Job Detail

Development and Humanitarian Services for Afghanistan (DHSA) established in 1992, the mission of DHSA is to redefine development in Afghanistan by promoting a dynamic and capable civil society as a means to foster local ownership of development, dignity and a peaceful & sustainable future for all Afghans.

Throughout the 1990’s, DHSA focused primarily on drawing strength from local knowledge and traditional relationships to fill gaps, caused by a weak national government and absence of public services. During this time, DHSA focused on activities such as water sanitation and irrigation, education, food assistance to drought affected populations, and rural rehabilitation, matching local know-how with the financial and political support from international aid agencies and donors such as EC, USAID, WFP, WHO, the UN, Canada fund/Care International and Novib.

The political changes brought by the Bonn Agreement in 2001 allowed DHSA to add development of civil society in Afghanistan – through its media, education and various community development projects – to its portfolio, in addition to humanitarian assistance.

To achieve its mission, DHSA presently operates five activities:

• Humanitarian Activities
• Public Media and Communication (TKG),
• Education
• Cultural Heritage
• Environmental Protection

Description of Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Project manager, the Protection Officer provides support the implementation of project activities conducted by DHSA/CG in Kandahar.

Overall objective:

The general objective is to support the implementation of project activities by establishing strong links with project key stakeholders and communities, working with humanitarian related stakeholders and the community to ensure the Protection Monitoring activities are conducted in timely manner.

Specific tasks:

The Protection Officer will be responsible of;

• Undertake regular field visits to conduct interviews with refugees, IDPs, host families, returnees, resettled IDPs and other relevant stakeholders in order to gather protection-related information
• Identify and support community structures and entrance points for discussion and work on GBV issues
• Identify protection issues through an Age, Gender, Diversity Mainstreaming (‘AGDM’) approach, including focus group discussions and individual interviews in a safe environment
• Preparing protection information in an easily-understandable format for communities
• Plan, design and implement protection awareness-raising activities for refugees, IDPs, communities and NGOs, in consultation with the target audience
• Design, with the participation of representative community groups, appropriate protection interventions, including referrals to relevant authorities and agencies.
• Initiate or support community or municipal level advocacy activities designed to improve the protection situation of refugees, IDPs, returnees and/or host communities
• Identify protection issues in beneficiary communities and flag them for the attention of the supervisor. 
• Experience with protection victims cases refer systems, reporting follow up mechanism and reporting
• Regular participation in monthly protection cluster coordination meetings
• Follow up on individual protection cases within communities and with partner organizations via referral path way.
• Conduct impact monitoring of project activities, in accordance with the organization’s methodology
• Co-operate and interact with partner organizations, relevant government departments and local authorities, Protection cluster and protection partners on a regular basis.
• Actively participate in the Protection Cluster and work with appropriate stakeholders.
• Accurately and responsibly document information and share with appropriate partners, and key stakeholders, with approval of supervisor or senior management
• Work within an agreed work plan and ensure timely attention to priority tasks
• Play an active role in developing new protection strategies within the organization
• Prepare documentation of all relevant activities (protection monitoring forms, field trip reports, Collective Centre database, minutes of meetings, work plans, budgets etc.) in accordance with the organization’s guidelines and regulations.  Propose corrective actions where necessary.
• Supervise and support protection field assistants/Community mobilizers/surveyors, where relevant.
• Perform any other duties as requested by Supervisor or Programs Manager