Title: Senior Officer, Labour Mobility
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Grade: 7/0
Gross Monthly Salary: KES 236,282
Supervisor: Manager, Labour Mobility
Supervision Given: None

About RefugePoint

WHO WE ARE
Founded in 2005, RefugePoint partners with refugees to access life-changing solutions and transform how the world supports them. For those who can safely remain in the country to which they have fled, we help them reach stability and work towards self-reliance so they can meet their own needs. Unfortunately, many refugees can’t go home and can’t safely stay in the country to which they have fled. We help these people relocate to a safe, new country, through resettlement or other pathways so that they can begin to rebuild their lives. RefugePoint helps refugees access these solutions using three tactics: direct services, field building, and systems change. Through this three-pronged approach we provide direct services to thousands of refugees each year, strengthen the capacity of other organizations to better serve refugees, and influence global policy and practice to transform refugee response systems.

Lasting solutions work. Directly, we’ve referred nearly 185,000 refugees for resettlement or other pathways to a safe, third country. We’ve also equipped thousands of refugees with the tools to support themselves and their families in the country to which they’ve fled. Through innovation, collaboration, and influence, we've helped lead the sector in expanding long-lasting, refugee-centered solutions, and instigated major sea changes in global practice.

You will be joining a growing organization (115+ staff globally) that is spearheading new initiatives that are changing the face of humanitarian response, and we would be excited to have you as part of our team!

OUR VALUES
RefugePoint has core, cross-cutting principles and values that define our work:

• Refugee-Centered: We create space for and elevate refugee voices and leadership within the organization to guide our work.

• Anti-Racist & Anti-Colonial: Recognizing that racism, colonialism, and global white supremacy culture have caused many of the inequities driving the world’s refugee situations, we seek to integrate and center anti-racist and anti-colonialist principles in all that we do.

• Equity-Focused: We deliver services, build capacity, and influence policies and systems to strengthen equity in the humanitarian sector.

• Trauma-Informed: We integrate a trauma-informed approach and offer mental health and psycho-social support services to clients and staff.

• Evidence-Informed Practice: We use an evidence-informed approach to practice, i.e., the integration of research evidence alongside practitioner expertise and the people experiencing the practice.

• Collaborative: The urgency of need and the magnitude of the problem requires shared responsibility and shared action. We seek opportunities to engage in networks and partnerships.

Position Summary

The main purpose of the position is to provide support to the Labour Mobility Unit, specifically working on processing refugee applicants for economic mobility pathways to Canada and, where feasible, other countries.  RefugePoint’s Labour Mobility program aims to identify and refer successful refugee applicants for job opportunities in Canada and beyond.  The program also aims to continue building on the outcomes and learnings of a pilot project – the Economic Mobility Pathways Project (EMPP) - by documenting opportunities and barriers to labour migration in the refugee context.    

Key Responsibilities:

1. Candidate Identification and Screening 

• Receive applications from refugee applicants and conduct different types and levels of screening (which may include but are not limited to paper review, phone screening, intakes and informal language assessment, etc.) to ensure the applicants meet program criteria, employer needs, provincial and federal requirements; 

• Verify the validity of certificates including but not limited to work, education and language tests, as well as other pertinent documents;

• Ensure protection mainstreaming throughout the screening process by applying aspects of protection and trauma-informed interviewing skills while assessing and determining clients’ eligibility for labour mobility and other pathways;

• Develop understanding and knowledge around participating countries’ labour mobility programs including their skills classification and apply the same during screening;

• Coordinate language training and formal language testing with accredited testing centers. 

