National UN Volunteer for Sanitation & Hygiene

Details

Mission and objectives

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, 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 all 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.

Context

Provision of safe sanitation is one of the major socio-developmental issues that the Government of India has focused on, especially in the last 8 years. Responding to the fact that as in 2014, over 60% of the persons without access to toilets at home in the whole world were from India, and therefore most were often practicing open defecation, i.e., over 550 million people. The India government launched the Swachh Bharat Mission- Gramin SBM (G), a national-level sanitation programme, that aimed at providing access to all 180 million rural households by 2019. In Bihar, SBM (G) is known as the Lohiya Swachh Bihar Abhiyan (LSBA). Under the programme, by 2019, over 16.5 million new toilets were built, and this was accompanied by large-scale capacity building and communication campaigns rolled out at the state level, to ensure that people use these toilets. By October 2019, about 8400 Gram panchayats and 45000 villages declared themselves open defecation free (ODF). During the entire period of SBM (G)/LSBA programme, UNICEF Bihar Field Office supported the State government and the districts as the principal development partner, with significant success. In addition to providing technical assistance covering multiple aspects of the sanitation programme, UNICEF also carried out a number of research studies. This is now looking at interventions focused on sustaining the gains in achieving ODF status and also implementing Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) works in all he 8400 Gram panchayats. UNICEF Bihar has once again partnered with the government, providing technical and managerial assistance, on the various components of ODF+ programme of SBM G II, that includes the ODF Sustainability as well as the SLWM areas of work including on (i) policy advocacy and programme implementation support (ii) capacity building (iii) Technical aspects of management of solid waste like faecal sludge, plastic and biodegradable wastes as well as grey water management (iv) Social and behavior change communication (v) monitoring (vi) Knowledge management and documentation (vii) research. In this activity, UNICEF is supported by multiple financial donors including like – Domestos, Lixil Corporation etc. There are also multiple other partnerships that UNICEF has engaged in particular components of the sanitation programme. All these donor and project partnerships require significant management efforts and handholding work from UNICEF. This high requirement for support to efficiently and smoothly service these partnerships requires work force assistance in the section for the sanitation output. It is thus proposed to engage a national UNV for this activity to support the sanitation programme.

Task description

The NUNV shall support cross-cutting tasks involving engagement with sanitation programme donors and implementation partners. The NUNV will be placed in the UNICEF Bihar Field Office (BFO) and will be directly supervised by the WASH Specialist with oversight by the Program Manager/Chief of UNICEF Bihar Field Office. The NUNV shall work closely and provide support to the WASH Specialist, in coordinating the interaction with donors, government departments, development partners and the partner Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). The interaction with the supervisor will take place regularly, allowing continuous performance monitoring. The duties of the NUNV shall include: i. Supporting the planning, monitoring, and reporting requirements of the donor partnerships; support the BFO WASH Section in quality assurance of reports and data. Coordinating, participating in discussion and review sessions, providing technical support and quality assurance of the tasks related to meetings with different stakeholders. iii. Coordinating, providing technical support and quality assurance of the activities related to the interaction with UNICEF programme partners, working under the sanitation output, regarding the projects under implementation. iv. Assist designing, development and roll out of communication and capacity building interventions strategy and action plan under the sanitation output, regarding the projects under implementation. v. Support field implementation of sanitation and hygiene projects under the guidance of the BFO WASH Specialist. This may include field visits as per direction of the WASH Specialist. vi. Support concurrent monitoring of the deliverables on various sanitation and hygiene programmes. vii. Supporting the development of written material, presentations, and reports for the meetings, including the review meetings with the Government, on the partnership projects under implementation by UNICEF. viii. Supporting the BFO WASH section in organizing and preparing for regular meetings and event like GHD and WTD, including disseminating information related to the development partners platform on rural sanitation and hygiene, that is hosted by UNICEF. ix. Work on the various data sources and data sets like NFHS V, NSSO, NAARS and analyze them as per requirements of the section and direction of the WASH Specialist. x. Development of written material, presentations, and reports for dissemination within UNICEF WASH network and outside UNICEF. xi. Support in knowledge management of WASH pillar, including managing UNICEF - ECM library and ECM sites related to sanitation. xii. Assist BFO WASH Specialist in engaging with the network on the sanitation programme, especially on partnerships at the national and state levels. Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to: ▪ Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and taking an active part in UNV activities (for instance, in events that mark IVD). ▪ Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country/State. ▪ Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities. ▪ Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc. ▪ Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers. ▪ Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible Results and output: All planning, coordination, monitoring, reporting, documentation, and data analysis tasks under the UNICEF Bihar Field Office’s sanitation and hygiene programme, especially related to donor programming and partnership programming, for the period 2022-2023 completed, as requested by the lead focal point – BFO WASH Specialist. ▪ A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in, and capacities developed. ▪ As an active UNICEF Bihar Field Office (BFO) team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly, and high-quality support rendered to UNICEF and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including: ▪ Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment