Job Opening: Senior Protection Assistant

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”) is the agency entrusted by the United Nations General Assembly with the mandate to provide international protection to refugees and, together with Governments, to seek permanent solutions to the problems of refugees. Article 35 of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and Article II of the 1967 Protocol requires states parties to cooperate with the office of the UNHCR in the exercise of its supervisory responsibilities. UNHCR’s supervisory responsibility has been reflected in European Union law, including by way of a general reference to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees in Article 78 (1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (“TFEU”), as well as in Declaration 17 to the Treaty of Amsterdam, which provides that “consultations shall be established with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees … on matters relating to asylum policy”.

Within the framework of UNHCR’s supervisory responsibility, the UNHCR country office in Cyprus seeks a Senior Protection Assistant to have regular presence at the Reception Centre in Kofinou for the provision of social support, especially towards the transition and integration of residents into the society, as well as for establishing coordination and communication mechanisms between the administration and the residents. The Senior Protection Assistant may also be requested to provide services at the Limnes Multipurpose Center in Larnaca and the First Reception Centre at Pournara.

Overall Purpose and Scope of Assignment:

The Senior Needs Assessment Assistant will work under the supervision of the Protection Officer of UNHCR. The Senior Protection Assistant shall be stationed at the Kofinou Reception centre and shall provide integration support to the residents of the center facilitating their transition into the community. This support entails assistance for accessing government services; facilitation of access to key rights such as healthcare and education; enrolment in language and vocational training programmes; and support for the identification of accommodation and employment opportunities. In order to perform these duties, the incumbent would need to ensure a comprehensive mapping of the skills and the needs of the residents in order to design and implement individualized integration plans.

The incumbent will also need to maintain contact with key government departments, universities and civil society organizations providing services and/or implementing programmes that can enhance the integration prospects of forcibly displaced persons residing at the Kofinou Reception Centre.

The Senior Protection Assistant shall also provide support to the management of the Centre for the design and implementation of Standard Operating Procedures for the effective coordination and communication of the residents, the authorities and the service providers operational at the centre.

In addition, the Senior Protection Assistant shall provide input to UNHCR for informing its strategy, as well as for data management purposes.

Main duties and responsibilities:
The Senior Protection Assistant will undertake the following tasks and responsibilities:
• Map the skills and the specific needs of the residents at Kofinou reception Centre.
• Create individualized integration plans that will facilitate the self-sufficiency of the residents and their transition into the community.
• Support residents access social support schemes prior to their exit from the centre.
• Support residents to access healthcare through the issuance of a hospital card while under the status of an asylum seeker and, subsequently, upon recognition, facilitate their enrolment in the General health System (GESY)
• Support residents to access vocational and language-learning opportunities.
• Facilitate the enrolment and monitor the attendance of children residing at Kofinou reception centre to public schools.
• Support residents in the identification of dignified and affordable accommodation.
• Support residents to identify dignified employment opportunities, enhancing their self-sufficiency.
• Create and update-as-needed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities, identify gaps and make recommendations to remedy them.
• Support the management of the centers as required, particularly in relation to coordination and communication with persons of concern.
• Support activities in protection related AGD based programming with implementing and operational partners.
• Perform other related duties as required.