters are established in prefectures where UNHCR has a presence. UNHCR’s protection activities in CAR also include the protection monitoring of IDPs and refugees returning to their areas of origin, as well as their host communities. The protection activities also include protection response to identified protection risks and a strong community-based approach in support among others of social cohesion. The UNHCR CAR operation seeks synergies between its protection interventions and interventions under the Camp Management/Camp Coordination (CCCM) as well as non-food item and shelter interventions. Regarding return and durable solutions, UNHCR CAR facilitates the return of refugees as well as their reintegration. UNHCR co-leads with UNDP the Working Group on Durable Solutions. Since April 2023, CAR has hosted some 20000 refugees from Sudan following the crisis in the country. They are mainly found in the Vakaga prefecture one of the poorest of the country. Some 37000 Chadians refugees also arrived in CAR as of June 2023 as a result of intercommunal clashes.

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Senior Protection Officer or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UN Volunteer Associate Protection Monitoring Officer will:

- Ensure the management of the project in Bangui and in the field is to the highest standards of quality and integrity.
- Working closely with the protection staff in Bangui and in the field, and with protection partner staff to ensure timely and quality data is collected and compiled.
- Liaise closely with the Information management Unit to ensure that IM tools, procedures and products support the smooth operationalization of the project.
- Liaise closely with the Programme Unit to address programmatic needs in a timely manner.
- Follow up on protection risks and incidents.
 Keep abreast of all protection related developments to prepare appropriate briefings and reports.
 Participate in all relevant coordination fora as required.

Results/Expected Outputs:

• Protection trends and risks identified in a timely manner and reported to management.
• Internal and external analyses and high-quality ad-hoc and regular reports prepared in a timely manner.
• All reports and IM products reviewed.
• Accuracy of data ensured, and high-quality analysis produced.
• Evidence made available, analysed, and supports the response in the field by UNHCR and partners, programming for protection as well as advocacy for protection.
• Field operations and partners are adequately supported.
• Stand in as Emergency focal point to deal with emergency alerts especially related to refugees’ influx.
• As an active UNHCR team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly, and high-quality support rendered UNHCR and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including:
• Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment.
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.