Wash Specialist, Sector coordinator

Volunteering Crisis & Emergency Response Engineering Medical & Health

Overview

Coordinate and lead WASH humanitarian responses in Chad.

You have:

• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in WASH-related programmes planning and management is required.
• A minimum of 2 years’ experience in humanitarian contexts is required.
• Relevant experience in programme management in WASH-related areas in a UN system agency or organization is considered an asset.
• Experience in development contexts is an added advantage.
• Knowledge of the WASH sector as a whole and its priority issues is required.
• Experience in effective management of human resources/teams in high stress/risk environments is an advantage.
• Experience working in the humanitarian coordination system is desirable.
• Experience in a mixed set of country contexts, in multiple geographic regions, including a deployment mission with UN, Government or INGO is strongly desirable.

Contract

This is a UNV International Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as International UN Volunteer. It is normally internationally recruited only. More about UNV International Specialist contracts.

Humanitarian action is of fundamental importance to UNICEF and encompasses interventions aimed at saving lives, alleviating suffering, maintaining human dignity, and protecting the rights of affected populations wherever there are humanitarian needs, as well as interventions addressing underlying risks and causes of vulnerability to disasters, fragility and conflict. UNICEF’s humanitarian action is guided by the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs) which set organizational, programmatic and operational commitments and benchmarks against which UNICEF holds itself accountable for the coverage, quality and equity of its humanitarian action and advocacy and which are mandatory for all UNICEF personnel. Chad continues to face a combination of rapid-onset and protracted humanitarian crises. This persistent humanitarian situation is related to the growing insecurity in many parts of the country and in neighboring countries, natural disasters, growing food insecurity, high rates of malnutrition, economic crisis in a context of climate challenges. UNICEF, in partnership with national and international development and humanitarian aid actors, support the Chadian in the development of programs and policies aiming at promoting and respecting the rights of children to survival, education and protection. The Wash Specialist sector coordinator is to be used in the field where there is an Emergency Coordinator in place. The post holder will be based in the field and will report to Emergency Coordinator and Chief Field Office for general guidance and direction. Under the overall direction and guidance of the Emergency coordinator and the Chief Field Office, the Wash Specialist coordinator will provide leadership and representation of the sector at sub-national level. He (she) will facilitate the processes that will ensure a well-coordinated, strategic, adequate, coherent, and effective response by participants in the sub-national Sector that is accountable to those who are affected by the emergency. In their effort to provide an efficient and effective response to the humanitarian crisis, the Wash Specialist sector coordinator is responsible for building relationships with stakeholders, securing the overall coordination of sectoral responses, inter-sectoral collaboration at the sub-national level and ensuring adequate coordination with the national level.

The post holder's main tasks and responsibilities will include but not be limited to:

Coordination, representation, and leadership: • Ensure and maintain a coordination mechanism that facilitates the effective achievement of sector functions (as outlined by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Reference Module) and the requirements of the Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC) (RRRP, HNO, HRP and CCPM) and which builds on pre-existing coordination structures where appropriate and furthers the development of current or future national and subnational capacities, • Coordinate with the national level, ensuring alignment of work and priorities, effective communication, reporting and engagement between the levels • Ensure appropriate coordination and build partnerships with all relevant sector stakeholders at sub national level including government counterparts, local, national, and international organizations, other sector/working Groups, and affected populations as appropriate, • Build complementarity of partner actions within the sector, pro-actively negotiating with partners to avoid and resolve duplication and gaps, coordinate, collaborate and represent sector with stakeholders across all sectors, including through inter- working Group, developing cross-sectoral relationships as appropriate. • Update the mapping of Wash actors and intervention, resources, and planned actions. • Identify overlaps in intervention and gaps in terms of implementation capacities and inform all the stakeholders. • Ensure a balanced response in terms of host population, refugees and returnees, villages and camps. • Ensure the quality of interventions according to appropriate guidelines and standards, the application of humanitarian principles and the analysis of conflict risks in relation to WASH. • Promote the mutualization of financial, human resources, and synergy of action between the various actors.

Needs assessment and analysis: • Contribute to the planning and implementation of needs assessment and analysis, including contributing to multi-sectoral needs assessments and joint analysis of need, at sub-national level, • Analyze needs assessment data and work collaboratively with the sector/working group partners to create analytical products, including an HNO based on evidence-based information.

Strategic response planning: • Contribute to sub-national and national level strategic planning, response prioritization and the development of the sectoral response plan that is based on the HNO and aligned with national priorities, policies and plans, • Ensure all programme delivery modalities (in-kind, cash, voucher, and services) are given equal consideration in the strategic response planning and establish and implement systematic measures for supporting their consideration and use, • Provide technical support to WASH sector partners to ensure activities are aligned with national priorities and communities' needs, • Ensure that WASH sector response planning is regularly updated according to evolving needs and that it establishes indicators by which performance can be measured, • Engage with OCHA, UNHCR, IOM… and others sector/working groups to contribute to the development of the RRRP, HRP, representing the concerns of the Working Group at sub-national level.

