WASH Head of Department

[Erbil,Iraq ]

Action Against Hunger is a global humanitarian organisation committed to ending world hunger and recognized as a leader in the fight against malnutrition. Founded in 1979, Action Against Hunger delivers programmes, in over 40 countries while committed to respect humanitarian principles as a non-governmental, non-political, non-religious and, non-profit organisation. Our mission is to save lives through the prevention, detection, and treatment of malnutrition, especially during and after emergency situations and conflict. Action Against Hunger intervenes in four main areas: Nutrition, Mental Health & Care Practices; Water, Sanitation & Hygiene; Food Security and Livelihoods; Advocacy and Raising Awareness.

 

Action Against Hunger is looking for a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Head of Department based in its country office in Erbil.

 

Work place: Erbil with frequent visits to ACF areas of interventions (Sinuni, Baghdad, Basra, Mosul)

 

Type of contract: Initially 3 months Fixed-Term contract with the possibility of extension.

 

Working Hours: Full Time Contract of minimum 40 hours per week up to a maximum of 48 hours per week

 

Purpose of the position: To guarantee the quality, relevance and scaling up of WASH strategy and interventions of the mission, in conformity with ACF and international standards and national policies.

 

Specific Objectives:

 

Objective/Assignment 1: Contribute to define the country strategy as well as the strategy and positioning   of the WASH technical department (10%)

              

• Understanding of the humanitarian situation regarding WASH and the context of intervention by the field teams, including continuous, systematic and thorough monitoring
• Analysis of the humanitarian situation with regard to sectors that are intrinsically linked to WASH such as Nutrition, Food Security, Care Practices and displacement tracking.
• Dissemination of information gathered and analysed both internally and externally, including to headquarters
• Updating of the mission sectoral strategy document in line with ACF international and national frameworks as required, in order to ensure contextual quality and relevance.
• Contributing to the mission strategy and the global ACF sectoral strategy (if requested)
• Accounting for DRM in WASH strategy and projects, including participation in drafting the Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (EPRP)
• Integrating the WASH sector with the other technical sectors (FSL, MHCP)
• Monitoring the implementation, revision, and accountability of the WASH mission strategy
• Contributing to the technical and operational advocacy strategies of the mission, the region, and headquarters (in line with the advocacy objectives defined in ACF reference documentation)
• Identifying the themes for sectoral and programmatic advocacy specific to the mission, in collaboration with the Deputy Country Director and fellow technical HoDs.
• Integrating gender, age, disability, etc. into WaSH Strategy

 

Objective/Assignment 2: Coordinate needs identification and the formulation of project proposals (30%)

         

• Coordinating the identification of WASH humanitarian and development needs, and trends in the donor landscape in order to maintain strategic focus and balanced programming.
• Defining, coordinating and carrying through assessments of WASH needs in projects and closely related areas
• Formulating and implementing feasibility studies and programme investigation of WASH projects (e.g. public health, technical, socio-economic, cultural and environmental aspects)
• Guarantee involvement of support departments (e.g. logistics and Finance/HR) as well as the Grants Officer / MEAL Officer in the design/review of WASH and/or multi-sectoral projects.
• Contributing to identification of donors and/or available funds for his/her sector, holding related technical and strategic discussions with these donors
• Participating in donor visits whenever requested by the Country Director/Deputy Country Director or the Field Coordinator.
• Leading the discussion with WASH field teams, Field coordinators and technical HoDs in order to design WASH sections of proposals and concept notes.
• Producing the WASH sections of project proposals in line with sectoral and mission strategy, and in accordance with donor formats and deadlines.
• Integrating gender, age, disability, etc. into WaSH proposals

 

  Objective/Assignment 3: Oversee the programs’ implementation and reporting and guarantee the quality and accountability of projects (30%)

 

• Validation of the key stages and methodologies of the projects being undertaken (timetable, systematic baseline and endline surveys, technical studies, calls for tender, specifications, community approach, external evaluations…)
• Providing technical support (direct and at a distance) to the PM(s), whilst alerting or sharing information with the Field Coordinator/Deputy Country Director
• Ensuring that monitoring and evaluation systems are in place and that their results are integrated to guarantee projects’ improvement and impact maximization, in consultation with the MEAL department.
• Supporting the Field Coordinator in APR monitoring (quantitative and narrative), provide feedback on technical matters and flag deficiencies or gaps, validate the APRs.
• Timely validation of the WASH parts of reports, internally and to funding agencies, as well as project amendments, with programme and project management team participation and contribution.
• Regular field and base visits to projects and functional interaction with PMs, systematic visit reports with recommendations disseminated
• Participatory planning of the training schedule for the WASH team(s), in support of the Field Coordinators and in consultation with HR.
• Design and delivery of technical and programme management trainings in-house whenever possible, and/or seek external options in order to improve the quality of programmes, in consultation with the MEAL department representatives, the Grants Officer and the Field Coordinators.
• Proposing action plans and solutions to ensure the smooth implementation of programs
• Ensuring technical program conformity with international rules, guidelines and standards, and the ACF framework documents and technical works
• Alerting the Deputy Country Director and the Technical Advisor at headquarters to all major difficulties encountered in applying recommendations and/or necessary adaptations
• Promotion of transparency and ethical standards in projects by highlighting complaints& feedback mechanisms, particularly in respect of the beneficiary population, in consultation with the MEAL department.
• Promotion of safety measures for both staff and the wider population in the implementation of WASH projects (work sites), in collaboration with the PM(s) and the support Department
• Integrating gender, age, disability, etc. into WaSH project implementation and reporting
• Providing surge support to WASH field teams for strategic missions or activities to support in ready implementation

 

Objective/Assignment: Ensure the active participation of ACF in national sectoral coordination and technical forums and develop sectoral partnerships (20%)

 

• Representing ACF in sectoral coordination at national and sub-national levels (sectoral and/or cluster, technical working groups) and with the local authorities and/or governmental line departments.
• Ensuring all interaction with governorates sectoral coordination mechanisms is in coordination with PM(s)/FCo(s
• Representing ACF in the SAG (Strategic Advisory Group) of the WaSH Cluster as required
• Representing ACF in the TWGs (Technical Working Groups) of the WaSH Cluster as required
• ACF contribution to the various action plans in the WASH sector (Humanitarian Response Plan, Consolidated Appeal Process/OPS, Inter-Agency Contingency Plan, etc) in coordination with Deputy Country Director
• Internal and external technical communications concerning WASH projects (in liaison with the Country Director/Field Coordinator
• Promotion of WASH and cross sectoral partnerships (e.g. civil society, NGOs, authorities, private sector) and capacity building
• Support the mapping of WASH actors at national level, and gap analysis.

 

           Objective/Assignment 5: Team management

 

• Functional management of WASH PM(s)
• Evaluation of the technical performance of WASH PM(s)
• Developing WASH competencies throughout the mission
• Following up and capacity building for nationalized positions
• Participatory planning of the training schedule for the WASH team(s), in support of the Field Coordinators and in consultation with HR.
• Design and delivery of technical and programme management trainings in-house whenever possible, and/or seek external options in order to improve the quality of programmes, in consultation with the MEAL department representatives, the Grant officer and the Field Coordinators.

 

Objective/Assignment 6: Promote capitalization, technical development and research within the WASH Department (10%)

 

• Consolidation and transmission of mission level WASH project learning and evaluation reports or documents to headquarters and Deputy Country Director (e.g. pilot projects, innovative approaches, successes and failures, contextual analyses etc)
• Encouraging the WASH teams to work on “capitalization” documents – including cost/benefit, impact or process evaluations, and other learning documentation of completed or ongoing projects; brainstorm on potential technical innovation opportunities.
• Supervising and Approving capitalization documents, finalizing them and submitting them to Headquarters
• Sharing experience with actors in the WASH sector at country and regional levels
• Applying and testing new approaches proposed by Headquarters at mission level, and suggesting new approaches for consideration by HQ to support.
• Reporting to Headquarters and Deputy Country Director on technical development and research requirements and on the implementation of projects (notably in response to calls for internal and external research projects)
• Exploring the possibilities of scientific and technical partnerships (laboratories, universities, private sector) especially within Iraq and/or Kurdistan.

Action Against Hunger is a global humanitarian organisation committed to ending world hunger and recognized as a leader in the fight against malnutrition. Founded in 1979, Action Against Hunger delivers programmes, in over 40 countries while committed to respect humanitarian principles as a non-governmental, non-political, non-religious and, non-profit organisation. Our mission is to save lives through the prevention, detection, and treatment of malnutrition, especially during and after emergency situations and conflict. Action Against Hunger intervenes in four main areas: Nutrition, Mental Health & Care Practices; Water, Sanitation & Hygiene; Food Security and Livelihoods; Advocacy and Raising Awareness.

 

Action Against Hunger is looking for a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Head of Department based in its country office in Erbil.

 

Work place: Erbil with frequent visits to ACF areas of interventions (Sinuni, Baghdad, Basra, Mosul)

 

Type of contract: Initially 3 months Fixed-Term contract with the possibility of extension.

 

Working Hours: Full Time Contract of minimum 40 hours per week up to a maximum of 48 hours per week

 

Purpose of the position: To guarantee the quality, relevance and scaling up of WASH strategy and interventions of the mission, in conformity with ACF and international standards and national policies.

 

Specific Objectives:

 

Objective/Assignment 1: Contribute to define the country strategy as well as the strategy and positioning   of the WASH technical department (10%)

              

• Understanding of the humanitarian situation regarding WASH and the context of intervention by the field teams, including continuous, systematic and thorough monitoring
• Analysis of the humanitarian situation with regard to sectors that are intrinsically linked to WASH such as Nutrition, Food Security, Care Practices and displacement tracking.
• Dissemination of information gathered and analysed both internally and externally, including to headquarters
• Updating of the mission sectoral strategy document in line with ACF international and national frameworks as required, in order to ensure contextual quality and relevance.
• Contributing to the mission strategy and the global ACF sectoral strategy (if requested)
• Accounting for DRM in WASH strategy and projects, including participation in drafting the Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (EPRP)
• Integrating the WASH sector with the other technical sectors (FSL, MHCP)
• Monitoring the implementation, revision, and accountability of the WASH mission strategy
• Contributing to the technical and operational advocacy strategies of the mission, the region, and headquarters (in line with the advocacy objectives defined in ACF reference documentation)
• Identifying the themes for sectoral and programmatic advocacy specific to the mission, in collaboration with the Deputy Country Director and fellow technical HoDs.
• Integrating gender, age, disability, etc. into WaSH Strategy

 

Objective/Assignment 2: Coordinate needs identification and the formulation of project proposals (30%)

         

• Coordinating the identification of WASH humanitarian and development needs, and trends in the donor landscape in order to maintain strategic focus and balanced programming.
• Defining, coordinating and carrying through assessments of WASH needs in projects and closely related areas
• Formulating and implementing feasibility studies and programme investigation of WASH projects (e.g. public health, technical, socio-economic, cultural and environmental aspects)
• Guarantee involvement of support departments (e.g. logistics and Finance/HR) as well as the Grants Officer / MEAL Officer in the design/review of WASH and/or multi-sectoral projects.
• Contributing to identification of donors and/or available funds for his/her sector, holding related technical and strategic discussions with these donors
• Participating in donor visits whenever requested by the Country Director/Deputy Country Director or the Field Coordinator.
• Leading the discussion with WASH field teams, Field coordinators and technical HoDs in order to design WASH sections of proposals and concept notes.
• Producing the WASH sections of project proposals in line with sectoral and mission strategy, and in accordance with donor formats and deadlines.
• Integrating gender, age, disability, etc. into WaSH proposals

 

  Objective/Assignment 3: Oversee the programs’ implementation and reporting and guarantee the quality and accountability of projects (30%)

 

• Validation of the key stages and methodologies of the projects being undertaken (timetable, systematic baseline and endline surveys, technical studies, calls for tender, specifications, community approach, external evaluations…)
• Providing technical support (direct and at a distance) to the PM(s), whilst alerting or sharing information with the Field Coordinator/Deputy Country Director
• Ensuring that monitoring and evaluation systems are in place and that their results are integrated to guarantee projects’ improvement and impact maximization, in consultation with the MEAL department.
• Supporting the Field Coordinator in APR monitoring (quantitative and narrative), provide feedback on technical matters and flag deficiencies or gaps, validate the APRs.
• Timely validation of the WASH parts of reports, internally and to funding agencies, as well as project amendments, with programme and project management team participation and contribution.
• Regular field and base visits to projects and functional interaction with PMs, systematic visit reports with recommendations disseminated
• Participatory planning of the training schedule for the WASH team(s), in support of the Field Coordinators and in consultation with HR.
• Design and delivery of technical and programme management trainings in-house whenever possible, and/or seek external options in order to improve the quality of programmes, in consultation with the MEAL department representatives, the Grants Officer and the Field Coordinators.
• Proposing action plans and solutions to ensure the smooth implementation of programs
• Ensuring technical program conformity with international rules, guidelines and standards, and the ACF framework documents and technical works
• Alerting the Deputy Country Director and the Technical Advisor at headquarters to all major difficulties encountered in applying recommendations and/or necessary adaptations
• Promotion of transparency and ethical standards in projects by highlighting complaints& feedback mechanisms, particularly in respect of the beneficiary population, in consultation with the MEAL department.
• Promotion of safety measures for both staff and the wider population in the implementation of WASH projects (work sites), in collaboration with the PM(s) and the support Department
• Integrating gender, age, disability, etc. into WaSH project implementation and reporting
• Providing surge support to WASH field teams for strategic missions or activities to support in ready implementation

 

Objective/Assignment: Ensure the active participation of ACF in national sectoral coordination and technical forums and develop sectoral partnerships (20%)

 

• Representing ACF in sectoral coordination at national and sub-national levels (sectoral and/or cluster, technical working groups) and with the local authorities and/or governmental line departments.
• Ensuring all interaction with governorates sectoral coordination mechanisms is in coordination with PM(s)/FCo(s
• Representing ACF in the SAG (Strategic Advisory Group) of the WaSH Cluster as required
• Representing ACF in the TWGs (Technical Working Groups) of the WaSH Cluster as required
• ACF contribution to the various action plans in the WASH sector (Humanitarian Response Plan, Consolidated Appeal Process/OPS, Inter-Agency Contingency Plan, etc) in coordination with Deputy Country Director
• Internal and external technical communications concerning WASH projects (in liaison with the Country Director/Field Coordinator
• Promotion of WASH and cross sectoral partnerships (e.g. civil society, NGOs, authorities, private sector) and capacity building
• Support the mapping of WASH actors at national level, and gap analysis.

 

           Objective/Assignment 5: Team management

 

• Functional management of WASH PM(s)
• Evaluation of the technical performance of WASH PM(s)
• Developing WASH competencies throughout the mission
• Following up and capacity building for nationalized positions
• Participatory planning of the training schedule for the WASH team(s), in support of the Field Coordinators and in consultation with HR.
• Design and delivery of technical and programme management trainings in-house whenever possible, and/or seek external options in order to improve the quality of programmes, in consultation with the MEAL department representatives, the Grant officer and the Field Coordinators.

 

Objective/Assignment 6: Promote capitalization, technical development and research within the WASH Department (10%)

 

• Consolidation and transmission of mission level WASH project learning and evaluation reports or documents to headquarters and Deputy Country Director (e.g. pilot projects, innovative approaches, successes and failures, contextual analyses etc)
• Encouraging the WASH teams to work on “capitalization” documents – including cost/benefit, impact or process evaluations, and other learning documentation of completed or ongoing projects; brainstorm on potential technical innovation opportunities.
• Supervising and Approving capitalization documents, finalizing them and submitting them to Headquarters
• Sharing experience with actors in the WASH sector at country and regional levels
• Applying and testing new approaches proposed by Headquarters at mission level, and suggesting new approaches for consideration by HQ to support.
• Reporting to Headquarters and Deputy Country Director on technical development and research requirements and on the implementation of projects (notably in response to calls for internal and external research projects)
• Exploring the possibilities of scientific and technical partnerships (laboratories, universities, private sector) especially within Iraq and/or Kurdistan.

Recruitment Criteria:

Qualification/Degree:	Master Degree in Relevant field
Professional Experience	At least 3 – 5 years in WASH managerial positions in international organization preferably INGOs; experience in an advisor capacity highly preferred.
Technical Skills	1.       Strong technical skills and coordination experience in dealing with institutional donors such EU, OFDA, SDC, GIZ and working in inter-agency coordination forums (Clusters, working groups) 2.       Previous experience drafting or writing WASH proposals strongly preferred 3.       Knowledge of water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure rehabilitation 4.       Strong knowledge of hygiene and water management promotion and soft interventions 5.       Advanced skills in at least one of the key WASH areas: Hydro-geology – Hydrology – Civil engineering and sizing of basic WASH structures (wells, reservoirs, latrines) – Hydraulics – water quality – Health promotion – Community mobilization – Sanitization 6.       Strong knowledge of project cycle management 7.       Knowledge of WASH in emergency situations and of humanitarian action and programs in rural and urban settings. Knowledge of  Project-related statistical analyses and assessment techniques
General Skills Managerial Skills (if applicable)	Very Good Analytical and Summarizing skills – Very Good Organizational Capacity – Relational Qualities – Very Good Written Reporting skills – Able to develop a Global and Long term vision – Autonomy and flexibility – Proactive – Sense of Confidentiality – Good Team Spirit, Skills in capacity building, social mobilization, hygiene promotion Ability to train teams Ability to Supervise, Motivate and Animate Teams Previous experience in peer-to-peer advising and transversal (not hierarchical) management will be considered an asset
Language Skills	Spoken and written English = Mandatory Spoken and written Kurdish = Preffered Spoken and written Arabic = Preferred
IT Skills	Proficient with MS Office (Excel, Word, outlook) especially Excel

Closing Date: Sunday, 20^th of September 2021

 

Qualified candidates must submit a CV and Cover letter to [email protected].

 

Please indicate the job reference number: COO/WASH/06/092021, in the e-mail subject line.

Action Against Hunger encourages female candidates to apply.

Due to the volume of applications we receive, we will only contact short-listed candidates for further screening.

Please note that the final candidates will be subjected to security screening and positive references.

 

For more information please visit our website: http://www.actioncontrelafaim.org/en