WASH Assistant (Intern) for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (Early Years), 6 months, Dushanbe, Tajikistan (for Tajik nationals only)

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Application deadline 1 year ago: Monday 19 Dec 2022 at 18:55 UTC

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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Access to safe water, adequate sanitation, and suitable hygiene

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy, and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education, and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfil their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. Therefore, the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Key WASH indicators for Tajikistan remains less than optimal. Tajikistan is a member of the High-Level Panel on Water launched by the World Bank and the United Nations and has announced its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-6) to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”. Tajikistan also committed to achievement of the SDGs and recognized the access to WASH in schools and health facilities as important favorable conditions for sustainable development in its National Development Strategy 2030, National Water Sector Strategy (2020 – 2030) and Water and Sanitation Plans and National Programme for Children that are in the process of development and endorsement.

According to WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) 2017 report, only 47.9% of people nationally in Tajikistan have access to safely managed drinking water services (improved source located at premises, available when needed, and free from microbiological and priority chemical contamination). Similarly, at national level, access to drinking water has improved from 51.2 (2001) to 81 percent (2017). For urban setting figures vary between 87 (safely managed water) to 96.2 percent (improved/basic water), with periodical upward and downward trends. Same sources report figures varying between 36 (safely managed water) and 75.6 percent (improved/basic water) for rural settlements.

There is significant gap of access to WASH in HCFs. Referring to the WHO-UNICEF JMP data available for 2020, only 24.1% of the HCFs have basic access to drinking water supply. The data is missing on access to sanitation, hygiene, waste management and cleaning environment. According to UNCEF Tajikistan, as of 2020, out of 73 maternities / maternity departments within Central District Hospitals (CDHs – secondary level HCFs), 47 facilities (65%) do not meet the required WASH standards. Most challenging situation with access to WASH is in 3,500 rural medical centers (primary health care level). Up to 80% of these facilities have limited or no access to WASH services. Consumables that are key to effective IPC such as soap, hand sanitizers and chlorine are not always available.

There has been a substantial reduction in the under-five mortality rate (U5MR), (from 107 in 1990 to 33 per 1,000 live births in 2017, and infant mortality rate (IMR) from 84 in 1990 to 27 per 1,000 live births in 20171), but children under five years of age continue to die from preventable causes. Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MoHSP) statistics state that in 2016 around 77% of deaths of children under five years of age occurred among children younger than twelve months, and 87% of neonatal death occurred during the first week of life. Many of these deaths are attributable to causes related to poor Quality of Care (QoC) and Health Care Associated Infections (HCAI) that remain largely under-reported, resulting from an unsafe environment including inadequate WASH at HCFs.

On the other hand according to the JMP data3 available for WASH in schools indicate that 79% of schools across the country have access to a functioning water supply system, 47% of schools have access to improved sanitation and only 26% of schools have water and soap available in designated handwashing areas near toilets. This means that 21% (~ 815 schools = 427,875 children) of schools still do not have access to safe water supply, 53% (2,060 schools = 1,081,500 children) of schools lack access to improved sanitation services and 74% (2,875 schools = 1,509,375 children) of schools do not operate handwashing facilities and no soap near toilets. Large disparities exist in terms of pre-school institutions as well. 48% of urban pre-school institutions have permanent centralized cold water supply against 17% of rural pre-school institutions. A functioning central sewerage system is available only in 7% of kindergartens and early childhood development centers located in rural areas, and in 41% of kindergartens/early childhood development centers in cities.

Tajikistan still facing challenges on increasing expenditures on health that has impacted negatively on the quality of health care nationwide. Problems facing the health care system include obsolete infrastructure and equipment, poor accountability at the HCF level on the application of approved standards and protocols, and inadequate capacity of health care workers to provide quality care. The issues are similar for allocation of budget for WASH in schools which creates a big challenge of operations and maintenance of WASH facilities in institutions.

How can you make a difference?

The intern is responsible for overall day to day operational and coordination support to the WASH team mainly with the monitoring of ongoing infrastructural interventions and ensuring as guided by the technical specialists and closely working with the Monitoring officer to ensure all key documents, records and compliance to standards is in place and properly tracked.

This intern reports to the WASH Officer and provides support on the quality assurance and record management of the WASH infrastructural interventions in schools and Health Care facilities.

DUTY STATION/DURATION:

Duration: 6 months (Jan. 2023 - Jun. 2023)

Duty station: Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Supervisor: WASH Officer

Reporting to: WASH Officer

KEY DELIVERABLES:

• Support with day-to day partnership management

• Accompany WASH engineers to the field and understand the scope of work and compliance protocol. Subsequently, support with monitoring of progress in schools and HCFs

• Support the WASH team with maintaining a proper record of monitoring reports from author supervision contractor, Construction department, Consultants and the team. Also track key indicators and update the team on regular progress

• Be in touch with Field coordinators and gather information regarding any key challenges and discuss with the team to identify a suitable response

• Help to organize meetings including taking responsibility for the finalization of the meeting agenda, invitations, the production and distribution of documentation, and preparation of minutes of meetings. Distribute meeting reports and information and ensure follows-up on required actions

• Helps in translation and editing of a variety of WASH -related documents

• In coordination with WASH and C4D team, support with establishing a repository of approved IEC material for to be used in emergency and non-emergency situations

• Any other task as required.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

  • Be enrolled in a post graduate degree engineering programme or be a recent graduate in the area of Civil, Sanitary, Architectural, IWRM or any other relevant discipline;
  • Be proficient in English and fluent in Russian/Tajik languages;
  • Have strong academic performance as demonstrated by recent university or institution records or, if not available, a reference letter from an academic supervisor;
  • Be willing to learn and genuinely interested in the field of WASH;
  • Good documentation skills, judgment, initiative, high sense of responsibility, tact and discretion;
  • Previous experience as a volunteer, demonstrated leadership /intern in INGOs or UN is considered as an advantage;
  • Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and ability to establish harmonious working relations in a multicultural environment;
  • Good computer skills and management of work using online platforms.

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

  1. Cover letter/application/CV.

  2. Proof of enrolment in degree programme in an undergraduate or graduate school or if a recent graduate copy of degree/diploma.

  3. University or institution records showing strong academic performance or reference letter from an academic supervisor.

4. At least two references

Queries can be sent to [email protected] with the subject line “WASH Assistant (Intern) - Technical”.

Applications must be received in the system by 19 December 2022 on our website.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter:https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are... (1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity(6)Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org