Job Description

Please note that this vacancy is only open to eligible staff members who have been individually notified of their eligibility to apply for positions advertised in the Accelerated Posting Compendium.

June 12, 2026

D

Non Family with Residential Location

Dakar, Senegal

PR2

Professional

Reason

Regular > Regular Assignment

2026-05-26

Associate Protection Officer

Organizational Setting and Work Relationships
The Associate Protection Officer reports to the Protection Officer or the Senior Protection Officer. Depending on the size and structure of the Office, the incumbent may have supervisory responsibility for protection staff, including community-based protection registration, resettlement and education. S/he provides functional protection guidance to information management and programme staff on all protection/legal matters and accountabilities. These include: statelessness (in line with the campaign to End Statelessness by 2024), Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) commitments, age, gender, diversity (AGD) and accountability to affected populations (AAP) through community-based protection, Child protection, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response, gender equality, disability inclusion, youth empowerment, psycho-social support and PSEA, registration, asylum/refugee status determination, resettlement, local integration, voluntary repatriation, human rights standards integration, national legislation, judicial engagement, predictable and decisive engagement in situations of internal displacement and engagement in wider mixed movement and climate change/disaster-related displacement responses. S/he supervises protection standards, operational procedures and practices in protection delivery in line with international standards.

The Associate Protection Officer is expected to coordinate quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of forcibly displaced and stateless persons, ensuring that operational responses in all sectors mainstream protection methodologies and integrate protection safeguards. The incumbent contributes to the design of a comprehensive protection strategy and represents the organization externally on protection doctrine and policy as guided by the supervisor. S/he also ensures that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are meaningfully engaged in the decisions that affect them and support programme design and adaptations that are influenced by the concerns, priorities and capacities of forcibly displaced and stateless persons To achieve this, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with communities of concern, authorities, protection and assistance partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection.

All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR's core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.

Duties
- Stay abreast of political, social, economic and cultural developments that have an impact on the protection environment.
- Promote International and National Law and applicable UN/UNHCR and IASC policy, standards and codes of conduct.
- Foster their consistent and coherent interpretation and application through mainstreaming in all sectors and /or in clusters in applicable operations.
- Assist in providing comments on existing and draft legislation related to forcibly displaced and stateless persons
- Provide legal advice and guidance on protection issues to forcibly displaced and stateless persons; liaise with competent authorities to ensure the issuance of personal and other relevant documentation.
- Conduct eligibility and status determination for forcibly displaced and stateless persons in compliance with UNHCR procedural standards and international protection principles.
- Promote and contribute to measures to identify, prevent and reduce statelessness.
- Contribute to a country-level child protection plan as part of the protection strategy to ensure programmes use a child protection systems approach.
- Contribute to a country-level education plan.
- Implement and oversee Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all protection/solutions activities which integrate AGD sensitive procedures.
- Oversee and manage individual protection cases, including those on GBV and child protection. Monitor, and intervene in cases of refoulement, expulsion and other protection incidents through working relations with governments and other partners.
- Recommend durable solutions for the largest possible number of forcibly displaced and stateless persons through voluntary repatriation, local integration and where appropriate, resettlement.
- Assess resettlement needs and apply priorities for the resettlement of individuals and groups of refugees and other forcibly displaced and stateless persons.
- Participate in the organisation and implementation of participatory assessments and methodologies throughout the operations management cycle and promote AGD sensitive programming with implementing and operational partners.
- Contribute to and facilitate a programme of results-based advocacy through a consultative process with sectorial and/or cluster partners.
- Facilitate effective information management through the provision of disaggregated data on populations of concern and their problems.
- Promote and integrate community-based approaches to protection and contribute to capacity-building initiatives for communities and individuals to assert their rights.
- Support activities in the area of risk management related to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, fraud, case-processing, data protection, and human rights due diligence at country level.
- Participate in initiatives to capacitate national authorities, relevant institutions and NGOs to strengthen national protection related legislation and procedures.
- Intervene with authorities on protection issues.
- Negotiate locally on behalf of UNHCR.
- Decide priorities for reception, interviewing and counselling for groups or individuals.
- Enforce compliance of staff and implementing partners with global protection policies and standards of professional integrity in the delivery of protection services.
- Enforce compliance with, and integrity of, all protection standard operating procedures.

- Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making in risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks, issues and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).
- Perform other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications
Years of Experience / Degree Level
For P2/NOB - 3 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 2 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 1 year relevant experience with Doctorate degree

Field(s) of Education
Law, International Law, Political Sciences or other relevant field

Certificates and/or Licenses
Not specified.
(Certificates and Licenses marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Professional experience in the area of refugee protection, internal displacement, human rights or international humanitarian law. Good knowledge of International Refugee and Human Rights Law and ability to apply the relevant legal principles.
Desirable
Field experience, including in working directly with communities. Good IT skills including database management skills.

