WASH Manager

Job Description

Job Purpose:

The key focus of the role is to provide technical support and oversee Concern’s water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure projects and hygiene and WASH Social Behaviour Change activities, in order to improve the quality and sustainability of the emergency and development projects. The WASH Lead will provide technical oversight and support, quality control in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all WASH interventions and will provide support on both hardware and software project components. S/he will maintain and improve established systems & structures required for the effective timely implementation of quality water, sanitation and hygiene promotion projects.  S/he will ensure that WASH projects are implemented in line with project proposals and plans - on time, within scope and budget and ensuring quality and adherence to national, international and Concern guidelines. The WASH Lead will take a lead, with the Programme Directors, in the implementation of Concern Ethiopia’s WASH strategy. S/he will promote collaboration and coordination with regional and national government offices, community representatives, civil society structures, and other key stakeholders, and will participate in the national and regional WASH cluster and other forums. S/he will also lead in the area of WASH Systems Strengthening in Concern’s targeted areas, and forging relationships with WASH Systems Strengthening partners such as Agenda for Change. S/he will participate and represent Concern in all relevant Federal WASH fora and WASH Cluster Coordination meetings.

Main Duties and Responsibliies;-

• Provide technical support to WASH staff, WASH specialist and Hygiene and Behaviour Specialist and oversee all WASH projects for Concern Ethiopia
• Ensure that all WASH projects are technically strong, provide technical support and advice to teams and ensure quality WASH programming
• Ensure that all WASH programmes are implemented in line with national and international guidelines, protocols and standards
• Respond quickly and appropriately to requests for interventions in serious public health outbreaks eg. AWD, scabies and other emergencies eg. floods, displacement  and provide oversight of responses
• Work closely with the Programme Directors to bring innovative approaches to WASH interventions, liaise with HQ technical team as needed and keep abreast of new developments in WASH programming
• Ensure an integrated and multi sectoral approach to WASH programming, assist the team in finding ways to integrate/link and combine hygiene & health promotion, water and sanitation facilities design, construction & maintenance, with  Health , Nutrition, Livelihoods and food security etc.
• Support Area Coordinators and WASH staff in budget management through reviewing the management accounts on a monthly basis and providing feedback, flagging any expenditure that is not on track
• Provide technical support to Addis and field based WASH managers, ensuring they implement projects on time, within scope and budget and achieve quality outputs
• Provide technical support to the development of WASH hardware designs and BoQs.
• Ensure that project teams plan and clearly outline the quantities and specification for all required WASH materials well in advance and liaise with the logistics department to ensure details and timelines are well understood.
• Support on approaches to WASH Systems Strengthening

Performance management, Capacity Building & Mentorship

• Performance manage the WASH Specialist and WASH BCC Specialist; performance development reviews for the 2 direct reports; advise on performance development review for the wider WASH programme team, identify appropriate staff development needs and give recommendations to the Programme Director/Area Coordinators
• Support the timely recruitment of Addis staff and field staff in coordination with Programme Director or Area Coordinator, and induct, train, mentor and supervise staff as needed
• Strengthen capacity of Concern WASH staff through workshops, and on job support according to the identified capacity gaps e.g. hardware design and BoQs, hygiene promotion, BabyWASH, assessment methodologies, supervision of hardware and software activities, WASH Systems Strengthening, etc.

• Conduct site visits to build the performance capacity of Concern’s WASH staff 

Programme Development & Design

• Support development of concept notes, proposals and budgets in line with the needs assessment and Concern WASH, Health and Nutrition strategy
• Develop budgets for project proposals and ensure that budgets are compliant with Concern’s and donor’s specifications
• Support logistics team in the development of the project procurement plans in line with project activities, WASH designs and BoQs
• Prepare reports and documentation related to  WASH, bringing on board new and innovative initiatives to strengthen the project approach
• Ensure that cross cutting issues are mainstreamed into WASH programmes
• Ensure that construction projects are designed in such a way as to reduce risk and vulnerability and inequalities among the beneficiary population and that disaster risk reduction issues are considered.
• Lead in the area of WASH Systems Strengthening in Concern Ethiopia through developing partnerships, strategies and models, working with Agenda for Change partners and others, to support local and national WASH systems and actors.

 Monitoring, Evaluation, Assessment & Learning

• Lead and oversee WASH assessments (including needs assessments, community WASH assessments, WASHFIT and KAP) and planning responses in existing and potential programme areas
• Conduct reviews at field level of engineering work and hygiene promotion/behaviour change responses
• With the programme teams, develop a work plan, M & E plan and a procurement plan for each project based on the funded proposals
• Provide technical validation of WASH programme reports for donors and Concern to ensure that they are delivered on time and to the high quality expected
• Review and provide feedback to draft reports produced by field based project managers to develop their capacity
• Provide internal monthly reports to the Programme Director
• Ensure that a strong monitoring and evaluation system is in place for all WASH activities (hardware and software) and manage the system, ensuring that project teams understand their role in implementing the system

• Ensure that programme data on key WASH indicators is collected, analysed and reviewed and responded to on an ongoing basis. 
• Adapt and improve the existing programme on an ongoing basis, based on careful review of monitoring and evaluation findings and discussion with the Programme Directors and WASH teams.
• Regularly report on programme outcomes, activities, processes and lessons learned and ensure that they are incorporated into future programming 
• Work with the team to identify and document project learning and success cases, disseminate learning and ensure it is used in future programming and retained as part of organisational learning and knowledge management
• Ensure that sufficient attention is provided to both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ WASH programming and that all WASH staff have an understanding of both aspects of WASH programming and that this is reflected in project implementation
• Collate and share findings from Concern or other agency learning on WASH.
• Monitor and evaluate adherence to Concern Ethiopia’s WASH Strategy as per tracker, and ensure learning is taken forward.