Resource mobilization and advocacy: • Support partners' resource mobilization to promote the effective functioning of the sector and its response, • Monitor, analyze and communicate information about the sector’s financial situation and resource mobilization and identify appropriate actions to address gaps or constraints, • Advocate for improved sectoral outcomes, network with advocacy allies and influence stakeholders' decision-making. Implementation and monitoring • Monitor, evaluate and report on the coverage, equity, quality, and progress of the response against the Sector strategy, priorities and agreed results at sub-national level, • Contribute to gap and coverage analysis to identify spatial and temporal gaps, overlaps and coverage of the sector humanitarian response, • Monitor sector Group’s adherence to IASC cluster approach principles, relevant humanitarian and sectoral agreements, standards, initiatives, and guidelines and encourage partners to make improvements • Ensure adequate monitoring mechanisms are in place to review outcomes of WASH interventions and progress against strategy and action plans; including an analytical interpretation of best available information in order to benchmark progress over time (monitoring indicators: quantity, quality, coverage, continuity and cost; with target population data disaggregated by sex, age, etc.). • Ensure adequate WASH outcome reporting and effective information sharing (with government and other partner support) to demonstrate closing the gaps.

Accountability to affected populations: • Be accountable to the affected population by establishing inclusive and consultative feedback mechanisms and encouraging the involvement of affected population in the response, • Ensure the inclusion of cross cutting issues (age, child protection, disability, gender, gender-based violence (GBV) mitigation and response and HIV & AIDS) in Working Group activities throughout the HPC, • Encourage partners to demonstrate a positive and systematic approach to inclusion and diversity, • Adhere to child safeguarding and PSEA policies including procedures for challenging and reporting incidents and ensure other members of the coordination team comply.

Strengthen local capacity: • Encourage participation of local actors Working Group activities and strategic decision-making, removing barriers to access, • Contribute to the development of a capacity assessment and capacity strengthening strategy for Working Group members and oversee implementation and harmonization of initiatives. • Lead early warning, contingency planning, and emergency preparedness efforts for the Working Group, ensuring adequate participation in contingency planning and emergency preparedness activities. • Promote and support training of WASH humanitarian personnel in areas such as Minimum Standards for Emergency WASH and capacity building of humanitarian partners, based on the mapping and understanding of available capacity. Provide capacity building for national, international NGOs including government. and ensure that partners have the necessary skills for an effective and efficient WASH response.

Results/expected outputs: Working in partnership with sub-national Sector participants, the Wash Specialist Sector Coordinator provides leadership and representation for the Sector at sub-national level. This contributes to the predictability and accountability of humanitarian action, in line with the aims of the cluster approach and IASC principles, and ensures that the humanitarian response is well-coordinated, strategic, adequate, coherent, effective and builds the resilience of the affected population. It also contributes to maintaining and enhancing the credibility and ability of UNICEF to fulfil its commitments as a Lead Agency sector, in line with the CCCs.

UNICEF's core values: caring, respect, integrity, trust, accountability, and sustainability. The skills required for this position are as follows: • Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness • Works Collaboratively with Others • Builds and Maintains Partnerships • Innovates and Embraces Change • Thinks and Acts Strategically • Drives to Achieve Impactful Results • Manages Ambiguity and Complexity

A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in WASH-related programmes planning and management is required. Relevant experience in programme management in WASH-related areas in a UN system agency or organization is considered an asset. A minimum of 2 years’ experience in humanitarian contexts is required. Experience in development contexts is an added advantage. Experience of working in the humanitarian coordination system is desirable. Experience in effective management of human resources/teams in high stress/risk environments is an advantage. Knowledge of WASH sector as a whole and its priority issues; an ability to strategize how these sectoral needs are met through collective delivery and ensuring that the roles responsibilities and functional linkages among sector support team are clear and well-coordinated. Experience in a mixed set of country contexts, in multiple geographic regions, including a deployment mission with UN, Government or INGO is strongly desirable.

Living conditions in Chad are relatively difficult. In Farchana, most consumer goods are imported from Abéché and available, and the allowance covers basic needs, but in general, life is expensive. Fruit, vegetables, meat and fish are available locally, but many other products are not. A market operates daily and several small supermarkets are also available. Some non-food items are also available. In Farchana, UNICEF has a Guest House where international staff are housed, and the monthly rent is XAF 250,000. The main religions are Islam and Christianity.

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Potential interview questions

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