Afghanistan: WASH Adviser

Jan 11, 2015 | Mission East
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Location / department: Mission East (ME) Faizabad City, Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, with frequent travels to provinces in Afghanistan with ME operations (Takhar, Badakhshan and Baghlan) and travel to Kabul.

Length of contract: 12 months, with possibility to renew.

Responsible to: Country Director (CD), Afghanistan

Line Management: There is no direct line management, but this position indirectly supervises all senior WASH staff and the WASH teams in the provinces of ME operation. This will require close coordination on a horizontal level with senior management and key programme staff within the ME Afghanistan team. The advisor will be a key member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in Afghanistan.

Background:
Mission East, founded in Denmark in 1991, is an international humanitarian and development organisation undertaking disaster relief and development programmes in Eastern Europe and Asia. In the natural hazard-prone Central Asia and Himalayan region Mission East is working in several countries with Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Natural Resource Management (NRM), Water/Sanitation/Hygiene (WASH), together with livelihoods development and local civil society capacity-building.

In Afghanistan Mission East has worked in the mountainous North-Eastern part of the country since 2001 and is at present implementing programmes in the provinces of Badakhshan, Takhar and Baghlan. More information on Mission East can be found at: http://www.missioneast.org

Overall responsibility:
Oversee all of Mission East Afghanistan’s WASH programming, ensuring high technical quality of implementation and ongoing team training as well as involvement in related proposal writing, strategy development, representation, monitoring and reporting.

Key tasks and responsibilities:
A. WASH Project supervision
• Oversee technical preparation and implementation of water supply, sanitation, and other construction activities and ensure that they meet appropriate standards (SPHERE and other applicable national and international standards).
• Oversee hygiene promotion activities to drive changes in individual and community behaviours covering all members of communities in a culturally sensitive approach.
• Ensure that implementation of WASH activities builds the capacity of communities and that they are conducted in a consultative, participative and gender-sensitive way.
• Make sure project design and implementation fit in with Mission East’s wider programme goals of reducing vulnerability and building resilience, and that DRR considerations are mainstreamed.
• Take part in new project assessments, and the development of project proposals, together with other Mission East sectoral teams.
• Ensure that recommendations from monitoring and evaluation reports are integrated in current and future programmes.
• Take part in development of policy & strategy, design of surveys in close collaboration with Mission East’s other teams.
• Work to increase regional cooperation with ME programmes in Tajikistan & Nepal, with regards to DRR & WASH, and provide technical input for ME WASH programming in other countries if requested.

B. Staff Management and development
• Provide supervision of WASH staff within the management structure of the province teams.

• Train and build the capacity of national water, sanitation, & hygiene staff in intervention strategy, Mission East procedures and guidelines, relevant donor standards, SPHERE standards and other best-practice codes of conduct.

• Determine human resource needs necessary to implement WASH interventions.

• Ensure designated staff abide by the Mission East Security Guidelines, uphold health and safety measures and Codes of Conduct and provide training to support this.

C. Co-ordination
• Coordinate with district- and provincial-level government officials and I/NGOs at sectoral and general coordination meetings.
• Provide input for national WASH cluster meetings and attend such meetings as required.

D. Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting
• Maintain a monitoring system to ensure precise information on activity on each site, project progress, quality and quantity of materials used, quality of work.
• Facilitate and support baseline, mid-term, and end line surveys as planned.
• Prepare input for and write progress reports as required and in keeping with internal and donor requirements.
• Assist in the evaluation of projects.

Selection Criteria:
Qualifications Required:
A higher education qualification (degree or equivalent) in any discipline relating to engineering, WASH (water and sanitation – health), public health or similar.

Experience Required:
• Demonstrable practical WASH, engineering, and/or public health experience, including in relief/development contexts.
• Experience in rural development activities is an advantage
• Previous experience working in sensitive security environments
• Previous experience working in Afghanistan, Central / South Asia is an advantage.

Necessary Skills and Competencies:
• Excellent technical and interpersonal skills; ability to self-motivate, proactive with lots of initiative.
• Excellent report writing skills.
• Ability to manage, motivate, train and develop staff.
• Excellence in written and spoken English.
• Fluency in Dari.
• Proficiency in Excel and Word.
• Sympathy to Mission East organisational values.

The position of WASH Adviser provides an opportunity to work with a dynamic and diverse team on a variety of projects making a visible impact on poverty, sanitation and disaster risk mitigation in rural Afghanistan and Himalayan region.
The successful candidate will be a qualified professional capable of supporting an approach ranging from emergency relief over early recovery to development, in a sensitive and challenging environment.

How to Apply:
To apply for this post please visit www.missioneast.org/vacancies, where you will be able to complete an application form.

Please ensure that all sections are fully answered as candidates will be initially screened using data submitted on the online form.

Closing date for this position is 17/02/2015, interviews will be held on a rolling basis