Protection monitoring, case management, PSEA and legal…

International NGO · Written recruitment test

Technical test (MCQ) · Officer level

Protection Officer

Duty station: Arauca department (Colombia)
Time allowed: 30 min
Marks: 25 questions
Pass mark: 70 %
Profile: Officer, 2 to 5 years of experience

Instructions

The test has 25 questions and lasts 30 minutes. The timer starts when the test is opened and the test closes automatically when the time is up.
Each question has a single correct answer out of the four proposed. Some questions require a calculation or a judgement: read each question to the end.
A wrong or missing answer scores zero, with no negative marking. A calculator is allowed.
Any outside help (another person, shared document, artificial intelligence) is forbidden. The pass mark is 70% (18 correct answers out of 25).

Original practice test, built on the format of written tests used by United Nations agencies and international NGOs. The context and figures are fictitious.

Question 11 marks

In protection risk analysis (risk = threat × vulnerability / capacity), which of these actions strengthens capacity?

A. Documenting abuses committed by an armed group B. Identifying child-headed households C. Training a community committee in early warning and referral to services D. Noting the arrival of a new armed group in the area

Question 21 marks

Protection monitoring in three municipalities. Arauca: 120 households interviewed, 35% with at least one member without an identity document. Saravena: 80 households, 50%. Tame: 200 households, 20%. What is the proportion across all 400 households interviewed?

A. 35.0% B. 30.5% C. 40.0% D. 25.5%

Question 31 marks

A team is following 180 active cases. It receives an average of 35 new cases and closes 25 cases per month. The internal standard is 20 active cases per caseworker. How many caseworkers will be needed in 6 months if the trend continues?

A. 9 caseworkers B. 11 caseworkers C. 12 caseworkers D. 20 caseworkers

Question 41 marks

Of 150 people referred to other service providers this quarter, 120 feedback responses have been received, of which 96 confirm that the service was provided. What value should be reported for the indicator "% of people referred who received the service"?

A. 80% B. 96% C. 100%, since all referrals were made D. 64%, noting that 30 referrals have had no feedback

Question 51 marks

Closure times for five cases, in days: 12, 20, 9, 35 and 14. Which measure best summarises the typical time, and what is its value?

A. The median, 14 days B. The mean, 18 days C. The median, 9 days D. The mean, 14 days

Question 61 marks

Over two monitoring rounds (300 households each), the proportion of households reporting threats of child recruitment rises from 6% to 9%. How should this be expressed?

A. A 3% increase B. An increase of 3 percentage points, i.e. a relative increase of 50% C. An increase of 50 percentage points D. A relative increase of 33%

Question 71 marks

42 protection incidents were recorded in one quarter in a population of 28,000 people. What is the rate per 10,000 inhabitants for the quarter?

A. 1.5 per 10,000 B. 6.7 per 10,000 C. 15 per 10,000 D. 150 per 10,000

Question 81 marks

1,400 people have no identity document. A mobile civil registration team processes 35 files per day and operates 3 days per month. What is the minimum number of months needed to cover all needs?

A. 14 months B. 13 months C. 40 months D. 5 months

Question 91 marks

Which of these is NOT one of the four elements of protection mainstreaming?

A. The organisation's political neutrality B. Prioritising safety and dignity, and avoiding causing harm C. Meaningful access to assistance and services D. Accountability, participation and empowerment

Question 101 marks

According to the IASC Policy on Protection in Humanitarian Action (2016), who is responsible for placing protection at the centre of the response?

A. The Protection Cluster alone B. UNHCR alone C. The humanitarian country team and all humanitarian actors, not only the Protection Cluster D. The national authorities alone

Question 111 marks

During household-level protection monitoring, a colleague proposes systematically collecting the names of alleged perpetrators of violence. What position should you take?

A. Agree, because the more detailed the data, the better the analysis B. Agree, provided the names are passed on to the local authorities C. Collect the names but store them on a personal phone D. Collect only the information needed for the defined purpose, after analysing the risks to people and teams; perpetrators' names have no place in this monitoring

Question 121 marks

A victim of sexual exploitation by an employee does not wish to take part in the internal investigation. What is she entitled to?

A. Assistance adapted to her needs (medical, psychosocial, legal, material), whether or not she takes part in the investigation B. Assistance only if she agrees to testify C. No assistance until the investigation is closed D. Immediate compensation paid by the employee's supervisor

Question 131 marks

You receive a credible allegation of sexual exploitation against a distribution agent. Your supervisor suggests you "check discreetly" by questioning the agent and his colleagues. What should you do?

A. Question the agent to give him a chance to explain himself B. Wait for a second allegation before reporting C. Refuse to carry out checks yourself and pass the allegation on without delay to the designated PSEA reporting channel, which will refer it to trained investigators D. Ask the complainant to confront the agent in the presence of witnesses

Question 141 marks

According to the IASC core principles on PSEA, an employee who pays for sex with an adult woman in his free time, outside the project area:

A. Commits no misconduct, because the person is an adult and consenting B. Commits misconduct only if the person is a project beneficiary C. Commits misconduct: exchanging money for sex is prohibited, whatever the place and time D. Commits misconduct only if the act is illegal in the country

Question 151 marks

Does the principle of non-refoulement protect an asylum seeker whose claim has not yet been examined?

