Senior WASH Officer

Background/IRC Summary:  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 and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

IRC has been working in Pakistan for over 30 years, and manages and delivers large, complex programs to meet the needs in health, education, protection, environmental health and livelihoods for displaced, poor and disaster affected communities. IRC works in partnership with local government and non-governmental organizations and currently works in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces.

IRC Pakistan will be implementing five years “leveraging Inclusive WASH For Empowerment in Pakistan (LIFE-Pakistan) project i.e. Water For Women Fund supported by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australian government.

With an overall goal of gender equitable and socially inclusive WASH services for improved health conditions of marginalized groups, this project aims to directly improve the lives of 168,000 beneficiaries in 75 villages in three districts of KP, Pakistan.

The project will reach its goal through three pillars:

1. Inclusive community level WASH
2. Improved WASH governance
3. Strengthened decision making around WASH.

The project will focus on schools and health centers that serve communities, as well as community and household WASH. A process of participatory training and discussion will be utilized to strengthen women’s role in the community, and will be supported with life skills training and gender protection programming. Knowledge management and learning through ongoing monitoring, periodic evaluations and research will keep the project on track, provide evidence for advocacy for improving legislative environment, and draw learning for future programing.

Job Overview/Summary: The Senior Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Officer is responsible for the organization and managing of all water, sanitation and hygiene project implementation, ensuring that activities are relevant, successfully implemented.

Major Responsibilities:

·         Provide technical support, strategic leadership and support to the IRC EH program.

·         Mobilize community groups, sensitize and train them on specific topics as required, organize and facilitate meetings.

·         Quality checks on WASH Officer assignments. 

·         Daily coordination of WASH Officers to complete project milestones. 

·         Manage and supervise staff according to standard IRC guidelines including performance management, job orientation, capacity building, support in recruitment process and grievance handling.

·         Plan and manage WASH project activities in a phased and prioritized manner with full consultation and coordination with project staff and other agencies both governmental and non-governmental.

·         Assess and monitor field based resources and capacities (Human, material and financial).

·         Work with Engineer and select and design water systems including source selection, storage, treatment and distribution for new systems and/or the rehabilitation of old systems.

·         Ensure appropriate management and operation of sanitation system (including excreta disposal, vector control, solid waste disposal, drainage) taking full account of local conditions, resources, customs and cultural norms.

·         Ensure Pakistan National Sanitation Policy guidelines are in place while framing sanitation related strategies and programming.

·         Continuously improve performance in Environmental Health and hygiene innovation while maintaining compliance with all government bodies and donors.

·         Assist in ensuring daily reporting of problems regarding WASH facilities to the WASH Manager, in order to flag issues as soon as they arise. As much as possible, potential solutions should also be presented when reporting problems. 

·         Support achievement of sustainable WASH outcomes for women, the poor, transgender and persons living with disabilities (PLWDs). 

·         In collaboration with the MEL unit organize assessments, design surveys and monitoring mechanism for project sustainability.

·         Ensure the effective communication, collaboration and networking developed and maintained with government bodies, donors and partners.

·         Strengthen capacity of institutes to support and sustain WASH services.

·         Develop  work-plans for the sector and monitor compliance to ensure objectives and targets are met and achieved.

·         Enhance program efficiency and effectiveness through evidence based approaches and implementation follow-on, including monitoring inputs, local conditions and resources.

·         Identify problems and proposes remedial action. Identifies alternative courses of action, to accelerate/improve program delivery.

·         Organize training workshops to improve existing practices and introduce new practices or ideas.

·         Exchange information on implementation, status, capacity and risk mapping and preparedness.

·         Responsible to ensure that clients of IRC are properly explained their rights and duties. 

Job Requirements:

a)      Education:

·         Minimum Bachelor’s degree (Honours) or Master Degree in Project Management, Public health, Human Resource Management, Social/Environmental Science or other relevant field, preferably with inclusive WASH specialization.

b)      Work Experience:

·         Minimum 3 years experience in WASH projects, preferably in NGO environment.

c)      Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

·         Demonstrate analytical, project conceptual and planning skills, clear and realistic activity.

·         Profound cultural awareness and sound knowledge of public health issues.

·         Ability to exercise sound judgement and make decisions independently.

·         Extremely flexible, and have the ability to cope with stressful situations.

·         Creativity and the ability to work with limited resources.

·         Highly effective written and verbal communications skills

·         Strong project management, planning, organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills

Language Skills: English, Urdu and Pashtu

Others: 

Gender Equality and Diversity:

IRC recognizes that gender equality is fundamental to the achievement of our organizational mission. As such, IRC is committed to the promotion of gender equality in all aspects of our operations and programs. Our organizational policies, procedures and actions demonstrate this commitment. Women, minorities, persons with disability (PWD) and transgender are highly encouraged to apply.