Nigeria: WASH Project Manager

Sep 25, 2018 | Solidarites International
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Solidarités International (SI) is a French humanitarian organisation operating for over 35 years who is committed to providing aid in the event of conflict and natural disasters. Our mission is to provide aid as quickly and as efficiently as possible to endangered populations by meeting their vital needs: water, food and shelter.

About the mission

  • Solidarites International opened the Nigeria mission over the summer 2016. Starting with a single project, this mission has quickly expanded and SI is now a major WASH and shelter actor in the Borno State.
  • The current political and military crisis has affected millions of lives in the area and SI is answering the needs of displaced populations and host communities in Borno State. The targeted areas of intervention are WASH, shelter, logistics, food security and livelihood.

Programs Currently Running:

  • Multi-sectorial WASH and FSL project funded by EuropeAid over 3 years in consortium leaded by ALIMA - started in January 2018 in Monguno, Ngala, Askira/Uba.
  • Logistic Platform project funded by WFP in Monguno
  • Emergency WASH and Shelter response funded by OFDA - Maiduguri, Monguno, Dikwa, Ngala
  • Emergency WASH in Health funded by ECHO - in partnership with ALIMA (leaded by SI) in Maiduguri and Monguno
  • Emergency WASH funded by ECHO in Maiduguri, Monguno and Dikwa

This mission is young but rather strong and has potential to continue developing relevant and mandate-based interventions to cover the humanitarian needs in the area and to ensure a real humanitarian impact. The team is well staffed with very diverse profiles (former SI, former national staffs from several SI missions, various backgrounds and technicalities). Overall, the atmosphere is very good, people get along well and they love to play volleyball on Sundays.

Here are the key numbers and information about the mission:

  • 5 bases (Maiduguri, Abuja, Dikwa, Ngala and Monguno) plus Coordination Office in Maiduguri.
  • The number of expatriates is around 20
  • The national staff are approximately 190
  • The total budget of the mission is around 7.5 million euros.

About the Job

The two program implemented at Maiduguri’s level are the following:

  • Multi-sectorial Health-Nutrition-WASH-Shelter-FSL-Protection project funded by ECHO in partnership with PUI, ACTED, INTERSOS and TDH (leaded by ACTED) in Monguno/Kukawa and Maiduguri
  • Emergency WASH in Health project funded by ECHO in partnership with ALIMA (leaded by SI) in Maiduguri and Monguno/Kukawa
  • In Maiduguri, the projects are mainly about provision of safe water, improved sanitation infrastructures and adequate hygiene practices for IDPs and host communities. It was firstly a short-term emergency approach, which brings many challenges. In Maiduguri, SI plans to keep the provision of access to WASH services in the needed areas while improving the sustainability of its past and current projects through capacity building and community engagement and empowerment.
  • In addition, SI has resources (contingency stock and emergency team) to respond to outbreak (mainly cholera outbreaks) in all zone potentially affected in Borno State. Maiduguri is the base of deployment and assists the emergency team in his response.

General Objective

  • The Program Manager is in charge of implementing and achieving the objectives defined in the proposal
  • He/she is in charge of supervising the operational team allocated to his/her program
  • He/she guarantees the proper and smooth implementation of the project and monitor the quality, accountability and the impact of the project

The Main Challenges:

  • Capacity building will be a key point. The activity manager assisting the PM is technically strong, and he is used to SI procedures. He needs further training on reporting to be at ease with all the tools in place. He is very resourceful as well in term of strategic vision and therefore has to be developed in this direction. The rest of the team presents also very interesting profiles, who should be further encouraged.
  • Currently, the cholera outbreak is hitting hard Maiduguri. The emergency team was deployed and carried out disinfections, case investigation, and targeted hygiene promotion. Pushing for a better coordination will be one of the main tasks as well for data harmonization/collection.
  • The community mobilizer team have been at the center of a mapping initiative (with GIS) to center all the data of the projects. Still getting trained on the job (with the support of the field coo assistant), the objective is to develop a dynamic database that could be used to produce maps easily and visualize better gaps, the evolution of the context, targeted assessments reports etc… to interact better with partners as well and develop stronger operational partnerships.
  • There was a shift in the hygiene promotion strategy to adapt to the context and invest a more user-centered approach. This is not a familiar methodology for the teams, and therefore still a work in progress with need for continuous capacity building.
  • The specificity of this position is the wide range of skills needed, with a solid interweaving of the soft wash aspects and the hard wash aspects. Therefore, there is not only a need for good technicity, but also a need to understand well the context. As well, good teaching abilities are needed to pass down those skills to the team.
  • The mission has an outstanding potential, which needs to be further channeled and developed in several directions. Indeed, there are immediate needs (in IDPs camps) that require a quick response, but there are also long-term infrastructures that are been built and therefore need to have their management ensured on the long term.

Your Profile

  • Master's Degree or equivalent in related sectors of WASH, Civil Engineering, Hydrogeology
  • Civil Engineer/Hydrologist/Electronic Engineer profile with experiences in building small scale water distribution network, and used to Civil Engineering works
  • Strong knowledge of water network sizing and design (including building business plans and management system) is important for this position
  • Electrical knowledge (solar supply sizing and installation) would be an asset
  • Good knowledge and experience on community based approached, social sciences methodologies, behavior change communication approaches, social marketing
  • Previous field humanitarian experience as a Wash program/project manager
  • Experience in tensed context in terms of security
  • Good and proven writing and spoken English are required
  • Strong HR management skills with field experience in delivering training and capacity building;
  • Very strong proficiency in Excel, with good data treatment abilities.
  • GIS and VBA capacities would be an asset
  • Autocad proficiency would be an asset.
  • Anticipation and self-organization capacities;
  • Great work and stress management capacities;
  • Willingness to work in complex and volatile environments

Familiarity with:

  • Hydrogeology and understanding of sedimentary aquifer systems including artesian systems,
  • Borehole drilling and knowledge on heavy duty equipment and technics on deep boreholes,
  • Sizing and implementation of solar powered pumping systems
  • Sizing and implementation of gravity-fed networks