Protection Officer

Lindii Peace Foundation (LPF) is a Non-Profit and Non-governmental Organization in Nigeria which was registered as a corporate body with the Corporate Affairs Commission on the Eleventh (11th) day of July, 2014.

The foundation was formed by some eminent survivors of the Insurgency in North-east Nigeria and a few well-meaning Individuals who came together with a vision to see Nigeria a poverty free place where peace will abide and humanity can live freely in harmony.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Protection Officer

Location: Borno
Employment Type: Full-time

About the Role

• The Protection Officer will contribute to identifying protection risks, promoting the safety and dignity of affected populations, strengthening community-based protection mechanisms, and ensuring that individuals at risk can access appropriate information, support, and referral services.
• The role will involve community engagement, protection monitoring, identification of protection concerns, safe referrals, awareness-raising, and coordination with relevant service providers and programme teams.
• The successful candidate will work closely with affected communities, community leaders, programme staff, relevant government agencies, and protection service providers to promote a safe, inclusive, and rights-based approach to humanitarian assistance.
• The post holder must demonstrate sound professional judgment, respect for confidentiality, cultural sensitivity, and a strong commitment to safeguarding and the principles of humanitarian action.

Key Responsibilities
Protection Programme Implementation:

• Support the planning, implementation, monitoring, and reporting of protection activities in line with approved programme plans, budgets, organizational policies, and donor requirements.
• Conduct protection-related activities that promote the safety, dignity, rights, and well-being of vulnerable and crisis-affected individuals and communities.
• Support the integration of protection principles into the organization's health, WASH, nutrition, and other humanitarian interventions, as applicable.
• Ensure that programme activities are inclusive, conflict-sensitive, gender-responsive, and accessible to individuals with different needs and abilities.
• Identify implementation challenges and recommend practical measures to improve the quality and effectiveness of protection interventions.

Protection Monitoring and Risk Identification:

• Conduct regular community visits and protection monitoring activities to identify protection concerns, risks, threats, barriers to assistance, and emerging trends affecting communities.
• Gather relevant information through safe, ethical, and appropriate methods, ensuring that data collection does not expose individuals or communities to additional harm.
• Identify individuals and groups facing heightened protection risks, including children at risk, persons with disabilities, older persons, survivors of violence, displaced persons, and other vulnerable groups.
• Document protection concerns accurately and securely in accordance with approved procedures and data protection requirements.
• Analyze protection information to identify recurring risks, service gaps, and potential threats to the safety and dignity of affected populations.
• Immediately escalate urgent protection concerns through established organizational and referral channels.

Case Identification and Referral:

• Identify individuals who may require specialized protection assistance and facilitate referrals to appropriate service providers in accordance with established procedures.
• Maintain updated information on available protection, health, psychosocial, legal, child protection, gender-based violence, and other relevant services within assigned programme locations.
• Obtain informed consent where required and explain referral options clearly, ensuring that individuals understand the available services and their choices.
• Follow up on referrals where appropriate and safe, while respecting confidentiality and the decisions of the affected individual.
• Avoid conducting specialized case management or investigations beyond the officer's training, authority, or designated responsibilities.
• Ensure that urgent cases are referred promptly and that sensitive information is shared only with authorized personnel on a need-to-know basis.

Community-Based Protection and Engagement:

• Engage community members, leaders, women's groups, youth groups, persons with disabilities, and other relevant stakeholders to identify protection concerns and strengthen community-based protection mechanisms.
• Support communities to identify practical and locally appropriate measures for reducing protection risks.
• Promote meaningful participation of affected populations in the design, implementation, and review of protection activities.
• Facilitate community discussions and consultations in a manner that is safe, inclusive, culturally appropriate, and sensitive to local dynamics.
• Support the identification and strengthening of appropriate community protection structures, ensuring that their roles are clearly defined and consistent with organizational safeguarding standards.
• Ensure that community engagement activities do not expose participants to retaliation, stigma, discrimination, or other foreseeable risks.

Protection Awareness and Information Sharing:

• Conduct awareness sessions on protection risks, individual rights, available services, safe referral pathways, and mechanisms for raising concerns.
• Support communities to understand how to access humanitarian assistance safely and report concerns about exploitation, abuse, discrimination, or misconduct.
• Develop and disseminate appropriate protection information materials in accessible formats and relevant local languages, in coordination with the programme team.
• Promote awareness of child protection, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), gender-based violence risk mitigation, and other relevant protection issues.
• Ensure that information-sharing activities are accurate, age-appropriate, culturally sensitive, and designed to avoid exposing individuals to harm.

