WASH Assessment Officer for South Sudan

Country
  • South Sudan
City
  • Juba
Organization
  • IMPACT Initiatives
Type
  • Job
Career Category
  • Monitoring and Evaluation
Years of experience
  • 0-2 years
Theme
  • Water Sanitation Hygiene

BACKGROUND ON IMPACT AND REACH

REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two International NGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). REACH’s purpose is to promote and facilitate the development of information products that enhance the humanitarian community’s decision making and planning capacity for emergency, reconstruction and development contexts, supporting and working within the framework of the humanitarian reform process. REACH facilitates information management for aid actors through three complementary services: (a) need and situation assessments facilitated by REACH teams; (b) situation analysis using satellite imagery; (c) provision of related database and (web)-mapping facilities and expertise.

ACTED is a French humanitarian NGO, founded in 1993, which supports vulnerable populations, affected by humanitarian crises worldwide. ACTED provides continued support to vulnerable communities by ensuring the sustainability of post-crisis interventions and engaging long-term challenges facing our target populations, in order to break the poverty cycle, foster development and reduce vulnerability to disasters. Their interventions seek to cover the multiple aspects of humanitarian and development crises through a multidisciplinary approach which is both global and local, and adapted to each context. Their 3,300 staff is committed in to responding to emergencies worldwide, to supporting recovery and rehabilitation, towards sustainable development.

We are currently looking for a REACH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Assessment Officer to support our REACH team in South Sudan.

Department: REACH

Position: REACH WASH Assessment Officer

Contract duration: 6 months

Location: Juba, South Sudan

Starting Date: ASAP

COUNTRY PROFILE

IMPACT, through REACH, has been implementing programming in South Sudan since 2012. Responding to the South Sudan border crisis, REACH initially engaged through coordinated information management support – in the form of Refugee camp mapping and service provision analysis, thematic assessments and multi-sectoral needs assessments – in Maban County, Upper Nile State and Pariang County, Unity State. IMPACT was engaged by DFID to provide a series of IMPACT evaluations of their brace programming across greater Bahr El Ghazal and Upper assessments and reached a total of more than 20,000 households. Immediately following the conflict of December 2013, REACH expanded its programming to include the IDP response, participating in initial rapid needs assessments of conflict affected areas, providing mapping and monthly service provision analyis for major IDP sites around the country, and running large sclae IDP return intentions assessments.

2018 saw the expansions of both IMPACT and REACH programming to 10 of 10 states, spanning the refugee, IDP and development responses, and covering diverse activities such as cross-border port monitoring, assessments of hard to reach areas, flood mapping and vulnerability analysis, market monitoring and supply chain analysis, analysis of tensions and conflicts over access to natural resources, and third party monitoring of humanitarian and development programming. In 2019, REACH expanded its role within the technical space, increasing involvement in Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Needs Analysis Working Group, UN technical agencies, and academics. In response, REACH has also expanded into multiple new research cycle streams beyond humanitarian needs monitoring, including sector specific, population movement, and AAP research.

Broadly, REACH South Sudan implements assessments across three core units:

  • Monitoring of the humanitarian situation in South Sudan, through monthly assessments covering over 2,000 settlements in South Sudan, conducting an annual representative Multi Sector Needs Assessment to provide a snapshot of needs, and ad hoc rapid assessments in times of sudden escalations in conflict or natural disasters.
  • Monitoring population movement trends in South Sudan, including tracking and analyzing large-scale displacement, returns and seasonal movements, through port and road monitoring, ad-hoc assessments, and a population movement baseline; assessing the perceptions of affected populations of the humanitarian response; engaging with the protection cluster in identifying and filling major information gaps; and mainstreaming a context sensitive approach within REACH South Sudan.
  • Providing direct technical support to humanitarian clusters through active engagement with coordination bodies, dedicated assessments and information products, and strategic engagement to promote innovative methods towards understanding sector-related needs in South Sudan.

The Sector Unit Assessment Officer will support the third of these activities by assessing WASH needs and conditions in South Sudan and working closely with REACH teams to provide relevant analysis to the humanitarian response. The role will be based in Juba but with travel to other areas of South Sudan when relevant.

FUNCTIONS

Under the supervision of the REACH country coordinator, the REACH WASH Assessment Officer is responsible for the management and implementation of REACH assessments in country, including the preparation, implementation and follow-up. He/she will also be responsible for related logistics, partner coordination, reporting and finance requirements and will be required to provide input to the strategic development of REACH in country and region, if relevant.

Summary

The WASH Assessment Officer shall be responsible for:

  • In collaboration with the Research Manager for the Sector Unit, and under the guidance of the Country Coordinator, supporting humanitarian actors in South Sudan, including the WASH cluster, with relevant and timely data and analysis.
  • Designing and implementing assessments to monitor WASH and related conditions and needs in South Sudan. Where relevant, conducting rapid and/or field-based assessments.
  • Coordinating and ensuring timely data collection, including management of field staff where relevant.
  • Carrying out cleaning and analysis of collected data as well as secondary data sources.
  • Producing relevant information products such reports and factsheets for a range of actors.
  • Working closely with the GIS team to produce relevant maps of WASH infrastructure and needs.
  • Providing technical support to the wider REACH South Sudan mission through expertise on WASH and related sectors.
  • Supporting the development of new projects and programme strategies, as well as the production of donor reports and new proposals.
  • In coordination with the REACH Country Coordinator and Sector Unit Research Manager, representing REACH externally with donors, partners and the wider aid community through clusters and sectoral working groups.

1. REACH ASSESSMENT MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION

Objective 2.1: Management of assessments process

Under the supervision of the Sector Unit Research Manager, the REACH Assessment Officer is responsible for designing the methodology and tools associated with each assessment, according to REACH requirements and principles. He/she will manage the planning, implementation, and follow-up of REACH and projects specific assessment activities conducted in country. In operations in which REACH is a project component of a wider ACTED intervention, the REACH Assessment Officer is required to contribute to the preparation and follow up of the Project Management Framework and ensure that activities are properly coordinated and implemented as per the Project Cycle Management. The REACH Assessment Officer shall manage logistics, financial, administration and HR processes directly related to REACH and liaise accordingly with the relevant ACTED counterpart. He/she is directly responsible for the implementation of proper ACTED FLAT procedures in REACH interventions.

Objective 2.2: Implementation

Under the supervision of the Sector Unit Research Manager and GIS Manager, the REACH Assessment Officer is responsible for contributing to the implementation of assessment projects, providing support to the development of assessment, database and GIS tools within the REACH team. This will specifically include, with the GIS/DB team: designing of data collection tools (household surveys, focus groups, and more); development or review of databases; contributing to GIS data collection procedures and mapping thereof through ArcGIS and other ESRI products in particular; and analysis of spatial information.

Objective 2.3: Coordination

When requested by the REACH Country Coordinator and Sector Unit Research Manager, the REACH Assessment Officer shall provide technical support to the relevant ACTED department in terms of the preparation of new project proposals, development of programme strategies, implementation of project activities, and any other required REACH input to ACTED projects. When requested by the REACH Country Coordinator and Sector Unit Research Manager, The REACH Assessment Officer is responsible for the timely and accurate preparation of narrative and financial reports related to REACH activities in country through close liaison with the Project Development and Finance departments. The REACH Assessment Officer shall liaise with other REACH Officers in the region and throughout IMPACT Initiatives’ and ACTED’s networks to provide and receive support in the expansion of REACH globally.

2. REACH REPORTING

The REACH Assessment Officer is responsible for consolidating analysis and conclusions from assessments into REACH products such as factsheets, reports and briefs using standard formats. He/she will liaise with the Sector Unit Research Manager and GIS Manager in order to represent data in interactive web map or static map format, as relevant. The REACH Assessment Officer is responsible for following the designated timeline of reports to be submitted to project partners and donors. He/she must ensure the writing of timely and accurate assessment reports and factsheets, ensuring the quality and accuracy of technical information provided as well as the confidentiality and protection of collected information. He/she will ensure that assessment reports contribute to aid coordination and planning and add to the general base of field knowledge in the country for all organisations working in the areas. When requested by the Sector Unit Research Manager, he/she will also manage the drafting of narrative reports and contribute to the development of financial reports through regular budgetary follow-up. The REACH Assessment Officer will also store, organize and disseminate assessments, project documents and best practices among REACH. He/she will coordinate timely and accurate reporting to IMPACT Headquarters.

3. REACH HR MANAGEMENT

  • Staff Management

Under the direct line management of the Sector Unit Research Manager, the REACH Assessment Officer may be responsible for day-to-day management of project and field staff both directly and remotely, whenever relevant. He/she is expected to guide and direct REACH staff and prepare and follow up work plans with each staff member that directly reports to him/her. The REACH Assessment Officer may be required to take the lead in the recruitment of REACH field assessment staff in coordination with the ACTED HR Officer. This will include the preparation of ToRs, observation of recruitment procedures by planning recruitment needs in advance, and undertaking interviews.

The REACH Assessment Officer will ensure that all field teams are comprehensively briefed on the objectives, expected outputs and that the overall implementation strategy of any given activity is clearly understood. He/she will ensure that project/field staff are given training and complete all the necessary documentation in line with program requirements set by REACH.

4. REPRESENTATION

In close coordination with the REACH Country Coordinator and Sector Unit Research Manager, representation of REACH in cluster and multi-sector meetings/technical working groups in country and follow up on technical issues identified in cluster meetings in other parts of the country. This specifically will include liaising with external partners to identify potential for data sets to be integrated into existing databases and mapped to support the coordination of the broader humanitarian community.

More generally, the REACH Assessment Officer is expected to contribute to the creation of a positive image and overall credibility of the organisation, notably through the application of REACH’s vision, ethics, values and standpoint with regard to other actors.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO COMMUNITIES AND BENEFICIARIES

The staff member is responsible for ensuring that all relations with the communities we work are conducted in a respectful and consultative manner. Due attention must be paid to ensuring that communities are adequately consulted and informed about REACH programme objectives, activities, beneficiary selection criteria, and methodologies. This is the responsibility of every REACH staff member.

REQUIREMENTS

  • Excellent academic qualifications, including a Master’s degree in a relevant discipline;
  • Excellent analytical skills:
  • Strong skills in Excel required;
  • Experience using R an asset;
  • Experience using SPSS an asset;
  • Experience using GIS an asset;
  • Ability to design tools in Kobo, ODK, or similar mobile data collection tools an asset;
  • Experience conducting assessments and/or research independently;
  • Familiarity with the humanitarian aid system and relevant actors;
  • Fluency in English required;
  • Excellent communication and drafting skills;
  • Flexibility and adaptability to ever-changing needs and responsibilities;
  • Ability to work independently;
  • Ability to operate in a cross-cultural environment;
  • Willingness to spend time in deep field locations away from IMPACT/ACTED support;
  • Openness to feedback and willingness to learn;
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
  • Flexibility and adaptability to ever-changing needs and responsibilities;
  • Prior knowledge of the region an asset;
  • A sense of humour about bugs and bucket showers required.

How to apply

Kindly submit to the following link: https://www.impact-initiatives.org/work-with-us/vacancies/reach-wash-ass…

In case you encounter challenges using the application form, please contact us via [email protected]

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