International NGO · Written recruitment test
Practical exercise · Officer level
Protection Officer (protection mainstreaming)
- Duty station
- Masisi territory, North Kivu province (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Time allowed
- 90 min
- Marks
- 100 marks
- Pass mark
- 60 %
- Profile
- Officer, 2 to 5 years of experience
Instructions
- The test lasts 90 minutes. It is marked out of 100; the pass mark for the interview is 60.
- You may use a calculator or a spreadsheet. Show your workings: a correct result without workings receives only half the marks.
- Answer in English, in a structured way. Note form is accepted if the answer remains complete and understandable by a third party.
- Any outside help (another person, artificial intelligence) is forbidden.
- The documents are fictional. Do not make unjustified assumptions; if you make one, state it.
Original practice test, built on the format of written tests used by United Nations agencies and international NGOs. The context and figures are fictitious.
Documents provided
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Population | 14,400 people (2,880 households), of whom 53% are women and girls |
| Communal latrines | 420, of which 252 sex-segregated and signposted, 147 lockable from the inside, 84 lit at night |
| Showers | 96, of which 30 reserved for women; none lit |
| Water points | 36 taps; average waiting time of 1 h 40 at peak times |
| Distance | Zones C and E are more than 500 m from the nearest water point |
- Zone C: latrines 120 m from the shelters, no lighting, doors without locks. Women and girls say they do not go there alone at night; some use a bucket in the shelter.
- Firewood: women and girls leave at around 5:00 and walk 5 to 6 km to a forest area where armed men are present.
- Food distribution: mixed queues, waiting times of up to 7 hours, distribution sometimes ending after 18:30; no priority queue. Some older people and persons with disabilities depend on third parties who keep part of their ration.
- Registration: 94% of ration cards are in the name of a male head of household, including for co-wives living in separate shelters. No women in the registration team.
- Complaints: a single box, in front of the office of the chair of the site committee, who holds the key.
- Zone E: 2 to 3 households per shelter, with no partition.
| Location of the incident | Number |
|---|---|
| Firewood route | 21 |
| Inside shelters | 18 |
| Zone C latrines and showers | 14 |
| Water points | 9 |
| Distribution site | 6 |
| Other | 7 |
| Total | 75, of which 38 occurred after 18:00 |
"To warn women, I suggest putting up a map on the site notice board showing the number of sexual violence cases per block, based on your data. And for complaints, the box in front of the chair's office is enough, he knows everyone."
Result
0 out of 100
Mark each answer honestly against the panel's grid: the total is calculated automatically.
Common mistakes that cost marks
- Calculating the ratios without linking them to the safety of women and girls.
- Treating reported incidents as a measure of prevalence.
- Proposing actions that the protection sector cannot implement alone, without naming the responsible sector.
- Accepting the display of GBV data by block.
- Ignoring that the complaints mechanism controlled by the committee chair prevents the reporting of sexual exploitation and abuse.
Useful references
- The Sphere Handbook 2018, WASH standards (water supply, excreta management) and Protection Principles
- IASC, Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action (2015)
- Global Protection Cluster, protection mainstreaming (four elements)
- IASC, Six Core Principles relating to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse