Protection Project

• Welcoming the beneficiaries, accessing the desk and ensure their concerns that are heard and are considered.
• Provide adequate information to the questions being asked by the beneficiaries. If a question cannot be answered, the protection assistant will endeavour to find information on the subject or refer this to the protection officer for further research.
• Keep records on what subjects are inquired about, records are confidential, and are mainly to ensure that adequate input can also be provided to the on-going and further programming.
• Keep track of referrals to other services – IMPR facilitates referrals to other specialized services, for example: health, PSS, and protection services through the protection desk. Including referrals to the internal IMPR social workers team.
• The Community Center is not visited only by Syrians, but also is opened to the host community  members, who will have also access to the same services.
• Throughout the project IMPR refer individuals to UNHCR that are identified and have a specific needs that cannot be met within the project or other NGOs in the area.

b) Counselling

The counselling part of this project focuses on providing beneficiaries with more in-depth counselling information to ensure that the refugees are considering all the problems’ aspects and have understood the actual information and help, to guide people, whose cases are more complicated through potential ways of assistance.

Counselling is not meant to replace psychological counselling provided in the center that focuses more on in-depth mental health and mental well-being issues. The activity envisioned under this project is a stepping stone between the basic information provided through the protection desk and more in-depth counselling or case management.

There is one protection assistant based at the center to provide basic counselling services and allow for proper referrals to mental health services as well as case management services if it is needed.

c)  Working with the communities

Community focal points and awareness raising sessions:

Community focal points is selected on the basis of motivation to work in enhancing community support mechanisms and previous experience volunteering, as well as some academic qualifications (if applicable). They work together with the protection assistants in facilitating awareness sessions for the community members, facilitating referrals to the center or to other services and provide basic information within their communities.

After an initial period of recruitment and basic training (two weeks), it is expected that the community focal points and protection assistants are able to co-lead sessions starting in May, 2015.

Awareness sessions is provided twice per day (4 out of 5 days of the working week). One day is reserved to conduct meetings with community focal points, as well as administrative purposes. This would imply that there is a total of 16 sessions per week. Monthly estimated targets for awareness sessions will be an approximate of 64 sessions (except the first month that is only half a month of awareness raising sessions).

Though it is expected that awareness sessions take place in the areas surrounding the community center, there might be some locations that are a bit further than the exact neighbouring areas, however areas around the community center will be prioritized.

IMPR cover topics in the awareness sessions that correspond to the assessment, which was submitted in the previous UNHCR project. This includes issues of child protection, protection issues regarding women and access to services.