Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH) Coordinator

Contract Duration: 364 days

Background:

As of May 2019, the Interagency Task Force for the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA Task Force), working under the guidance of the Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) and the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), is fully functional with UNHCR and IRC as Co-Chairs. The Terms of Reference and work plan for the Task Force were endorsed by the Humanitarian Country Team in June and August 2019, respectively. The PSEAH Coordinator will support the UN lead agency and the PSEA Task Force to drive inter-agency and UNCT level PSEA efforts, through enhanced synergy, collaboration, and collective accountability.  The PSEAH Coordinator will play a key role in facilitating the collective work of the PSEA Task Force. 

 

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals. 

 

 In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction. 

 

 UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

 

Job Purpose:

 

Under the direct supervision of the UNFPA Representative, the PSEAH Coordinator,  will be responsible for overseeing and supporting the implementation of the PSEA Task Force work plan across Afghanistan. The PSEAH Coordinator will be contracted by UNFPA, and an interagency panel involving WFP, UNHCR and IRC will be formed to carry out the recruitment process for the position. As a host Agency UNFPA will play a role in managing the administrative aspect of the work of the PSEAH Coordinator. 

 

You will be responsible for: 

 

Working closely with the PSEA Task Force, chaired by UNFPA and co chaired with DRC, the PSEAH Coordinator will undertake the following responsibilities:

Support the implementation of PSEA Task Force work plan

• Support the PSEA Task Force in implementing the work plan and strategy countrywide;
• Support the PSEA Task Force to further build on and update the SEAH risk assessment conducted by the members of the Task Force, to inform senior leadership on strategic decision‐making;
• Support senior leadership and the HCT to develop an engagement strategy with the host government, including identified entry points in relevant ministries and stakeholders to enhance outreach and more comprehensively address the risk of SEA in the humanitarian response;
• Take the lead in organizing and delivering training on the PSEAH work plan and building national PSEAH ability across Afghanistan, including through a Training of Trainers modality;
• Ensure the PSEA work plan is updated as necessary to reflect changes in the operational context.

Coordinate the PSEA Network across Afghanistan

• Organize the meetings of PSEA Task Force and support its operation in coordination with the Task Force co-chairs (UNFPA and DRC) to achieve the fulfillment of its responsibilities under the Terms of Reference and work plan;
• Represent the PSEA Task Force in other relevant coordination bodies and leadership forums in Kabul and other locations across the country;
• Work closely with regional bodies, particularly the Operational Coordination Teams (OCTs) set up at the sub-national level, to ensure PSEAH is a principal component of humanitarian coordination countrywide.

Strengthen PSEAH within UNFPA

• Be a member of the UNFPA PSEA Advisory Group, collaborating with UNFPA's Ethics Office as UNFPA’s Focal Point for PSEAH;
• Support UNFPA’s PSEAH efforts regionally in collaboration with UNFPA’s Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) and the Ethics Office;
• Develop and support implementation of a PSEAH Action Plan for the Country Office.
• RESPONSIBILITIES (Cont'd)

 

Strengthen PSEAH within partner organizations 

• The presence of the PSEAH Coordinator does not lessen the responsibility of individual organizations to develop and/or strengthen their own SEAH prevention and response programs across Afghanistan. The PSEAH Coordinator supports organizations to follow good practices in PSEAH implementation toward collective achievements, while final responsibility for institutional and collective PSEAH lies in Heads of Organizations and the HC respectively. The PSEAH Coordinator will support PSEA Task Force  members and other relevant entities operating across Afghanistan to strengthen their internal PSEA programs, where requested, including to:
• Establish a Code of Conduct and Whistleblowing Policy that clearly prohibits SEA, obliges reporting of such acts, enforces these clauses when breached, provides meaningful protection to whistle-blowers and encourages safe reporting;
• Implement SEAH prevention, risk mitigation, and response measures during planning, policy and project development, and programming in each department and in each technical sector;
• Train staff across Afghanistan on PSEAH and the Code of Conduct, including conduct for aid workers and how to submit and receive complaints under internal and inter‐agency reporting systems, both directly and through a Training of Trainers modality;
• Ensure that internal HR practices are in place in human resources departments that guard against hiring persons who have a (pending) allegation of misconduct against them, and include PSEAH content in staff induction, contracts and subcontracting, and job evaluation criteria;
• Insert and enforce PSEAH clauses in partnership contracts that clarify reporting and investigation responsibilities;
• Establish and/or strengthen internal investigation protocols, including clear case handling responsibilities in‐country, capacitated investigations staff, and ability to enact disciplinary measures where SEAH is substantiated; where the Task Force members have a dedicated investigation body in Headquarters, strengthen referrals to the dedicated investigation unit;
• Establish and/or strengthen safe SEAH‐specific procedures for internal complaints and feedback mechanisms (CFMs) and referrals to survivor assistance, informed by good practice and community consultations.

Community engagement

• As part of broader community engagement activities, support the PSEA Task Force to gather information on community perspectives on the behaviour of aid workers, and their preferences in dispute resolution, discussing sexual matters, and receiving and sharing sensitive information to inform outreach and other activities;
• Support the PSEA Task Force to develop a collective communication strategy to raise awareness on key PSEAH messages, including the rights of affected populations, the fact that help and services are never conditioned on sexual favours, and how to submit sensitive complaints;
• Ensure that the implementation of the PSEA Task Force work plan is informed by community participation, contextually and culturally proper, and based on the community’s needs;
• Engage closely with the Awaaz Interagency Call Centre to ensure dissemination of PSEAH information and facilitate reporting of incidents involving SEAH;
• Ensure community engagement is linked to relevant government-led initiatives, such as the Citizen’s Charter National Priority Program and the Community Development Councils.

Coordination with Clusters, GBV and Child Protection Sub-Clusters, and other actors

 

• Engage and coordinate closely with all clusters, sub-clusters and governmental entities in Afghanistan to ensure:
• PSEAH mainstreaming during planning, policy development and programming;
• Harmonized approach to prevention activities and support of survivors, and that PSEA Task Force activities take a survivor‐centered approach supporting the rights of survivors;
• Represent the PSEA Task Force and provide updates on relevant PSEAH activities to clusters, sub-clusters and other existing forums, including the OCTs at the sub-national level;
• Report back to the PSEA Task Force about developments within the clusters, sub-clusters and other exiting forums that may impact the implementation of the PSEA work plan;
• Take part in all Inter-Cluster Coordination Team (ICCT) meetings to ensure PSEAH issues are fully represented in discussions;
• Attend HCT meetings quarterly or as agreed to report on progress on PSEAH activities in line with the PSEA work plan;
• On a regular basis (as established by the HCT), present on progress toward meeting the objectives of the PSEA Task Force work plan to the HCT, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), and the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief and Development (ACBAR), the coordinating body for NGOs involved in the humanitarian response.

Establish/strengthen an Interagency Community-Based Complaints Mechanism (CBCM)

• Support the working group assigned to develop interagency community-based complaints SOPs
• Support the PSEA Task Force to develop enhanced referral SOPs for the Awaaz Interagency Call Centre;
• Assist PSEA Task Force members to consult and engage with all relevant stakeholders during the design of the CBCM to ensure support, high‐level commitment, sustainability, and community trust and ownership in the CBCM;
• Ensure the interagency CBCM is aligned with and complementary to the internal complaints and reporting mechanisms implemented by PSEA Task Force members.

Strengthen assistance referral pathways

• Mobilize the PSEA Task Force to assist in a countrywide mapping exercise of available services and gaps in healthcare and legal, psychosocial, and material support in Kabul and at the field level;
• Ensure that the developed SOPs incorporate assistance referral pathways to provide immediate aid for complainants and survivors
• Work with individual agencies and clusters to strengthen area-based assistance referral pathways and identify gaps in service delivery, and raise awareness on the availability of services;
• Assist the Task Force members to train service providers on PSEAH‐specific components in service delivery.

 

Qualifications and Experience:

 

Education: 

Advanced University Degree in gender studies, humanitarian affairs, human rights, law, social work, public health, development studies, and/or other related social science disciplines. 

Work experience:

 

• 7 years of relevant progressive work experience.
• Demonstrated experience in the field of sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, gender based violence, staff misconduct and discipline, gender mainstreaming and/or humanitarian affairs. 
• Understanding of the international development and humanitarian architecture - Familiarity with the UN system and global coordination structures (e.g. IASC) - Proven ability to implement an Action Plan 
• Experience in developing and facilitating training and capacity-building activities is an advantage
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills and an ability to conduct face-to face and remote learning events. 
• Familiarity with data protection and confidentiality measures is an advantage 
• Experience working in humanitarian settings is highly desirable. 

 

Technical expertise in at least one of the following areas:

• Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA)
• Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP)
• Protection
• Human rights
• Child protection
• Gender‐based violence and survivor help
• Staff misconduct and discipline
• Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL)

 

Skills and Languages: 

Skills

• Coordination (experience in an inter‐agency coordination role);
• Professionalism (proven integrity, objectivity, and professional competence);
• Communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills;
• Ability to work with different stakeholders and build consensus;
• Advocacy across a wide variety of actors;
• Leadership (ability to lead a technical network);
• Leveraging (ability to engage at senior leadership level and secure buy‐in);
• Problem‐solving (ability to know what needs to be done and identify the resources to do it).

Languages

• English proficiency required;
• Knowledge of Dari and/or Pashto is a strong advantage.

Behavioral requirements

• Sensitivity to cultural diversity, discrimination, and gender issues;
• Ability to interact in a sensitive manner with survivors;
• Ability to work in a stressful environment;
• Ability to delegate.

Disclaimer 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Fraudulent notices, letters or offers may be submitted to the UNFPA fraud hotline http://www.unfpa.org/help/hotline.cfm 

In accordance with the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, persons applying to posts in the international Professional category, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.  

 

Qualified Female Candidates Are Highly Encouraged To Apply!