Regional WASH Adviser EA & Yemen

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

Nairobi, Kenya 🇰🇪

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Regional WASH Advisor is responsible for providing specialist advice and guidance to the Country Director and/or Head of Programme and CC/Thematic Specialists at Country level in ensuring that optimal WASH programme strategies, systems, policy, tools and practices are in place.  The Regional WASH Adviser will also contribute to funding bids from the CC perspective and assist the Country Office in ensuring that donor opportunities are identified, and donor obligations and requirements are met.

The Regional WASH Adviser will provide a range of advisory support, technical oversight and capacity building to CO staff in relation to their own specialist area of expertise.

Additionally, they may act within regional CC and thematic team as the lead on a particular cross- cutting area of programme strategy and development.  Staff within the team will be expected to contribute to global development initiatives as part of the wider community of specialists.

The CC and Thematic team are part of a technical matrix structure and are required to work collaboratively with colleagues in both the technical and the operational management structures in country offices, and the regional management group.  They also have a technical accountability to the global programme function, policy, strategy, and direction as determined through the Head Office level of NRC. Collaborative working with colleagues within the wider regional programme team, at Head Office (HO) and in other Regions is essential to effectiveness in the role and maximising the shared learning across NRC.

General Responsibilities

Policy and strategy and programme development

  1. Responsible for ensuring compliance and adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures in relation to the thematic area while contributing to the development of policies, strategies, tools and new approaches with a focus on innovation and piloting.
  2. Responsible of supporting the development of country/regional core competence strategies and implementation plans in line with global policies and strategies.
  3. Work in partnership with the HO Programme department to contribute to specific areas of innovation and development, including piloting and learning from experiences at the country office and regional level, development of policies, strategies and tools, and sharing learning with other regions.
  4. Contribute to the resource mobilization and fundraising for regional programme development related to WASH.
  5. Contribute to the development of a coherent Regional WASH Strategy, that links regional WASH/Humanitarian related issues across national boundaries in partnership with NRC country offices. Contribute to Country Strategies (WASH Section), on a case by case basis.

Technical development, support and capacity building

  1. Develop standards and procedures for the implementation of quality WASH infrastructure in the EAY Region, taking into account design processes, budgeting, contracts, works supervision, risk and indemnity. Work closely with the Global WASH Advisor and with Logistics counterparts.
  2. Responsible for providing strategic advice and technical support and capacity building support to the Country Offices in the region on relevant core competency or cross-cutting issues across Country Offices in the region and the Regional Office.
  3. Contribute to the concept of inclusive ‘WASH services’, including engagement with communities, vulnerable groups, different ethnic groups and different genders. Roll out specific training for NRC WASH staff in the EAY Region.
  4. Ensure that WASH based programming approaches contributes to integrated programming and analysis and that these interventions are measured
  5. Contribute to development and delivery of induction and training provision of CO staff in relation to own core competency, working collaboratively with learning and development (L&D) and other colleagues.  Contribute to recruitment interviews for technical staff.  May provide some technical supervision to technical staff in Country Offices.
  6. Source and manage technical/capacity building expertise outside of their own area of technical competency in partnership with Regional Advisers and CO WASH focal points. Advise on appropriate contractual arrangements in partnership with Regional Logistics.
  7. Initiate discussions in NRC in relation to more sustainable WASH. This can include: governance, operation & maintenance of systems, cost recovery, private sector partnerships and market based approaches.

Quality standards, data analysis and M&E

  1. Responsible for ensuring that best practices within the core competency are identified, documented and disseminated both within the region and beyond.
  2. Work in partnership with monitoring and evaluation (M&E) staff, to ensure the alignment of the programmatic areas in the M&E and project cycle management (PCM) systems in relation to own core competency.
  3. Responsible for supporting and monitoring country programme compliance with the Programme Policy and respective quality assurances in relation to the core competency.
  4. Identify suitable tools (e.g. mWater) for monitoring WASH programmes at the regional level, across countries, and develop a strategy for roll out and capacity building of staff. Link indicators to work undertaken by Global WASH Cluster.

Networking, representation and relationships

  1. Develop relationships with WASH Cluster/WASH Sector at the regional level and be a proactive contributor into WASH related discussions/activities. Raise the profile of NRC as key Regional WASH actor.
  2. Responsible for identification, development and maintenance of relationships with relevant stakeholders (e.g., donors, UN agencies, NGOs, research- and educational institutions, private sector) related to programmes in general and more specifically as related to NRC’s Core Competencies.
  3. Work in partnership with the regional and country office advocacy leads to identify and develop regional advocacy issues related to the core competence and relevant cross-cutting issues.

Specific Responsibilities

  1. Work collaboratively with L&D lead in the Region, and HO Programme and L&D colleagues, on the review and development of learning provision within the region relating to WASH, including induction, training provision to CO CC project managers, and capacity building initiatives. 
  2. Act as the focal point within the Region on learning and development initiatives as a integral part of capacity building for CC and Thematic within the COs, working collaboratively with other CC and Thematic Advisers and the L&D lead within the region, and with colleagues at HO (Global Programme Development Section and Organisational Development (OD) L&D)
  3. Contribute to the adaptation of NRC’s global CC programme approaches and development of guidelines, tools and innovative approaches based on research of trends and learning from the country offices.
  4. Responsible for the identification of pilot projects for the further development of the …… core competency in the region.  Contribute to the communication of results and the development of recommendations.
  5. Design and implement a capacity building strategy for national staff relevant to country office needs

Professional Competencies 

  • In-depth knowledge and expertise of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
  • Several years of documented experience working within WASH field
  • Extensive experience in programming in complex and volatile contexts
  • Experience of strategic approaches to programme development
  • Experience of developing practical tools and resources
  • Experience of programme quality assessments, programme development and delivery
  • Understanding of and commitment to organisational learning, and the role and contribution of M&E to quality management and development
  • Experience from working in complex and volatile contexts, with preference for previous experience in the East Africa and Yemen
  • Understanding of, and commitment to working collaboratively with technical and operational colleagues within a matrix structure, including capacity building

For more information, here is the detailed job description 

Additional Details:

Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya

Locations – East Africa and Yemen Region (EAY)

Type of Contract: 12 Months renewable based on funding, performance, and the need for position

Salary: Based upon the NRC grading Scale

This position is open to qualified candidates of all nationalities! Experience in technical WASH competencies is highly desired!

ABOUT US

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee. We work in crises across more than 31 countries, providing emergencies and long-term assistance to millions of people every year. We stand up for people forced to flee, advocating their rights. NORCAP, our global provider of expertise, helps improve international and local ability to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from crises. NRC also runs the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva, a global leader in reporting on and advocating for people displaced within their own country.

Employment with NRC may lead to employment in or deployment to Regions, Countries, Areas or Offices that may be host to considerable health, safety and security risks. NRC takes this very seriously and we have procedures in place to reduce known risks, but will never be able to take away all risks.

NRC is an equal opportunities employer and aims to have staffing diversity in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, nationality and physical ability.


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