Protection Coordinator-Internal Only

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

The Protection Coordinator leads the IRC’s efforts to create and manage a robust protection team able to meet safety and protection needs of people affected by conflict, displacement, and reducing risk and responding to cases of violence, coercion and deprivation, as well as mainstreaming protection throughout the IRC and partners’ response in Nigeria. This position holder will work specifically on three protection streams: Child Protection (CP), Women’s Protection and Empowerment (WPE), and Protection & Rule of Law (PRoL). The person is accountable for the strategic and quality implementation of the Safety Outcome Strategy in the country program.

The ideal candidate is a strong people manager and effective coach, with a proven ability to build staff capacity and foster high‑performing teams. They bring a strategic vision for the protection sector in Nigeria and can translate operational realities, constraints, and emerging needs into competitive, high‑quality donor proposals. The role requires someone who thrives in complex and challenging environments and works confidently across diverse, multicultural teams.

Protection is a signature Outcome of the IRC’s strategy, and the Protection Coordinator will set and manage a clear direction, build the capacity of the team, drive forward implementation and ensure qualitative data is produced and analyzed effectively.

Major Responsibilities:

Program Strategy & Design

• Provide strategic direction, leadership, and overall technical and management support to protection programming in Nigeria, ensuring it is needs-based, context-appropriate and conflict-sensitive, responsive, coherent, collaborative, and operationally feasible.
• Proactively continue to grow the Nigeria protection portfolio through development of concept notes and proposals to existing and new donors, maintaining a coherent strategy across IRC’s areas of intervention.
• Ensuring and strengthening the integrated approach of Protection with Health, ERD and Education.
• Lead assessments and context-appropriate research aimed at generating a strong evidence base for IRC protection programming, as well as informing IRC advocacy. This will particularly take the place of leading work on Protection Risk Analysis (PRA) aligned with the Protection Analysis Framework (PAF) to ensure coherent data-driven programming.
• Support the greater sharing and use of research and learning within IRC’s program sectors, including by contributing to program development and design, to ensure interventions are responsive to needs and informed by a sound understanding of the environment(s).

·         Responsible for ensuring that programs meet stated objectives within the timeframe and on budget, with specific attention to ensuring quality interventions.

·         Develop budgets and spending plans and monitor project expenditure through BvA reports and other tools, with support from the grants and finance teams.

·         Ensure that all new budgets accurately reflect programming activities and required staffing levels.

Program Management

• Ensure projects and activities are of high technical quality, meet humanitarian standards, mainstream protection, align with IRC’s Safety Outcome Strategy, and respond to client’s feedback.
• Liaise with Technical Unit advisors to ensure relevant support, tools and resources are being provided and integrated into programming.
• Lead on the development of a Nigeria Safety Outcome Strategy to ensure programming reflects standards for best practice and quality and modalities of integration and joint work remain context and need-appropriate.
• Ensure close alignment and coherence with IRC country, regional and global strategy.
• Proactively identify, assess, monitor and implement measures to reduce or control risks that may impact program delivery, quality or compliance
• Promote joint work across all protection teams (CP, WPE and PRoL) to enhance the quality of programming and a holistic approach to addressing safety risks.
• Develop of the internal Standard Operating Procedures for integrated protection.
• Provide technical backstopping to partners through ongoing capacity building and field monitoring support.

Staff Management & Development

·         Plan, recruit, supervise and develop the team and individuals needed to achieve program goals.

·         Coach, train, and mentor IRC and partner staff with the aim of strengthening their technical capacity, exchanging knowledge within the team, and providing professional development guidance.

·         Supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting performance objectives, providing regular and timely performance feedback, and performance reviews.

·         Promote and monitor staff care and well-being.

Reporting

• Ensure that all internal and external reporting requirements are met, that reports are of a high quality and are submitted on time

·         Ensure technical quality and accuracy of Protection program reports.

·         Lead the compilation and analysis of protection monitoring information for sharing with partners and donors.

·         Ensure that protection information is used effectively to advocate on important issues as well as longer term planning for target populations

Coordination and Representation

·         Represent IRC in National Protection cluster, GBV and Child Protection working groups (or national coordination fora still existing)

·         Attend relevant coordination forums in country.

·         Collaborate with INGO, LNGO, governmental and other non-governmental stakeholders as and when required.

·         Explore the potential of the IRC to address unmet needs of vulnerable groups in client communities within the parameters of the Strategic Action Plan and sector priorities.

Key Working Relationships

Position Reports to:  Deputy Director, Programs (DDP) IRC Nigeria

Position directly supervises: WPE Manager, PRoL Manager, CP Manager, VPR Meal officer.

Indirect Reporting: Other Program staff in Protection team.

Job Requirements:

Qualifications

·      Master’s Degree in social work, human rights, international law, social science or related field.

·      Five to seven years’ experience implementing two of the three protection streams: Protection Rule of Law, Child Protection and Women’s Protection and Empowerment in an emergency or complex emergency context and demonstrable understanding of the relevance of international humanitarian law and human rights law to humanitarian action;

·      Applied experience in case management;

·      Ability to manage up and across and to influence others to mainstream protection across units;

·      Strong team and people leadership, management, organizational and development skills;

·      Strong Business Development skills to develop competitive, high‑quality donor proposals;

·      Strong program and budget management skills including planning and reporting across multiple grants;

·         Strong written and oral communication skills, effective in representation and liaison with external parties;

·         Works well in and promotes teamwork, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, flexible and able to handle pressure effectively and productively;

·         Fluent in spoken and written English

Others: Strong computer skills: must be competent in the use of Windows MS office programs (Word, Excel), email programs, etc.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Conflicts of Interest, Fiscal Integrity, and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe, and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.

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