Protection Officer

• The Protection Officer will contribute to identifying protection risks, promoting the safety and dignity of affected populations, strengthening community-based protection mechanisms, and ensuring that individuals at risk can access appropriate information, support, and referral services. The role will involve community engagement, protection monitoring, identification of protection concerns, safe referrals, awareness-raising, and coordination with relevant service providers and programme teams.
• The successful candidate will work closely with affected communities, community leaders, programme staff, relevant government agencies, and protection service providers to promote a safe, inclusive, and rights-based approach to humanitarian assistance. The post holder must demonstrate sound professional judgment, respect for confidentiality, cultural sensitivity, and a strong commitment to safeguarding and the principles of humanitarian action.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Protection Programme Implementation

• Support the planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of protection activities in line with approved programme plans, budgets, organizational policies, and donor requirements.
• Conduct protection-related activities that promote the safety, dignity, rights, and well-being of vulnerable and crisis-affected individuals and communities.
• Support the integration of protection principles into the organization\'s health, WASH, nutrition, and other humanitarian interventions, as applicable.
• Ensure that programme activities are inclusive, conflict-sensitive, gender-responsive, and accessible to individuals with different needs and abilities.
• Identify implementation challenges and recommend practical measures to improve the quality and effectiveness of protection interventions.

Protection Monitoring and Risk Identification

• Conduct regular community visits and protection monitoring activities to identify protection concerns, risks, threats, barriers to assistance, and emerging trends affecting communities.
• Gather relevant information through safe, ethical, and appropriate methods, ensuring that data collection does not expose individuals or communities to additional harm.
• Identify individuals and groups facing heightened protection risks, including children at risk, persons with disabilities, older persons, survivors of violence, displaced persons, and other vulnerable groups.
• Document protection concerns accurately and securely in accordance with approved procedures and data protection requirements.
• Analyze protection information to identify recurring risks, service gaps, and potential threats to the safety and dignity of affected populations.
• Immediately escalate urgent protection concerns through established organizational and referral channels.

Case Identification and Referral

• Identify individuals who may require specialized protection assistance and facilitate referrals to appropriate service providers in accordance with established procedures.
• Maintain updated information on available protection, health, psychosocial, legal, child protection, gender-based violence, and other relevant services within assigned programme locations.
• Obtain informed consent where required and explain referral options clearly, ensuring that individuals understand the available services and their choices.
• Follow up on referrals where appropriate and safe, while respecting confidentiality and the decisions of the affected individual.
• Avoid conducting specialized case management or investigations beyond the officer\'s training, authority, or designated responsibilities.
• Ensure that urgent cases are referred promptly and that sensitive information is shared only with authorized personnel on a need-to-know basis.

Community-Based Protection and Engagement

• Engage community members, leaders, women\'s groups, youth groups, persons with disabilities, and other relevant stakeholders to identify protection concerns and strengthen community-based protection mechanisms.
• Support communities to identify practical and locally appropriate measures for reducing protection risks.
• Promote meaningful participation of affected populations in the design, implementation, and review of protection activities.
• Facilitate community discussions and consultations in a manner that is safe, inclusive, culturally appropriate, and sensitive to local dynamics.
• Support the identification and strengthening of appropriate community protection structures, ensuring that their roles are clearly defined and consistent with organizational safeguarding standards.
• Ensure that community engagement activities do not expose participants to retaliation, stigma, discrimination, or other foreseeable risks.

Protection Awareness and Information Sharing

• Conduct awareness sessions on protection risks, individual rights, available services, safe referral pathways, and mechanisms for raising concerns.
• Support communities to understand how to access humanitarian assistance safely and report concerns about exploitation, abuse, discrimination, or misconduct.
• Develop and disseminate appropriate protection information materials in accessible formats and relevant local languages, in coordination with the programme team.
• Promote awareness of child protection, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), gender-based violence risk mitigation, and other relevant protection issues.
• Ensure that information-sharing activities are accurate, age-appropriate, culturally sensitive, and designed to avoid exposing individuals to harm.

Child Protection

• Identify and report child protection concerns through established safeguarding and referral procedures.
• Support safe referrals for children at risk, including children separated from their caregivers, unaccompanied children, children exposed to violence or exploitation, and children facing other serious protection concerns.
• Promote children\'s safety, dignity, participation, and best interests in accordance with applicable child safeguarding procedures.
• Support community awareness on child protection risks, child safeguarding, family separation, harmful practices, and safe reporting channels.
• Ensure that any interaction with children follows organizational child safeguarding requirements, including appropriate consent, confidentiality, and supervision arrangements.
• Never independently investigate child abuse allegations or undertake specialized child protection case management unless specifically authorized, appropriately trained, and assigned to do so.

Gender-Based Violence Risk Mitigation and Safe Referral

• Support activities that reduce protection risks affecting women, girls, men, and boys, including risks associated with gender-based violence.
• Promote safe, confidential, and non-discriminatory access to available services for individuals affected by violence, exploitation, or abuse.
• Ensure that disclosures of gender-based violence are handled sensitively and without judgment, victim-blaming, or unnecessary questioning.
• Facilitate referrals to qualified service providers in accordance with established survivor-centred procedures and the affected person\'s choices, subject to applicable reporting requirements.
• Work with programme teams to identify and address protection risks associated with service delivery, community activities, distribution points, and access to facilities.
• Maintain strict confidentiality and ensure that identifiable information about survivors is not shared without appropriate authorization and consideration of safety.

Protection Mainstreaming and Risk Mitigation

• Work with programme teams to integrate safety, dignity, meaningful access, accountability, and participation into programme design and implementation.
• Identify protection risks associated with the delivery of assistance, including exclusion, discrimination, harassment, exploitation, and barriers to accessing services.
• Recommend practical measures to make programme activities safer and more accessible for women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, and other at-risk groups.
• Support protection risk assessments and contribute to the development of mitigation measures.
• Monitor whether protection measures are implemented and report gaps requiring management attention.
• Promote conflict sensitivity and ensure that interventions do not unintentionally worsen tensions or expose communities to additional risks.

Safeguarding and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

• Comply with the organization\'s safeguarding policies, Code of Conduct, PSEA requirements, and reporting procedures.
• Promote awareness of prohibited conduct, safe reporting channels, and the right of programme participants to receive assistance free from exploitation, abuse, harassment, or demands for payment or favours.
• Promptly refer safeguarding allegations and disclosures to the designated safeguarding focal person or authorized reporting channel.
• Protect the safety, dignity, privacy, and choices of affected individuals and avoid conducting unauthorized investigations.
• Maintain confidentiality and ensure that sensitive information is disclosed only to authorized personnel in accordance with established procedures.
• Support the identification of safeguarding risks in programme activities and recommend appropriate preventive measures.

Protection Data Management and Confidentiality

• Maintain accurate, complete, and secure records of protection activities, monitoring findings, referrals, and other authorized programme information.
• Follow organizational procedures for collecting, storing, accessing, sharing, retaining, and disposing of protection-related information.
• Apply data minimization and confidentiality principles, collecting only information necessary for the legitimate purpose of the activity.
• Ensure that personal and sensitive information is not included in general reports or shared with unauthorized personnel.
• Use anonymized or aggregated data for routine reporting wherever possible.
• Immediately report suspected data breaches, unauthorized disclosures, or other information security concerns through approved channels.

Coordination and Referral Pathway Management

• Coordinate with relevant programme teams, community structures, government departments, humanitarian organizations, and specialized service providers to support appropriate protection responses.
• Maintain updated referral information and service mapping for assigned programme locations.
• Participate in relevant coordination meetings, protection working groups, and inter-agency activities as assigned and authorized.
• Share non-identifying protection trends and service gaps with relevant teams to support coordinated responses and programme planning.
• Build constructive working relationships with service providers while maintaining professional boundaries, confidentiality, and organizational procedures.
• Escalate gaps in referral services, access barriers, and urgent protection risks to the supervisor.

Reporting, Documentation and Learning

• Prepare timely and accurate activity reports, protection monitoring summaries, referral updates, and other required documentation.
• Document key protection trends, risks, implementation challenges, and lessons learned using approved reporting formats.
• Provide evidence-based recommendations to improve programme quality, community safety, and access to protection services.
• Contribute to programme reviews, assessments, monitoring exercises, and donor reporting, as required.
• Ensure that reports are factual, impartial, appropriately anonymized, and compliant with confidentiality and data protection requirements.

Capacity Building and Staff Support

• Support the orientation of staff, volunteers, and community focal persons on basic protection principles, safe identification of concerns, safeguarding, confidentiality, and referral procedures.
• Provide practical guidance to colleagues on recognizing protection risks and directing individuals to appropriate support services.
• Identify capacity gaps and recommend relevant training, coaching, or refresher sessions.
• Promote respectful communication, non-discrimination, and safe engagement with vulnerable individuals and communities.
• Reinforce the principle that staff should not promise services, conduct investigations, or undertake specialized interventions beyond their authority and competence.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Accountability

• Participate in monitoring visits and assessments to evaluate the quality, accessibility, and effectiveness of protection activities.
• Collect and review relevant programme feedback to identify concerns relating to safety, inclusion, access, and the treatment of affected populations.
• Coordinate with the MEAL and Complaints, Feedback and Accountability Mechanism (CFAM) functions to ensure that protection-related concerns are referred through appropriate channels.
• Support the implementation of corrective actions arising from monitoring findings, community feedback, and programme reviews.
• Contribute to learning activities that strengthen protection outcomes and improve accountability to affected populations.

Professional Conduct and Conflict Sensitivity

• Demonstrate impartiality, respect, cultural sensitivity, and professionalism in all interactions with communities and stakeholders.
• Identify and declare actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest and ensure that affected cases are handled through appropriate independent channels.
• Avoid discrimination, favouritism, intimidation, exploitation, or abuse of authority.
• Maintain appropriate professional boundaries and refrain from making promises or commitments beyond the officer\'s authority.
• Uphold humanitarian principles, organizational values, and applicable protection and safeguarding standards.

Other Responsibilities

• Perform other protection-related duties assigned by the supervisor, provided they are consistent with the purpose of the role, the officer\'s competence, and organizational policies.

KEY DELIVERABLES

• Timely implementation of planned protection activities in assigned programme locations.
• Regular protection monitoring reports documenting key risks, emerging trends, access barriers, and recommended mitigation measures.
• Updated service mapping and referral information for relevant protection and support services.
• Accurate, confidential, and secure documentation of protection activities and authorized referrals.
• Documented community awareness sessions on protection risks, available services, safeguarding, and safe reporting channels.
• Evidence of protection mainstreaming and risk mitigation measures integrated into relevant programme activities.
• Timely referral and escalation of urgent protection and safeguarding concerns through approved procedures.
• Regular activity reports and practical recommendations to strengthen protection outcomes, inclusion, and accountability to affected populations.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Minimum Qualifications

• A bachelor\'s degree or equivalent qualification in Social Work, Psychology, Sociology, Development Studies, Human Rights, International Relations, Law, Social Sciences, or a related field.
• At least three (3) years of relevant experience in protection programming, community-based protection, humanitarian response, case referral, child protection, gender-based violence risk mitigation, or a related area.
• Demonstrated understanding of protection principles, confidentiality, safeguarding, informed consent, and safe referral procedures.
• Experience engaging with vulnerable individuals and crisis-affected communities in a respectful, culturally sensitive, and non-discriminatory manner.
• Experience preparing activity reports, maintaining records, and documenting programme implementation.
• Good computer skills, including Microsoft Word, Excel, email, and basic data management tools.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, facilitation, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to maintain professional boundaries, exercise sound judgment, and handle sensitive information responsibly.
• Willingness and ability to undertake field visits, subject to operational and security requirements.

Desirable Experience

• Previous experience working with local or international non-governmental organizations, humanitarian agencies, or community-based organizations.
• Experience supporting protection activities in displacement settings, conflict-affected communities, or emergency response programmes.
• Familiarity with child protection, gender-based violence, protection monitoring, community-based protection, and protection mainstreaming.
• Knowledge of safeguarding and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) standards and procedures.
• Familiarity with humanitarian principles, the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS), and relevant protection standards.
• Experience working with referral networks, community protection structures, government service providers, or humanitarian coordination mechanisms.
• Experience working in Borno State or other conflict-affected areas of Northeast Nigeria.
• Fluency in English and the ability to communicate in Hausa, Kanuri, or other relevant local languages will be an advantage.