Child Protection:

• Identify and report child protection concerns through established safeguarding and referral procedures.
• Support safe referrals for children at risk, including children separated from their caregivers, unaccompanied children, children exposed to violence or exploitation, and children facing other serious protection concerns.
• Promote children's safety, dignity, participation, and best interests in accordance with applicable child safeguarding procedures.
• Support community awareness on child protection risks, child safeguarding, family separation, harmful practices, and safe reporting channels.
• Ensure that any interaction with children follows organizational child safeguarding requirements, including appropriate consent, confidentiality, and supervision arrangements.
• Never independently investigate child abuse allegations or undertake specialized child protection case management unless specifically authorized, appropriately trained, and assigned to do so.

Gender-Based Violence Risk Mitigation and Safe Referral:

• Support activities that reduce protection risks affecting women, girls, men, and boys, including risks associated with gender-based violence.
• Promote safe, confidential, and non-discriminatory access to available services for individuals affected by violence, exploitation, or abuse.
• Ensure that disclosures of gender-based violence are handled sensitively and without judgment, victim-blaming, or unnecessary questioning.
• Facilitate referrals to qualified service providers in accordance with established survivor-centred procedures and the affected person's choices, subject to applicable reporting requirements.
• Work with programme teams to identify and address protection risks associated with service delivery, community activities, distribution points, and access to facilities.
• Maintain strict confidentiality and ensure that identifiable information about survivors is not shared without appropriate authorization and consideration of safety.

Protection Mainstreaming and Risk Mitigation:

• Work with programme teams to integrate safety, dignity, meaningful access, accountability, and participation into programme design and implementation.
• Identify protection risks associated with the delivery of assistance, including exclusion, discrimination, harassment, exploitation, and barriers to accessing services.
• Recommend practical measures to make programme activities safer and more accessible for women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, and other at-risk groups.
• Support protection risk assessments and contribute to the development of mitigation measures.
• Monitor whether protection measures are implemented and report gaps requiring management attention.
• Promote conflict sensitivity and ensure that interventions do not unintentionally worsen tensions or expose communities to additional risks.

Safeguarding and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse:

• Comply with the organization's safeguarding policies, Code of Conduct, PSEA requirements, and reporting procedures.
• Promote awareness of prohibited conduct, safe reporting channels, and the right of programme participants to receive assistance free from exploitation, abuse, harassment, or demands for payment or favours.
• Promptly refer safeguarding allegations and disclosures to the designated safeguarding focal person or authorized reporting channel.
• Protect the safety, dignity, privacy, and choices of affected individuals and avoid conducting unauthorized investigations.
• Maintain confidentiality and ensure that sensitive information is disclosed only to authorized personnel in accordance with established procedures.
• Support the identification of safeguarding risks in programme activities and recommend appropriate preventive measures.

 Protection Data Management and Confidentiality:

• Maintain accurate, complete, and secure records of protection activities, monitoring findings, referrals, and other authorized programme information.
• Follow organizational procedures for collecting, storing, accessing, sharing, retaining, and disposing of protection-related information.
• Apply data minimization and confidentiality principles, collecting only information necessary for the legitimate purpose of the activity.
• Ensure that personal and sensitive information is not included in general reports or shared with unauthorized personnel.
• Use anonymized or aggregated data for routine reporting wherever possible.
• Immediately report suspected data breaches, unauthorized disclosures, or other information security concerns through approved channels.

Coordination and Referral Pathway Management:

• Coordinate with relevant programme teams, community structures, government departments, humanitarian organizations, and specialized service providers to support appropriate protection responses.
• Maintain updated referral information and service mapping for assigned programme locations.
• Participate in relevant coordination meetings, protection working groups, and inter-agency activities as assigned and authorized.
• Share non-identifying protection trends and service gaps with relevant teams to support coordinated responses and programme planning.
• Build constructive working relationships with service providers while maintaining professional boundaries, confidentiality, and organizational procedures.
• Escalate gaps in referral services, access barriers, and urgent protection risks to the supervisor.

Reporting, Documentation and Learning:

• Prepare timely and accurate activity reports, protection monitoring summaries, referral updates, and other required documentation.
• Document key protection trends, risks, implementation challenges, and lessons learned using approved reporting formats.
• Provide evidence-based recommendations to improve programme quality, community safety, and access to protection services.
• Contribute to programme reviews, assessments, monitoring exercises, and donor reporting, as required.
• Ensure that reports are factual, impartial, appropriately anonymized, and compliant with confidentiality and data protection requirements.