A. No: it protects only officially recognised refugees B. Only if the person entered the territory legally C. Yes: it applies as soon as the person seeks protection, before any recognition of refugee status D. Only after six months of presence on the territory

Question 161 marks

What is the legal nature of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (1998)?

A. They are a convention ratified by all UN member states B. They are not a binding treaty in themselves, but they reflect and are based on existing international humanitarian and human rights law C. They apply only to displacement caused by natural disasters D. They have no link with international law

Question 171 marks

According to the IASC Framework on Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons (2010), what are the three durable solutions?

A. Return, resettlement in a third country and naturalisation B. Return, local integration and settlement elsewhere in the country C. Accommodation in a camp, with a host family or in an urban area D. Cash assistance, in-kind assistance and employment

Question 181 marks

In a migrant community, many children born locally have no birth certificate. Which protection risk should be prioritised?

A. The risk of statelessness and exclusion from services: support birth registration with the civil registry B. No risk, since the children live with their parents C. Only the risk of not attending school in adolescence D. The risk that parents will ask for additional assistance

Question 191 marks

A partner requests access to the individual-level protection monitoring database to target its activities. What should you do?

A. Send the full database, since the partner is a member of the cluster B. Share aggregated and anonymised data under an information sharing protocol; individual data are shared only for a referral, with the person's consent C. Refuse any data sharing, even aggregated D. Send the database by email with a password in the same email

Question 201 marks

What characterises a community-based protection approach?

A. It entrusts protection to customary authorities alone B. It builds on the community's capacities, priorities and mechanisms, with the community taking part in risk analysis and decisions C. It replaces individual case management D. It consists of informing the community of decisions taken by the organisation

Question 211 marks

A community leader tells you in confidence that he has received death threats from an armed group. Which response is most appropriate?

A. Issue a press release publicly denouncing the armed group B. Advise him to keep a low profile, with no further follow-up C. Contact the armed group yourself to negotiate D. Assess the risk with him, draw up a safety plan and, with his informed consent, refer him to the relevant specialised protection mechanisms

Question 221 marks

In what context is individual protection assistance in cash appropriate?

A. As part of a case plan, to respond to an identified protection risk, with follow-up by the caseworker B. For all households in an area, instead of case management C. As a reward for people who report incidents D. Without assessment, as soon as someone asks for it

Question 231 marks

Of 320 pieces of feedback received by the hotline this quarter, 64 are sensitive allegations (sexual exploitation and abuse, fraud). 59 of these allegations were passed on to the focal point within 24 hours. What is the rate of timely referral?

A. 18% B. 20% C. 8% D. 92%

Question 241 marks

A team proposes posting at the community centre the list of people receiving assistance, with a note of their situation (survivor of violence, person living with HIV). What answer should you give?

A. Agree, in the name of transparency towards the community B. Agree, provided the list is taken down after a week C. Agree, if the community committee approves D. Refuse: posting this list exposes people to stigma and retaliation; use codes or individual verification

Question 251 marks

A site has 15,000 people, 48% of whom are children; 51% of these children are girls. How many girls should a programme targeting all girls plan for?

A. 7,650 B. 7,200 C. 3,528 D. 3,672

Other tests for this profession

Panel interview question for this profession

Tell us about a time when you persuaded a team from another sector to change an activity to reduce a protection risk.

Competency assessed : Protection mainstreaming and influencing other sectors

What the panel expects : A risk identified from data and from what the people concerned say, an analysis shared with the other sector, feasible proposals that take its constraints into account, community participation and a verified change.

Possible follow-up questions

How did you present the risk without blaming the other team?
Which constraints of the other sector did you have to take into account?
How did you check that the change really reduced the risk?

Strong answer

In the Central African Republic, focus group discussions with women on a site of 9,000 people showed that they avoided the latrines at night, and 11 of the 40 incidents reported in three months had happened on the way to the latrines. I organised a night-time safety walk with the WASH team and four women from the committee. The WASH project manager was worried about exceeding his budget; together we costed 38 solar lamps and locks for 120 latrines, USD 6,200 in total, funded through a reallocation that he presented to the donor. We also moved the location of 20 new latrines, chosen with the women. Three months later, latrine-related incidents had fallen from 11 to 2, and 78% of the women interviewed said they could go there at night. The WASH team built the safety walk into its design procedure.

Weak answer

"I told the WASH team that their latrines were dangerous and that they had to redo them, otherwise I would talk to the director." This answer is confrontational, has no data or participation of women, ignores the other sector's constraints and shows no result.

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Protection monitoring, case management, PSEA and legal framework

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