Emergency WASH Cluster Coordinator

Job Description

Job number: S02417
Contract Type: Employee
Closing date: 24-Nov-2022
Location: ZIMBABWE
Duty Station: Harare
Duty Station Status: N/A
Duration: 12 months
Accompanied Status: N/A
Grade: To be determined

Organizational Context

IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The Headquarters are organized into three main Divisions: (i) National Society Development and Operations Coordination; (ii) Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization; and (iii) Management Policy, Strategy and Corporate Services.

IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas. IFRC also has country cluster delegation and country delegations throughout the world. Together, the Geneva Headquarters and the field structure (regional, cluster and country) comprise the IFRC Secretariat.

The Agenda for Renewal provides a vision for how the IFRC sees its role in the implementation of Strategy 2030. The Agenda for Renewal ensures that the IFRC provides strategic and operational membership coordination, National Society Development services and represents the collective with humanitarian diplomacy and advocacy.

The IFRC Secretariat work is guided by its Plan & Budget 2021-2025, articulated around five strategic priorities: Climate and Environmental Crises, Evolving Crises and Disasters, Growing gaps in health and wellbeing, Migration and Identity, Values Power, and Inclusion. The Plan & Budget 2021-2025 also defines three enablers: Engaged, Accountable, Trusted.

The Secretariat is led by the IFRC Secretary General and provides the central capacity of the International Federation to serve, connect, and represent National Societies. The Secretariat’s headquarters is organized in three main business groups: (i) Partnerships, including Movement and Membership; (ii) Programmes and Operations; and (iii) Management Services. The department of Health & Care consists of 3 teams, of which Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is one.

The Emergency WASH Cluster Coordinator for the Africa Hunger Crisis reports to the Harare Cluster operations manager as a line manager and technically to the Emergency WASH Coordinator at the Africa regional office in Nairobi . The Africa Regional Office (ARO) is organized in two main blocks: 1) a group of technical service-based departments and 2) geographical configurations of 15 Country Cluster Delegations. He or she supports the IFRC’s programmatic vision for Emergency WASH and its translation into programmatic interventions, in close collaboration with NS’s of Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia. He or she provides technical advice, support and coordination to the Federation’s programmes in the areas of emergency water, sanitation and hygiene promotion, specifically linked to the Africa Hunger Crisis – but also complements the complete resilience continuum (in emergency, recovery and development contexts).

Job Purpose

The Emergency WASH cluster Coordinator is expected to contribute to the management and supervision of both emergency multilateral and bilateral WASH programmes and operations namely the delivery of all cluster activities covered by the WASH component under the Hunger Crisis operation (water, sanitation, hygiene) with initial emphasis on Zimbabwe as one of the priority countries.

He or she supports the transition from Emergency to development WASH programming inclusive both rural and urban under an integrated food security approach connecting to public health and nutrition, livelihood, climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and ecosystem restoration.

When possible, and if operational duties allow, he or she supports with resource mobilization efforts for the WASH component of the Hunger Operation (long-term component) in close coordination with partners and other regional initiatives.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Enable RCRC to be leading player in the Emergency WASH sector under the Harare clusters remit

• Assist the Harare cluster NS to undertake assessments and the development of baseline data to support planning and monitoring of the WASH programme.
• Coordinate the IFRC/PNS support to NS to develop an emergency WASH and nutrition programme with vulnerable communities in the most affected area, including recommendations on further Surge deployment such as WASH Rapid Response Personnel or ERU’s
• Contribute to ensuring that the WASH response is fully funded by external donors through the development of partnerships and proposals for potential donors, including private sector organizations, bridging the gap between emergency and development funding.
• In collaboration with the NS, represent the Movement at sectoral coordination meetings and ensure that WASH activities are well coordinated with the WASH Cluster (or equivalent sector coordination mechanism).
• In coordination with the regional WASH coordinator contribute to explore possibility of long term developmental (including One WASH cholera preparedness and prevention/climate adaptation) programming in the affected area.
• Work closely, with other members of the WASH Team, with other departments and units in Africa Regional office contributing to ensuring appropriate visibility, resource mobilization and public awareness of the work of IFRC/RCRC.
• Work closely with IM teams to deliver accurate, updated WASH and nutrition database with proper data visualisation of WASH needs and WASH activities. Share data visualization products with stakeholders and government when relevant.
• Continuously collect and analyze primary and secondary data from different sources related to the WASH situation in the cluster within the Hunger Operation, giving visibility to neglected needs, population groups or geographical areas.
• Ensure effective communication with regional and country-based stakeholders involved in WASH and nutrition, such as the WASH Cluster (data sharing and brainstorming) and with local authorities involved in project definition and/or implementation.
• Support in advocating for donors to fund WASH activities, while at the same time encouraging participants to mobilize resources through their usual channels.

Support National Societies to deliver quality WASH intervention and ensure high WASH performance

• Translate the needs into program priorities and help Partner NSs to identify emergency WASH activities related to livelihood and nutrition. Recommend appropriate technologies and designs for water and sanitation systems and promote hygiene promotion approaches that are suitable for the local context and would be widely accepted by beneficiaries, in collaboration with other actors.
• Place special attention to WASH in health and livelihood/nutrition facilities and Schools with wet feeding component to support safe and high-quality health care delivery at existing facilities, including contingency preparation for potential infectious disease outbreaks.
• Ensure gender, inclusion and protection is considered throughout the project cycle with needs of vulnerable groups being met and enabled to influence decision-making around WASH challenges.
• Ensure National Societies are able to effectively incorporate WASH along the resilience continuum: strengthening of WASH as part of prevention/public health; WASH as part of disaster preparedness and anticipation; WASH as part of climate change adaptation and ecosystem restoration; and WASH during recovery aimed at ‘building back better’.
• Contributes to the Capacity building of National Societies in the field of WASH and emergencies, in collaboration with the National Society Development (NSD) Teams. Support capacity building initiatives so that refugees and other persons of concern and partners acquire the needed knowledge, skills, and sense of responsibility and ownership of WASH interventions.
• Implement the appropriate supervisory, monitoring and evaluation systems for Emergency WASH interventions when feasible. Ensure adequate reporting and effective information sharing.

Support coordination of WASH for Hunger Crisis

• With other Global and Regional WASH team members actively engage with and provide support to the Global WASH Initiatives. Provide input to WASH sector-specific 3W and 5W charts and regularly update Inter-Sector Coordination on changes. Contribute to and when required backstop the RCRC regional WASH surge mechanisms and ensure that the right people with the right skills and equipment can be deployed to the right places at the right time to support National Societies emergency WASH needs for the operation.
• Update agreed response strategies and action plans according to the context evolution through a strong coordination of the overall WASH implementation plan integrating bilateral and multilateral components under the Hunger Operation.
• Promote synergies with other WASH actors active in complementary sectors at regional and country level. Participate in joint sectoral needs assessment and analysis;

Contribute to Delivering quality in programmes and operations (This is more for in-country delegates and not the regional/roving position or am I wrong?)

• Ensure that tools, guidelines, and projects are based on evidence, and applicable international standards.
• Ensure that behavioral change components and training are following good standards and are aligned to global wide guidelines and
• Ensure transition of quality Water and Sanitation of the emergency interventions into the global flagships; Cholera/One WASH and Pandemic and Epidemic Preparedness, the Pan Africa Initiatives; Tree planting and Care, Food Insecurity and Hunger Crisis, Red Ready.

Contribute to an effective, high quality IFRC team:

• Be accountable to Cluster operations coordinator and Head of delegation Harare cluster by providing regular progress reports on results against objectives and risk analysis as set out by established procedures for the Hunger Crisis Operation.
• Be flexible in their work definition according to needs and targets and improve efficiencies and effectiveness within available resources.
• Be a pro-active team member fostering a customer service-oriented culture that values proactivity, continuous improvement, innovation, high performance, and cost effectiveness.
• Foster a co-creative environment with colleagues in National Societies including actors in the relevant external environment.

Education

• Advanced university degree (master’s or equivalent) in WASH, Engineering, or equivalent professional experience
• Relevant post-graduate degree in public health

Experience

• At least 5 years of working experience in the humanitarian or development sector, with a focus on WASH.
• Demonstrated professional credibility in the sector and experience working in an international or cross-cultural environment.
• 5 years of management and supervisory experience in a multicultural environment, with developing countries and/or with an international organisation at the management level
• Experience working in a RC/RC National Society and/or Federation/ICRC

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

• Knowledge of WASH and public health and experience in practically applying this knowledge into policy, programmes and positioning
• Programme and project management
• Results oriented and demand driven individual, entrepreneurial, ability to lead in unprecedented and/or ambiguous situations.
• Demonstrated leadership and management skills, including the ability to lead within a matrix management structure and utilise talent and experience of team members in a productive way.
• Outstanding networking, representational, communication and negotiation skills. An ability to be proactive and persuasive.
• Demonstrated track record in innovating, contributing to a learning culture, sharing knowledge and new approaches to engaging partners.
• Professional credibility, able to work effectively at all levels across the organisation
• Proven good judgment and ability to work with complete integrity and confidentiality
• High degree of discretion, tact and sensitivity in dealing with internal and external clients and stakeholders at all levels.
• Ability to work within a multi-cultural, multilingual, multidisciplinary environment.
• Fluently spoken and written English
• Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish or Arabic)

Competencies, Values and Comments

• Values: Respect for Diversity, Integrity, Professionalism, Accountability
• Core Competencies: Communication, Collaboration & Teamwork, Judgement & Decision Making, National Society & Customer Relations, Creativity & Innovation, Building Trust
• Managerial Competencies: Managing Staff Performance, Managing Staff Development
• Functional Competencies: Strategic Orientation, Building Alliances, Leadership, Empowering Others