Mission and objectives

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations 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. UNHCR 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. UNHCR also has a mandate to help stateless people. As of 31 December 2021, UNHCR had recruited 18,879 people, of whom around nearly 91 per cent are based in the field. UNHCR works in 137 countries and territories, with personnel based in a mixture of regional and branch offices and sub and field offices. Our teams work hard to help the displaced, specializing in a wide range of disciplines, including legal protection, administration, community services, public affairs and health.

Context

As of 2023, UNHCR has three offices in Zambia: its Representation based in Lusaka and the two field offices in Solwezi and Nchelenge in the North Western and Luapula Provinces, respectively. The main responsibility for UNHCR, in line with the statutory responsibilities is to monitor the implementation of the 1951 Convention and promote mixed durable solutions for refugees and other Persons of Concern (PoCs). UNHCR discharges this role primarily by providing technical support and guidance to Government on policy formulation and refugee matters. As at 31 December, 2022, there are 81,098 refugees and asylum seekers in three refugee settlements (Mayukwayukwa, Meheba and Mantapala). Majority of PoCs in Zambia are from Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Somalia. Congolese make 52.064% of the total PoCs in Zambia. The vast majority of PoCs live in the three refugee settlements, namely Mayukwayukwa (21,632), Meheba (35,934) and the newly established settlement in Mantapala (7,320). 16,212 more are holding permission to be residing in urban centres such as Lusaka and Ndola, and an estimated 12,404 have self-settled in five Provinces across Zambia, and not necessarily registered with the Government of Zambia as asylum seekers or refugees. The Protection Assistant will support the protection unit in implementing a comprehensive protection strategy and in providing quality, timely and effective protection responses to UNHCR’s persons of concern (PoCs). S/he will liaise, as per guidance of the direct supervisor, externally with local authorities and partners on correspondence and/or protection issues. The incumbent will provide functional and administrative support to the protection unit on protection related liaison, correspondence, monitoring, case management and reporting activities. The Protection Assistant will also facilitates the involvement of PoCs in making decisions that affect them, whether in accessing their rights or in identifying appropriate solutions to their problems. To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, local authorities and protection and assistance partners. All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory frame-work of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR’s core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the Protection Officer and in close coordination with the Associate Protection Officer, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

• Consistently apply International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct; observe , respect and if need be propose review of protection related Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs);
• Assist in supporting 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 Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), and solutions approaches;
• Provide functional and administrative support in all protection related AGD based programming with implementing and operational partners;
• Provide functional and administrative support in implementing participatory approaches, needs assessments, monitoring, reporting and case management;
• Support assessments on durable solutions through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement;
• Facilitate liaison with competent authorities for the issuance of personal and other relevant documents;
• Assist in drafting periodic reports, routine correspondence, updating relevant databases and compiling statistics within the Area of Responsibility (AoR);
• Work closely with UNHCR’s main implementing partner to assess the needs of vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers and identify assistance as required;
• Select PoCs for preliminary interviews and decide which relevant information to share;
• Enforce integrity in the delivery of protection services by local implementing partners;
• Undertake research and assessment of community services programmes for purposes of planning and provision of targeted assistance particularly in education, Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) prevention, child protection, health care and self-help activities;
• Understand the perspectives, capacities, needs and resources of persons of concern and advise the protection team accordingly, highlighting the specific protection needs of women and men, children, youth and older persons, persons with disabilities and marginalized groups;
• Perform other related duties as required.