Protection Response Officer, Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) (UG)

The Protection Response Officer, Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) supports the implementation of protection activities within the Global AVR Programme. The role involves conducting protection assessments, coordinating with stakeholders, managing protection programming, and ensuring migrants have access to relevant services and protection in countries of origin.

Responsibilities

• Conduct protection assessments and identify risk mitigation strategies focusing on operational setting, accessibility of services, protection risks for vulnerable groups, key protection actors, and referral pathways in countries of origin.
• Lead and support national and international protection staff to ensure high-quality outcomes for migrants and adherence to IOM policies.
• Keep relevant stakeholders informed about ongoing activities and developments through reports.
• Collaborate with emergency coordinator, RMO and other relevant staff to ensure migrants have access to relevant services.
• Liaise with national actors and protection actors for referral to appropriate services.
• Coordinate with consular authorities to facilitate access to documentation, family tracing, and reunification.
• Ensure appropriate protection information management in line with IOM and interagency standards.
• Participate in relevant coordination mechanisms or task forces at local level.
• Provide remote and in-person support for response setup and assistance provision, ensuring coherence across interventions.
• Be available for short-notice international deployments outside duty station to support urgent protection responses.
• Represent IOM in meetings and forums with donors, partners, and stakeholders.
• Monitor implementation of protection activities and measure progress against objectives and targets.
• Identify priorities during programme implementation and contribute to design and development of new projects and activities based on results framework and donor requirements.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Social Sciences, International Relations/Affairs, Research, Law or a related field from an accredited academic institution with five years of relevant professional experience; or Bachelor's degree in the above fields with seven years of relevant professional experience.
• Experience working with migrants, civil society, and governments.
• Proven experience in leading and managing a large multinational team.
• Proven experience managing protection programming across multiple countries, as well as mainstreaming protection across operations.
• Proven experience providing protection and assistance to migrants in vulnerable situations and communicating with individuals who have complex needs.
• Experience working in programs that include a movement operations component is an advantage.
• Experience with IOM or other UN agencies, particularly working on assisted voluntary return and reintegration, and specialized protection programs, is preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of IOM and inter-agency protection standards and operational procedures and guidelines.
• Demonstrated coordination skills.
• Ability to research and adapt to different operational and cultural contexts.
• Demonstrated writing, editing, presentation and training facilitation skills.
• Excellent computer skills: excellent knowledge of MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and email/internet software, statistical analysis packages.
• Knowledge of UN cooperation frameworks and bilateral donor programming requirements.
• Ability to gather, consolidate, and attribute information from multiple sources.
• High degree of judgment and initiative, ability to work with a high degree of independence within assigned areas.
• Demonstrated interpersonal and teamwork skills.
• Proven ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with people of diverse cultural and national backgrounds.
• Fluency in English and Spanish required.
• Working knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, and Russian) is an advantage.

Skills

• Protection Programming
• Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration
• Protection Assessments
• Multinational Team Coordination
• Protection Mainstreaming
• Migrant Assistance
• Inter-agency Coordination
• Operational Procedures
• Training Facilitation
• Research Adaptation
• Report Writing
• Presentation Skills
• MS Word
• Excel
• Power Point
• Statistical Analysis
• UN Cooperation Frameworks
• Donor Programming
• Information Consolidation
• Stakeholder Coordination

Languages

English, Spanish