Niger: Environmental Health Coordinator

Nov 13, 2018 | International Rescue Committee
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The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The mission of the IRC is to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future.

IRC NIGER VISION AND ITS CURRENT PROGRAMS

IRC’s vision for Niger is that individuals, households and communities are resilient, self-reliant and able to thrive in a changing context. IRC Niger is present in the regions of Tillabery, Tahoua and Diffa with projects in the following areas: Environmental Health (EH) and Non Food Items (NFI) including Emergency – Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM), Protection (SGBV, Child Protection, Monitoring Protection and Protection Integration), Education, Nutrition, Health and Livelihoods.

SCOPE OF WORK

Under the supervision of the Deputy Country Director for Programs (DDP) of IRC Niger, the Environmental Health (EH) Coordinator will support the Country Program in implementing the Rapid Response Mechanism covering Multi sectorial Assessments (MSA) determining rapid response in the EH component and technical support to the NFI sector. The EH Coordinator will be responsible for the coordination, quality and strategic steering of the EH programmatic portfolio and the RRM in line with IRC and HRP - Niger, while developing field team capacities to ensure prompt, well planned interventions. S/he will play a key role in ensuring accountability towards communities and donors of EH programming and RRM implementation. In parallel, the EH Coordinator will take an active lead in the development of an EH portfolio outside of the RRM mechanism.

POSITION OBJECTIVES

  • Designing, development and management of IRC’s environmental health program
  • Developing EH Country strategy
  • Direct supervision and management of the Environmental Health team in close collaboration with the Emergency Coordinator, who leads the RRM
  • Oversight of all contractors and partners engaged in the implementation of EH projects and representation of IRC Niger in all WASH and EH forums
  • Maintain close links and collaboration with other sectors and in particular Health, Protection, and ERD
  • Ensure that the emergency WASH activities are implemented in a timely and professional manner (as per SPHERE and IRC Standards) and in line with beneficiary needs

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Technical Quality

  • Provide technical and management leadership to the EH program in accordance with best practice and IRC policy
  • Represents IRC in external WASH forums and is the key WASH focal point in the WASH Sector/cluster
  • Review and evaluation of programs to assist in enhancing program delivery and quality
  • Leads, or contributes to, development of country sector strategic direction and plans
  • Contribute to Multi sectorial Assessments (MSA) including analysis and planning
  • Ensure program activities foster accountability to beneficiaries, gender and protection sensitivity and inclusion are adequately addressed in programming
  • Develop technical designs and approaches for all WASH activities
  • Provide regular reports, document results and maintain detailed records
  • Document lessons learnt, innovative approaches, generated evidence, to participate in IRC’s global learning

Staff Supervision & Development

  • Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing oversight and guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions
  • Overall responsibility for staff timesheets, work plans, vacation schedules, and staff training/development activities
  • Lead the recruitment of staff when funding is confirmed
  • Take responsibility for discussing job expectations, performance, and objectives on an informal, quarterly basis with designated staff
  • Adhere to and act in accordance with the IRC Global HR Policies and Procedures

Coordination and Leadership

  • Participate proactively in WASH cluster, NFI /Shelter Working group meetings (as Co-Facilitator), inter cluster as well as in all appropriate humanitarian fora related to EH/NFI sectors
  • Coordinate the RRM implementation, in collaboration with the field team, with other implementing partners, Government authorities and UN Agencies
  • Contribute to strategic discussions on RRM development
  • Share information on IRC EH activities and RRM interventions with external stakeholders, contributing to the coordination of all donors’ visits

Monitoring, Evaluation, Quality assurance and Reporting

  • Maintain an effective monitoring and planning system
  • Responsible for all internal and external programmatic reporting, including donors reports
  • Coordinate program evaluations and reviews, ensure documentation of lessons learned informing reporting and program development
  • Contribute to the development of guidelines, including technical design of software and hardware interventions and RRM modus operandi, for all domains under its responsibility
  • Ensure IRC and international quality standards for humanitarian action are fulfilled throughout the project management cycle
  • Provide technical support in EH and RRM domains to the team under direct responsibility and the overall mission ;
  • Ensure that gender, protection and environmental impact are mainstreamed in all programming under direct responsibility.

Coordination and optimal use of resources

  • Ensure regular and accurate analysis of spending, leading budget revisions in cooperation with the finance department
  • Ensure spending against targets ;
  • Ensure regular follow up of procurement including purchases and stock in cooperation with the supply chain department ;
  • Ensure procurement planning at proposal stage when appropriate ;
  • Hierarchical management of EH managers ;
  • Developing EH competencies throughout the mission; in particular coach and provide technical expertise and guidance to staff under direct responsibility in EH, RRM, project management and coordination with external stakeholders among other domains  ;
  • Coach the team under direct responsibility to ensure efficient and effective planning, implementation and monitoring of all activities and their understanding of expected program outcomes ;
  • Contribute to raise awareness and ensure compliance among own team of core IRC and donors’ policies and procedures relevant to their work ;
  • Ensure at all-time optimal use of financial, human and logistics resources ;
  • Contribute to the full compliance with security plans and protocols of own team and to security related information sharing in cooperation with the Senior Management Team (SMT)

Other duties

  • Consistently and proactively monitor/assess the safety and security of the team; promptly reporting concerns or incidents to the SMT, and when liaising with community leaders and other external parties as required to maintain/enhance the security environment for IRC programs
  • Other duties as assigned by the supervisor to enable and develop IRC programs

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

All IRC staff are required to adhere to THE IRC Way Standards for Professional Conduct and the IRC country employment policies.

REQUIREMENTS:

  • Fluency in French and English required (oral and written)
  • Minimum of Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering, hydrology, public health or related subject; Masters level education preferred.
  • Five (5) years professional experience in design and implementation of water, sanitation and hygiene projects in emergency and development contexts, including one (1) year experience in an emergency context
  • Groundwater hydrology and/or water resource management experience an assetExperience in Africa is preferred
  • Strong program/technical and budget management skills, planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation skills
  • Excellent understanding of EH issues in emergency situations and knowledge of emergency standards (Sphere)
  • Strong written and oral communication skills, effective in representation and liaison
  • Works well in and promotes teamwork, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, flexible and able to handle pressure well
  • Knowledge and/or experience in conflict management, protection, or other related field
  • Excellent professional approach and strong team building skills
  • Strong management, planning, analytical and interpersonal
  • Excellent Computer skills: MS Word, Excel; AutoCAD and GIS preferred