Program Manager for Site Management and Protection

Danish Refugee Council

About the job
The Program Manager Site Management and Protection is responsible for leading DRC s integrated humanitarian operations in Gaza within the Site Management (SM) and Protection sectors. The role ensures high-quality, timely, and accountable delivery of assistance to conflict-affected populations in accordance with DRC standards, donor regulations, and international humanitarian principles.
The Program Manager will provide strategic direction, technical guidance, and operational oversight to field teams and implementing partners. The position aims to strengthen coordination, ensure protection mainstreaming across all sectors, and promote community participation and resilience in displacement-affected areas.
The Program Manager oversees complex and diverse portfolio of local partners, responsible for scale up and roll out of DRC s SM and Protection approaches in Gaza in coordination with SM, Protection, shelter and other clusters and relevant authorities.
The role aims to ensure SM and Protection teams provide a lifesaving response and coordinate with Shelter, WASH, Health, Nutrition, and Mine Action, ensuring an integrated response so that the displaced families can access basic needs and services in the sites and to work with DRC s approach in mitigating displacement in hard-to-reach areas in Gaza.
Responsibilities:
General Management
• Manage and oversee implementation of all DRC SM and Protection projects in Gaza in alignment with strategic priorities, donor requirements, and cluster standards.
• Supervise and guide teams to meet project objectives, ensuring clarity of roles, accountability, and performance standards.
• Support local partners through capacity building, mentoring, and regular coordination.
• Conduct regular team meetings, field visits, and supervision sessions.
• Develop and monitor project implementation and procurement plans to ensure effective resource utilization.
• Ensure integrated planning across SM and Protection components, promoting complementarity and joint interventions.
• Foster a respectful, inclusive, and collaborative team culture in line with DRC s Code of Conduct and PSEA policy**.**
• Provide technical guidance and oversight for both Site Management and Protection teams to ensure quality and adherence to global and DRC standards.
• In collaboration with technical coordinators (Protection, MHPSS, SM), design and update Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), tools, and guidance materials.
• Act as a reference point for Protection Mainstreaming and Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) approaches across all activities.
• Support development and rollout of technical training modules and mentoring programs for DRC and partner staff.
• Oversee data management systems, ensuring data protection and ethical handling of sensitive information.
• Ensure effective technical linkages between SM, Protection, and other sectors (Shelter, WASH, Economic Recovery, and Mine Action).
Technical Support
Coordination and Information Management:
• Ensure representation of DRC in SM, Protection, Shelter and WASH clusters, offering technical support to Cluster team when needed.
• Contribute to joint assessments, advocacy efforts, and multi-sectoral coordination to address emerging needs.
• Participate in inter-agency planning and emergency preparedness exercises.
• In coordination with DRC local partners, ensure the site-based meetings are taking place on a regular basis and ensure all communications, including minutes of meetings are disseminated on a timely basis.
• Ensure local partners Site Management teams presence through Mobile SM approach.
• Coordinate the operational entities, provision and equitable access to services and protection in accordance with international standards aimed at guaranteeing the dignity of people and equitable access to basic services and fundamental rights.
• Establish per site a contact master list of stakeholders working in the site. Site level service mapping and monitoring through the shared site monitoring tool (including levels of services delivered). These should be shared in the regular site level coordination meetings with all partners working in the site
• Ensure an efficient and equitable use of resources once site needs and gaps are identified, work with local and international actors, local authorities, and clusters, to fill the gaps. Once site level referral process is established, utilise this as much as possible to channel site level referrals
• Monitoring of population size, movements (new arrivals and departures) within the sites in coordination with DRC local partners and SM cluster.
• In coordination with DRC local actors and DRC SM specialists, ensure effective site level community governance is in place.
• Ensure that different gender, PWD and vulnerable or minority groups are represented and participate to the established representation structures
• Establish a community system under protection guidance to monitor and maintain common facilities
• Mobilization and participation of the inhabitants of the site for supervision and maintenance of infrastructure
• In close collaboration with DRC SM specialists and DRC local partners, ensure dissemination of information regarding assistance and services both to the population living in the site and to other interested parties
• In coordination with DRC MEAL and DRC SM/Protection specialists, ensure establishment of Complaint feedback mechanism to collect, analyze, share, refer and / or take action regarding the population s complaints and feedback.
• Ensure with DRC MEAL support that DRC local partners are providing feedback to community on actions taken against their complaints and feedback (closing the loop)
• In collaboration with the community, ensure conducting awareness-raising activities regarding services and risk mitigation e.g. protection and WASH messaging
• Working closely with DRC SM specialists, support local partners identifying site improvement work based on findings from safety audits and other site level assessments of site environment and infrastructure
• Support DRC local actors in designing site improvement work (ie; BoQ, assessing local market, tracking procurement, PDM)