Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Specialist – Retainer, Multiple positions 65 views

WASH specialist is responsible for the review of the design and planning, formulation, implementing, monitoring and evaluation and quality assurance of the WASH programme to ensure overall efficiency and effectiveness of the programme management, relevance and value of money of the investments, delivery and accomplishment of programme goals and objectives. He/she will oversee and provide technical support in the design, implementation and monitoring of appropriate WASH interventions in close cooperation with UNOPS technical staff on the ground.  The WASH specialist is expected to prepare, manage and implement a variety of technical and administrative tasks, related to the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the WASH output and outcome of the Programme.

Under the supervision of the Project Manager, the WASH Specialist in close coordination with the Principal Water Engineer, Social/ Environment Specialist and the Site Engineers will be called when needed to undertake the following specific tasks:

• Analyze the current WASH coverage, the impact of inadequate WASH and the WASH interventions that work at scale in order to define and implement the most cost effective WASH solutions and interventions;
• Provide strategic and technical leadership on improving WASH activities that aim to improve the lives of the community in lasting ways and operating environment by advancing locally driven solutions;
• Develop and maintain relationships and work closely with local WASH actors, including national and local government, private sector, community, NGOs, other donors, etc.
• Help develop internal WASH-related training and development of tools, guidelines, standards to improve program quality;
• Write background documents, briefs, and presentations, reviews, landscape analyses, and data analysis on WASH, as needed; and
• Act as the program’s WASH representative as it relates to WASH activities to the community
• Prepare materials for WASH programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships and support to the community
• Contribute to and provide inputs of work plan, required project reports, baseline data, tools and indicators for monitoring and evaluation, collection / sharing of lessons learned;
• Prepare learning/knowledge products, covering innovative approaches and good practices, to support overall WASH sector development.
• Evaluate the relevance, connectedness, timeliness, sustainability and quality of the WASH portfolio. Provide a view on the appropriateness of the WASH investment, and the overall Value for Money (VFM) of the investments.
• Assess the extent of the stakeholders engagement including community in the delivery of WASH interventions.
• Plan for use of technical experts from the Regional Office and other partners, as and where appropriate in the WASH programme, through remote support and on-site visits.
• Build and sustain close working partnerships with government counterparts and stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of end users and stakeholders to achieve WASH output results.
• Assess strategies implemented by WASH partners to minimize conflict related to the use of water by host communities and Internally Displaced People (IDPs). Also assess the extent to which the WASH partners collaborated with other sectors within the response.
• Provide an analysis of the effect of surroundings on access to WASH facilities and the overall impact on the IDPs and host communities.
• Harness lessons learnt and best practices for the project;

Key Deliverables:

WASH Specialist is expected to deliver the following key deliverables at the agreed timeline and quality in discussion with the Project Manager:

• Design Review of the WASH program during planning and design of the project; preferably the design drawings and technical specifications, plans and programs related to WASH facilities;
• A weekly and monthly report to the PM during implementation encompassing the strategies and plans devised to improve WASH related activities, and implementation of the various technical and administrative tasks conducted during the month;
• Minutes of meetings and reports of community gatherings and awareness conducted to the community related to WASH activities;
• Lessons learnt and best practices of the WASH related tasks and facilities implemented for the project;
• A summary and final report on the best practices and  challenges of WASH related activities and facilities upon completion of the project.

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent, preferably in Water/Environmental Engineering, Public Health, Social Science, Environmental Health, or other relevant fields.
• Bachelor’s degree  with  2  additional years  of  relevant  experience  may  be  accepted  in  lieu  of  a Master’s degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience in WASH, preferably working on humanitarian/development projects/programmes.
• Experience in emergency infrastructure projects of the construction/engineering of WASH facilities is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of other UN languages is an asset.