The aim of this guidance is to assist Humanitarian Coordinators (HCs) and HCTs to develop a comprehensive and humanitarian system-wide protection strategy in a manner that is light and enhances the effectiveness and performance of country-level humanitarian responses.2 This guidance is deliberately flexible so that HCs and HCTs can design a process for strategy development that is conducive to the operational context as well as to the capacities and coordination mechanisms that are in place at country level. The main purpose of an HCT protection strategy is to mobilize a comprehensive, system-wide and multisector effort to prevent or respond to the most serious protection risks facing affected populations as well as to prevent and stop recurrences of violations. The strategy allows an HCT to redirect the humanitarian response as and when the protection situation evolves. It can enable an HCT to focus attention and to take action on protection priorities that possibly go beyond the scope of the HRP, and the protection cluster strategy. An HCT protection strategy can furthermore be used to leverage the expertise, mandates and capacities of different actors in a humanitarian response. It can also facilitate humanitarian dialogue, negotiation and protection advocacy as well as the HCT’s engagement with a broader range of stakeholders in taking up their responsibilities in addressing key protection risks.