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UNFPA-GBV Programme Specialist-P3-Marsabit Town, Kenya (40% travel to other locations)
Position Title: GBV Programme Specialist
Receiving Agency: UNFPA
P Level: P3
Location: Marsabit Town with 40% travel to other locations
Duration: 6 months
Language: Fluency in English is required, working knowledge of Kiswahili/ Amharic is an asset.
Under the overall supervision of the UNFPA CO Deputy Representative and OIC, and in close collaboration with the Humanitarian, Gender and SRH Specialists, the incumbent will facilitate the implementation of UNFPA’s GBV programming in response to the influx of refugees and host community settlements. GBV programming in humanitarian emergencies is multi-sectoral and involves organizations and actors from the displaced and host communities, NGO and government implementing partners, UN agencies, and other national and international organizations that engage in comprehensive prevention and response initiatives. Key duties include assessment and planning; partnership development; coordination of UNFPA GBV partners in Moyale/Marsabit; lead the GBV sub-sector in the Protection Technical Work Group; support mainstreaming of GBV and PSEA prevention and response across sectors; training and sensitization; strengthen accountability to affected populations; and monitoring and evaluation.
Planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of GBV initiatives will be conducted through the use of available global guidelines and standards, and will be in line with IASC Minimum Standards for Addressing GBV in Emergencies. UNFPA has the responsibility for either establishing and/or leading the GBV working group under the overall Protection Working Group. The incumbent will represent UNFPA in coordination fora, with the county and sub-county stakeholders and donor field visits to ensure the Fund’s issues and actions are adequately and appropriately reflected and to enable a better-coordinated response to GBV in the humanitarian setting.
MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Programme Development and Implementation
Partnerships
Reporting
Capacity Development
Qualifications and Skills Required
Receiving Agency: UNFPA
P Level: P3
Location: Marsabit Town with 40% travel to other locations
Duration: 6 months
Language: Fluency in English is required, working knowledge of Kiswahili/ Amharic is an asset.
Background Description of Emergency / Justification for Request
On 18 October 2026, intense fighting erupted along the regional border between Oromia and Somali in Ethiopia, causing a rapid humanitarian influx into Moyale Sub-County within Marsabit County, Kenya. Approximately 50,000 individuals seeking temporary international protection are currently hosted across five emergency sites—including Oriental Mission Centre, Somare, and Harhosa Mixed Secondary School—as well as within local communities, where nearly 70% of displaced persons have sought refuge. Women and children represent the vast majority of the affected population (53% female and 58% children). Furthermore, female-headed households account for 51% of all families overall, rising to 60% in host locations, while 39% of households include pregnant or lactating mothers.
This population movement has overburdened local infrastructure and created severe multi-sectoral humanitarian needs. Food assistance remains the primary urgency, with 71% of families experiencing critical food insecurity. Accommodation conditions are highly inadequate: 74% of site-based families reside in crowded school facilities that must be cleared prior to the January 2027 term start, and 11% are sleeping outdoors. Additionally, 44% of families lack access to safe water sources, 76% do not have basic handwashing supplies, and critical sanitation gaps remain widespread in sites like Somare and Taqwa Mosque, where more than 50% of households lack latrine facilities entirely. Over half of the displaced population (53%) cannot access basic healthcare owing to rising service fees, essential drug shortages, and local clinic disruptions stemming from nearby border conflict.
These compounding deprivations, alongside severe security threats and financial hardship, heighten protection risks related to gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual exploitation. Overall, 34% of families report safety concerns at their living sites—peaking at 83% in Somare, 60% in Taqwa Mosque, and 60% in St. Mary’s Catholic—while 35% are unable to safely reach local markets due to transport and security risks. Extreme poverty further exacerbates vulnerability: 70% of households earn no more than 5,000 KES monthly, 47% have lost their main sources of income, and 35% indicate that family members have turned to high-risk coping mechanisms, including transactional sex.
