Legal Specialist – Erbil – (KRI/049)

Position               Legal Specialist (National)
Reports to           Protection Coordinator
Supervise            None
Status                 Full Time
Duty Station         Erbil, Iraq with frequent field visits to all                                    program locations

Period                 4 months (Starting immediately)

All INTERSOS employees are expected to perform their roles and responsibilities according to the INTERSOS charter of values, code of ethics, PSEA and Child Protection policies. This is mandatory for all positions within INTERSOS and shall be signed by the employee within the first week of employment.

General Description of the Program: 

INTERSOS has been present in Iraq since 2003 and currently operates across Ninewa, Salah Al Din (SAD), Erbil, and Sulaymaniyah Governorates. INTERSOS’ thematic sectors of intervention are Protection, Education and Health. The INTERSOS coordination office is in Erbil with bases located in Tikrit, Mosul, Telafar and Sulaymaniyah and programming presence in other areas of Ninewa,
SAD and the Kurdistan region. Through our integrated programmatic approach, INTERSOS provides humanitarian services and supports the creation of durable solutions for women, men, girls and boys in IDP, refugee and host communities as its areas of intervention.

Purpose/objective of the position:

The Legal Specialist will strengthen the capacity of the legal protection team to enhance the mission’s ability to promote access to civil and legal protection for vulnerable displaced persons specifically the IDPs, returnees and refugees in Erbil, Ninewa, and Salah Din governorates.

Reporting lines:

The Legal Specialist will be part of the Protection team and directly report to the Protection Coordinator.
She/he will coordinate with other protection specialists and managers.

Generic Duties: 

• Strengthen the legal team through regular supportive meetings with the legal team leaders, officers and lawyers to identify challenges and adopt strategic solutions toward realizing the set project targets together with the managers.
• Analyse civil/legal trends across the different governorates and provide recommendations that inform effective project adjustments and unique interventions to address the specific needs of the affected population.
• Support the development of tools and harmonized context-specific legal approaches that continuously improve legal technical excellence and impact in the areas of intervention.
• Develop project briefs regarding the legal evolution, transition and understanding the causes and difficulties in accessing legal services and obtaining documents by IDPs with lessons learned through assessments, trends analysis and legal service delivery to vulnerable groups.
•  Recommend actions and adaptations stemming from lessons learned and or briefs and share these with the relevant stakeholders including the donor.
• Support community engagement through networking with community leaders and facilitate community voices that contribute to the effective legal integration for persons of concern and adapt durable solutions for civil and legal access limitations through the community-based protection approach mainstreamed in the delivery of services for persons in need of support.
• Monitor the quality of legal assistance activities including legal awareness, legal counseling, legal services assistance and
  court representation .
• Contribute to proposal development in the legal thematic area to complement other protection thematic components.
• Support the Protection coordinator to review and update the Legal SoPs for effective use and team guidance.

Capacity support and development :

• Provide specific training as per the staff training needs identified to ensure continued capacity strengthening of all the legal teams and reorientation of their roles and functions.
• Support the legal team to understand and simplify the legal procedures and documentation processes that hinder the effective execution of their legal duties and the delivery of legal services.
• Coordinate with the Child protection, GBV and MHPSS specialists to train the legal teams on relevant basic CP/GBV and MHPSS learning and mainstreaming for effective synergy and referrals of vulnerable beneficiaries under legal support who are in most of the other protection services.

Monitoring and Reporting: 

• Oversee the legal platform to ensure timely updated inputs from the legal case management .
• Support the legal team leaders and officers on professional reporting within the legal platform and targeted project deliverables within the stipulated period.
• In coordination with MEAL staff, assist in the development and conducting of quantitative/qualitative assessments in targeted communities to assess the effectiveness of the legal interventions and impact.
• Undertake regular field visits to conduct monitoring, capacity-building, legal assessments, and provide continuous mentorship on tools used to report and monitor the quality of the legal implementation.

Coordination and representation: 

• Participate in continuous coordination with local authorities and donors as required .
• Coordinate with the protection coordinator and protection managers to organize learning workshops with the legal team and legal partners to find a point of improved coordination for arising legal concerns such as HLP .
• Coordinate with the situation monitoring analyst and the capacity building officer to monitor and report legal trends and facilitate awareness sessions for the specific target groups together with the lawyers in order to increase INTERSOS integration within the community and ensure adherence to the legal processes until completion and case closure.
• Strengthen the coordination between the Legal Team and State Departments/local authorities and existing local/international NGOs providing legal support in the project intervention area .

Human resources:

• Support in the recruitment of relevant legal protection staff as per the need.

Person Specifications 

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree in law is mandatory .
• Postgraduate or Masters’ Degree in law is preferred (Iraq) .
• Additional training and law practice is desirable .

Competencies: (Knowledge, Skills & Abilities) 

Professional Competencies:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in a humanitarian and/or development context specifically on legal support specifically relating to civil and legal affairs for displaced populations within INGOs and/or NNGOs.
• Experience working within the Department of civil and legal affairs in Iraq is a plus .
• Strong theoretical, technical and practical knowledge of the Iraqi and regional laws relating to displacement and civil disputes.
• Demonstrated ability to develop legal training and mentorship to the legal staff within the mission is desired.
• Effective Coordination skills .
• Very good understanding of protection, human rights law and international humanitarian principles;
• Facilitation, training and mentoring skills.
• Computer literacy (Word, Excel, PowerPoint);
• Excellent analytical and reporting skills.

Personal competencies:

• A high degree of flexibility and ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines as well as mitigate arising challenges;
• A respectful and non-discriminatory attitude, and commitment to confidentiality;
• Strong time management skills, resourcefulness, and attention to detail with a positive problem-solving attitude;
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and cross-cultural skills, ability to communicate effectively on culturally-sensitive issues to diverse audiences.

Languages and other:

• Fluency in English (written and spoken), Kurdish or Arabic is preferred.