Refugee Community Based Protection Assistant

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 RUNV Community-Based Protection (CBP) Assistant will be part of the CBP unit under the EHAGL Protection Pillar. This position focuses on enhancing refugee youth's meaningful participation and supporting organizations led by forcibly displaced persons, including Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs), through initiatives funded by the Mastercard Foundation (MCF) Policy Grant. The MCF grant aims to improve the policy environment for refugees in the region. With this support, the UNHCR Regional Bureau will advocate for inclusive policies that protect refugee rights, promote economic opportunities for refugees with a particular focus on women (70 %), and foster sustainable development within host communities. The RUNV position will play a vital role in advancing the project’s goals by strengthening engagement with organizations led by forcibly displaced persons, as well as women- and youth-led organizations, and amplifying the voices of forcibly displaced persons in policy dialogues with regional economic communities (IGAD, EAC and other entities) and programming.

Under the direct supervision of the Senior Community-Based Protection Officer, the International UN Youth Volunteer will:
• Support Refugee meaningful participation and Refugee Engagement in policy advocacy towards enabling protection policy environment.

• Assist in organizing regional events, consultations, and peer-to-peer networking opportunities that strengthen engagement with youth-led and Refugee-led organizations.
• Facilitate meaningful participation of refugee youth and community representatives in relevant forums, events, and networks.
• Support and participate in regional discussions with regional economic communities (IGAD, EAC and other entities) and partners.
• Support in drafting of policy briefs geared towards advancing refugee meaningful participation.

• Contribute to Research and Knowledge Management
• Support research activities to assess and improve the engagement of Refugee-led organizations, identify challenges, and document lessons learned.
• Assist in the development and dissemination of tools, guidelines, and resources to enhance inclusion and collaboration with Refugee-led Organizations.
• Contribute to mapping exercises and maintenance of databases of Refugee-led organizations at the regional.
• Capacity-Building Support
• Assist in organizing capacity-building activities such as trainings, workshops, and mentoring sessions for Refugee-led organizations, with a focus on youth and women-led groups.
• Support initiatives that strengthen the legal registration, operations, and visibility of Refugee-led organizations, cooperatives, and community-based groups.
• Support Coordination and Partnerships
• Provide administrative and coordination support to ensure the smooth implementation of regional policy grant, programmes and activities under the CBP framework.
• Assist in liaising with UNHCR country offices, partners, and other stakeholders to promote regional collaboration and resource mobilization opportunities as well as the implementation of planned interventions.
• Participate in regional coordination meetings on refugee meaningful participation and RLOs organized by regional bureau targeting partners and stakeholders including donors.
• Promote Visibility and Documentation
• Support the development of visibility products, including success stories/ testimonies, community-driven initiatives, and lessons learned from regional programmes.
• Contribute to initiatives aimed at amplifying the voices of refugee youth and community-led organizations.
• General CBP Unit Support
- Provide any support as maybe required under the broader Community-Based Protection workstream, including assisting with coordination meetings, reports and documentation of CBP-related activities.
• 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.
• 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.

• 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.;
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote and utilize the UNV Online Volunteering service providing themselves and their organizations with flexible, free of charge, Online Volunteer capacity to support their efforts. Information and promotional material can be found in the onsite kit.

Results/expected outputs:

• As an active [insert name Host Agency] 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:
• Regional events and consultations organized successfully, with meaningful participation of refugee youth and community representatives.
• Comprehensive reports documenting lessons learned and challenges faced by Refugee-led Organizations, along with practical recommendations.
• Mapping exercises completed and an updated database of Refugee-led Organizations maintained.
• Capacity-building workshops and training sessions delivered, with feedback collected to inform future activities.
• Visibility products, such as success stories and community-driven initiatives, developed and disseminated to amplify refugee voices.
• Administrative and coordination support provided to ensure the effective implementation of CBP activities, with regular updates shared with stakeholders.
• Support provided to legal registration and visibility initiatives for Refugee-led Organizations, with a focus on youth and women-led groups.
• Contributions to policy advocacy materials and participation in relevant forums documented.