Фахівець/чиня з гендерних питань та захисту
ЗАВЕРШЕНО
About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long-term impact.
The Program Summary
Mercy Corps has been responding in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war in February 2022. The team is providing emergency assistance to refugees in neighboring countries and people displaced inside Ukraine so they can meet their basic survival needs. We also fund local organizations that know their community best and are working quickly to address their most urgent needs.
Building on the successes and lessons learned of the original Locally led, Inclusive and Versatile Emergency Support to Conflict Affected Populations in Ukraine and Poland program (LIVES), under LIVES 2.0 Mercy Corps will continue to work with CSO partners to deliver a comprehensive package of emergency assistance to the most vulnerable conflict-affected individuals and communities in Ukraine. With a focus on reaching those most in need in the frontline, recently de-occupied, or hard-to-reach areas, Mercy Corps and our local partners aim to reach over 80,000 individuals with emergency cash, protection, and other humanitarian aid. Another principal objective of LIVES 2.0 is to support local partners with the resources they need to grow their knowledge of, leadership in, and capacity to deliver the humanitarian response. The overall outcome is “The most vulnerable conflict-affected Ukrainians are enabled to meet their basic needs through rapid, localized and appropriate humanitarian assistance, delivered in a gender, age, and ability responsive way.”
General Position Summary
The Gender & Protection Officer will focus on partner activities to assist in carrying out the program’s protection activities and promote gender equality, diversity, and inclusion throughout all the sectoral responses and operations. This involves supporting and providing technical assistance to Mercy Corps program initiatives to ensure high-quality programming that will advance gender equality and women/girls’ empowerment as well as age and ability-appropriate support through cash and non-cash programming and assuring no harm is done. The incumbent will be under the direct supervision of the Area Manager responsible for the area and will report technically to the Protection Advisor.
The role will support the promotion of safe, dignified, and inclusive access to our programs by marginalized groups and people at risk, ensuring that Mercy Corps and partner programs are properly guided on how to include them through consultations with local actors, community members, and other colleagues.
In addition, this role will be responsible for facilitating workshops and trainings with partner organizations to strengthen their knowledge of protection; protection & GESI (gender equality and social inclusion) integration in a humanitarian program cycle involving the inclusion of marginalized groups such as people living with disabilities and the elderly population. The Gender and Protection Officer will also explore opportunities to support field teams in ensuring meaningful engagement of women and marginalized groups in Community Accountability Reporting Mechanisms (CARM). In addition, this role will help to ensure that different vulnerabilities and capacities of women, marginalized groups, and other vulnerable populations as identified in the baseline, are adequately raised, and incorporated in the program implementation.
Essential Responsibilities:
1. Protection and Gender Mainstreaming Activities
- Assist in conducting ongoing gender and social inclusion assessments and reviews while suggesting appropriate adaptations to both Mercy Corps staff and partners
- Work with implementing partners and technical program officers in the areas of cash assistance and other humanitarian aid, to ensure effective gender and protection mainstreaming into programme activities
- Recognize opportunities for innovative action and contribute to an environment where alternative viewpoints are welcomed, where the project teams work together, exchange information and coordinate activities
- Participate in the development and implementation of program learning activities
- Support the program in gender mainstreaming in alignment with Mercy Corps’ global Gender Equality, Diversity, and Social Inclusion Strategy and GESI minimum standards
- Support the protection and information teams in Mercy Corps and partner organizations with mapping of local services and establishing safe referral mechanisms in line with the referral protocols
- Participate in the relevant protection, GBV, and gender coordination platforms at the local level and report back on critical information.
2. Capacity Building
- Deliver protection and GESI-related capacity-building initiatives as per the capacity gaps of staff in the area offices and partner organizations for integrating protection, gender equality and social inclusion programmatically
- Build the capacities of partners on psychological first aid (PFA) through trainings and sensitization
- Sensitizing colleagues and partners on do no harm, best practices to access and engage with marginalized groups, at-risk populations and individuals who’ve experienced harm; sensitize on best practices to enable access for people with disabilities and assistive support.
- Support in the development and review of protection and gender-sensitive training curriculums and materials
- Facilitate regular community and partner consultations, group meetings, events, roundtable discussions and training sessions to ensure programming remains gender sensitive and inclusive, working together with local partners and relevant Mercy Corps teams
3. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
- Support integration of protection and GESI aspects into MEL tools and processes by coordinating with MEL staff in the area offices
- Work with MEL team to incorporate questions related to access and safety of services in post-distribution monitoring
- In coordination with program focal points, undertake field visits to monitor and track progress of program activities with a protection and GESI perspective
- Promote the use and analysis of sex, age, and ability disaggregated data and analysis for marginal groups where safe and appropriate
4. Coordination & Representation
- Coordinate and collaborate with counterparts in GESI and Protection teams as well as program teams
- Represent Mercy Corps at relevant coordination meetings based in the program implementation areas
- Promote an inclusive work environment by coordinating frequently with other colleagues in the office on gender equality and social inclusion commitments (as per Mercy Corps policies)
- Other tasks as necessary
Accountability
Reports Directly To: Protection Advisor
Works Directly With: Technical program officers, MEL team, CARM team
Accountability to Participants & Stakeholders:
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field programs.
Minimum Qualification and Transferable Skills:
- Degree in social sciences, social work, education, and related fields
- Experience working with NGOs and or private sector organizations focused on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion and Protection
- Experience working with marginalized or vulnerable community members
- Understanding of barriers for women, the elderly, people living with disabilities, and other marginalized members of the local community
- Experience in organizing and assisting with events and trainings
- Strong personal interest in gender issues, social inclusion, and human rights
- Fluency in Ukrainian and English required. Preferred fluency in Russian but not essential.
Success Factors
The Gender and Protection Officer will have the ability to work closely with a diverse team of individuals in a highly fluid work and security environment. S/he will have the capacity to support ambitious and innovative gender-responsive approaches while helping to strengthen understanding of the sensitivities of the cultural context.
The successful candidate will have strong communication and interpersonal skills and must be adept at building strong partner relationships and advocating for change at all levels. The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments, and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.
Living & Environmental Conditions
We are recruiting one officer and offering two location options to choose from: Odesa or Dnipro. However, the location within Ukraine may be subject to reassessment given the security context. Given the emergency response nature of this role, this position may require exceptional work schedules including occasional evenings and weekends.
Ongoing Learning
In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening, and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have a sustained global impact. We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.
Safeguarding & Ethics
Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.
Benefits
Mercy Corps is offering competitive 25 Benefits Packages (10 law statutory and 15 market competitive), including but not limited to the relocation, transportation, phone allowances, remote and flexible working modality, duty of care, well-being support, 24/7 free resilience consultations in addition to a salary offer. Team positive working environment in a well-established and growing international humanitarian organization with career development opportunities through our global talent development platform.