 Capacity Building and Staff Support:

• Support the orientation of staff, volunteers, and community focal persons on basic protection principles, safe identification of concerns, safeguarding, confidentiality, and referral procedures.
• Provide practical guidance to colleagues on recognizing protection risks and directing individuals to appropriate support services.
• Identify capacity gaps and recommend relevant training, coaching, or refresher sessions.
• Promote respectful communication, non-discrimination, and safe engagement with vulnerable individuals and communities.
• Reinforce the principle that staff should not promise services, conduct investigations, or undertake specialized interventions beyond their authority and competence.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Accountability:

• Participate in monitoring visits and assessments to evaluate the quality, accessibility, and effectiveness of protection activities.
• Collect and review relevant programme feedback to identify concerns relating to safety, inclusion, access, and the treatment of affected populations.
• Coordinate with the MEAL and Complaints, Feedback and Accountability Mechanism (CFAM) functions to ensure that protection-related concerns are referred through appropriate channels.
• Support the implementation of corrective actions arising from monitoring findings, community feedback, and programme reviews.
• Contribute to learning activities that strengthen protection outcomes and improve accountability to affected populations.

Professional Conduct and Conflict Sensitivity:

• Demonstrate impartiality, respect, cultural sensitivity, and professionalism in all interactions with communities and stakeholders.
• Identify and declare actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest and ensure that affected cases are handled through appropriate independent channels.
• Avoid discrimination, favouritism, intimidation, exploitation, or abuse of authority.
• Maintain appropriate professional boundaries and refrain from making promises or commitments beyond the officer's authority.
• Uphold humanitarian principles, organizational values, and applicable protection and safeguarding standards.

Other Responsibilities:

• Perform other protection-related duties assigned by the supervisor, provided they are consistent with the purpose of the role, the officer's competence, and organizational policies.

key Deliverables:

• Timely implementation of planned protection activities in assigned programme locations.
• Regular protection monitoring reports documenting key risks, emerging trends, access barriers, and recommended mitigation measures.
• Updated service mapping and referral information for relevant protection and support services.
• Accurate, confidential, and secure documentation of protection activities and authorized referrals.
• Documented community awareness sessions on protection risks, available services, safeguarding, and safe reporting channels.
• Evidence of protection mainstreaming and risk mitigation measures integrated into relevant programme activities.
• Timely referral and escalation of urgent protection and safeguarding concerns through approved procedures.
• Regular activity reports and practical recommendations to strengthen protection outcomes, inclusion, and accountability to affected populations.

Required Qualifications and Experience
Minimum Qualifications:

• A Bachelor's Degree or equivalent qualification in Social Work, Psychology, Sociology, Development Studies, Human Rights, International Relations, Law, Social Sciences, or a related field.
• At least three (3) years of relevant experience in protection programming, community-based protection, humanitarian response, case referral, child protection, gender-based violence risk mitigation, or a related area.
• Demonstrated understanding of protection principles, confidentiality, safeguarding, informed consent, and safe referral procedures.
• Experience engaging with vulnerable individuals and crisis-affected communities in a respectful, culturally sensitive, and non-discriminatory manner.
• Experience preparing activity reports, maintaining records, and documenting programme implementation.
• Good computer skills, including Microsoft Word, Excel, email, and basic data management tools.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, facilitation, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to maintain professional boundaries, exercise sound judgment, and handle sensitive information responsibly.
• Willingness and ability to undertake field visits, subject to operational and security requirements.

Desirable Experience:

• Previous experience working with local or international non-governmental organizations, humanitarian agencies, or community-based organizations.
• Experience supporting protection activities in displacement settings, conflict-affected communities, or emergency response programmes.
• Familiarity with child protection, gender-based violence, protection monitoring, community-based protection, and protection mainstreaming.
• Knowledge of safeguarding and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) standards and procedures.
• Familiarity with humanitarian principles, the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS), and relevant protection standards.
• Experience working with referral networks, community protection structures, government service providers, or humanitarian coordination mechanisms.
• Experience working in Borno State or other conflict-affected areas of Northeast Nigeria.
• Fluency in English and the ability to communicate in Hausa, Kanuri, or other relevant local languages will be an advantage.