Chief WASH, (NO-5), FT, Baghdad, Iraq, #108640 (For Iraqi nationals only)

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, hope

Iraq, an upper-middle income country with a 2021 GDP per capita of US$4,775, experienced a GDP growth of 10.5% in 2022 due to oil prices and post-COVID-19 recovery. However, inflation, COVID-19 effects, and rising food prices led to increased poverty and food insecurity. Half of the children face multiple deprivations, and child poverty is at 37.9%. Fragmented social protection leaves many vulnerable families unsupported.

Despite its income status, children’s health and nutrition are at risk due to pandemic impact and service deficits. Climate change, including water scarcity, poses significant risks. Iraq ranks 61st of 163 countries for children’s climate risk and struggles to manage water resources and the United Nations Global Environment Outlook 6 (GEO-6) ranks it the fifth most vulnerable country to water and food shortages and extreme temperatures.

Water resources are increasingly a binding constraint to both to water supply and sanitation service delivery as well as to broader economic development in Iraq. Iraq is one of the most water scarce countries in the world. 1.6 million people across Iraq are in critical need of sustained, equitable access to safe and appropriate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services. Of these, 52 per cent are women, 47 per cent are children, and 4 per cent are elderly. Vector-borne and WASH-related diseases pose growing risks, i.e. Escherichia coli (E. coli) and cholera. Girls and young women, who typically bear significant caregiving responsibilities and have specific hygiene needs, are particularly affected.

The Iraq Country Office is a large Country Office that operates in a complex environment. The Office has a budget allotment of 142.7 million USD in 2022 and has an approved staffing structure of 201 positions. The main Country Office locations are co-located in Baghdad and Erbil, where the Country Office is housed in common premises. In addition, the Iraq Country Office has four Field Offices.

The Country office continues with its productive collaboration with public sector partners, academia, local civil society organizations, private sector and youth towards strengthening national system capacities, reducing inequalities, and supporting equitable and inclusive access to improved, sustainable and resilient service delivery. National capacity was improved for WASH auditing, integrated water management resource planning and sustainable management of WASH services.

How can you make a difference?

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the Organization does in programmes, 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 in addressing inequity not only will give more children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why 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 function, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

1. Managerial and technical leadership

• Establish the annual work plan, determining priorities and performance measurements. Monitor workplan implementation, to ensure that WASH output results are achieved to schedule and performance standards. Report critical issues to the Deputy and Representative for timely action.
• Establish the annual workplan outputs, activities and developmental priorities of the WASH section staff. Provide timely guidance to enable the WASH section staff to perform their duties responsibly and efficiently.
• Manage WASH team building and motivation. Signal potential conflicts and take preventive action, in coordination with Human Resources staff.
• Lead UN inter-agency coordination on WASH, in collaboration with the government, and promote synergies among agencies for amplified impacts.
• Establish, strengthen and maintain partnerships for WASH, including WASH interventions for climate mitigation and adaptation, to leverage funding and action and realize the rights of children.

2. Strategic guidance in Programme development and planning

• Oversee the preparation of the WASH inputs for the situation analysis. Ensure that comprehensive and current data is used to inform WASH policy and programme development, planning, management and implementation. Keep abreast of global, regional and national WASH sector developments, for maximum efficiency and effectiveness in WASH programme design, management and implementation.
• Align the WASH programme to mitigate and adapt to climate change, with a particular emphasis on demonstrating good practice and innovation to address water scarcity.  Provide technical leadership to UNICEF and partners on the impacts of climate change on WASH and advocate for action.
• Collaborate with colleagues and partners to discuss national WASH priorities especially as they align with UNICEF Iraq priorities to address adolescents and young people especially girls, and efforts to leverage resources and to ensure the most strategic use of the collective resources of external support agencies.
• Lead the development of the WASH outcome and output results of the country programme, in alignment with the UNSCDF, along with related background, strategic analysis and delivery strategies, ensuring alignment with the UNICEF’s Strategic Plan, UNICEF’s global WASH strategy and the country programme as well as government plans and priorities, and the role of other WASH external support agencies. Lead the development of output-related indicators, baselines, targets and means of verification. Lead the development of the WASH content of the CPAP.
• Ensure the development and management of a fund-raising strategy for WASH and leverage private sector alliances aligned with the WASH output results in the country programme, and lead interactions with senior staff of donor agencies.
• Support the development and modification of UNICEF WASH policy and strategy instruments based on WASH programming monitoring, studies and assessments, and UNICEF field experience and lessons learned.

3. Efficiency in Programme management, monitoring and quality control of results

• Prepare documentation for programme reviews and analytical statements on progress and constraints of WASH outcome and output results; and assessing risk of climate change and other externalities on programme implementation
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes for the achievement of the WASH output results. Ensure effective collaboration with other UNICEF sectors, where needed.
• With other external support agencies, analyze national government WASH sector programmes and projects, with a focus on WASH outcomes (behaviors), using bottleneck analysis tools available in the sector (WASH-BAT, CSOs, SDAs).
• Manage monitoring and evaluation of the WASH programme and its components, programme reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other partners and prepare reports for CO management and WASH sector coordination bodies.
• Monitor, report and certify the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocations, organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity.
• Ensure timely donor reporting, negotiate any changes required to agreements with donor in a timely manner. Ensure systems are in place for HACT compliance.

4. Advisory services and technical support

• Participate in strategic discussions to influence national WASH policies and strategies, including the reduction of inequalities, contributing to global sector learning; and mitigate and adapt to climate change
• Advise senior officials in government, NGOs, UN agencies and WASH sector donors on WASH policies, strategies and best practices by demonstrating “gold standard” implementation and scaling-up strategies
• Lead the preparation of policy papers, reports, briefing notes and other strategic materials for use by management, donors, UNICEF regional offices and headquarters.
• Coordinate the use of technical experts from the Regional Office and HQ, as and where appropriate in the WASH programme, through remote support and on-site visits.

5. Advocacy, networking and partnership building

• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships with government counterparts, UN agencies, donor agencies, WASH institutions, NGOs, research institutes and the private sector to stimulate coordination and collaboration to leverage resources and action
• Oversee the analysis of national budgets for WASH, cost analysis and value-for-money studies, to advocate for improvements in sector efficiency aligned with UNICEF’s public financing for children (PF4C) efforts.
• Produce materials for WASH programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships and support fund-raising.
• Represent UNICEF in inter-agency discussions, ensuring that UNICEF’s position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in planning and agenda setting.
• Interact with global and regional initiatives and partnerships for WASH and support / assume UNICEF leadership in key global/regional WASH platforms

6. Quality timeliness and predictability of humanitarian WASH preparedness and response

• Ensure the annual preparation/revision of UNICEF’s preparedness for WASH in emergencies.
• Ensure the coordination arrangements for humanitarian WASH are in place, for instant robust coordination in case of an emergency.
• Ensure that all UNICEF WASH staff are familiar with UNICEF’s procedures for responding in an emergency.
• In case of an emergency, ensure that UNICEF meets its commitments for WASH in the response and early recovery.
• Support government to strengthen WASH emergency preparedness.

7. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Organize and lead the development, implementation, monitoring and documentation of WASH action research and innovation (technical or systems), ensuring rigorous monitoring and wide sharing of results.
• Determine priorities for learning/knowledge products, covering innovative approaches and good practices, to support overall WASH sector development.
• Systematically plan, support and monitor the professional development of UNICEF WASH staff, to ensure our sector capacity remains up-to-date with latest developments.
• Organize the systematic assessment of WASH sector capacity gap analysis, in collaboration with government and other stakeholders, and support the design of initiatives to strengthen capacities systematically.
• Ensure regular updates of the UNICEF knowledge sharing platforms (Communication or collaboration SharePoint sites) with WASH learning / knowledge products in support of the organization wide Enterprise Content Management (ECM) initiative, including support in the feedback and use of the knowledge products and learnings.

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

• Education: A min. of advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: public health, social sciences, health and hygiene behavior change communication, sanitary engineering, environmental or public health, water resource management or another relevant technical field. Additional relevant post-graduate courses that complement/supplement the main degree are required.
• Experience:
  • Development Sector: A minimum of ten years of professional experience in WASH-related programmes for developing countries is required. Proven ability to effectively lead a team to deliver results is required.
  • Humanitarian Sector: At least one year of work experience in humanitarian situations.
• Language: Fluency in English and Arabic is required. Knowledge of another local language used in the country is considered as an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

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.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. Previous applicants do not need to reapply.