Protection Officer - 8 Positions

About DRC

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is one of the world’s leading humanitarian non-governmental organizations, committed to protecting, advocating for, and building sustainable futures for displaced people and communities affected by conflict and displacement.

DRC is seeking a qualified, motivated, and results-oriented professional to join its team as Protection Officer. The successful candidate will contribute to life-saving humanitarian interventions in complex and challenging environments, strengthening community-based protection systems and ensuring that vulnerable individuals and communities can safely access essential protection services.

About the Job

The Protection Officer – General Protection is responsible for planning, implementing, supervising, and monitoring community-based protection (CBP) and general protection activities in mobile response locations.

The role involves conducting protection risk assessments, coordinating protection interventions, supporting the development of information, education, and communication (IEC) materials, organizing community awareness sessions, and facilitating safe referrals to appropriate protection services. The officer will also manage protection help desks, support protection case management, develop CBP training materials, and strengthen the capacity of community facilitators, partners, and local structures on protection mainstreaming.

The position also involves monitoring emerging humanitarian needs, collecting information on new alerts and shocks, maintaining event trackers and alert forms, and coordinating with humanitarian actors, local authorities, community leaders, and Community-Based Protection Networks (CBPNs).

The successful candidate must uphold strict confidentiality, safeguarding principles, and DRC’s Code of Conduct while ensuring that all interventions are safe, inclusive, accountable, and responsive to the needs of affected populations.

This position is part of DRC’s Mobile Response Team (MRT), which operates in hard-to-reach and underserved areas of South Sudan affected by conflict, displacement, and natural disasters.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technical Oversight of Protection Programming

• Lead the implementation and supervision of community-based protection activities, including protection risk information dissemination, profiling of persons with specific needs (PSNs), and safe referrals to available services.
• Support the establishment and effective functioning of Community-Based Protection Networks in accordance with DRC guidelines and standard operating procedures.
• Facilitate Individual Protection Assistance (IPA), including in-kind or cash assistance, in line with established procedures and appropriate protection case management approaches.
• Ensure protection activities are relevant, accessible, inclusive, and informed by feedback from affected populations.
• Operate mobile or static protection help desks in accordance with DRC’s protection desk operational guidelines.

2. Capacity Building and Community Engagement

• Assess training needs and organize capacity-building sessions for CBPN members and other relevant stakeholders.
• Support the development and revision of CBPN training modules, IEC materials, and protection mainstreaming tools.
• Promote protection principles, inclusion, and Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) considerations across all community engagement activities.
• Build partnerships with community leaders, women’s and youth networks, local authorities, and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen community ownership of protection interventions.
• Promote CBPN initiatives, raise community awareness, and strengthen local accountability mechanisms.

3. Protection Monitoring and Assessments

• Conduct rapid protection assessments using focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KIIs), safety audits, and service mapping to identify protection risks, emerging trends, and service gaps.
• Support systematic data collection, trend analysis, and reporting to inform protection programming and operational decision-making.
• Contribute to the Protection Cluster’s Protection Monitoring System, where applicable.
• Update event trackers, alert forms, and trigger tables in response to emerging humanitarian shocks, protection incidents, and changing community needs.

4. Planning, Coordination, and Reporting

• Develop and regularly update activity workplans for CBPNs and other protection interventions.
• Coordinate with DRC protection teams and other sectors to promote integrated humanitarian programming.
• Liaise with government institutions, humanitarian organizations, community structures, and other relevant actors to strengthen referral pathways and coordinate responses.
• Prepare documentation required for field missions, including movement plans, financial forms, and procurement requests.
• Contribute to activity reports, success stories, proposals, and donor reporting as required.
• Coordinate with the Protection Team Leader, Protection Manager, and Emergency Manager to facilitate donor visits and field missions.

5. Team Management and Supervision

• Participate in the recruitment, orientation, and supervision of assistants, translators, peer educators, community mobilizers, and crowd controllers.
• In collaboration with the Protection Team Leader, provide technical guidance, mentoring, and on-the-job training to protection staff and CBPN members.
• Monitor team performance and promote compliance with DRC’s protection standards, safeguarding requirements, and operational procedures.
• Ensure that team members adhere to DRC’s safety and security procedures and established field protocols.

Requirements

Education

• A university degree in Social Sciences, International Development, Gender Studies, or another relevant field.

Experience and Technical Competencies

• At least three years of relevant experience in protection programming, including direct implementation of protection activities and community-based training.
• Strong technical knowledge of general protection and relevant thematic areas, including Gender-Based Violence (GBV), Child Protection, Housing, Land and Property (HLP), and Mine Action.
• Knowledge of relevant South Sudanese legal frameworks and protection referral mechanisms.
• Demonstrated experience in community engagement, protection monitoring, capacity building, and coordination with local stakeholders.
• Strong organizational, analytical, reporting, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work independently and effectively in mobile response settings and challenging humanitarian environments.
• Commitment to humanitarian principles, confidentiality, safeguarding, accountability, and the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Languages

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Knowledge of Arabic or other relevant local languages is an added advantage.