Job ID
51555
Job Title
Protection Lead
To work for
Oxfam Syria
Country
Syria
City
Damascus
Field of Work
Humanitarian/Disasters
Job Type
Full time
Military service
Not Specified
Minimum Education Level
Bachelor/ License Degree
Responsibilities
DEPARTMENT PURPOSE:
The Programme Quality department, under the Deputy Country Director – Programmes, brings together Oxfam in Syria's technical advisors. It strengthens the quality, safety, relevance and impact of programmes across humanitarian, recovery and development interventions through technical guidance, quality assurance, capacity strengthening, and the integration of cross-cutting standards such as protection, gender, safeguarding and accountability to affected populations.
TEAM PURPOSE:
Oxfam in Syria's protection work aims to reduce the risks faced by conflict-affected communities and strengthen their capacity to stay safe and claim their rights. Protection activities are implemented directly and with partners by the programmatic protection team. The Protection Lead, based in Programme Quality, provides technical direction and quality assurance to that team through a matrix relationship.
JOB PURPOSE:
The Protection Lead provides strategic leadership, technical oversight, and quality assurance for Oxfam Syria’s Protection portfolio. The role leads the technical design, and quality improvement of protection programmes, ensuring evidence-based, principled, and context-responsive approaches that address the evolving needs and priorities of affected populations. The Protection Lead provides technical inputs to programme strategy, design, advocacy, and resource mobilisation, while strengthening safe programming (protection mainstreaming) across the country portfolio. The role works closely with programme teams, partners, coordination mechanisms, networks, and external stakeholders to build capacity, promote learning, and influence protection practice and policy. The role ensures emerging protection risks inform programme adaptation and decision-making.
What we are looking for:
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Protection Programming, representation and Influencing
Carry out ongoing Protection Analysis for the Syria programme, including identifying key protection risks and coping capacities, conflict analysis and risk management.
Lead Oxfam Syria’s protection strategy and approach ensuring effective protection programming, advocacy, and partnership approaches that address humanitarian needs, supports recovery and transition and strengthen community resilience.
Develop and maintain strategic relationships with relevant government institutions, including the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (MOSAL), civil society, national partners and other stakeholders, to identify opportunities for collaboration on social protection and other systems and policies that can contribute to sustainable protection outcomes.
Build the capacity of Protection staff and partners to implement protection activities in line with Oxfam’s approach and global protection standards.
Lead technical design of protection components within donor proposals. Develop logical frameworks, theories of change, indicators, and protection outcomes.
Support the implementation of high-quality effective protection activities and programmes and provide ongoing technical support to protection field teams.
Support programme teams in developing work plans, technical tools, SOPs, referral pathways, and guidance documents.
Review programme designs and activities to ensure protection outcomes are achieved.
Commission or carry out learning reviews, evaluations, etc. of protection activities and projects and ensure learning is used to improve programme quality.
Maintain an up to date understanding of and network of contacts within the Protection sector in Syria and ensure that programme teams have access to relevant, up to date information, including identifying overlaps and collaboration with other sectors.
Support the DCD for Programmes and the Programme Coordinator on inclusion of protection programmes within the overall humanitarian and early recovery programme design and proposal development for protection programming.
Develop and/or strengthen reporting tools and support the monitoring and evaluation of protection-related activities across all projects and sectors, working closely with the MEAL Manager and Project Managers.
Support the DCD for Programs and the Programme Coordinator in identifying new protection partners for Oxfam in Syria.
Represent Oxfam externally in protection-related UN, INGO and NGO coordination and planning mechanisms, including humanitarian, recovery and development fora, to strengthen coordination, complementarity and influence. Promote a joined-up protection approach that links immediate humanitarian response with longer-term recovery, resilience, social protection and systems strengthening, while supporting field teams to engage effectively in field-level protection coordination and ensuring Oxfam’s protection priorities inform relevant sectoral and policy discussions.
Ensure that Oxfam Syria’s protection portfolio contributes to influencing and learning on the relationship between humanitarian protection, social protection and longer-term development, identifying opportunities to move beyond short-term service delivery towards more sustainable and locally owned protection outcomes.
Contribute towards Oxfam’s regional and global protection work through active participation in Oxfam’s Protection Peer Group and maintaining a regular and constructive relationship with the Regional and/or the GHT Protection Advisor.
Link with EFSVL, WASH and Gender staff to integrate protection in all aspects of the work.
Contribute technical expertise to the recruitment of protection staff for the Syria country
Safe Programming
Contribute to strengthen Syria team capacity on Safe Programming as well as to support senior and medium management to take the lead and the responsibility on it.
