Work Context

CESVI has been operating in Libya since 2011 as the first Italian NGO to take action, in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Over the years, CESVI has developed relevant expertise on migration, and it has positioned itself as one of the most active protection actors in Libya by addressing protection needs and promoting the resilience of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs and vulnerable host community members.

CESVI has developed a solid expertise and reputation in the delivery of effective General Protection, Child Protection, Gender-Based Violence, MHPSS and Education in Emergencies activities in Libya. The activities aim to prevent and respond to violence, exploitation and abuse against boys, girls, women, and men, whilst promoting people’s access to rights. CESVI is also active in promoting capacity building of Civil Society Organizations. CESVI operates across the country with key offices in Tripoli, Misrata, and Benghazi.

The position holder will work directly with the Regional Protection and Education Advisor (MENA Region), Head of Mission and Head of Programs for Libya, Project Managers, and Technical Unit colleagues to enhance service quality throughout the program cycle, whilst also supporting new project development.

Currently CESVI has three partnerships in Libya, spanning four geographical regions, focusing on multisectoral and thematic areas including Child Protection, General Protection, Gender Based Violence, Community Based protection and support to Civil Society Organizations. The projects’ activities reach people from Libya, as well as refugees, asylum seekers and migrants.

Job Description

The collaboration is anticipated to start in December 2025.

The Protection Specialistreports operationally to the Head of Mission / Head of Programs in Libya; and is technically supported by the Regional Protection and Education Advisor.

Duty station: Libya/Tunisia

The position is based in Libya, with rotations every 4 to 6 weeks followed by 2 weeks in Tunis (of which 2 to 3 days will be considered as R&R).

CESVI has offices and guesthouses in both locations, where the staff will be accommodated.

The Role: Protection Specialist

The position holderis responsible for providing technical direction and support to CESVI’s Libya Mission to ensure high quality assistance and services in line with Humanitarian Principles, Best Practice Frameworks as well as adhering to CESVI policies and donors’ partnership agreements. H/she is responsible for ensuring overall program quality, including technical coordination with sector partners, harmonizing approaches, providing best practice guidance and the application of learning into enhance programming.

Additionally, the position supports new proposal writing based on assessed needs, best practice standards and donor requirements and procedures. H/She supports the Regional Protection and Education Advisor with program planning, compliance, and high-quality program implementation of protection activities, including: child protection, protection monitoring, gender-based violence, community-based protection, education, capacity strengthening of Civil Society Organizations, and other sectors where CESVI Libya operates.

Some key responsibilities include:

  • Develop new and adapt existing protection SOPs, tools and guidelines when in cooperation with Technical Unit staff to ensure activities are in line with CESVI, donors, and international standards for each protection area CESVI is implementing in Libya.
  • In cooperation with MEAL colleagues, ensure continued functioning, use of and improvements to the community members and beneficiaries’ feedback and response mechanism, as well as information dissemination and communication with communities in line with a context sensitivity approach.
  • Coordination with the Head of Programs to ensure alignment between technical and programmatic objectives
  • Participate in relevant staff recruitment activities.
  • Collaborate with colleagues to ensure protection learning events are conducted for implemented projects to document learnings and best practices for future programmes.
  • In cooperation with colleagues, lead on the identification of learning and capacity building needs for protection staff, CSOs, and community members on relevant protection topics, and oversee the design of materials, training delivery plan, training quality, and outcomes.
  • Contribute as needed to staff performance evaluations, individual capacity building plans, mentoring, and initiate improvement plans when needed.
  • Actively participate and/or coordinate CESVI’s involvement in external coordination meetings (including protection related humanitarian Working Groups)
  • Lead from a technical lens on protection needs assessments and proposal development
  • Provide expert guidance on protection matters, including complex cases and direct protection programming
  • Represent (or coordinate representation) CESVI in multi-stakeholder protection related consultations on complex cases, needs assessments and intervention planning.
  • Coordinate the capacity building of CESVI colleagues on protection documentation – including contribution to new tools and advice on existing data management systems.
  • Be proactively present at implementation sites for key milestones – including program kick offs, evaluations, training, community engagement activities, in addition to regular in person presence to ensure effective monitoring and assessment.
  • Ensure appropriate onboarding of new colleagues from technical perspective – ensuring role specific training and induction provided.
  • Contribute to internal capacities and development through creative approaches to training and education, coordination of thematic working groups, and cross project learning and exchanges.
  • Support Head of Programs, Head of Mission and Grants Manager with technical support and advice as needed – at times ad hoc and with short notice.

