Myanmar: Gender and Protection Coordinator

Mar 28, 2019 | Lutheran World Federation
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The World Service is the internationally recognized humanitarian and development arm of the Lutheran World Federation, assisting people in need irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or gender. We implement programs worldwide, working with both local and international partners, helping communities achieve their full potential and advocate for their universal rights. Our partners include Lutheran Churches and their related agencies, the European Commission (ECHO), the US Government (BPRM) and UNHCR, with whom we are a key implementing partner. For additional information please see www.lutheranworld.org.

The Lutheran World Federation, in response to the Rohingya IDP crisis, established operations in Sittwe, Myanmar in 2013. The Lutheran World Federation is assisting IDPs and vulnerable groups in eight IDP camps and above 50 villages in five townships. The Lutheran World Federation is running projects related to Camp management, Education, Shelter, Women Empowerment, WASH, Livelihoods, Protection, Rehabilitation and Humanitarian Assistance.

Scope of Work

The Gender and Protection Coordinator will ensure leadership, planning, implementation and reporting of the Gender and protection programme of LWF in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

The post-holder is also responsible for supervising and building the capacity of Empowerment Officers, Protection Officers, Case workers and incentive workers supporting IDPs and hosting communities to achieve and sustain protection outcomes for all women, girls and children in accordance with national laws, UNHCR and LWF policies, approaches and guidelines and the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in emergencies (CPMS).

She/he is responsible for the overall delivery of outcomes related to the women empowerment, protection of people (women, girls and children) at risk, including prevention and response to all forms of abuse and exploitation, case management, coordination, strengthening community-based child protection mechanisms and advocacy for a protective, creative and developmental environment for targeted people

Required Qualifications

  • Master’s level Degree in Social Work, Human Rights Law, International Relations, Political Science, Development Studies or in a related area. A Bachelor’s degree with extensive relevant experience may be considered.

Knowledge and Experience

  • Minimum 4 years of experience in similar positions with international NGOs or the UN.
  • Experience with IDPs and host community protection programming in insecure environments.
  • Demonstrated clear understanding and experience in using established inter-agency standards and guidelines in gender and age responsive protection programming such as the Core Humanitarian Standard and the Code of Conduct.
  • Ability to assess, design and deliver critical trainings on women and girls rights and child protection and safeguarding tailored at building the capacity of national and IDP staff as well as duty bearers and key stakeholders.
  • Experience of setting up and managing safe and effective complaints and feedback mechanisms and case referral systems that meet confidentiality standards.
  • Excellent communication skills.
  • Ability to formulate and implement a robust M&E system, write clear and evidence-based assessments and project reports.
  • Team player, flexible, sensitive to colleagues and with a strong capacity for coping with stressful situations without jeopardizing results.
  • Passionate about serving the poor and oppressed people
  • Commitment to LWF Values

Language Skills

  • English advanced written and oral skills
  • Burmese would be an additional asset

Main Duties

Project Management

  • Provide strategic direction, leadership and overall technical and management assistance to integrated gender and age responsive protection programming, advising other sector programme design ensuring that all of LWF work contributes to protection outcomes for at risk people as per donor and LWF strategic focus.
  • Lead in the planning, implementation and monitoring of gender mainstreaming and protection project activities within the programme in line with existing LWF standards and donor regulations.
  • Ensure women empowerment and protection activity budgets are regularly tracked, ensuring timely spending within budget limits and providing corrective budget management reviews and oversight as appropriate.
  • Take lead in timely programme reviews and providing practical solutions to address the protection programme needs.
  • Responsible for preparation and submission of high quality weekly, monthly and quarterly progress report (narrative) with special focus on protection for internal and external use.

