National WASH Specialist at Professional level NOC, on Fixed Term Appointment, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Under the direct supervision of the Chief, Health Nutrition, P4, the WASH Specialist provides support to Government departments in planning, implementation and monitoring of Drinking Water Supply, Sanitation, Hygiene, WASH in Schools and WASH in Health Centers in Tajikistan as set out in the revised Country Programme. The WASH Specialist also ensures special focus to programs and strategies to address particular needs of children and women from disadvantaged groups of the community.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child,

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the Organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give more children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations

Purpose of the job: 

Under the direct supervision of the Chief, Health  Nutrition, P4, the WASH Specialist provides support to Government departments in planning, implementation and monitoring of Drinking Water Supply, Sanitation, Hygiene, WASH in Schools and WASH in Health Centers in Tajikistan as set out in the revised Country Programme. The WASH Specialist also ensures special focus to programs and strategies to address particular needs of children and women from disadvantaged groups of the community. 

How can you make a difference?

1. Programme development and planning:

• Draft the WASH inputs for the situation analysis. 
• Provide timely, comprehensive and current data to inform WASH policy and programme development, planning, management and implementation.
• Keep abreast of WASH sector development trends, for maximum efficiency and effectiveness in programme design, management and implementation. 
• Participate in strategic WASH programme planning discussions. Prepare WASH donor proposals, ensuring alignment with the UNICEF’s Strategic Plan, UNICEF’s global WASH strategy and the Country Programme as well as government plans and priorities, and the role of other external support agencies. 
• Assist in the formulation of the WASH outcome and output results, related indicators, baselines, targets and means of verification. Prepare required documentation for programme reviews. 
• Work with internal and external colleagues and partners to discuss strategies and methodologies for the achievement of WASH output results in the country programme.  
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes and ensure integration, coherence and harmonization of WASH with other UNICEF sectors, for the achievement of the WASH output results. 
• Draft assigned sections of the annual work plan, in close cooperation with government and other counterparts.  

2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results: 

• With other external support agencies, strengthen national government WASH sector monitoring systems, with a focus on WASH outcomes (behaviors), using bottleneck analysis tools available in the sector (WASH-BAT, CSOs, SDAs).  
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts and prepare reports on results for required action/interventions at the higher level of program management.
• Prepare/assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in programmes and management, identify and document lessons learned. 
• Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocations,organizational rules, regulations/procedures and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. Report on issues identified to enable timely resolution by management/stakeholders. 
• Prepare sectoral progress reports for management, donors and partners. 

3. Technical and operational support for programme implementation: 

• Actively monitor UNICEF-supported activities through field visits, surveys and exchange of information with partners, to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely interventions. 
• Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes and best practices in WASH, to support programme implementation.
• Plan for use of technical experts from the Regional Office and HQ, as and where appropriate in the WASH programme, through remote support and on- site visits.   
• Participate in WASH programme meetings, to review progress, with government, other sector agencies and implementation partners, involved at various stages of WASH programme implementation, to provide expert advice and guidance. 
• Draft policy papers, briefs and other strategic materials for use by management, donors, UNICEF regional office and headquarters.  

4. Humanitarian WASH preparedness and response:

• Prepare requisitions for supplies, services, long-term agreements and partnership agreements to ensure UNICEF is prepared to deliver on its commitments for WASH in case of an emergency. 
• Contribute to the coordination arrangement for humanitarian WASH, for instant robust coordination in case of an emergency. 
• Ensure that all UNICEF WASH staff are familiar with UNICEF’s procedures for responding in an emergency.
• Take up support roles in an emergency response and early recovery, as and when the need arises.    

5. Networking and partnership building:

• Build and sustain close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve WASH output results. 
• Prepare materials for WASH programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships and support fund-raising. 
  Participate in inter-agency discussions, ensuring that UNICEF’s position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF development planning and agenda setting.  
• Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building
• Lead the development, implementation, monitoring and documentation of WASH action research and innovation (technical or systems). 
• Prepare learning/knowledge products, covering innovative approaches and good practices, to support overall WASH sector development. 
• Create and deliver learning opportunities for UNICEF WASH staff, to ensure our sector capacity remains up-to-date with latest developments.   
• Contribute to the systematic assessment of WASH sector capacity gap analysis, in collaboration with government and other stakeholders, and support the design of initiative to strengthen capacities systematically. 
• Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders. 

Impact of Results:  
The support provided by the WASH specialist will enable the country office to achieve the WASH-related output results of the country programme.  This, in turn, will contribute to the achievement of the outcome results of the country programme document.  When done effectively, the achievement of the outcome results will improve child survival, growth and development and reduce inequalities in the country.   

For every Child, you demonstrate:

         Core Values:

• Commitment  
• Diversity and inclusion 
• Integrity 
  Core competencies: 
  Communication (II) 
• Working with people (II) 
• Drive for results (II)  
  Functional Competencies: 
• Leading and Supervising (I) 
• Formulating strategies and concepts (II),
• Analyzing (III) 
• Applying technical expertise (III) 
• Relating and networking (II) 
• Deciding and Initiating action (II) 

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Education:  
An advanced university degree in public health, social sciences, behavior change communication, sanitary engineering or other specialist field related to WASH is required. 
Experience:  
A minimum of five years of professional work experience in WASH-related programmes for developing countries is required.  
Language Requirements:  
Fluency in English, Tajik and Russian is required.

The technical competencies required for this post are:

Expert knowledge of three of the components below and basic knowledge of three others: 
1. Rural water supply for low- and middle-income countries - including water safety, sustainability

2. Rural sanitation for low- and middle-income countries, including sustainability applying CATS principles

3. Urban sanitation for low- and middle-income countries, including sustainability

4. Hand washing with soap

5. WASH-in-Schools and Health Centres

6. Menstrual hygiene management

7. National government WASH policies, plans and strategies

8. Analysis of national budgets and expenditure for basic WASH, and related advocacy  

Basic knowledge of both components below: 

1. Humanitarian WASH - preparedness

2. Humanitarian WASH - response and recovery 

Basic knowledge of :  

1. Humanitarian WASH  coordination of the response 

Expert knowledge of two of the components below and basic knowledge of the two others: 

1. Programme/project management 2. Capacity development 3. Knowledge management 4. Monitoring and evaluation  

In-depth knowledge of: 

1. Human rights and WASH

2. Gender equality and WASH

View our competency framework at:

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

APPLICATION

The link to review detailed Specific Job Profile would be available at the following links: www.untj.org/jobs, www.unicef.org/tajikistan/resources, www.facebook.com/uniceftajikistan.

The candidates, who are interested to apply for the position, should follow the electronic application's instructions at: ??????

It requires the applicant to upload the detailed CV and academic degrees/diplomas. UN candidates should upload at least two latest performance evaluation reports.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.