The Protection Specialist in Libya has technical oversight of all protection activities – which includes the technical supervision of Libya based Team Supervisors and Technical Officers. These includes:

  • Case Management Supervisor/s
  • Outreach Supervisor/s
  • Senior PSS Officer/s
  • CP, GBV, MHPSS Technical Officer/s
  • Senior Community Based Protection Officer/s

Essential Requirements

QUALIFICATIONS:

  • University qualifications in social work, humanitarian assistance, gender studies, human rights, international law, social studies, international development or another appropriate field; Postgraduate qualifications in relevant field/s desirable.
  • Minimum 6 years’ experience in protection programming (like Child Protection, Gender Based Violence, MHPSS, Case Management etc)
  • Minimum 2 years’ experience working for International Development / Humanitarian Organization/s
  • Experience working in low resource settings, and in contexts supporting people in displacement, and with people impacted by conflict and/or nature disaster
  • Minimum 3 years of experience delivering capacity strengthening activities – including the identification of gaps, and subsequent design and delivery of learning materials and implementation tools.
  • Fluency in English (written and spoken), Arabic desirable.

Experience and SKILLS:

  • Experience acting as Expert on Protection programming, including the provision of advice, guidance and application of protection principles and best practice evidence.
  • Demonstrated experience in providing relevant technical and programmatic project design and proposals in humanitarian and development settings.
  • Experience developing and delivering in-person and remote training on protection relating topics (including but not limited to protection mainstreaming, humanitarian protection principles, child protection, gender as well as other general protection topics).
  • Experience with providing technical supervision and managerial leadership to front line Protection Teams implementing activities focusing on MHPSS, Child Protection, Gender Based Violence, Community-Based Protection and Education.
  • Experience working cross culturally, both with colleagues and with host communities; and with people from refugee and asylum seeker experiences.
  • Demonstrated skills constructing procedural documentation, best practice guidance notes, implementation tools, reporting templates, donor reports and lessons learned evaluations.
  • Ability and willingness to work in remote and isolated locations with a dynamic security context
  • Experience in monitoring systems relevant to protection interventions.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications including Word, Excel, Outlook, Access, PowerPoint.
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills and ability to facilitate a collaborative environment among colleagues and stakeholders to promote effective coordination.
  • Experience using protection relating Information Management systems (like CPIMS or Primero etc…) advantageous.
  • Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.
  • Self-motivated, proactive, resilient, and able to work independently.
  • Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, and meet deadlines.

SAFEGUARDING

CESVI has a zero-tolerance approach to any harm to, or exploitation of, a child or a vulnerable adult by any of our staff, related people or partners.

CESVI commitment to being a safe organization begins with the staff recruitment process which includes meticulous checks, such as criminal records check or check disclosure of previous convictions, to ensure children and vulnerable people are safeguarded and abuse is prevented. Safeguarding checks are part of the selection process performance.

HEALTH SAFEGUARDING

CESVI pays particular attention to safeguarding the health of all the human resources of the Organisation. Therefore, in order to protect its staff, an assessment of their suitability for the position in each mission is carried out before departure. Such assessment is done by the Occupational Doctor of the Organisation, who will also examine the vaccination coverage, including the anti-Covid19 vaccination.

Due to the high volume of applications received, we are unable to respond to all candidates. Only those shortlisted and contacted for an initial interview will be updated on the status of their application.