The Danish Refugee Council is one of the world’s leading humanitarian NGOs, working in more than 40 countries to provide adequate assistance with a rights-based approach to refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, returnees, and migrants. In Latin America, DRC is currently working in Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Peru and implements regional programs through its Latin America (LA) office.

DRC is currently looking for a highly qualified Spanish and English-speaking Protection Specialist/Analyst to implement a regional Protection Monitoring (PM) program named “ProLAC Initiative” which aims to harmonize PM systems across the region involving various international and national humanitarian organizations.   

DRC is offering a 10-month contract (renewable depending on performance and funding for additional 12 months) based in Bogota (Colombia) with frequent (30 to 40% of the time) travel in South and Central America including Mexico. This is an opportunity for an experienced protection professional with extensive experience in field Protection programming including Protection monitoring, capacity building, and Protection analysis to support and strengthen protection capacities in the region.

About the job

The Protection Specialist/Analist ProLAC (PSA) will be part of the DRC Latin America regional office implementing the ProLAC Initiative aiming to strengthen the overall protective environment in the region for the persons of concern (PoC) through the harmonization of Protection monitoring activities in at least 9 countries (Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama, Guatemala, and El Salvador) to collect field harmonized evidence-based Protection data for producing Protection Analyses to inform the country and regional response.  

The PSA, under the management of DRC LA Protection Manager, will lead the harmonization process of the PM tools of various organizations joining the ProLAC Initiative, will provide technical trainings to field teams concerning the harmonized PM tools, and will facilitate the ProLAC Protection analysis to produce high quality evidence-based regional and country Protection Analyses.   

The position will be based in Bogotá and include extensive duty travel in South, Central America, and Mexico, including the regional hub of Panama.

Main responsibilities                                                                                                

• Under the lead of DRC LA Protection Manger, work closely with ProLAC Initiative team to harmonize the Protection Monitoring tools of at least 3 humanitarian organizations operating in at least 9countries of Latin America.
• Provide trainings and capacity building about Protection information Management (PIM) and use of the harmonized Protection Monitoring tools to the field Protection Monitoring staff of the organizations part of the ProLAC Initiative.
• Leading the Protection analysis process with the ProLAC Initiative analysis team to produce evidence-based relevant regional and country Protection Analyses.
• Ensure systematic documentation of and reporting on capacity building and training results.

• Ensure all MoVs related to these activities are systematized and reported after each training. Baseline and post training evaluation methods incorporated into the project in compliance with donor obligations.  

• Document best practices.
• Provide field accompaniment to ProLAC Initiative Field Protection Monitoring teams if/as required.
• Liaise as required with ProLAC Initiative Information Management (IM) team.
• Other tasks assigned by supervisors.

Roles reporting to this position: None.

Reports to: DRC LAC Protection Manager.               

Technical line: Protection Manager, DRC Regional Protection Coordinator. DRC country Protection Coordinators.

Required experience and competencies:                                                                            

• Minimum of three years’ experience in working in protection humanitarian projects at national and/or international level.
• Experience in working in humanitarian protection sector in complex crisis situations.
• Field experience in protection programming for at least 2 years, especially in protection monitoring.
• Prior experience with Protection Information Management (PIM) for humanitarian organizations. Prior participation in PIM training is desirable.
• Experience in delivering protection training using an adult learning approach.
• Experience working in diverse settings / contexts and at both the field and global level, preferably in the Latin America context.
• Experience in evidence-based advocacy.
• Knowledge and working experience with refugees, migrants, IDPs, and victims of Other Situation of Violence (OSV) in Latin America is an asset.
• Full proficiency in Spanish and English is required.

Key skills required.

• Proven experience in Protection Monitoring.
• Knowledge of protection analysis. Familiarity with the GPC’s PAF is an asset.
• Proven experience leading capacity building initiatives related to humanitarian protection.
• Ability to manage and interpret large quantitative and qualitative data sets.
• Proven experience in organizing and delivering training events, hereunder excellent trainer skills.
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of protection information management concepts and systems.
• Knowledge of key protection norms, standards and understanding of a holistic approach to protection, and the ability to incorporate these into operational and technical solutions.
• Understanding of existing and new technological solutions for information management in humanitarian contexts. Ability to work with tools such as PowerBI, Excel, and The Deep is an asset.
• Ability to work under pressure and with tight deadlines.
• Excellent communication - written and oral presentation skills.
• Excellent coordination skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations in a multicultural and multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect or diversity, including ability to facilitate collaboration across institutional mandates.
• Demonstrated ability to manage and coordinate diverse issues simultaneously and to develop clear goals, establish priorities and allocate time and resources appropriately.
• Commitment to continuous learning and willing to keep abreast of new developments in the field of protection information management specifically and humanitarian response more generally.

All DRC roles require the post-holder to master DRC’s core competencies:  

• • Striving for excellence: Focusing on reaching results while ensuring efficient processes.  
  • Collaborating: Involving relevant parties and encouraging feedback.  
  • Taking the lead: Taking ownership and initiative while aiming for innovation.  
  • Communicating: Listening and speaking effectively and honestly.  
  • Demonstrating integrity: Acting in line with DRC's vision and values.                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Required education.                                                                         

• • Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Law, Refugee law, Political Sciences, Human Rights, and other relevant fields. A relevant combination of academic qualifications and extensive experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.                                                                        

Contract length: 10 months renewable depending on performance and funding for an additional 12 months. Fixed terms contract according to Colombian labor law including all employer social contributions.  

Salary Level: G1 -Non management with gross salary starting at COP 6.748.000, starting salary progression depending on experience.

Benefits: Prepaid medicine benefit for the employee fully covered by DRC extendible to all family members at a convenient rate. 15 days paid leave per year.

This position is open to national contracts only.

Designation of Duty Station: Bogota, Colombia with frequent travels in the region.

Start date: As soon as possible not later than 10/06/2024.

Salary and conditions will be in accordance with Danish Refugee Council’s Term for national contracts in Colombia. For questions regarding the vacancy please contact: max@drc.ngo and/or mariaelena.hernandez@drc.ngo

Closing date for applications: 12/05/2024

Note: We invite interested candidates to apply as soon as possible, because while the announcement is kept open, we will start with some steps of the selection process