UNFPA and the Marsabit County Government have conducted a GBV service mapping which reveals critical gaps across GBV services for the Moyale displacement crisis, including incomplete referral pathways, the absence of a dedicated GBV hotline, and inadequate or non-disability-friendly physical spaces. Key operations suffer from insufficient staffing and supervision for case management, a complete lack of active outreach programmes, scarce dignity kits and cash assistance, and non-existent Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS). Additionally, inter-agency coordination structures, standardized SOPs, response monitoring tools, and data collection mechanisms remain largely weak or unestablished. The GBV service mapping findings are corroborated by the Protection Sector Working Group Assessment which showed that key gaps in protection services include a lack of tracing and psychosocial support for unaccompanied or separated children, severely limited access to services, information, and reporting channels, and acute shortages in shelter, bedding, food, water, and sanitation. Additionally, displaced populations face a lack of daytime activities, depleted financial resources, and uneven access to cash assistance and documentation. Additionally, a rapid assessment by the Kenya Red Cross Society and the Marsabit County Department of Health has shown that 62.1% of surveyed households lack gender-specific accommodation—a deficit in gender-separated space that severely limits privacy and heightens overall protection concerns. Accountability and support systems are critically constrained, with 96.2% of households lacking an effective GBV feedback mechanism, even as 13 GBV cases were reported at the OMC site alongside 2 deaths and 26 injuries resulting from stray bullets.
To effectively address the identified gaps, immediate response measures must include establishing robust coordination structures, updating referral pathways, conducting safety audits, and deploying female trusted focal persons while enhancing night security and facility lighting. Essential interventions also involve capacity-building for frontline workers on psychological first aid and survivor-centred case management, establishing emergency hotlines, restructuring and equipping safe spaces and Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS), implementing cash and voucher assistance, and procuring and distributing dignity kits and menstrual hygiene products. Furthermore, critical priorities encompass rolling out community awareness campaigns on GBV, PSEA, and harmful practices, providing psychosocial support and tracing services for separated youth, ensuring separate and lockable sanitation facilities, and supporting affected populations with cash access, SIM cards, and personal documents.
Given this critical situation, deploying a Surge GBV Programme Specialist is urgently required to support inter-agency and Government coordination, perform rapid gap assessments, safety audits, integrate GBV risk mitigation across emergency sectors, enhance community-based support, and ensure the availability of essential survivor centered care in alignment with IASC Minimum Standards for Addressing GBV in Emergencies. The deployee will also build the capacity of the CO and partner staff to ensure sustainability of the response.
Security Situation Summary in country and main threats:
As of October 2026, Kenya’s overall security environment presents a complex, multi-layered threat profile, necessitating strict compliance with United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) protocols for all personnel operations. Main urban centers like Nairobi and major capitals are classified as low risk, with primary concerns focused on opportunistic crime, and localized public demonstrations. Conversely, peripheral and border counties face considerably heightened operational risks. Northeastern border areas—specifically Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, and Lamu counties—continue to experience potential threats from Al-Shabaab, including targeted ambushes, robbery and violent crime. There is no evidence of targeted attacks against the UN and humanitarian partners.
In northern pastoralist zones and along the Kenya–Ethiopia borderlands, including Marsabit and Turkana counties, security conditions also remain volatile but with no major access challenges to the rest of the country. Consequently, UN field operations across northern Kenya—particularly Marsabit County—are governed by strict UNDSS advisories, mandatory Safe and Secure Approaches in Field Environments (SSAFE) certification, mandatory movement tracking, and comprehensive risk mitigation protocols to protect staff from armed violence and supply chain disruptions.
Role Description: On 18 October 2026, intense fighting erupted along the regional border between Oromia and Somali in Ethiopia, causing a rapid humanitarian influx into Moyale Sub-County within Marsabit County, Kenya. Approximately 50,000 individuals seeking temporary international protection are currently hosted across five emergency sites—including Oriental Mission Centre, Somare, and Harhosa Mixed Secondary School—as well as within local communities, where nearly 70% of displaced persons have sought refuge. Women and children represent the vast majority of the affected population (53% female and 58% children). Furthermore, female-headed households account for 51% of all families overall, rising to 60% in host locations, while 39% of households include pregnant or lactating mothers.
This population movement has overburdened local infrastructure and created severe multi-sectoral humanitarian needs. Food assistance remains the primary urgency, with 71% of families experiencing critical food insecurity. Accommodation conditions are highly inadequate: 74% of site-based families reside in crowded school facilities that must be cleared prior to the January 2027 term start, and 11% are sleeping outdoors. Additionally, 44% of families lack access to safe water sources, 76% do not have basic handwashing supplies, and critical sanitation gaps remain widespread in sites like Somare and Taqwa Mosque, where more than 50% of households lack latrine facilities entirely. Over half of the displaced population (53%) cannot access basic healthcare owing to rising service fees, essential drug shortages, and local clinic disruptions stemming from nearby border conflict.
These compounding deprivations, alongside severe security threats and financial hardship, heighten protection risks related to gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual exploitation. Overall, 34% of families report safety concerns at their living sites—peaking at 83% in Somare, 60% in Taqwa Mosque, and 60% in St. Mary’s Catholic—while 35% are unable to safely reach local markets due to transport and security risks. Extreme poverty further exacerbates vulnerability: 70% of households earn no more than 5,000 KES monthly, 47% have lost their main sources of income, and 35% indicate that family members have turned to high-risk coping mechanisms, including transactional sex.
