WASH Officer, NOA, Temporary Appointment (364 days), Nekemte, Oromia Region, Ethiopia #00129761 (Open for Ethiopian Nationals only)

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For every child, CARE!

Ethiopia is situated in the Horn of Africa and is the second most populous country on the continent with an estimated population of 115 million. It borders six African countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and covers 1,104,300 square kilometers. Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Ethiopia represents a melting pot of ancient cultures with Middle Eastern and African cultures evident in the religious, ethnic, and language composition of its people.

Over the past two years, children and their families across Ethiopia faced multiple and complex emergencies, such as the conflict in the northern Ethiopia and the drought, which resulted in millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has programmes in Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, and Education and serves over 15 million children in Ethiopia. Join UNICEF Ethiopia to contribute to improving the lives of children and women.

How can you make a difference? 

Background and Strategic Context

The WaSH sector is one of the highly constrained sectors in western Oromia zones because of the conflict. Due to security and financial problems, many WaSH schemes lack proper maintenance and repairs and hence are non-functional.

In almost all the target localities water pumps and switchboards have been stacked, IDP sites and host.

communities have no access to basic water supply facilities, sanitation, and hygiene services.

UNICEF has been trying to alleviate human sufferings particularly off children and women by provision of essential Nutrition, health, WASH, protection, and education support remotely through government and CSO implementing partners.

To closely support the response, UNICEF is opening a satellite office in Nekmte town to cover all the four zones such as West Shoa, East Wollega, West Wollega, Kellem Wollega and Horo Gudru Wollega zones. Hence, this TOR is to recruit a WASH officer who is supporting the WASH response at zonal, woreda and IDP/Returnee and host community level.

Summary of Key Functions and Accountabilities

1. Support to program development and planning

2. Program management, monitoring and reporting of results.

3. Technical support to program implementation

4. Networking and partnership building

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

1. Support to program development and planning

• Support woredas and zones in development of risk informed programing, emergency preparedness and response plans development
• Lead WASH gap assessments and participate in multi sector and multi-agency assessments and development of response plans.
• Support in BOQ preparation for water supply and sanitation program development

2. Program management, monitoring and reporting of results.

• Provide technical support throughout all stages of program development – planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of results.
• Track program results and contribute to WASH activity info and monthly Sitrep reporting.
• Provide water and sanitation schemes non functionality data.

3. Technical support to program implementation

• Ensure effective delivery of day-to-day WASH humanitarian interventions in the zones including follow up of rehabilitation and construction of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene facilities.
• Ensure program implementations are as per the SPHER and national WASH standards.
• Prepare and share monthly work plan and consolidated weekly and monthly report to the satellite office at Nekmte and OFO.
• Support the implementation of ending open defecation and sanitation marketing in IDP / returnee camps and in densely populated areas.
• Provide technical assistance to water quality monitoring, sanitary survey and water sources and storages disinfections.
• Support WASH SBC interventions and WASH NFIs distributions and post distribution monitoring through implementation of participatory beneficiary verification and registration systems.
• Ensure AAP (Accountability to Affected Population) GBV (Gender Based Violence) and SEA (Sexual Exploitation and Abuse) mitigation measures including establishment of complaint mechanisms are in place at IDP / returnee sites and host communities.

4. Networking and partnership building

• Support zonal WASH cluster coordination platform and bring forward WASH related gaps and key asks to the attention of stakeholders and UNICEF WASH team.
• Work closely with other sectors to ensure convergence and integration with Health, Nutrition, education, child protection as well as HCT team.
• Establish close working relationship and networking with implementing partners focusing on coordination, mapping and prioritizing risk population and mobilization of resources for humanitarian aid.
• Closely work with UNICEF HPD or PCA partners working in the zones and provide required technical support.
• Represent WASH team in zonal WASH – sub cluster meetings and technical working groups and joint assessments.

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

• Identify, capture, synthesize, and share lessons and best practices learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders.
• Apply innovative approaches and promote good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable program results.
• Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders.

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

Minimum requirements:

Education:

• A university degree in subject area relevant to Water supply, sanitation and hygiene.

Work Experience:

• At least one year of relevant work experience in the relevant field.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of Amharic as the National language of Ethiopia and Afan Oromo as the local language is an asset.
• Any other official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish) is an asset.

Desirables:

• Understands the rationale behind Humanitarian Reform, its main components and recent developments including the Transformative Agenda.
• Understanding of WASH sector and humanitarian policies and procedures is an advantage.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency

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

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (1)

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (1)

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact (1)

(4) Innovates and embraces change (1)

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

(6) Thinks and acts strategically (1)

(7) Works collaboratively with others (1)

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

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 measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will 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.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

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

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions 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. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.