Job Purpose:

The Senior Project Officer: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion (WASH) is responsible for delivering and contributing to design of Concern Worldwide’s WASH programme activities in Somaliland. Responsibilities include leading implementation of activities per agreed project/s design and workplan, ensuring implementation in line with donor commitments and funding allocations, and monitoring implementation to document practice and impact. The Senior Project Officer will develop in-depth knowledge on water and sanitation needs and solutions, as well as behavior change strategies linked to hygiene practices and undertake substantial field work.

Reports To: Somaliland Programme Coordinator with technical dotted line reporting to WASH & Construction Coordinator

Direct Reports: Hygiene Promotion Officer

Liaise with: Somaliland Coordinator, WASH Engineer, MEAL Manager, Logistics, Finance and Admin teams

Job Location: Hargeisa

Contract Details: 7 months

Main Duties and Responsibilities

**

Programme Implementation

• Prepare and roll out weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual workplans for activities to be undertaken by WASH team in Somaliland, in collaboration with Programme Coordinator and WASH & Construction Coordinator.
• Contribute to budget preparation and management for WASH activities.**
• Liaise with Logistics for timely and quality project inputs.**
• Lead on hygiene promotion and COVID-19 awareness raising, including review/update relevant IEC materials and messages.
• Work with and supervise Community Hygiene Promoters (CHPs) to provide guidance in the development of Community Action Plans and develop/review community hygiene promotion tools in line with the Somaliland WASH Cluster
• Conduct random spot checks of the CHPs in the project to identify training needs and areas of support while providing mentorship
• Support the formation of effective and democratic community WES committees.
• Work very closely with the Community Development Committees in the selection of Hygiene Promoters and in the selection of the most vulnerable members to benefit from WASH services including AWD kit distribution
• Coordinate and ensure fair and targeted distribution of hygiene kits and participate in the post distribution monitoring and prepare related reports
• Support the CHPs and communities in ensuring proper use and maintenance of WASH facilities
• Identification and facilitation of community structures through which the WASH activities can be implemented
• Mobilization of communities for participation in planning, community-contribution to construction, operation, and maintenance of WASH facilities and services
• Creation of channels for dialogue between the response and the affected population, to ensure appropriate technical interventions
• In accordance with Concern policies, design, implement, and monitor hygiene promotion activities that are appropriate to specific sectors of the community, e.g. children, youths, women, and men.
• In close coordination with WASH Engineer, ensure that water quality tests are conducted, analyzed and results shared with communities for all Concern constructed water systems/water trucking.
• Request and organize delivery of hygiene materials/tools/equipment in a timely manner.
• Monitor distribution of hygiene materials/tools/equipment by Hygiene Promotors to households to ensure equity and accountability.
• Collaboration with other Somaliland programme team members to support effective integration of WASH across multi-sector programming.

Technical approaches

• Take technical lead on design and roll out in Somaliland operational areas of hygiene and sanitation promotion approaches and interventions, including disease surveillance system.
• Ensure that hygiene promotion activities are in line with relevant standards, codes of conduct, and humanitarian principles.
• Develop/review and implement participatory approaches as a far as possible throughout the programme cycle, in training, and in the use of toolkits and other materials
• Ensure collaboration across sectors, leveraging coverage of beneficiaries to ensure maximum reach of key disease and malnutrition prevention activities.

Monitoring and Reporting

• Collaborate with M&E and other programme colleagues for development and roll out of project M&E plans; lead WASH assessments (needs, baseline, midline, endline), Focus Group Discussions (FGD), Key Informant Interview (KII), community profiling, participatory studies and behaviour change assessments. **
• Ensure monthly reports and weekly updates are produced to quality per guidelines and submitted timely to Programme Coordinator and onwards to Grants Manager.
• Monitor and report on the distribution of non-food items to target groups, such as containers, soap, hygiene kits, etc.
• Collect information on negative and positive changes of interventions through agreed methodologies (focus group discussion, household visits, individual interviews and case studies) as requested
• Monitor and collect community feedback on project components and implication
• Undertake follow-up monitoring on programme implementation activities and contribute to the preparation of required reports
• Work closely with the Programme Coordinator, WASH Coordinator and the WASH Engineer in undertaking water quality monitoring.
• Ensure awareness of Concern’s Complaints Response Mechanism (CRM) and accountability commitments within communities and actively encourage use for feedback and any complaints.

Human Resources

• Line manager one Hygiene Promotion officer, providing support and oversight to achievement of agreed objectives per PDR, and supporting planning and continual capacity development.**
• Support identification of areas for capacity strengthening on WASH within Concern Somaliland team and programmes, and take leadership on development of suitable trainings etc within area of expertise.**
• Assist with the recruit, training and management of Hygiene Promoters and Community Mobilisers.**

Programme Representation:

• Support Concern and programme participants to develop networks and linkages with other development and institutional actors. **
• Develop monitoring tools aimed at documenting practice and impact with findings reflected in monthly and annual reports.**
• Represent Concern at various development and WASH networks including the WASH cluster and Ministry of Water Resources coordination meetings. **

Emergency Response

Concern is committed to responding to emergencies efficiently and effectively in order to help affected people meet their basic needs, alleviate suffering and maintain their dignity. To this end, when emergencies strike and Somalia/Somaliland Programme is to respond, all staff are required to actively participate in the response, regardless of location and contribute to the efforts aimed at achieving the humanitarian objective of the organisation.

Person Specification:

Qualification:

• A University degree in the field of Environmental Health, Public Health or Rural Development (or other related discipline).

Experience:

• At least 3 years of employment experience related to WASH, including practical experience in participatory programme design and implementation and community trainings.
• Proven experience in planning, implementing and monitoring WASH programmes, especially software aspects.
• Experience in the use of PHAST, CLTS and other participatory methodologies.
• Ability to develop hygiene promotion and nutrition-sensitive sensitization materials and approaches.
• Excellent report writing and presentation skills.
• Fluency in both written and spoken English.
• Good computer skills including Microsoft Office and Outlook.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and sensitivity to ethnic, cultural and gender diversity.
• Flexibility to work extensively within Concern’s operational areas (Awdal, Maroodi-Jeex).