UNFPA and the Marsabit County Government have conducted a GBV service mapping which reveals critical gaps across GBV services for the Moyale displacement crisis, including incomplete referral pathways, the absence of a dedicated GBV hotline, and inadequate or non-disability-friendly physical spaces. Key operations suffer from insufficient staffing and supervision for case management, a complete lack of active outreach programmes, scarce dignity kits and cash assistance, and non-existent Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS). Additionally, inter-agency coordination structures, standardized SOPs, response monitoring tools, and data collection mechanisms remain largely weak or unestablished. The GBV service mapping findings are corroborated by the Protection Sector Working Group Assessment which showed that key gaps in protection services include a lack of tracing and psychosocial support for unaccompanied or separated children, severely limited access to services, information, and reporting channels, and acute shortages in shelter, bedding, food, water, and sanitation. Additionally, displaced populations face a lack of daytime activities, depleted financial resources, and uneven access to cash assistance and documentation. Additionally, a rapid assessment by the Kenya Red Cross Society and the Marsabit County Department of Health has shown that 62.1% of surveyed households lack gender-specific accommodation—a deficit in gender-separated space that severely limits privacy and heightens overall protection concerns. Accountability and support systems are critically constrained, with 96.2% of households lacking an effective GBV feedback mechanism, even as 13 GBV cases were reported at the OMC site alongside 2 deaths and 26 injuries resulting from stray bullets.
To effectively address the identified gaps, immediate response measures must include establishing robust coordination structures, updating referral pathways, conducting safety audits, and deploying female trusted focal persons while enhancing night security and facility lighting. Essential interventions also involve capacity-building for frontline workers on psychological first aid and survivor-centred case management, establishing emergency hotlines, restructuring and equipping safe spaces and Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS), implementing cash and voucher assistance, and procuring and distributing dignity kits and menstrual hygiene products. Furthermore, critical priorities encompass rolling out community awareness campaigns on GBV, PSEA, and harmful practices, providing psychosocial support and tracing services for separated youth, ensuring separate and lockable sanitation facilities, and supporting affected populations with cash access, SIM cards, and personal documents.
Given this critical situation, deploying a Surge GBV Programme Specialist is urgently required to support inter-agency and Government coordination, perform rapid gap assessments, safety audits, integrate GBV risk mitigation across emergency sectors, enhance community-based support, and ensure the availability of essential survivor centered care in alignment with IASC Minimum Standards for Addressing GBV in Emergencies. The deployee will also build the capacity of the CO and partner staff to ensure sustainability of the response.
Security Situation Summary in country and main threats:
As of October 2026, Kenya’s overall security environment presents a complex, multi-layered threat profile, necessitating strict compliance with United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) protocols for all personnel operations. Main urban centers like Nairobi and major capitals are classified as low risk, with primary concerns focused on opportunistic crime, and localized public demonstrations. Conversely, peripheral and border counties face considerably heightened operational risks. Northeastern border areas—specifically Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, and Lamu counties—continue to experience potential threats from Al-Shabaab, including targeted ambushes, robbery and violent crime. There is no evidence of targeted attacks against the UN and humanitarian partners.
In northern pastoralist zones and along the Kenya–Ethiopia borderlands, including Marsabit and Turkana counties, security conditions also remain volatile but with no major access challenges to the rest of the country. Consequently, UN field operations across northern Kenya—particularly Marsabit County—are governed by strict UNDSS advisories, mandatory Safe and Secure Approaches in Field Environments (SSAFE) certification, mandatory movement tracking, and comprehensive risk mitigation protocols to protect staff from armed violence and supply chain disruptions.
Under the overall supervision of the UNFPA CO Deputy Representative and OIC, and in close collaboration with the Humanitarian, Gender and SRH Specialists, the incumbent will facilitate the implementation of UNFPA’s GBV programming in response to the influx of refugees and host community settlements. GBV programming in humanitarian emergencies is multi-sectoral and involves organizations and actors from the displaced and host communities, NGO and government implementing partners, UN agencies, and other national and international organizations that engage in comprehensive prevention and response initiatives. Key duties include assessment and planning; partnership development; coordination of UNFPA GBV partners in Moyale/Marsabit; lead the GBV sub-sector in the Protection Technical Work Group; support mainstreaming of GBV and PSEA prevention and response across sectors; training and sensitization; strengthen accountability to affected populations; and monitoring and evaluation.
Planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of GBV initiatives will be conducted through the use of available global guidelines and standards, and will be in line with IASC Minimum Standards for Addressing GBV in Emergencies. UNFPA has the responsibility for either establishing and/or leading the GBV working group under the overall Protection Working Group. The incumbent will represent UNFPA in coordination fora, with the county and sub-county stakeholders and donor field visits to ensure the Fund’s issues and actions are adequately and appropriately reflected and to enable a better-coordinated response to GBV in the humanitarian setting.
MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Programme Development and Implementation
- Conduct field assessments and/ or situational analyses and safety audits to determine needs and gaps for GBV prevention and response. Where appropriate, ensure GBV issues are integrated in other key assessments.
- In partnership with relevant UN, national and international NGOs, Kenya Red Cross Society, , and government stakeholders, strengthen and coordinate a comprehensive, context-responsive GBV response in Moyale, aligned with available global guidance and UNFPA’s Minimum Standards for Addressing GBV in Emergencies with particular attention to survivor-centred services, safe referral pathways, risk mitigation, psychosocial support and the protection needs of displaced and host communities.
- Orient UNFPA CO staff, implementing partners, and national and county authorities in planning and delivering GBV prevention, risk mitigation and response interventions for conflict-affected displaced populations, including refugees and IDPs, as well as returnees and host communities in Moyale.
- Coordinate and facilitate training sessions on GBV in emergencies for health care providers, community services officers, security personnel, the refugee/host communities.
- Oversee the distribution of emergency relevant commodities (e.g menstrual health products, dignity kits) and monitor their distribution and utilization by the end-point user.
- Support the CO to accelerate implementation of activities funded through CERF and UNFPA Emergency Response Fund and engage with donors to raise additional programme funds in line with overarching vision and work plan.
Partnerships
- Maintain solid working relationships; in collaboration with the County GBV Working Group Coordinator and UNFPA Deputy Representative and OIC, provide regular and comprehensive updates related to UNFPA’s progress to address GBV with the UN HCT+ Team, GBV Sub-Cluster, Inter-ASector Working Group, Protection Cluster, Health Cluster, and other relevant actors.
- Under the supervision of the UNFPA Deputy Representative and OIC, represent UNFPA in relevant Cluster and other humanitarian coordination bodies to ensure that GBV issues are adequately considered in the context of the humanitarian response efforts.
- Establish linkages between existing Gender, RH and HIV programmes to ensure synergies between programmes that maximize programme impact.
Reporting
- Monitor GBV assistance provided by UNFPA through implementing partners to crisis affected populations.
- Monitor UNFPA’s GBV programme activities by keeping a close record of activities, such as capacity building, expenditures and agreements made with local partners.
- Prepare regular progress reports and document lessons learned and share with the relevant UNFPA Regional Office, UNFPA Humanitarian and Fragile Contexts Branch, and other units as necessary.
- Support CO on coordination of humanitarian issues and prepare reports, flash updates and SitReps, as required. Support the development of resource mobilization proposals
Capacity Development
- Provide coaching to newly recruited staff and consultants, where appropriate.
- Coach and build capacity of relevant staff members as well as staff of implementing partners responding to emergency/humanitarian crises, as needed.
- Develop a comprehensive sustainability plan featuring clear, defined milestones to ensure Country Office personnel can effectively maintain and continue the implementation of programme roles and responsibilities following the conclusion of the surge deployment.
Qualifications and Skills Required
- Advanced technical degree with specialization in areas such as social work, sociology, community development, public health, gender, law/human rights, international relations, and/or other related social science disciplines.
- 5 to 10 years of specialized experience addressing GBV at the international level; experience in this field in a humanitarian context is required.
- Demonstrated leadership and management experience within a multinational and multicultural environment.
- Knowledge of the Inter-Agency Minimum Standards for GBViE, the IASC GBV Guidelines, GBVIMS, and the MISP.
- Direct experience providing support to GBV survivors as an asset.
- Proficiency in English is a must, working knowledge of Kiswahili/ Amharic will be an added advantage.
CANADEM and its partners have a no-tolerance policy for inaction to prevent, respond to and follow up on alleged cases of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (SEAH). For this reason, we adhere to all policies, procedures and training of the United Nations on The Prevention of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (PSEAH). CANADEM mandates all deployees successfully complete the PSEA online course. This e-learning course is composed of a set of lessons designed to raise awareness about SEAH, become familiar with a range of measures to combat SEAH, understand the impact on victims and the consequences for UN Personnel who commit Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment.