WASSA, in partnership with WCUK, is implementing a SIDA-funded project in Badghis Province aimed at strengthening child protection systems, safeguarding mechanisms, and community resilience for vulnerable populations, including women, girls, children, IDPs, returnees, and host communities.
Given the socio-cultural context of Afghanistan, particularly in Badghis Province, access to women and girls requires female staff to ensure culturally appropriate engagement, confidentiality, and safe participation. The Female Protection Officer will play a critical role in facilitating safe spaces, strengthening community-based protection mechanisms, and ensuring protection mainstreaming across project interventions.
2. Purpose of the Position
The Protection Officer is responsible for leading protection and safeguarding activities at community level, with a particular focus on women and girls, ensuring:
- Safe identification and referral of protection concerns
- Strengthening community-based protection systems
- Promotion of child protection and safeguarding standards
- Integration of gender-sensitive and culturally appropriate approaches
The position ensures compliance with WASSA safeguarding policies, SIDA donor requirements, and humanitarian protection standards.
3. Scope of Work
The Protection Officer will:
- Lead implementation of community-based protection activities.
- Ensure culturally appropriate engagement with women and girls.
- Strengthen Community-Based Structures (CBS) with a gender-sensitive lens.
- Monitor protection risks and support mitigation strategies.
- Facilitate safe, confidential, and ethical case referrals.
4. Key Responsibilities
A. Gender-Sensitive Protection Programming
- Lead protection activities targeting women, girls, and children.
- Conduct protection risk assessments with a gender-sensitive approach.
- Facilitate separate awareness sessions for women and girls where culturally required.
- Promote child rights, safeguarding, and prevention of violence through culturally appropriate communication.
- Support establishment or strengthening of women-friendly safe spaces (where applicable).
- Ensure protection mainstreaming in livelihood and resilience activities.
- Apply conflict-sensitive and Do-No-Harm approaches in all activities.
B. Case Identification, Referral and Confidentiality
- Safely identify vulnerable women and children at risk using ethical and confidential methods.
- Maintain strict confidentiality of all protection cases.
- Ensure functional referral pathways for:
- Psychosocial support
- Health services
- Legal support (where available)
- Social services
- Coordinate closely with service providers and local actors.
- Support follow-up of referred cases while ensuring survivor-centered approaches.
- Immediately report safeguarding incidents in line with WASSA policies.
C. Community-Based Structures (CBS) Strengthening
- Strengthen protection committees with female representation.
- Support inclusion of women and marginalized groups in CBS decision-making.
- Build CBS capacity on:
- Child protection
- Safeguarding and PSEA
- Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI)
- Promote accountability and transparency mechanisms within CBS.
- Strengthen community complaint and feedback mechanisms (CFRM) in ways accessible to women and girls.
D. Community Engagement in Afghanistan Context
- Engage with community elders and religious leaders (through appropriate channels) to gain acceptance of protection activities.
- Build trust with families to encourage safe participation of women and girls.
- Ensure culturally appropriate dress code and behavior in accordance with WASSA policies and local norms.
- Respect community dynamics while upholding protection principles.
E. Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting
- Track protection indicators in coordination with the MEAL team.
- Collect sex- and age-disaggregated data.
- Document protection trends and emerging risks.
- Prepare monthly and quarterly protection reports.
- Contribute to SIDA donor reporting with accurate and timely data.
- Document success stories and lessons learned, particularly related to women’s participation.
F. Safeguarding, PSEA and Compliance
- Ensure full compliance with WASSA Safeguarding and PSEA policies.
- Raise community awareness about reporting mechanisms for misconduct.
- Promote safe and inclusive participation of vulnerable groups.
- Uphold humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, and independence.
- Perform additional related duties assigned by the Project Manager.