Technical Roles

  • Ensure PSNs people are documented as per the established standards and support them through alternative care arrangements in a safe and conducive family environment, in addition to ensuring that guidelines and approaches for identification at risk people are followed.
  • Ensure timely and high-quality data on women, girls and children at risk are collected, analysed, shared with partners and utilized for decision making, inclusion and advocacy within the program from the existing Protection Information Management System (PIMS) database.
  • Ensure prevention and response to the main risks for women, girls and children’s exposure to physical harm, sexual harm/exploitation and child labour for the UASC and other children within the IDP community.
  • Ensure the psychosocial (physical, social, emotional) wellbeing of women, girls and children and their families is well maintained.
  • Work with community structures, women, girls and children and related partners to strengthen safeguards to prevent sexual and gender based violence, sexual exploitation and abuse and harmful traditional practices against women, girls and children in the IDP camps.
  • Deliver key trainings on women, girls and children rights, protection, psychosocial support and case management with key actors.
  • Use relevant participatory approaches to engage communities and their leaders in the camps to dialogue on GBV and protection concerns/issues affecting women, girls and children and ensure actions agreed are followed an implemented.
  • Facilitate participatory engagement in the identification and establishment of micro-projects, including relevant skills training and systems strengthening for sustainability.
  • Map actors, set-up and strengthen referral services for women, girls, PSNs and children in collaboration with UNHCR and other partners.
  • Ensure child friendly spaces are well managed or established to address psychosocial support needs for children and young people.
  • Strengthen and operationalize the functionality of community based protection committees, networks and groups.
  • Ensure that IDPs communities are aware of the rights and protection of women, girls, PSNs, and children within the IDP population.
  • Support setup of project M&E plan and tracking systems, including timely and quality reports on protection areas within the programme framework.
  • Support establishment of confidential mechanisms of complaints and feedback in communities and schools to address sexual and rights violations of at risk people.
  • Ensure that protection standards are maintained and mainstreamed across the sub-programme.
  • In collaboration with M&E units, conduct satisfaction/feedback sessions with beneficiaries and community members on issues of gender and protection mainstreaming on a quarterly basis and ensure lessons learnt incorporated into programming.
  • Work with technical colleagues from LWF country office, UNHCR, CLWR and others to develop high quality gender and protection mainstreaming tools, manuals and guidelines.

Staff Capacity Building

  • Coach, mentor and train project staff, external actors and partners on protection standards, methodologies and approaches.
  • Ensure that staffs (protection assistant, incentive staffs, data associates) are compliant with set implementation plans and quality standards.
  • Provide technical hands-on support to core frontline staff in the development of weekly, monthly and quarterly work plans and ensure that all activities are reported on time and with good quality.
  • Support staff on capacity needs identification and provide tailor made training based on capacity gaps in regard to GBV and protection issues.

Proposal and Programme Development

  • Aid collection of field based data on needs and gaps in various thematic areas to inform programming and proposal development.
  • Work with Project Coordinator, Program Coordinator and Resource Mobilization Coordinator to prepare high quality concept papers and proposals on related thematic areas for gender and protection.
  • Conduct technical reviews of protection proposals, assessing the extent to which they meet standards and best practices in protection.
  • Pick up and share relevant information leading to programme development from partners and donors.
  • Ensure that gender and protection issues are strongly integrated in other thematic programme development areas such as in education, livelihoods and other sectors managed by partners.

Representation and Coordination

  • Promote cordial working relationship with local authorities, UNHCR and service providers in the programme area.
  • Strongly represent LWF at protection coordination meetings, GBV sub-sectors and working groups at Sittwe level and at times in Yangon.
  • Ensure that protection coordination working groups are updated with LWF protection activities and upcoming events.
  • Ensure that information from coordination meetings is shared internally and with other sectors, as appropriate.
  • Use evidence and learning from gender and protection mainstreaming work in the camps to advocate for protection and inclusion of at risks people in protection initiatives and dialogues at various forums.
  • Support/Facilitate field level donor visits as necessary
  • Act as the LWF Sittwe office in-charge when required in the absence of the Project Coordinator and other Senior Coordinators

LWF Policies and Standards

  • Sign to the LWF protection policies and code of conduct for working with at risks people and ensure that all staff under his/her supervision sign to and abide by the same policies and standards.
  • Perform any other duties as deemed necessary by the organization as dictated by the context and needs of the LWF programme in Myanmar.