GENDER & PROTECTION OFFICER – UKRAINE RESPONSE at Mercy Corps

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.
In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions
into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.
Now, and for the future.

The Program

Mercy Corps’ Ukraine crisis response seeks to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Ukrainians and other conflict-affected people where they are: displaced inside Ukraine, refugees in Poland, Romania and Moldova, or trapped behind frontlines. We aim to reach 500,000 vulnerable people with multi-purpose cash assistance, in-kind humanitarian support, and protection services across four countries. Almost all of our impact will be delivered in partnership: with Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian and Moldovan civil society organizations through a granting program that matches humanitarian action with capacity strengthening, and with peer international NGOs through a consortium in Ukraine.  Mercy Corps is responding to the Ukraine crisis with large-scale consortium programming with a focus on Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA). The Consortium is a partnership between four international humanitarian aid agencies to model and deliver innovative, effective cash and other humanitarian assistance programs to support people affected by the Ukraine crisis within Ukraine.

General Position Summary

The Gender & Protection Officer will work under the Protection and GESI (Gender Equality & Social Inclusion) Advisor and will focus on community-level work to assist in carrying out the program’s protection activities and promote gender equality, diversity, and inclusion throughout our programmes 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-appropriate support through emergency cash assistance programming and assuring no harm is done.

The role will support the promotion of safe and inclusive access to our programmes by marginalized groups and people at risk, ensuring that our programmes are properly informed on how to include them through consultations with partners, community members and other colleagues.

In addition, this role will be responsible for facilitating awareness sessions and trainings with partner organizations to promote the inclusion of women and other 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 of women, marginalized groups, and other vulnerable populations as identified in the baseline, are adequately raised, and incorporated in the program implementation.

Essential Responsibilities:

Protection and Gender Mainstreaming Activities

• Assist in conducting ongoing gender and social inclusion assessments and reviews while suggesting appropriate adaptations with 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
• Support Protection Information Activities by collaborating with partners to map locally available protection services
• Support the protection and information teams in Mercy Corps and partner organizations with establishing safe referral mechanisms in line with the referral protocols
•  Participate in the relevant protection and gender clusters/sub-clusters at the local level and report back on critical information
•  Serve as focal points for protection referrals

Capacity Building

• Coordinate protection and GESI-related capacity building initiatives as per the capacity gaps of staff in Mercy Corps and partner organizations for integrating protection, gender equality and social inclusion programmatically and institutionally
•  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

Monitoring & Evaluation

• Support integration of protection and GESI aspects into the M&E system and processes by coordinating with M&E teams in field offices
• Support GESI Advisor to ensure that protection, gender, and inclusivity are reflected in output, outcome and impact level indicators
• In coordination with M&E focal points, undertake field visits to monitor and track progress of program activities using qualitative research tools with a protection and GESI perspective
•  Work with MEL team to incorporate questions related to access and safety in post distribution monitoring
•  Incorporate questions to assess access to services/activities/information for people with different disabilities
• Document community concerns and recommendations on how to best overcome identified barriers by engaging local populations
•  Promote the use and analysis of sex and age disaggregated data and the analysis support for marginal groups where safe and appropriate

 Coordination & Representation

• Coordinate and collaborate with counterparts in GESI and Protection teams as well as Information Management and Outreach Officers,
•  Coordinate with Information Management and Outreach Officers on relevant incoming information received from partners
• Represent Mercy Corps at relevant cluster 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: Area Manager and GESI Advisor (dotted line);

Works Directly With: Technical program officers, Information Management and Outreach Officers, Partnership team, 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, related fields
• Experience working with NGOs and or private sector organizations focused on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion and/or 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 B2 or higher level of English required. Knowledge of Russian a strong asset.

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 transformative 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 officers for Kyiv, Odessa, and Dnipro but 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 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.

2023-04-12T16:36:40.000 2023-05-12T23:59:59.000 Full time / Повна зайнятість TELECOMMUTE Україна Mercy Corps