• Liaise and correspond with IOM & UNHCR offices, namely, Branch Office Kenya, Sub Office Dadaab and Sub Office Kakuma around the screening process and requirements; 

• Support the program’s and RefugePoint’s anti-fraud and safeguarding initiatives and ensure program integrity and compliance;

• Undertake missions to UNHCR and partner offices in Kakuma, Dadaab, and other urban locations to conduct labour mobility casework;

2. Employment Application/ Interview Preparation

• Provide support to applicants in drafting, preparing and completing job applications including writing curricula vitae (CV), resumes and other required documentation;

• In coordination with the supervisor, conduct job interview preparation for the applicants which includes employer briefing, providing guidance on and sharing relevant reading materials, scheduling and/or conducting mock interviews, and giving feedback;

3. Immigration Applications 

• Facilitate the completion of immigration documents by demonstrating a firm grasp of the immigration requirements of the participating countries and guiding applicants through the process including the sourcing of required documents; 

• Provide all other support to ensure the successful submission of immigration applications and troubleshooting where necessary;

4. Pre-departure and Post Arrival Support 

• Liaise and coordinate with IOM offices and other partners regarding pre-departure processing such as cultural orientation, medical examinations, exit visa applications among others; 

• Work collaboratively with employers, settlement agencies, and partners to ensure candidates are connected to appropriate refugee-centred post-arrival settlement services that support safe, dignified, and successful integration;

5. Support Resettlement and other Complementary Pathways activities;

• When needed, this position will support resettlement and other complementary pathways activities by:

• Assessing clients’ cases, identifying resettlement-related needs and conducting interviews of vulnerable clients who have been identified for resettlement in accordance with program guidelines and SOPs; 

• Working closely with the Manager, Family Reunification to identify and screen cases of refugees with family ties in third countries that meet the eligibility criteria for RefugePoint’s Family Reunification Navigation Assistance Program and the family reunification criteria per third countries; 

6. Field Building 

• Undertake missions/visits to other UNHCR or partner offices outside Kenya to help partners develop and/or implement their labour mobility programs; this may involve training and or capacity strengthening of partner staff;

7. Documentation and Record Keeping

• Maintain soft and hard copies of the program’s related documents;

• Create and document files to allow for retrieval when necessary;

• Contribute to the drafting and validation of the Labour Mobility program’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), tools, policies, and guidelines;

• Systematically document and disseminate best practices and lessons learned, contributing to organizational learning, programme quality, and evidence-based decision-making;

• Adherence to client confidentiality and data protection standards;

• Enter all pertinent data points for applications received, per program requirements;

• Update the labour mobility database consistently, organize information to fit the format required by the database, and ensure data is backed up;

• Create data management tools when required that capture pertinent information necessary for implementing the program and generate statistics when required;

8. Information Sharing and Expectations Management 

• Conduct information sharing/awareness-raising and expectations management sessions about labour mobility with participating applicants and the refugee community in general.  Ensure the communication about prospects and opportunities is realistic and in-line with program requirements and SOPs;  

• When needed, conduct focus group sessions with the community to assess the level of awareness about the program, clarify any misconceptions or misinformation, gather relevant information/data and field questions from the community;

• Conduct regular community outreaches to inform candidates on our anti-fraud and PSEA policies;

9. Anti-Fraud, Safeguarding, and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH)

• Support the development, review, and continuous refinement of anti-fraud guidelines, systems, and processes; actively engage in prevention, detection, and mitigation activities to reduce the risk of fraud and exploitation within third-country solutions programming;

Attend to any other duties as assigned

Required Qualifications:

• University Degree (the equivalent of a BA/BS) in Community Development, Social Work, Law, Sociology, Political Science, International Relations or another protection-related field;

• Ability to maintain confidentiality and adhere to integrity and safeguarding standards;

• Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office Suite and Salesforce;

• At least two-three years experience with refugee law, protection, and assistance, including resettlement and other complementary pathways;

• Excellent interviewing and counseling skills, including use of age-appropriate, trauma-informed, and gender-sensitive techniques;

• Strong interpersonal communication, excellent writing and analytical skills;

• Strong diplomacy skills; ability to work effectively with diverse partners and cross-cultural teams;

• Ability to navigate complex administrative systems and work effectively and efficiently in a structured environment;

• Self-motivated and able to work with a high degree of autonomy.;

• Ability to demonstrate flexibility and adaptability in a fast-changing environment with shifting priorities;

• Proficiency in English, French and Swahili  is required;

• Proficient typing skills;

• Experience working with refugee communities in camp and urban contexts;

• Previous data entry, file review and form fill work experience is considered an advantage;

• Ability to adhere to RefugePoint’s Code of Conduct and conduct oneself professionally and courteously at all times;

Special Requirements:

• A certificate of police clearance.