Background/Context:
The IRC has operated in Syria since 2012, providing protection, health, economic recovery, and early childhood development programs in Idleb, Aleppo, Ar-Raqqa, Hassakeh, and Deir ez-Zor, with new programs expanding into Hama, rural Damascus, and Homs. With a team of over 700 members, the IRC has established trust and strong community relationships, ensuring access and effective service delivery. It plays a significant role in Syriaโs NGO, donor, and coordination forums, holding key positions and adapting to the evolving context.
With the new realities under the new government, as of December 2024, the IRC has deployed a team to Damascus to set up operations and engage in coordination structures for newly accessible areas across Syriaโincluding parts of NES, NWS, and other previously unreachable locations in South and Central Syria, adjusting operations to maximize coverage and efficiency.
Protection
The IRC has been delivering protection programs in the northwest since 2013 and in the northeast of Syria since 2014, focusing on Protection/Rule of Law (PRoL), Womenโs Protection and Empowerment (WPE), and Child Protection (CP). These efforts include specialized case management, PSS, protection monitoring, service mapping, and advocacy. Collaborating with partners, IRC improves access to protection services, raises community awareness, and strengthens referral pathways. Protection capacity building, community outreach, and rapid response through mobile protection teams have also been provided since 2017.
Job overview:
The Senior Legal Officer will be based in Al Hasakeh Governorate and will coordinate and support the implementation of Protection and Rule of Law in Northern-East Syria, with regards to Legal Awareness and Advocacy. The Senior Legal Officer will be expected to support vulnerable IDPs, refugees and local community members to access their legal rights through awareness sessions and advocacy, including capacity building of other staff and community focal points. The Senior Legal Officer will report directly to the Senior PRoL Manager. As this is a new position, the position holder must be highly flexible and able to work creatively at both the field level and with regards to advocacy and strategic planning. This position requires at least 50% travel to field locations.
Responsibilities:
Conduct awareness sessions of legal protection and rights in the community, including through the development of training, workshop and other materials. Create information products on rights, protection and legal status and provide counselling sessions for individual cases where appropriate. Conduct sessions related to protection risks, including housing, land and property, civil status documentation and other services. Conduct mobile field visits to meet with the community and local authorities including camp managements to deliver the importance of some legal issues and the purpose of protection activities. Receive and respond to referrals from our staff. Develop strong relationships with community leaders and other stakeholders. Perform research: since laws and regulations are changing, the legal officer should research legal sources and SOPs. Identify risks: Senior Legal Officer should regularly analyze the actions and decisions of the team in order to identify problem areas, suggest alternative actions and mitigate risk as much as possible. Advocate for the IRC sectors or other humanitarian actors on legal issues.Coordination & Representation
Responsible for leading on legal advocacy and engaging with the community on information sessions, as well as training community focal points to refer protection concerns. Working closely with the Protection Monitors and Caseworkers to provide support as needed with regards to legal advocacy and information provision. Participate in weekly integrated protection meetings to ensure deliver of Legal awareness programming within PRoL is understood and utilized by all three streams. Advocate for changes and expansion of legal programming as demonstrated by the needs of the community.Monitoring and Reporting
Prepare and submit weekly and monthly work plans in a timely manner Support the implementation of monitoring and evaluation tools with regards to legal advocacy and report on problems in the implementation of the program. Lead regular planning and de/briefing meetings to ensure adherence to standards Ensure targets with regards to legal advocacy are met, and support with the technical content provided to donors, within proposal development and other strategic meetings as required.Capacity Building
Build the capacity of national staff and community focal points to understand their rights, including access to documentation. Work closely with emergency programming to ensure the adaptation of legal awareness programming to support the needs of the most vulnerable in the communities we serve. Any other tasks as deemed necessary by the Protection Manager, Senior PRoL Manager or Integrated Protection Coordinator.Staff Performance Management, Learning & Development:
Job Requirements:
Education: University degree in Law, registered in law bar Association.Work Experience:
Minimum 4-6 yearsโ experience in the humanitarian field preferred, Previous experience managing teams preferred Experience working for an international organization, especially in the humanitarian field, preferred Experience producing written analytical reports for internal and external stakeholders Excellent interpersonal skills; ability to effectively liaise with colleagues on all levels in a distributed, multicultural, detail-oriented environment Good skills in Microsoft. Excellent organizational skills, and great attention to detailDemonstrated Skills and Competencies:
A commitment to IRCโs mission, vision, values and IRC Way โ Professional Code of Conduct. Credible written, presentation and verbal communication skills; ability to convey information effectively and solid experience providing training and staff development. Validated sense of professional discretion, integrity, and ability to handle complex situations diplomatically and to effective resolution. Excellent management and interpersonal skills and a solid ability to promote harmonious/cohesive teamwork, in a cross-cultural context. Validated ability to plan long-term, organize priorities and work under administrative and programmatic pressures with detail orientation and professional patience. Highly collaborative and resourceful; ability to establish positive working relationships with senior level management and all other partners to maximize cooperation and productivity. Curiosity, a desire to continually learn and develop is a must. Analytical ability in creating effective solutions to complex matters while adhering to labor laws and internal policies.Language/Travel:
English and Arabic are required, while Kurdish is desired. Travel: 50% to field sites for supervising the protection activities in Hasaka, Deir ez-Zor, and Raqqaas well as attending regional and global workshops and meetings.Key Working Relationships:
Position Reports to: Senior PRoL Manager
Position directly supervises: Legal Assistants
Indirect Reporting: IP Coordinator
Key Internal Contacts: Women Protection and Empowerment, Child Protection, ECD, Health, and ERD programs. As well as IRC partners
Key External Contacts: Protection Sub National Working Group, HLP working group, Legal Working group.
Professional Standards: IRC staff must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way โ Global Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability and Equality. In accordance with these values, IRC operates and carries out policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti-Workplace Harassment, Respect at Work Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.
Returning National Candidates: We strongly encourage national or returning national candidates to apply for this position. If you are a citizen of the country where this position is based and are currently residing outside of your home country, you may be eligible for an attractive relocation package. Eligibility is determined based on IRC's operational needs and specific role requirements. IRC strives to attract, motivate, and retain qualified national staff in our programs.
Accountability to Clients: IRC staff must adhere to the commitment of contributing to the sustainability and development of its (CR) Client Responsiveness Mechanisms, preserving the culture of prioritizing the needs of our clients and affected communities by systematically listening to their perspectives and using their feedback to make programmatic decisions and give them greater influence over program design and delivery.