Functional Skills
*PR-Protection-related guidelines, standards and indicators
*PR-Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD)
PR-Gender Based Violence (GBV) Coordination
MG-Project Management
PR-Human Rights Doctrine/Standards
PR-International Humanitarian Law
PR-Assessment of IDPs Status, Rights, Obligation
PR-Climate change and disaster related displacement
CO-Drafting and Documentation
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)

Language Requirements
For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.

Essential Attributes:
• Proven work experience in countries with high security risks, complex protection risks and mixed movements, including in large IDP operations with protracted caseload, response to emergency situations and diverse migration situations likely to affect persons in the move.
• Demonstrated skills to produce high-quality information management products and reports at national and regional levels, to present the identified protection trends and response recommendations in an appealing manner to a wide public.
• Experience in training, including for external actors beyond UNHCR, on topics related to international protection, protection monitoring, mixed movements flows including routes’ analysis and statelessness.
• Good knowledge of thematic areas such as Protection Monitoring, Community-based protection, DIMA, the various clusters, as s/he is expected to provide functional guidance in order to strengthen the link with the Protection.
• Good managerial skills from her/his previous experiences. S/he may have direct supervisory responsibility for protection monitoring staff.
• Proficiency in French language

Desirable Attributes:
• Experience in management of protection monitoring projects (including Project 21) in one of the Sahel countries, particularly in the Central Sahel, would be an asset.
• Experience in field protection and good IT skills including database management and analysis skills will be an asset.
• Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply to this position

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Operational context

Occupational Safety and Health Considerations:

To view occupational safety and health considerations for this duty station, please visit this link:

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel

Nature of Position:

In a complex humanitarian and mixed situation such as Burkina Faso and under the direct supervision of the Senior Protection Officer, the Associate Protection Officer coordinates quality, timely and effective protection responses to the needs of forcibly displaced and stateless persons under the area of responsibilities (AoR). S/he ensures that forcibly displaced and stateless persons of all ages, gender and diversity (AGD) groups are involved with the Office in making decisions that affect them, whether in accessing their rights or in identifying and implementing appropriate solutions to their problems. To undertake this role effectively, the incumbent will need to build and maintain effective interfaces with other relevant teams within the operation or the Bureau (including Programme; and External Relations; IM) and with DIPS at Headquarters, communities affected by forced displacement and host communities, authorities, protection and assistance partners as well as a broader network of stakeholders who can contribute to enhancing protection and achieving long-lasting solutions.

UNHCR's operation in Burkina Faso includes as of 31 December 2025,42,962 refugees and asylum seekers, mostly from Mali and who had to flee their country of origin because of the socio-political crisis that prevailed since February 2012. The majority of refugees live with the community and in the site of Ouezin in the Liptako and Soum regions. Others are living in border areas and in the two biggest cities of Burkina.

Due to the security crisis affecting the country, people in Burkina Faso have also been uprooted from their homes due to the presence of terrorists, increased criminality and ongoing counterterrorism operations which expose the civilian population to violence. The number of people moving inland has continued to increase particularly in the Liptako and Soum regions as well as in the Kulse region. As of 31 March 2023, their number amounted to 2,062,588 individuals. UNHCR and humanitarian actors provide them with shelter, non-food items (NFIs), core relief humanitarian items and protection support.

The security situation in northern parts of Burkina has led to cross-border movements of several Burkinabe citizens. More than 95% of the IDPs are living in host community households, who are no longer able to absorb the continuous and multiple displacements.

Living and Working Conditions:

Burkina Faso has very basic infrastructures, including in the health sector. In Ouagadougou, there are more than 20 health clinics, but only four recommended by the UN System.

Epidemics and other disease outbreaks are common in the operational area.

Ouagadougou is a family duty station and education is generally in French, however there is also a US English school. Banking services available include more than five international banks among which two are recommended by the UN System (United Bank of Africa and Ecobank).

Hot and dry desert environment with high daylight temperature fluctuations.

In the field, due to security-borne restrictions, the office has built two well organized guest houses where all staff are advised to reside during field missions (in FU Djibo, FO Dori, FO Ouahigouya and Fada N’Gourma).

Housing in Ouagadougou is mainly individual houses and are easily available. But most buildings are not well maintained and need repair. Electricity is very expensive, and a backup generator is recommended.

Ouagadougou is a D duty station with an 8-week R&R cycle. The R&R location is in Accra, Ghana.

Additional Qualifications

Skills

Bachelor of Arts: International Law, Bachelor of Arts: Law, Bachelor of Arts: Political Science

Certifications

Competencies

Accountability, Analytical thinking, Client & results orientation, Commitment to continuous learning, Communication, Empowering & building trust, Judgement & decision making, Negotiation & conflict resolution, Organizational awareness, Political awareness, Teamwork & collaboration

https://icsc.un.org/Home/SalaryScales

Compendium

Accelerated Posting Compendium 2026 - Part B

Additional Information

This position doesn't require a functional clearance