Support the DCD for Programs, Humanitarian Coordinator and Area Managers in team and partner risk analysis related to programme activities before and during implementation, and advise on amending activities and approaches where necessary.
Participate in country planning, strategy development and reviews.
Other
Required to adhere to Oxfam’s principles and values as well as the promotion of gender justice and women's rights.
Understanding of and commitment to adhere to equity, diversity, gender, child safety and staff health and wellbeing principles.
Person Specification
Most importantly, every individual at Oxfam International Secretariat needs to be able to:
Live our values of INCLUSION, ACCOUNTABILITY, EMPOWERMENT, COURAGE, SOLIDARITY and EQUALITY (read more about these here)
Ensure you commit to our ORGANIZATIONAL ATTRIBUTES (including adhering to the Code of Conduct):
Be committed to our feminist principles, and to applying them in your day-to-day behaviour and your work. Be ready to keep learning, with accountability to those who experience oppression as a result of their identities, such as their gender, race/ethnicity, disability, class, or LGBTQIA identity.
Be committed to undertaking Oxfam’s safeguarding training and adhering to relevant policies, to ensure all people who come into Oxfam are as safe as possible.
EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE & COMPETENCIES
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS ALL STAFF ARE EXPECTED TO FULFIL:
Demonstrate Oxfam values and behavioral competencies.
Behavioral skills: able to work successfully with and mentor others, often under challenging circumstances, and to demonstrate competencies in "listening and creating dialogue" and "working with others", as well as strong networking skills. In particular:
Sound judgement: weighs risks, context and the principle of "do no harm" to make balanced, well-reasoned decisions, including on sensitive protection issues.
Listening: actively listens to colleagues, partners and affected communities, and makes sure their perspectives shape programme decisions.
Self-awareness: understands own strengths, limitations and biases, seeks feedback, and manages own wellbeing and reactions under pressure.
Decisiveness: makes timely, clear decisions in fast-changing or uncertain situations, takes ownership of them, and adjusts course when new information emerges.
The Programme Quality department, under the Deputy Country Director – Programmes, brings together Oxfam in Syria's technical advisors. It strengthens the quality, safety, relevance and impact of programmes across humanitarian, recovery and development interventions through technical guidance, quality assurance, capacity strengthening, and the integration of cross-cutting standards such as protection, gender, safeguarding and accountability to affected populations.
TEAM PURPOSE:
Oxfam in Syria's protection work aims to reduce the risks faced by conflict-affected communities and strengthen their capacity to stay safe and claim their rights. Protection activities are implemented directly and with partners by the programmatic protection team. The Protection Lead, based in Programme Quality, provides technical direction and quality assurance to that team through a matrix relationship.
JOB PURPOSE:
The Protection Lead provides strategic leadership, technical oversight, and quality assurance for Oxfam Syria’s Protection portfolio. The role leads the technical design, and quality improvement of protection programmes, ensuring evidence-based, principled, and context-responsive approaches that address the evolving needs and priorities of affected populations. The Protection Lead provides technical inputs to programme strategy, design, advocacy, and resource mobilisation, while strengthening safe programming (protection mainstreaming) across the country portfolio. The role works closely with programme teams, partners, coordination mechanisms, networks, and external stakeholders to build capacity, promote learning, and influence protection practice and policy. The role ensures emerging protection risks inform programme adaptation and decision-making.
What we are looking for:
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Protection Programming, representation and Influencing
Carry out ongoing Protection Analysis for the Syria programme, including identifying key protection risks and coping capacities, conflict analysis and risk management.
Lead Oxfam Syria’s protection strategy and approach ensuring effective protection programming, advocacy, and partnership approaches that address humanitarian needs, supports recovery and transition and strengthen community resilience.
Develop and maintain strategic relationships with relevant government institutions, including the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (MOSAL), civil society, national partners and other stakeholders, to identify opportunities for collaboration on social protection and other systems and policies that can contribute to sustainable protection outcomes.
Build the capacity of Protection staff and partners to implement protection activities in line with Oxfam’s approach and global protection standards.
Lead technical design of protection components within donor proposals. Develop logical frameworks, theories of change, indicators, and protection outcomes.
Support the implementation of high-quality effective protection activities and programmes and provide ongoing technical support to protection field teams.
Support programme teams in developing work plans, technical tools, SOPs, referral pathways, and guidance documents.
Review programme designs and activities to ensure protection outcomes are achieved.
Commission or carry out learning reviews, evaluations, etc. of protection activities and projects and ensure learning is used to improve programme quality.
Maintain an up to date understanding of and network of contacts within the Protection sector in Syria and ensure that programme teams have access to relevant, up to date information, including identifying overlaps and collaboration with other sectors.
Support the DCD for Programmes and the Programme Coordinator on inclusion of protection programmes within the overall humanitarian and early recovery programme design and proposal development for protection programming.
Develop and/or strengthen reporting tools and support the monitoring and evaluation of protection-related activities across all projects and sectors, working closely with the MEAL Manager and Project Managers.
Support the DCD for Programs and the Programme Coordinator in identifying new protection partners for Oxfam in Syria.
Represent Oxfam externally in protection-related UN, INGO and NGO coordination and planning mechanisms, including humanitarian, recovery and development fora, to strengthen coordination, complementarity and influence. Promote a joined-up protection approach that links immediate humanitarian response with longer-term recovery, resilience, social protection and systems strengthening, while supporting field teams to engage effectively in field-level protection coordination and ensuring Oxfam’s protection priorities inform relevant sectoral and policy discussions.
Ensure that Oxfam Syria’s protection portfolio contributes to influencing and learning on the relationship between humanitarian protection, social protection and longer-term development, identifying opportunities to move beyond short-term service delivery towards more sustainable and locally owned protection outcomes.
Contribute towards Oxfam’s regional and global protection work through active participation in Oxfam’s Protection Peer Group and maintaining a regular and constructive relationship with the Regional and/or the GHT Protection Advisor.
Link with EFSVL, WASH and Gender staff to integrate protection in all aspects of the work.
Contribute technical expertise to the recruitment of protection staff for the Syria country
Safe Programming
Contribute to strengthen Syria team capacity on Safe Programming as well as to support senior and medium management to take the lead and the responsibility on it.
Support the DCD for Programs, Humanitarian Coordinator and Area Managers in team and partner risk analysis related to programme activities before and during implementation, and advise on amending activities and approaches where necessary.
Participate in country planning, strategy development and reviews.
Other
Required to adhere to Oxfam’s principles and values as well as the promotion of gender justice and women's rights.
Understanding of and commitment to adhere to equity, diversity, gender, child safety and staff health and wellbeing principles.
Person Specification
Most importantly, every individual at Oxfam International Secretariat needs to be able to:
Live our values of INCLUSION, ACCOUNTABILITY, EMPOWERMENT, COURAGE, SOLIDARITY and EQUALITY (read more about these here)
Ensure you commit to our ORGANIZATIONAL ATTRIBUTES (including adhering to the Code of Conduct):
Be committed to our feminist principles, and to applying them in your day-to-day behaviour and your work. Be ready to keep learning, with accountability to those who experience oppression as a result of their identities, such as their gender, race/ethnicity, disability, class, or LGBTQIA identity.
Be committed to undertaking Oxfam’s safeguarding training and adhering to relevant policies, to ensure all people who come into Oxfam are as safe as possible.
EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE & COMPETENCIES
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS ALL STAFF ARE EXPECTED TO FULFIL:
Demonstrate Oxfam values and behavioral competencies.
Behavioral skills: able to work successfully with and mentor others, often under challenging circumstances, and to demonstrate competencies in "listening and creating dialogue" and "working with others", as well as strong networking skills. In particular:
Sound judgement: weighs risks, context and the principle of "do no harm" to make balanced, well-reasoned decisions, including on sensitive protection issues.
Listening: actively listens to colleagues, partners and affected communities, and makes sure their perspectives shape programme decisions.
Self-awareness: understands own strengths, limitations and biases, seeks feedback, and manages own wellbeing and reactions under pressure.
Decisiveness: makes timely, clear decisions in fast-changing or uncertain situations, takes ownership of them, and adjusts course when new information emerges.
Qualifications
ESSENTIAL:
Advanced level in international development or gender related degree or relevant work experience.
Experience in working in the Syrian crisis;
Minimum of 5 years involvement in humanitarian and development work, preferably in field-based protection work in conflict settings or environments in transition as well as experience of working in a senior advisory role
Proven experience in carrying out protection analysis and providing strategic advice to protection staff and/or partner teams;
Strong conceptual and practical understanding of protection standards, key sectoral issues and processes;
Experience and understanding of community-based protection at the field level, including the constraints, sensitivities and risks associated with such work;
Ability to represent Oxfam in country in sector meetings and with other NGOs/INGOs, donors, and local authorities;
Excellent written and verbal communication, including ability to fluently articulate key protection issues verbally and in writing;
Demonstrable understanding of protection work and ability to implement protection activities with a strong emphasis on the gendered aspects of conflict, violence and abuse.
