Senior Protection Manager (Women Protection and Empowerment)

BACKGROUND:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

The Kordofans remains a highly complex humanitarian context characterized by ongoing conflict, large-scale displacement, restricted humanitarian access, and acute protection risks. Women and girls face heightened exposure to gender-based violence (GBV), including conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), with limited availability of safe, confidential, and quality services.

Job Overview/Summary: The WPE Senior Manager provides senior-level operational leadership and technical oversight for all Women’s Protection & Empowerment (WPE) programming implemented in South Kordofan. The position is field-based and responsible for overseeing direct implementation, supervising WPE teams, ensuring quality and compliance with IRC and global GBV standards, and coordinating closely with health, economic recovery and development, and other sectors. The role plays a critical function in maintaining South Kordofan as a strategic operational hub and ensuring continuity and scale-up readiness of WPE services in a highly volatile emergency context.

Major RESPONSIBILITIES: The WPE Sr. Manager shall:

Program Leadership and oversight

• Provide overall leadership and oversight of WPE programming in South Kordofan, ensuring safe survivor centered and contextually appropriate service delivery.
• Ensure high-quality implementation of GBV case management, PSS, referrals, and emergency response services, with a strong focus on CRSV.
• Translate country-level WPE strategies into effective field-level implementation plans.
• Adapt programming in response to evolving security, access, and displacement dynamics.

Quality Assurance & Information Management

• Ensure adherence to global GBV standards, IRC policies, and WPE SOPs.
• Oversee ethical and secure use of GBVIMS, including data quality, confidentiality, and trend analysis for operational decision-making.
• Ensure risk mitigation measures are integrated across all WPE activities.

Staff Supervision & Capacity Building

• Directly supervise WPE Officers, Case Workers, Outreach Workers, and other WPE staff based in South Kordofan.
• Promote a supportive, accountable, and learning-oriented team culture.
• Lead recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and staff development in coordination with HR and senior management.
• Provide ongoing coaching, mentoring, and technical support, with attention to staff wellbeing and burnout prevention.

Coordination & Representation

• Represent IRC WPE programming in South Kordofan in inter-agency coordination mechanisms, including GBV sub-cluster and Protection meetings.
• Maintain effective working relationships with health partners, local authorities, UN agencies, and national NGOs.
• Strengthen referral pathways and inter-sectoral integration at field level.
• Escalate operational challenges, protection trends, and access constraints to senior management.

Grant Management & Reporting

• Oversee implementation of WPE grants in South Kordofan, ensuring alignment with approved work plans, budgets, and indicators.
• Track expenditures in coordination with Finance and Operations to support timely and compliant implementation.
• Contribute to donor and internal reporting, ensuring accuracy and quality of field-level inputs.

Program Development & Scale-Up Readiness

• Support proposal development, revisions, and budgeting for South Kordofan-based WPE programming.
• Identify emerging needs, gaps, and opportunities for expansion or adaptation of services.
• Support preparedness for scale-up or rapid response in response to new displacement or access opportunities.

Partnerships

• Lead and manage partnerships with local and national NGOs and service providers in South Kordofan, ensuring coordinated, survivor-centered GBV programming aligned with IRC standards, safeguarding, and agreed workplans.
• Provide technical oversight and capacity strengthening to partners through mentoring, joint monitoring, and supportive supervision, particularly in GBV case management, referrals, PSS, and ethical information management.
• Monitor partner performance and manage risks, ensuring timely reporting, quality service delivery, and effective integration within GBV referral pathways and inter-

Safety, Security & Duty of Care

• Monitor and assess safety and security risks affecting WPE teams in South Kordofan.
• Ensure compliance with IRC security protocols and safeguarding policies.
• Promote a strong duty-of-care culture for all staff.

Other Duties

• Perform other duties as assigned to support IRC’s emergency response and protection objectives.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in public health, social sciences, gender studies, international development, or a related field.
• at least 3-5 years of experience in GBV/VAWG programming, including significant experience in emergency and conflict settings.
• Demonstrated experience managing field-based teams and direct implementation in insecure environments.
• Strong technical expertise in GBV case management, CRSV response, and survivor-centered programming.
• Experience using GBVIMS and ensuring ethical data management.
• Proven experience in grant implementation, reporting, and donor compliance.
• Strong leadership, communication, and coordination skills.
• Ability to work under pressure in volatile contexts.
• Fluency in English required; Arabic strongly preferred.

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS:

This position is supervised by the Deputy Director of Programs and will supervise full WPE team of ( 3 staff members)

Internal: WPE Technical Unit, Grants, Finance, Supply Chain, HR

External: Donors, UN agencies, government and local authorities, international and national NGOs, community stakeholders

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.