occupied Palestinian territory: Humanitarian and Protection Consultant – Gaza

TERMS OF REFERENCE

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions. UNRWA is the largest UN operation in the Middle East with more than 30,000 staff.

Humanitarian and Protection Consultant – Gaza

Background

This position is located in UNRWA Gaza Field Office, Operations Support Office (OSO). OSO promotes awareness of and adherence to humanitarian principles by all staff, and in particular monitors adherence to neutrality in the Agency’s premises and facilities. OSO also monitors the general humanitarian situation, including the living conditions of Palestine refugees, threats to their welfare, and access to UNRWA services, and facilitates inter-programme coordination, and the effective implementation of the activities. It also assists in the operationalization of UNRWA’s protection strategy and the mainstreaming of protection across the programmes.

Description of Duties and Responsibilities

As part of UNRWA Gaza Operations Support Office, and in accordance with the established Agency policy and procedures, the Consultant will:

1. Monitor respect of the principle of neutrality by undertaking regular inspections of UNRWA premises and facilities and documenting, reporting and following up on any breaches of UNRWA neutrality;

2. Promote knowledge and adherence to humanitarian principles, and in particular neutrality among UNRWA staff through daily interaction in the field;

3. Contribute to designing neutrality-related awareness and training materials, and delivering training sessions to staff;

4. Assist in monitoring the protection environment, including trends on violations of international law, and collecting data and information relevant to UNRWA advocacy work and the definition of protection strategies;

5. Contributes to promoting and reinforcing the mainstreaming of protection principles and good practices across the programmes; assist in the operationalization of UNRWA protection strategies in Gaza Field Office; provide technical assistance to programme staff in the implementation of the protection referral system.

6. Perform such other duties as may be assigned.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES

· An advanced university degree in political science, international relations, law, social sciences or related field;

· At least three years if experience in humanitarian aid or development, of which minimum one in an international organization outside the country of residence;

· Excellent command of spoken and written English. Knowledge of Arabic and asset;

· Very good communication and interpersonal skills; able to interact properly with a wide range of actors; work experience in multi-cultural, multi-national teams;

· Problem-solving attitude, able to identify and analyse complex situation and handle them in an assertive and tactful way, including in stressful situations;

· Deep understanding of humanitarian principles and in particular neutrality;

· Good understanding of principles and practice related to protection in humanitarian action, including good understanding of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law;

· Excellent analytical and writing skills, experience of writing reports or contributing to strategic and operational documents in humanitarian/development work (e.g. needs assessment, guidelines, donor reports, advocacy papers, etc.);

· Knowledge of the Middle East context and the Palestine question an asset;

· Commitment to United Nations principles and standards.

CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

● The Consultant works under the direct supervision of the OSO Team Leader;

● The duration of the assignment is 8 months;

● Remuneration for this consultancy will be based on the current UNRWA salary scale and will depend on the qualifications and experience of the candidate.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applicants should submit a cover letter and CV or UN Personal History Form demonstrating clearly the knowledge and experience required to meet the consultancy requirements via consultancy@unrwa.org indicating the title of this consultancy “**Humanitarian and Protection Consultant, Gaza**” in the subject line of the message. The deadline for the submission of applications is 29 April 2017 Late applications will not be considered.**

UNRWA is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from both women and men. UNRWA encourages applications from qualified and experienced female candidates. Only those applicants short-listed for interview will be contacted. UNRWA is a non-smoking environment.

Applicants should submit a cover letter and CV or UN Personal History Form demonstrating clearly the knowledge and experience required to meet the consultancy requirements via consultancy@unrwa.org indicating the title of this consultancy “**Humanitarian and Protection Consultant, Gaza**” in the subject line of the message. The deadline for the submission of applications is 29 April 2017 Late applications will not be considered.**

UNRWA is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from both women and men. UNRWA encourages applications from qualified and experienced female candidates. Only those applicants short-listed for interview will be contacted. UNRWA is a non-smoking environment.