Assignment background

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee. NRC works in crises in more than 30 countries, to help save lives and rebuild futures. NRC re-established its presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2009 working to ensure that Palestinians affected by the Occupation have access to assistance and protection. As part of this objective, NRC contributes to the prevention of violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, in particular violations related to the displacement of Palestinians.

NRC Palestine started dedicated Protection programming under the Protection from Violence Core Competency in the West Bank in November 2023. This builds on NRC Palestine’s Protection programming in Gaza, which implements Individual Response Services (IRS: Case Management and Individual Protection Assistance). The West Bank Protection programming starting in Hebron includes IRS with an expansion to include Civilian Self-Protection (CSP).

IRS works to support at-heightened, targeted risk to support people experiencing violence to recover and have their safety improved. This is done through general Protection Case Management and Individual Protection Assistance.

CSP works towards communities experiencing less violence, coercion, and deliberate deprivation and feeling more confident that they can prevent or mitigate further violence from being perpetrated against them. This is done through community trainings and mentorship.

The oPt Protection Cluster in the West Bank has prioritized both developing a General Protection strategy for the West Bank alongside community-led initiatives, within which CSP falls. In the oPt Protection Cluster West Bank Protection Analysis Update published on March 2024, a key recommended action was that “All relevant actors should support proactive protection and community-led protection, including protective presence actions in hot spot locations”[1].

This consultancy per the Scope of Work (SoW) described in this document seeks to support community-led protection and orientate humanitarian Protection actors on community actions to amplify. This consultancy also provides a research and contextual baseline from which NRC’s CSP program can build from for quality implementation and sustained impact.

The SoW recognizes the significant work being done by communities, community-based organizations, civil society, and protection actors on community-led approaches. The SoW also recognizes the urgent protection needs and rapidly escalating emergency within the West Bank; therefore, the SoW leaves space for adaptations throughout the consultancy and should not delay any planned interventions. The SoW—and all deliverables—should emphasize the supremacy and strength of community initiatives and organic structures.

The Scope of Work (SoW) of the assignment can be found below. The consultant would ideally start on 01 September with a conclusion date by 28 February 2025; dates are flexible according to the consultant proposal.

2. Objectives and scope of work

Objectives

1. Document current community self-protection strategies and community/grassroots networks that are taking actions to mitigate, avoid, and/or prevent acts of violence, coercion, and deliberate deprivation in the community. The mapped protection violations will be focused on Occupation violence but must include the broader ramifications of Occupation violence as the root cause.
2. Analyse the current protection environment as related to community-led initiatives and community self-protection actions. This is to include understanding deterrence and influences over protection threats pre/post 7 October 2023. This is to also better understand community dynamics with potential protective factors and allies.
3. Develop an understanding within the humanitarian community and relevant Protection stakeholders on community self-protection actions through participatory research methodology and knowledge sharing initiatives such as case studies, protection products, and workshops.