Title: Protection Expert Consultant
Consultancy Reports To: Protection Expert/s
Duration: 40-60 days
Location: Iran
Strengthening Protection Programming at Relief International, Iran
Scope of Work for External Consultant
Relief International-Iran
Relief International (RI) is an international non-profit organization providing development assistance and humanitarian relief to vulnerable communities worldwide, dedicated to providing programmatic services targeted at reducing human suffering with a non-political and non-sectarian mission. Relief International Iran, as one of the longest operating international NGOs, enjoys significant access to extremely vulnerable Afghan refugees and people moving in mixed migratory flows. As such the organization has a keen interest in improving the capacity of RI and partner agency staff in assessing the protection risks faced by such a caseload and integrating this analysis into their country wide response across all sectors.
Assignment Context
Effective protection of migrants and refugees must be seen as a core practice in humanitarian response. Protection mainstreaming is increasingly seen as the responsibility of all humanitarian actors and is used to minimise harm by ensuring that protection principles are used to inform humanitarian response and address protection issues at all stages of the project cycle. The Iranian context presents several opportunities and challenges regarding protection. The Afghan population in Iran represents a protracted displacement which is likely to continue; as the situation in Afghanistan worsens, it is also likely that new arrivals may enter urban areas. The Iranian government (GoI) has made several policy and practical openings toward Afghans recently, notably in the fields of health and education. These openings may represent a possibility to improve the protection space in Iran, and to support the development of protection activities that meet both Afghan needs and GoI priorities.
Assignment Objectives
The objectives of the assignment are:
Build protection awareness amongst RI (and partners where required) teams and their capacity to identify, design and implement protection-related activities;
Assist RI in implementing protection commitments aimed at facilitating safe, dignified, and accountable provision of services to beneficiaries, especially as RI scales up use of cash-based transfers.
Lead the development of country strategy for protection – specific outcomes and mainstreaming - Iran and cross border
To achieve this, the following key deliverables will be required:
Development of a County Level Protection Strategy
Development of a Program Implementation Framework consisting of: (1) program logframe (outcome statements, activities, indicators, means of verification), (2) Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), (3) M&E tools, (4) guidelines and (5) other necessary items (E.g. a ToR for revision of the existing database)
Development and roll out of protection mainstreaming approaches appropriate for the Iranian context
Establishment (if possible) of a referral system
Training of local staff (integrated into all of the above)
Other requirements
The team will ensure that all tools are user friendly, succinct and trialled in advance with key RI staff to mitigate risks of misunderstanding or lack of relevance
The team will establish regular and routine contact (skype, email, messaging app, phone, etc.) with key RI staff implementing projects and RI senior management
The team will agree with RI before the start of project activities on a clear timetable of activities to ensure that expectations are appropriately set from the start
The team will make themselves available for queries on a flexible schedule to suit the Iranian timetable
The team will adhere to a reporting timetable to relevant RI management staff; this will include frequent (bi-monthly) check ins to ensure that progress is being made as anticipated
Expert qualifications
The consultant/ team must have strong experience and expertise in:
Protection Programming and Training
Age, Gender and Diversity and Gender Based Violence.
Community-based protection mechanisms and referral mechanisms
Child Protection
Participatory approaches
RI Values:
We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities. We value:
About RI: Relief International is a leading nonprofit organization working in roughly 20 countries to relieve poverty, ensure well-being and advance dignity. We specialize in fragile settings, responding to natural disasters, humanitarian crises and chronic poverty.
Relief International combines humanitarian and development approaches to provide immediate services while laying the groundwork for long-term impact. Our signature approach — which we call the RI Way—emphasizes local participation, an integration of services, strategic partnerships and a focus on civic skills. In this way, we empower communities to find, design and implement the solutions that work best for them.