Commitment to gender equity, diversity and equal opportunities.
Experience in capacity building of staff and partners, and the professional development of protection staff.
Fluency in English.
Advanced level in international development or gender related degree or relevant work experience.
Experience in working in the Syrian crisis;
Minimum of 5 years involvement in humanitarian and development work, preferably in field-based protection work in conflict settings or environments in transition as well as experience of working in a senior advisory role
Proven experience in carrying out protection analysis and providing strategic advice to protection staff and/or partner teams;
Strong conceptual and practical understanding of protection standards, key sectoral issues and processes;
Experience and understanding of community-based protection at the field level, including the constraints, sensitivities and risks associated with such work;
Ability to represent Oxfam in country in sector meetings and with other NGOs/INGOs, donors, and local authorities;
Excellent written and verbal communication, including ability to fluently articulate key protection issues verbally and in writing;
Demonstrable understanding of protection work and ability to implement protection activities with a strong emphasis on the gendered aspects of conflict, violence and abuse.
Commitment to gender equity, diversity and equal opportunities.
Experience in capacity building of staff and partners, and the professional development of protection staff.
Fluency in English.
Specific Vacancy Requirements
DESIRABLE
Understanding of Oxfam’s protection approach.
Knowledge of protection programming in early recovery and longer-term contexts (e.g. housing, land and property rights, civil documentation, social cohesion, etc.).
Experience in working with partners.
Experience in integrating programs.
Understanding of advocacy and campaigning work.
Experience in participatory research.
Conflict analysis skills.
Fluency in Arabic.
KEY ATTRIBUTES
Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to cultural differences and protection issues, as well as the commitment to equal opportunities;
Ability to demonstrate an openness and willingness to learn about the application of protection mainstreaming, children’s rights, and diversity for all aspects of development work
Commitment to Oxfam’s safeguarding policies to ensure all people who come into contact with Oxfam are as safe as possible;
Behavioural competencies: Influencing, relationship building, strategic thinking and judgment, vision setting, self-awareness.
Understanding of Oxfam’s protection approach.
Knowledge of protection programming in early recovery and longer-term contexts (e.g. housing, land and property rights, civil documentation, social cohesion, etc.).
Experience in working with partners.
Experience in integrating programs.
Understanding of advocacy and campaigning work.
Experience in participatory research.
Conflict analysis skills.
Fluency in Arabic.
KEY ATTRIBUTES
Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to cultural differences and protection issues, as well as the commitment to equal opportunities;
Ability to demonstrate an openness and willingness to learn about the application of protection mainstreaming, children’s rights, and diversity for all aspects of development work
Commitment to Oxfam’s safeguarding policies to ensure all people who come into contact with Oxfam are as safe as possible;
Behavioural competencies: Influencing, relationship building, strategic thinking and judgment, vision setting, self-awareness.
Salary and Benefits
As per Oxfam Syria salary scale
About us
Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the injustice of poverty.
In Syria :
While Oxfam has been present in the region since 1970, it began operating in Syria through its Damascus based presence in July 2013. Since then, Oxfam has been responding to both the urgent WASH needs for vulnerable people, and has been working on the rehabilitation of water systems in order to provide durable, more sustainable solutions to the affected populations. Interventions implemented under Oxfam's WASH Programme include: Provision of Acute Emergency Life-Saving WASH Services, Rehabilitation of Water Systems, Hygiene Promotion and Water Conservation, Capacity Building and Training, and Improved Emergency WASH Coordination. To date, Oxfam has been worked in 10 governorates, seeking out to over 2.5 million beneficiaries.
In Syria :
While Oxfam has been present in the region since 1970, it began operating in Syria through its Damascus based presence in July 2013. Since then, Oxfam has been responding to both the urgent WASH needs for vulnerable people, and has been working on the rehabilitation of water systems in order to provide durable, more sustainable solutions to the affected populations. Interventions implemented under Oxfam's WASH Programme include: Provision of Acute Emergency Life-Saving WASH Services, Rehabilitation of Water Systems, Hygiene Promotion and Water Conservation, Capacity Building and Training, and Improved Emergency WASH Coordination. To date, Oxfam has been worked in 10 governorates, seeking out to over 2.5 million beneficiaries.
Required employees number
1
Posted On
Oct 09, 2026
Expiry Date
Oct 23, 2026
CV Language
English