• Monitor Concern’s approaches to WASH Systems Strengthening and ensure learning is taken into account for future programme design.

Representation & Networking

• Participate proactively and contribute in the WASH Cluster Coordination meetings and all other external WASH forums as required (including WASH Agenda for Change) and develop networks with relevant WASH actors
• Share information on Concern activities and interventions and promote good relations and collaboration with other actors, ensuring that Concern has a strong profile for its WASH interventions, inside and outside of Ethiopia.
• Lead Concern WASH related inter-sectoral Technical Working Groups
• Coordinate regularly with the logistics department to monitor ongoing procurement
• Coordinate with Health and Nutrition, Gender and livelihood sectors to ensure WASH integration

Concern Policies & Strategies

• Be aware of, understand and comply with all of Concern’s policies and procedures (P4, finance, logistics, HR, security management etc.)
• Ensure tools, strategies, approaches are in line with Concern global policies, Country Strategic Plan, Concern’s global WASH Strategy, Concern Ethiopia’s WASH strategy, country Health and Nutrition strategy, equality/gender strategies to improve impact and visibility
• Demonstrate understanding of Concern Ethiopia’s Gender Equality Strategy
• Contribute to ensuring that Concern Ethiopia is a place where men and women are treated equally and with dignity and respect
• Demonstrate gender equality awareness and gender sensitivity and an ability to integrate a gender equality perspective into tasks and activities.

Other

• Undertake other related duties as may reasonably be assigned by the line manager.

Emergency Response;

• Concern is committed to responding to emergencies efficiently and effectively in order to help affected people meet their basic needs, alleviate suffering and maintain their dignity. To this end, when emergencies strike and the Ethiopia Programme is to respond, all staff are required to actively participate in the response, regardless of location and contribute to the efforts aimed at achieving the humanitarian objective of the organization.

Gender Equlaity

• Ensure that programme/project staffs have a strong understanding of gender mainstreaming and that gender mainstreaming tools are effectively implemented across all programmes/projects 
• Coordinate with the Gender Equality Coordinator in planning,  allocating and implementing a programme budget for gender mainstreaming
• Ensure that programmes have a thorough gender mainstreaming design and plan from the conceptualization stage
• Ensure that gender mainstreaming is effectively implemented and monitored throughout the project cycle management process.
• Ensure that gender sensitive indicators and M & E plans are in place and that they are effectively monitored
• Ensure quality reporting on gender mainstreaming in all programme reports .

Accountability 

In line with Concern’s commitments under the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS): 

• actively promote meaningful community participation and consultation at all stages of the project cycle (planning, implementation, M&E); 
• work with relevant colleagues  to ensure that the Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) is functional and accessible, that feedback and complaints are welcomed and addressed; 
• work with relevant colleagues  to ensure that information about CRM, safeguarding and expected staff behaviour is disseminated among programme participants and communities. 

Job Requirement

Job Specifications;-

Essential

Education, Qualifications & Experience Required: 

• Degree Level qualifications in a discipline related to WASH, Civil Engineering and/or Environmental Health.
• At least 5 yrs of professional experience in the field of WASH engineering (or similar – e.g. civil engineering) including WASH, logistics and supply work.
• At least three years of experience with NGOs on hardware components associated with WASH (water pumps, latrines, water treatment, water storage etc.)
• Experience in training and capacity building of WASH staff, local contractors, technicians, government technical staff and working with community groups such as WASH committees
• Practical experience in construction of water and sanitation facilities (borehole drilling, spring catchments, gravity flow systems, low cost sanitation etc.)
• Practical experience in methods to ensure sustainability of water and sanitation facilities
• Experience in approaches and methodologies for WASH Systems Strengthening
• Proven success in implementing community-based and led hygiene and sanitation behaviour change including PHAST training, Community Led Total Sanitation, School Led Total Sanitation, etc.
• A proven record of effective project and people management.
• Experience in leading WASH assessments
• Good capacity in community mobilization and knowledge of participatory approaches.
• Experience with water testing and analysis.
• Sensitivity to cultural differences, and the ability to work in a wide variety of cultural contexts.
• Excellent teamwork skills and the ability to build good relations both internally and externally.
• Experience in report and proposal writing.
• Proven financial management skills.
• Familiarity with logistics, HR, Finance, and administrative processes.
• Ability to work under pressure, handle a varied workload and multi task.
• Commitment to Concern’s ethos and values.
• Flexible, adaptable and patient.
• Sound IT skills, including Word and Excel, AutoCad and hydraulic modelling tools such as EpaNET.
• Fluent written and spoken English.

Competencies;

Desirable

• Understanding and experience of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership. 
• Understanding and experience of mainstreaming issues of gender equity, ethnicity and HIV and AIDS into project planning and implementation.
• Understands how to access local safeguarding networks and support.
• Experience of working in Consortia.
• Proven influencing and negotiating skills with internal and external audiences, experience working in partnership with Governments would be an advantage.
• Ability to train staff and to motivate and develop skills of others.
• Knowledge on using mapping software such as QGIS/ArcGIS.

What We Offer

• A competitive salary and benefit package
• Excellent medical benefits (100% cover including dependents)
• 20 days annual leave
• 26 weeks (paid) maternity leave, 18weeks(unpaid) parental leave
• Opportunities to travel overseas and gain international experience