Hygiene and Promotion/PLA Officer

Job Description

BACKGROUND:

The International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest humanitarian international NGOs, provides relief, rehabilitation and development support to vulnerable people and communities over 30 countries. We began work in Ethiopia in 2000 in response to severe drought in Ethiopia’s Somali region and are currently providing assistance to Ethiopians and refugees in six regions in Ethiopia, implementing emergency and development programs in health, water and sanitation, economic recovery and development (ERD), women’s protection and empowerment, education, child protection, and multi-sectoral emergency response.

Scope/Job purpose:

The scope of the Hygiene Promotion officer includes but not limited to working on ensuring of the charity: water Community-led WASH Interventions project through Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) approach , supervising of the implementation of community action plan, strengthen school WASH club, organizing of community mass sensitization campaign, designing and developing of IEC/BCC materials, organizing qualitative and quantitative survey, properly manage the budget allocated for the charity water Community-led WASH Intervention project and properly supervise the Capacity building assistants and junior Environmental Health Agents.

Major/key responsibilities. Under the immediate supervision of the Senior HP/PLA officer and with the technical support of the Senior EH manager and Senior HP Manager, the Hygiene Promotion Officer is responsible to implement the following key responsibilities:

Hygiene promotion activities:

- Serve as the focal point for all activities related to hygiene and Sanitation in the assigned woreda - Conduct a community assessment; support implementation of PLA in reviewing of the community action plan and follow up the accurate implementation of the action plan - Conduct a community assessment; support implementation of PLA in reviewing of the community action plan and follow up the proper implementation of the action plan - Conduct assessments, planning, organizing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the community hygiene and sanitation activity and school hygiene activity programs in the project areas. - Directly supervise and provide support to the capacity building Assistants and the Environmental Health Agents who base at kebele level. - Conduct/participate the appropriate Environmental Health (EH) Knowledge, Practice, and coverage (KPC) surveys during survey design, data collection, data entry, analysis and reporting in order to monitor and evaluate the impact of EH and hygiene promotion activities - Facilitate in the selection, designing, pre-testing, developing, dissemination and evaluation of appropriate hygiene educational materials for effective hygiene promotion program. - Support in promoting field tested and practical community participatory approaches and effective hygiene promotion techniques for improving hygienic behavior, sanitation improvements, and community management of water, Sanitation and Hygiene facilities - Facilitate periodic meetings and integrating community with WUA and school WASH club on regular bases. - Provide information on technical problems of water systems & feedbacks to the technical team on time. - Ensure community participation in various activities and suggest best experiences on managing/ operate & maintain their water system. - Work along with other HP team and Environmental Health Officer to build linkage with other activities of the project by incorporating the out puts from PLA process. - Ensure proper hand over of water schemes to the water committee and respective Woreda water offices - Ensure proper compilation and maintain training materials for users. - Ensure that active community mobilization and participation in both water and hygiene sanitation community action plan was proven by using different community approaches and networking system - Provide support for HP team and work in collaboration with the EH officer other team in community action plan implementation. - Ensure the project resources including the construction materials in all kebeles of the intervention woreda are well supervised and accurately used for the project purpose without any abuse and submit the material utilization report of the woreda to the EH manager, in every two weeks - Ensure all the community action plans and the hygiene promotion activities are implemented by the whole community in the intervention kebeles of the respective woreda - Prepared and submit success story of the project including with good picture monthly based

Reports and Proposals:

- Prepare a monthly progress report and weekly update and submit to the Senior HP/PLA officer per the reporting time scheduled - Coordinate and ensure the documentation of every Hygiene and Sanitation activity, formative assessments, KPC survey and capacity building activities both in hard and soft copies supported by pictures. - Make sure the EHAs maintain accurate documentation of the PLA output, success stories, standard methodologies, in their respective areas. - Facilitate in documenting health related data and keep records on activities of hygiene promotion and sanitation activities including sanitary inventory per kebele, list of beneficiaries, community participations and contributions and the like. - Facilitate in coordinating trainings and workshops for the administrative partners and the EHAs and coordinate in preparation and prioritizing all the required training materials.

Coordination and working relationship:

- Supervise program staff’s stewardship of the financial health and performance of all projects. Oversee grants team and guide staff to ensure compliance with both donor and IRC procedures. - Handle the proper utilization of the allocated budget under the project and cooperate with IRC’s supply chain and finance for effective implementation of the intended activities as per log frame of the proposal. - Prepare spending and activity plan and share with the team and technical unit for their input. - Support the Senior EH Manager and the direct supervisor in properly use the budget tracking tools like open and closed purchase request tracking tools, follow upping and reviewing of BVA - prepare HP/PLA Officer realistic cash projection for the planned activities, and ensure that the accurate cash burring is per the cash projection - Identify the capacity support needed to the government partners (health, water, education and other relevant), develop institutional capacity amongst partners organizations. - Actively take part and facilitate woreda level WASH steering committee with Government and other partners working in the area - Facilitate in working with relevant local government and non-government partners in identifying and developing appropriate hygiene promotion messages. - Work closely with the Woreda water and health offices, identify their capacity gaps & look for the development/ improvement and recommend way forward to the office

Qualifications

Requirements

- BA/Bsc or Diploma in Environmental health/public health, WASH or any relevant field with participatory learning and action experiences. - At least 2 years of proven experience for first degree holders and 5 years relevant experience for diploma holders with community mobilization activities in the field and WASH experience. - Two years of experience for post plus graduate degree in relevant field

Skill required

- Proven ability in facilitation of participatory approaches and community mobilization skills, experience in PLA approach is an advantage - Supervisory /basic managerial skill - Technical and report writing skill - Good communication and interpersonal skill - Have technical background and knowledge in environmental health and demonstrated work experience in designing and implementing hygiene and sanitation promotion programs - Committed and strong attitude towards community empowerment, Strong inter-personal skills with a proven ability to work as a team member under difficult conditions.

Languages required:

English is a must and knowledge of local language is advantage.

IRC is an equal employment opportunity employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.

Professional Standards: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity Anti-Retaliation and Combating Trafficking in Persons

Gender Equality: IRC is committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols, and other supportive benefits and allowances

Equal Opportunity Employer: IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.