Gender and Protection Officer - Zaporizhzhia in CARE

Location: Zaporizhzhia, Southern Ukraine  

Reporting line manager:  Area Programme Manager

Duration: 12 months renewable

Conditions: Employment contract, gross monthly salary starting from EUR1,678, depending on proven relevant experience for the post. One-time moving allowance EUR 600 (for staff recruited from outside the duty station) and monthly risk allowance EUR200 gross.  28 days annual leave. 

 Starting date: As soon as possible. 

CARE INTERNATIONAL

CARE International (CI) is among the world’s largest international non-governmental humanitarian relief and development confederations. Drawing on more than 75 years of experience, through its 21 Members, as both a practitioner and thought leader, CI’s work reaches over 100 countries worldwide to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice.

CARE’s vision is to seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice; where poverty has been overcome and people live in dignity and security. CARE focuses heavily on women and girls, and the areas of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion are at the center of our work because we know that we cannot overcome poverty and social injustice until all people have equal rights and opportunities. We recognize that power relations between people and within systems and structures are unequal and that these are entrenched in our broader systems, structures, and institutions.

 At the core of the CI Confederation is a globally distributed Secretariat, which provides coordination and support to its members in areas including governance, strategic planning, communications, membership development and accountability, advocacy, humanitarian response, and program development. In addition, the Secretariat represents the CI Confederation at the United Nations and the European Union, and with other external stakeholders.

CONTEXT IN UKRAINE 

 On 24th February 2022, the invasion of Ukraine marked a significant escalation to the conflict that started in 2014. It continues to profoundly impact the lives of people across the country at various levels. The front line is continuously shifting and there are areas under Russian military control, as well as cities under siege. Attacks on military installations and critical civilian infrastructures are conducted in the whole territory of Ukraine, often resulting in collateral civilian casualties. The conflict has caused the largest population movement in Europe since World War II, with over 5 million currently displaced within Ukraine and 6 million refugees across Europe. OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) had counted 17.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

At least one-third of the country’s energy infrastructure is damaged, leaving millions without heating and access to water. In October 2022, the Russian Federation claimed to have annexed four Ukrainian oblasts, further increasing the challenge of access to these areas. Therefore, an ongoing priority for the international humanitarian response is to reach newly accessible areas in the East and South, and to provide aid to previously unreachable and particularly hard-hit areas of Ukraine.

CARE UKRAINE

CARE prioritizes a locally led response and is partnering primarily with Civil-Society Organizations (CSOs), National NGOs (Non-Government Organization), local authorities, and when needed, INGOs (International Non-Governmental Organizations) with a longstanding presence in the country and access to hard-to-reach areas. CARE Ukraine deliberately and strategically prioritizes partnerships with local and national Women Led and Women Rights organizations (WLO’s/ WRO’s), further strengthening the Gender in Emergencies (GiE) principle and the Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) approach.

 In the first few weeks after the escalation of the war, virtually all humanitarian aid inside Ukraine was organized and implemented by local actors. These groups (together with local authorities) remain the principal aid providers but are quickly being exhausted of funds, fuel, and physical energy. Thereby, a considerable proportion of CARE’s resources is dedicated to strengthening and supporting the capacities of local partners.

As of October 2023, CARE Ukraine has established partnerships with over twenty local/national organizations (incl. WLO’s/WRO’s). From the more than 45 million that have been raised for Ukraine thus far, more than half is allocated to local/national partners. Through the activities that have been implemented so far, CARE Ukraine has been able to reach more than 800,000 people, including IDPs and affected populations in hard-to-reach areas.

While CARE Ukraine’s country office is currently located in Lviv, we also have a coordination office in Kyiv as well as area offices in Dnipro and Odesa, covering both the East and South of the country.

Role objectives: 

The Gender & Protection Officer will support the implementation of CARE’s gender in emergencies and protection (general protection and GBV) projects in Southern Ukraine (Odessa, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia oblasts), through both direct implementation and partner monitoring. She/he will coordinate with implementing partners to ensure quality implementation of gender and protection activities, provide technical support, guidance, conduct capacity enhancement initiatives and create cross learning opportunities among partners and CARE in coordination and guidance with GBV Coordinator. 

She/he will coordinate with Case Management Officer to ensure harmonized prevention, risk mitigation and response approach of Protection programming. She/he will coordinate with Women Lead in Emergencies (WLiE) Officer to integrate WLiE approach and promote women’s participation and leadership in Protection/GBV programming. She/he will coordinate with WASH, Shelter, health/SRH, Cash Voucher Assistance and Food Security team in CARE to mainstream gender and protection principles.   

With supervision of the Field Programme Coordinator and peer support of the CARE’s technical advisory team, the Gender & Protection Officer will be responsible for ensuring gender responsive, safe and dignified service provision to affected populations. Gender and Protection Officer will be responsible for implementing workplans, and monitoring project activities, including tracking project outcomes and contributing to donor reports. 

The Gender & Protection Officer will also represent CARE in Protection/ GBV Cluster coordination mechanisms, and provide oversight of project activities to project staff, partners, local authorities, and other service providers. The post holder is expected to provide coaching and mentoring for CARE’s and partners’ project implementation teams, including the coordination of trainings on technical aspects of service delivery. 

The Gender & Protection Officer reports to the Field Programme Coordinator and provides supervision to project and partner staff. 

The main responsibilities include:

Protection/GBV program Implementation and Service Provision

• Ensure the successful delivery of CARE’s Protection/GBV project activities by CARE and partners.
• Provide technical support and guidance on protection (General Protection and GBV) to ensure high quality, safe and timely delivery of the project activities. 
• Identify needs and priorities of the most vulnerable population and support Protection technical team in proposal development and project designing 
• Ensure piloting/implementation of the primary prevention tools such as Social Analysis and Action (SAA), Engaging Men through Accountability Practices (EMAP) 
• Support project team in adapting GBV risk mitigation approaches 
• Coordinate with Protection/GBV Case Management Officer to ensure smooth implementation of prevention and response aspect of Protection/GBV programming. 
• Coordinate with WLiE Officer to integrate WLiE approach in Protection/ GBV programming and promote women’s participation and leadership throughout the project cycle. 
• Maintain an up-to-date service mapping of the service providers operating in the area and ensure that others are informed about the available services.
• Ensure tracking and reporting of activity data. 
• Maintain compliance with international and national laws, conventions, policies and procedures regarding service provision. 
• Identify marginalized project participants and internally refer them to internal and external services where necessary and appropriate. 
• Ensure the participation of project participants in decision-making at all stages of project implementation, as safe and appropriate. 
• Ensure data protection and information sharing protocol are in place and follow protection and GBV guiding principles and good practice examples. Monitor the execution of data protection and information sharing protocol within CARE and in partner organisations. 

Mainstreaming gender and protection principles in humanitarian response 

• Develop and deliver gender and protection mainstreaming plan for Eastern Ukraine targeting CARE and Partner’s team, and other key stakeholders. 
• Provide technical support to WASH, Shelter, health/SRH, Food security and Cash Voucher Assistance team on gender and protection principles. 
• Translate, disseminate and orient CARE and partner team on key gender and protection tools, tipsheets to better mainstream gender and protection in their projects

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL):

• Support the preparation of timely program and donor reports on project activities for CARE’s direct implementation and review partners’ reports. 
• Support partners in developing quality reports
• Organize and participate in frequent monitoring visits in protection/GBV project locations, identify gaps and challenges, and provide support and guidance to improve the quality and timely implementation of activities 
• Organize and participate in joint field monitoring visits with MEAL in the WASH, Shelter, CVA, Food Security and Health/SRH project activities to identify gaps and challengse in terms of gender and protection mainstreaming
• Prepare and submit work plans in a timely manner. 

• Participate in meetings with staff and partners to address any issues and set team plans for gender and protection mainstreaming.
• Monitor data collection to ensure that staff collect data in safe and ethical ways and ensure monitoring forms are stored correctly and organised. 
• Co-facilitate and/or actively participate in project review/learning workshops in coordination with project team and MEAL team.
• Regularly monitor and report feedback from beneficiaries/staff on the project to inform project implementation.

Capacity Building:

• In guidance with the GBV Coordinator develop a capacity building plan for CARE and partner team in Eastern Ukraine 
• Support GBV Coordinate in contextualizing Protection/GBV materials 
• Provide on-going supervision, technical coaching and mentoring for CARE’s and partners’ project implementation teams. 
• Design and deliver trainings on technical aspects of service delivery for project staff, partners, local authorities and community members (when needed). 

Coordination and representation:

• Represent CARE and take a proactive role in the respective clusters and their working groups. 
• Build strong network with local service providers in operational areas, especially other Protection/ GBV partners 
• Develop, maintain and improve constructive coordination and maintain an effective working relationship with relevant stakeholders including partner agencies, local government, community leaders and service providers. 
• Advocate for the needs of marginalised individuals both internally and through coordination mechanisms through evidence-based advocacy. 

Additional Responsibilities:

• The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the post holder may be required to carry out additional duties assigned by the Protection Adviser within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Requirements

Essential criteria 

• Bachelor's degree in social work, counselling, psychology or a social sciences related field OR equivalent experience. 
• Min of 3 years' relevant work experience in gender and protection/ GBV or related field. 
• Strong technical understanding of Protection/ GBV in Emergencies and Gender in Emergencies. 
• Experience in designing and facilitating training and capacity building. 
• Experience of people management, including ability to provide technical support, trainings and supervision. 
• Experience of implementing projects through implementing partners
• Experience of and commitment to working through systems of community participation and accountability. 
• Awareness of the current humanitarian situation and local context in Eastern Ukraine. 

• Fluency in both Ukrainian and Russian; a strong level of written and spoken English is a strong advantage. 

Desirable criteria 

• Experience in building relationships, fostering interagency coordination and representing an organization to external stakeholders. 
• Strong communication and report writing skills. 
• Excellent attention to detail, organizational skills and discretion with confidential information. 
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, managing staff effectively and working in team. 
• Ability to work independently and proactively, manage a complex and diverse workload and to work to tight deadlines. 
• Excellent computer skills, including experience of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint and Word). 
• Demonstrated commitment to gender equality, empowerment of WROs/WLOs, and feminist principles.
• Demonstrated commitment to creating an environment within CARE's workplaces, programming, and communities where CARE works that is free from sexual harassment, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, and child abuse (SHEA-CA), including commitment to the principles of confidentiality, survivor-centered approach, and Do No Harm. 
• Commitment to the aims and principles of CARE, particularly concerning gender equity in emergency programs.

Accountability :

A commitment to CARE values and CARE’s integrity framework is critical to working with CARE. Any candidate offered a job with CARE will be expected to adhere to the following key areas of accountability:

• Comply with CARE’s policies and procedures with respect to safeguarding, code of conduct, health and safety, confidentiality, do no harm principles and unacceptable behaviour protocols.
• Report any concerns about the welfare of a child or vulnerable adult or any wrongdoings within the programming area.
• Report any concerns about inappropriate behavior of a CARE staff or partner.

Safeguarding:

Children and vulnerable adults who come into contact with CARE as a result of CARE activities must be safeguarded to the maximum possible extent from deliberate or inadvertent actions and failingsthat place them at risk of abuse, sexual exploitation, injury and any other harm. One of the ways that CARE shows this on-going commitment to safeguarding is to include rigorous background and reference checks in the selection process for all candidates.

Gender Equality:

CARE is committed to meeting the standards of the CARE International Gender Policy (2019). Through this policy, CARE seeks to promote the equal realization of dignity and human rights for girls, women, boys and men in all diversities, and the elimination of poverty and injustice. 

Specifically, this policy seeks to improve the explicit incorporation of gender in programmatic and organizational practices.

How to Apply:

CARE values equal opportunities and diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.

Please send your CV (in pdf format max. 4 pages) and a cover letter in English to <[email protected]>, by the latest 11th of June 2024.   Please name your documents Surname_CV, Surname_Cover Letter. Put G&P Officer Odessa as the subject title of your email.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.