Protection Officer

The Protection Officer is responsible for planning, implementing, and ensuring quality delivery of protection activities across Donetska Oblast. The role involves case management, protection monitoring, victim assistance, community-based protection activities, and contributing to data collection, analysis, and awareness-raising initiatives in line with DRC's protection standards.

Responsibilities

• Conduct outreach and identify individuals at heightened protection risk through field visits, community engagement, and coordination with other actors.
• Provide case management support to vulnerable individuals, including comprehensive assessments, individualized action planning, referrals to internal and external services, and regular follow-ups.
• Deliver individual protection assistance (cash or in-kind) to mitigate specific risks faced by clients.
• Ensure proper documentation of all case management processes, including consent forms, referral documentation, and case notes, following DRC's data protection protocols.
• Provide Targeted Individual Assistance (conditional cash grants) to direct and indirect victims of Explosive Ordnance and Explosive Weapons (EO/EW) accidents to improve their socio-economic situation.
• Support the designing and delivery of Age, Gender, and Disability (AGD) Inclusion training and other capacity building measures on Victim Assistance (VA) to relevant target groups.
• Conduct protection monitoring activities such as key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and household-level surveys to assess protection trends and risks.
• Participate in the development and use of protection monitoring tools and contribute to the analysis and reporting of collected data.
• Identify gaps in services and participate in regular service mapping and updates to referral pathways.
• Plan and implement awareness-raising sessions and information campaigns on key protection topics, rights, and available services.
• Support the establishment and strengthening of community-based protection structures through participatory assessments, trainings and development of community action plans.
• Deliver capacity-building sessions for community focal points and structures on main protection topics.
• Maintain regular communication with community leaders, civil society actors, and local authorities to ensure community ownership and sustainability of protection efforts.
• Supervise Protection Assistants (if applicable), provide technical guidance, and ensure quality of field-level activities.
• Coordinate with other DRC departments to ensure integrated programming and effective internal referrals.
• Contribute to program reporting, planning, and proposal development with field-level inputs.
• Maintain high standards of confidentiality, ethics, and safeguarding at all times.
• Perform any other duties as assigned by the Protection Team Leader or Protection Manager relevant to protection objectives.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s / Specialist’s / Master’s degree (e.g., in social sciences, international relations, humanitarian studies) or equivalent professional experience.
• Minimum 2 years of professional experience in the field of humanitarian interventions, social sciences, human rights or community development.
• Strong understanding of protection issues, including child protection and gender-based violence.
• Ability to confidently discuss sensitive topics and work with people in vulnerable or distressing situations.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Outlook/Exchange, and Windows operating systems.
• Desirable: Strong organizational and time management skills, with the ability to prioritize tasks and deliver high-quality work on time.
• Desirable: High professional ethics and strict adherence to confidentiality requirements.
• Desirable: Full professional proficiency in Ukrainian; knowledge of English - level B1.

Skills

• Humanitarian Interventions
• Social Sciences
• Human Rights
• Community Development
• Child Protection
• Gender-Based Violence Awareness
• Case Management
• Protection Monitoring
• Victim assistance
• Community-Based Protection
• Data Collection
• Data Analysis
• Awareness raising activities
• Microsoft Office Suite
• Outlook/Exchange
• Windows Operating System

Languages

Ukrainian, English