WASH Head of Department

Job Description

Summary of position

The WASH HOD will be responsible for the design and follow-up of WASH strategy, overall mission strategy, sectoral coordination/integration, and external coordination in Ethiopia. Furthermore, he/she will support the assessment, implementation; monitoring, and reporting of current and future WASH programs/projects in the country. He/she will liaise with external stakeholders (partners, consortium actors, clusters, local gov’t, UN agencies, and INGOs.) and represent Action Against Hunger in the country. He/she will ensure the technical relevance and quality of WASH programming or/and intervention in complacence with mission strategy, ACFIN WASH strategy, and donor priorities.  

Purpose:

• The WASH HOD provides technical leadership to the Action Against Hunger WASH program through context analysis, development of strategic WASH priorities, promotion of knowledge and innovation, and capitalizing on learnings/lessons

Engagement:

• Sectoral engagement within Action Against Hunger (Food Security and Livelihood, Nutrition, Health, and cross-cutting department leads), as well as Gov’t offices, Consortium actors, WASH clusters, UN agencies, and other local and international NGOs.

 Delivery:

• Successfully assess, design, implement, monitor, and evaluate WASH interventions in project areas in line with the Acton Against Hunger standards and guidelines and donor requirements. The execution of work as per the minimum quality standards is indispensable.    

Essential Duties

• Design the new WASH country strategy, identify new opportunities, and develop new projects with a focus on the long-term and development projects:
• Design the new WASH technical strategy in line with the 2021-2025 International Strategic Plan (ISP-3)
• Pursue new business opportunities and remain updated on donors' sectoral strategies
• Organize and coordinate alongside the MEAL TA, needs assessments both in development & emergency contexts
• Identify structural, economic, and other constraints in all the regions and take these into account in a future program, propose new program directions;
• Stay updated on the humanitarian context;
• Work with field staff, managers, and field coordinators to develop concepts that correspond to Action Against Hunger’s regional strategies and complement existing projects;
• Develop logical framework analysis (LFA) for all new WASH projects;
• Work with the WASH team, the Program Development Coordinator, and the Country Management Team to develop the full proposal document for donors (narrative and budget).
• Develop tools/approaches to monitor and evaluate ACF WASH project implementation
• Adapt or develop if necessary tools to monitor WASH activities in consultation with PMs, MEAL TA and DCD/P;
• Adapt or develop if necessary periodic assessment and reporting templates and user guidelines for key institutional actors, partners, and stakeholders;
• Ensure that indicators (Action Against Hunger, national or international standards) for measuring results of project implementation including mainstreaming indicators for cross-cutting issues are used and if necessary develop country-specific indicators;
• In collaboration with the MEAL department, adapt and develop if necessary tools for evaluation and impact assessment of the project;
• Supervise deputy WASH HoD in the compilation, consolidation, and validation of sectoral APRs monthly, biannually, and yearly
• Plan and implement regular project monitoring and evaluation activities (internal and/or external evaluation);
• Recruit external evaluators when needed, write their TORs, and plan activities;
• Collect, analyze, and disseminate in a timely manner evaluation outcomes (internal + external) in consultation with Action Against Hunger’s coordination team, other technical advisors and partners, stakeholders, field coordinators, and other relevant sources of information;
• Extract critical lessons learned and good practices from final evaluations, program audits, and monitoring reports
• Provide technical support to project implementation
• Provide technical support, supervise and evaluate the work of the WASH field teams
• Provide technical support and approve donor reports from the WASH field teams
• Analyze the pertinence of ongoing activities and put forward the necessary adjustments
• Provide technical support to the WASH field teams vis a vi our MEAL strategy and toolkit
• Contribute to ensuring the integration of projects in WASH, FSL, Health and Nutrition, and MHPSS through capacity building, awareness, experience exchange, meetings, and contributions to other sectors
• Collect and share sector-specific information for line manager and subordinates (if necessary)
• Validate technical plans, reports, and other project-related documents
• Technically review and advise field coordinators and WASH PMs in the preparation of yearly and quarterly work plans, reports, project presentations, and other WASH project-related documents and correspondence;
• Contribute technically to prepare high-quality reports/project-related documentation for dissemination to the stakeholders;
• Build the technical capacity of the WASH teams
• Distribute and explain technical external and internal guidelines and protocols to the WASH teams
• Validate the HR needs of the WASH department
• Validate technical job descriptions for program staff
• Participate in recruitment processes (design technical tests, interviews for PM and deputy PM);
• Give technical inputs on the performance evaluation of WASH PMs;
• Identify development needs/skillsets among the WASH team;
• Organize and conduct training sessions and any other capacity-building activities;
• Organize WASH technical workshops for the field staff on a quarterly basis;
• Represent Action Against Hunger with external stakeholders
• Represent Action Against Hunger in external technical / coordination meetings, WASH Cluster, and develop a strong network of key stakeholders
• Prepare and share minutes of these meetings with the senior program team ;
• Write and develop WASH country-specific position papers;
• Represent the organization in meetings with partners, donors, and/or government authorities 

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Functional supervision: Deputy WASH Technical Advisor, Roving WASH Manager

Gender Equality Commitments  

• Foster an environment that supports the values of women and men, and equal access to information.
• Provide a work environment where women and men must be evaluated and promoted based on their skills and performance.
• Respect beneficiaries’ women, men, and children (boys and girls) regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, or religion. race, color, ancestry, national origin, age, or marital status. 
• Value and respect all cultures. 

Fiscal Responsibility

• N/A

Physical Demands

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit for long periods and to concentrate on work, including typing, and turn out heavy volumes of work accurately, within short time frames under stressful situations in the context of a moderately noisy office with many interruptions. Must be able to proofread own work accurately so that only minor corrections are needed on an infrequent basis.
• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Working Conditions, Travel, and Environment

• The duties of the job require regular job attendance at least five days per week. Must be available to work outside normal office hours or on the weekends as required.
• Must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business purposes. While performing the duties of this job in the field, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high-security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well as to infectious diseases. 

Job Requirement

Required Qualifications and Professional Experience

• MSC / BSC in Civil engineering, Water engineering, and other related fields.
• At least 10 years of related experience with an INGO including a senior management program position

Required Skills & Competencies 

• Interest and/or experience in hygiene promotion and behavior change
• Demonstrated experience providing technical support to teams and programs
• Demonstrated experience in proposal writing and donor reporting.
• Demonstrated experience in financial management and preparation of budgets for programming.
• Experience in international positions and development programs and sanitation marketing is advantageous
• Excellent management and representation competencies.
• Excellent influencing and negotiation skills
• A strong understanding of project cycle management and monitoring and evaluation. 
• Interpersonal skills: team management, communication, reporting, autonomy, organizational skill, staff development, creative and innovative thinking, leadership skill, strategic decision-making and planning, delegation of work, management of staff, team building