GESI, Protection & Safeguarding Advisor -Border Security Programme (BSP)

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Program / Department Summary

Mercy Corps is seeking a GESI, Protection & Safeguarding Advisor for the FCDO-funded Border Security Programme (BSP). Irregular migration and associated criminal activity in East Africa remain a complex and escalating challenge which leads to significant exploitation of vulnerable people on the move. BSP will take a multifaceted approach – integrating ‘prevention’, ‘prepare/protect’ and ‘pursue’. An important purpose of this programme is to support the pursuit of human traffickers and smugglers who are exploiting vulnerable populations on the move. Initial interventions will take place in the Kenya border regions, with planned and phased expansion to Uganda, Ethiopia and possibly Somalia border areas.

General Position Summary

The GESI, Protection & Safeguarding Advisor is a vital role within the BSP and is responsible for developing and overseeing an overall vision for how protection and safeguarding can be maintained across programme interventions and partners, ensuring differentiated approaches across a range of vulnerable groups. This includes remaining abreast of contextual understanding from assessments, ensuring the programme gathers and understands the required information and develops tailored plans and indicators to guide its approaches. The role will work closely with consortium partners to collaborate, support, ensure integrated approaches and quality assure. The advisor will also work closely with the Security Manager to lead on protection and safeguarding risk management.

Essential Job Responsibilities

STRATEGY & VISION

Ensure human rights, Do No Harm, protection and safeguarding principles, are integrated across all programming and in alignment with standards, particularly where interventions may increase risk exposure for communities.

Lead development of protection and safeguarding approaches grounded in risk analysis of related protection and safeguarding risks and informed by GESI with input from programme feedback mechanisms.

Identify entry points for protection and anti-trafficking mainstreaming across Outcomes 1–3 and coordinate with HAART on outcome 4.

Ensure protection and safeguarding mitigation plans are addressed in program design, workplans, and SoPs.

Participate in strategic programme decisions to advise on how to minimize safeguarding and protection risks to communities.

OPERATIONALIZATION OF SAFE PROGRAMMING

Continuously identify and mitigate safeguarding risks linked to law enforcement engagement and collaboration; organised crime dynamics and retaliation risks; community engagement; and in the data management protocols.

Work with teams to develop risk mitigation plans for intelligence gathering, security, and community reporting following human rights and Do No Harm principles.

Work with security and other risk mitigation functions to regularly review safeguarding risks and mitigation measures.

Work with HAART to ensure up to date maps of locally available services and ensure referral pathways are functioning for timely survivor centred referral.

Work with MRELA manager and wider teams to enable data protection protocols and that information-sharing follows human rights principles on privacy.

Guide safe engagement with vulnerable populations including providing information on best practices and approaches as well as developing SOPs where needed.

Work with teams to make sure communication to survivors and communities about law enforcement and OIC processes and project activities are as transparent as possible and explain corresponding rights.

Integrate safeguarding and protection risk mitigation initiatives in project implementation plans and established monitoring and reporting frameworks to ensure visibility and actioning of safeguarding and protection mainstreaming initiatives.

Work with CARM teams to ensure all community engagement approaches are safe, inclusive, and minimize any exposure of target communities to harm, stigma, or retaliation.

Support CARM teams in the design and implementation of contextualized, accessible, and confidential reporting and feedback mechanisms (CARM), while ensuring the linkage, visibility and awareness of Mercy Corps primary reporting channels, the Integrity Hotline.

Work with program implementation and CARM teams to facilitate regular communication and sensitization of the program purpose, processes, and expectations for clarity and mitigation of risk.

Ensure safeguarding is fully embedded within partner due diligence, contracting, and monitoring processes as outlined in Mercy Corps Safeguarding Core Standard on Safe Partnerships.

Support the Finance and Compliance Director and Subawards Officer to ensure safeguarding compliance extends to vendors, contractors, and downstream partners and aligned with Mercy Corps Safeguarding and Ethics Policies and Core Standards.

ASSESSMENTS SUPPORT

Lead safeguarding risk assessments during inception and ensure findings are fully integrated into the Risk Register and Conflict Sensitivity Plan.

Work with teams to ensure assessments for the project integrate related GESI questions including safety and inclusion, to help identify potential protection and safeguarding risks related to needs and activities.

Work with MRELA Manager to ensure safe and ethical trafficking-related data collection approaches and that teams apply GESI-sensitive and survivor-centred methodologies to research and analysis.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND CAPACITY STRENGTHENING

Ensure staff and partners have strong foundation on GESI, Protection and safeguarding principles and provide or procure capacity strengthening as needed.

Deliver trainings on safeguarding and protection including mainstreaming, policies and procedures, survivor-centred approaches, working with children, psychological first aid and other needed topics, etc.

Work with HAART and Valar to ensure law enforcement actors are sensitized on safeguarding policies and principles before engaging with communities and that principles are integrated into special unit SoPs and curricula.

Ensure GESI standards and operating procedures are followed by staff.

MONITORING AND LEARNING

Help teams reflect on sex and age disaggregated data (SADDD) (quant and qual) and adapt program approaches as needed based on evidence and feedback.

Ensure protection indicators are integrated into MEL systems and reflect SADDD.

Support MEL team to include questions in monitoring tools that can flag potential risks and unintended harms.

Support adaptive learning processes and provide a protection, safeguarding and GESI lens.

COORDINATION AND REPRESENTATION

Coordinate with governments and stakeholders including other programmes such as BMM and the ROCK, as requested by Team Lead.

Participate in technical working groups as appropriate.

SAFEGUARDING

Actively learns safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.

Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.

Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

Supervisory Responsibility

Accountability

Reports Directly To: MRELA Manager

Works Directly With: Deputy Team Lead, Country Leads, Team Lead, Programme Outcome leads; Programme partners and sub-awardees; TRaQ Department

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

Minimum 10 years’ experience in advising or managing anti-trafficking, protection, GBV, child protection or human rights programming.

Strong experience in protection mainstreaming, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) safeguarding and risk analysis.

Experience working with security or justice actors and border contexts.

Knowledge of trafficking dynamics, organized crime, and migration systems.

Familiarity with GESI, human rights, and PSEA frameworks.

Strong understanding of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) principles.

Demonstrated experience ensuring GESI themes are prioritized and integrated in program design, implementation and measurement.

Success Factors

In addition to the qualifications above, the ideal candidate should be a proactive, creative thinker who likes to move things forward. S/he should be motivated to understand how to work effectively with partners and ensure protection and safeguarding even in high risk and complex programming, how to ensure that conceptual thinking translates into practice and to work across partners to oversee alignment. S/he will have strong interpersonal skills to liaise and connect from strategy down to delivery across partners.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position is based in Nairobi, Kenya with potential travel to programme sites/border areas and additional programme countries (Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia). Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.

Team Engagement and Effectiveness

Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.

We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into

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