Protection Officer – General Protection

The overall purpose of the role:
The Protection Officer – General Protection is responsible for planning, supervising, implementing, and monitoring community-based protection (CBP) and general protection activities in mobile response locations. Key responsibilities include conducting protection risk assessments, coordinating interventions, supporting the development of CBP-focused IEC materials, organizing awareness sessions, and ensuring safe referrals and access to protection services. The officer will also manage the protection desk, lead protection case management, contribute to the development of CBP training materials, and build the capacity of local facilitators, partners, and community structures on protection mainstreaming.
The role also involves collecting information on new alerts and shocks, updating event trackers and alert forms, and coordinating with humanitarian actors, local authorities, community leaders, and Community-Based Protection Networks (CBPNs). Throughout their work, the officer will ensure strict confidentiality and adherence to DRC’s Code of Conduct.
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 or natural disasters.

Responsibilities:
1. Implementation of Community-Based Protection Activities

• Lead the implementation and supervision of community-based protection activities, including protection risk information dissemination, PSN profiling, and safe service referrals.
• Support establishing and functioning Community-Based Protection Networks (CBPNs) following DRC guidelines and SOPs.
• Deliver Individual Protection Assistance (IPA) in-kind or through cash, using a survivor-centered case management approach.
• Ensure protection and CBP activities are relevant, accessible, and shaped by feedback from affected populations.
• Operate mobile or static protection help desks per DRC’s protection desk operational guidelines.

2. Capacity Building and Community Engagement

• Assess training needs, plan, and deliver capacity-building sessions for CBPN members and other relevant stakeholders.
• Assist in designing and revising CBPN training modules, IEC materials, and protection mainstreaming tools.

Promote protection principles, inclusion, and Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) considerations in all community engagement activities.

• Build partnerships with community leaders, women and youth networks, and local authorities to ensure ownership and support for CBP interventions.
• Promote CBPN initiatives within communities and engage stakeholders to increase awareness and local accountability.
  3. Protection Monitoring and Assessments
• Conduct rapid protection assessments through FGDs, KIIs, safety audits, and service mapping to identify protection risks, trends, and service gaps.
• Support systematic data collection, trend analysis, and reporting to inform ongoing protection programming and adaptation.
• Where relevant, contribute to the Protection Cluster’s Protection Monitoring System.
• Update event trackers, alert forms, and trigger tables in response to new shocks or protection incidents.

4. Planning, Coordination, and Reporting

• Draft and regularly update activity workplans for CBPN and protection interventions.
• Support internal coordination between protection and other DRC sectors and offices to ensure integrated programming.
• Liaise with government, humanitarian, and community-based actors to ensure effective referral pathways and joint responses.
• Prepare required documentation for mission activities, including movement plans, financial forms, and procurement requests.
• Assist in compiling reports, documenting success stories, and contributing to proposal and donor reporting as requested.
• Coordinate with the Protection Team Leader, Manager, and Emergency Manager for donor visits and field missions.
  5. Team Management and Supervision
• Participate in recruiting, orienting, and supervising assistants, translators, peer educators, mobilizers, and crowd controllers.
• In collaboration with the Protection Team Leader, provide daily technical guidance, mentoring, and on-the-job training for protection staff and CBPN members.
• Ensure team compliance with DRC safety and security procedures and field protocols.

Experience and technical competencies: (include years of experience)

• Minimum of 3 years of experience in protection programming, including direct implementation and community-based training.
• Strong technical knowledge of general protection, including GBV, Child Protection, Housing, Land and Property (HLP), Mine Action, and relevant South Sudan legal frameworks.
• Strong understanding of South Sudan’s rule of law and international legal frameworks (IHL, human rights, and refugee law), with the ability to analyze complex protection issues and apply a survivor-centered, rights-based approach to strategy and response.
• Excellent English writing, communication, and organizational skills.
• Higher diploma or bachelor's degree in Social Work, Psychology, Law, Social Sciences, or another relevant field.