General
Description of assignment title: WASH Programme Volunteer
Assignment country: Mozambique
Expected start date: 24/06/2024
Sustainable Development Goal: 6. Clean water and sanitation
Volunteer category: National UN Volunteer Specialist
Host entity: UNICEF
Type: Onsite
Duration: 24 months (with possibility of extension)
Number of assignments: 1
Duty stations: Quelimane
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 favouritism. 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, hygiene/sanitation and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfil 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
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) aim at ensuring access to water and sanitation for all. Despite efforts made in the past decades, current water and sanitation coverage in Mozambique is amongst the lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa with only 63% having access to safe water and 42% to adequate sanitation (JMP, 2022). Disaggregated, urban safe water coverage is 87% and rural is 48%, with coverage for small towns estimated to be even lower, reaching only 25% of the population.
Under its 2022-2026 Country Programme, UNICEF Mozambique has a dedicated water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) Program, supporting the Government of Mozambique to increase access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education. through a range of interventions, including both development and humanitarian contexts across rural and small towns settlements. Specific activities include technical support and advocacy for policy and strategy formulation at national level, decentralized support to Government for planning and implementation of water sources, water supply systems. Over the past years, UNICEF WASH portfolio has increased in scope through the incorporation and scale up of local based interventions including water supply systems in small towns, multi-use / solar powered water supply systems in rural communities, WASH in health centres that have been added to the already established interventions on construction of water points (i.e. boreholes with handpumps) at community and school level, including support and strengthening of operation, maintenance and management of water supply sources and systems. On the sanitation portfolio UNICEF has extended the implementation of CLTS programs in various provinces, with triggering of more than 1.000 communities in Zambezia Province.
Together with its supporting role for field implementation, UNICEF also plays a pivotal role into evidence generation to inform WASH sector policy and strategy and in capacity development and training to increase sector’s abilities for WASH programme planning, implementation and monitoring.
To support implementation of the above priorities, UNICEF is seeking for suitable candidates to fulfil a Volunteer (UNV) position for a WASH officer within the Zambezia Field Office and WASH team, to support implementation of its workplan on WASH related issues in Zambezia province. The UNV position will be directly supervised by the WASH Specialist based in Zambezia. The UNV will also engage with other sectors within the UNICEF Mozambique Country Office, partner organizations, such as governmental offices at national and decentralized level, NGOs and other civil society organizations.
UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.
Task description
Under the direct supervision of the WASH Specialist based in Zambezia and in coordination with the other members of the WASH team in Maputo, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:
- Support monitoring of field implementation on WASH related interventions (water supply, sanitation and hygiene activities; WASH in schools and WASH in Health centres; in rural and small towns), including liaison and coordination with implementing partners
- Support implementation of CLTS programs from training of partners, triggering of communities, close monitoring, evaluation and certification of ODF communities.
- Support the documentation of good practices and development of technical notes for water supply and sanitation interventions conducted by UNICEF and partners.
- Undertake field monitoring and reporting of WASH related interventions implemented with UNICEF support;
- Support field work and analysis of information related to operation, maintenance and management of water supply systems as per the various UNICEF interventions.
- Support communication activities and liaise with UNICEF communications department for dissemination of UNICEF WASH interventions over mass and social media.
- Support the utilization of previously produced and validated capacity building and training materials; and provide inputs for development of new ones as needed;
- Assist in the monitoring and management of implementation agreements (project cooperation agreements, contracts, etc.)
- Contribution in the development of WASH programme / water supply related reports and other monitoring and reporting documentation as required, including the 5W.
Eligibility criteria
Age: 27 – 80
Nationality: Candidate must be a national or legal resident of the country of assignment.
Requirements
Required experience
3 years of experience in the national and/or international level in water supply, sanitation and hygiene, rural / community development, behavioural change and project management.
- Excellent computer skills in word, excel and PowerPoint. Familiarity with GIS applications would be an asset.
- Analytical mindset, and people orientated.
- Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel;
- Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with tight deadlines;
- Sound security awareness;
- Have affinity with or interest in issues relating to children’s rights volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN System.
Area(s) of expertise: Community development, Crisis and emergency response, Social work
Driving license: .
Languages
Portuguese, Level: Fluent, Required
English, Level: Working knowledge, Required
Required education level
Bachelor degree or equivalent in in WASH related domains of: civil/ sanitary/ environmental engineering sociology, public health or related fields
Competencies and values
- Accountability
- Adaptability and flexibility
- Creativity
- Judgement and decision-making
- Planning and organising
- Professionalism
- Self-management
Other information
Living conditions and remarks
As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. This position is based Zambezia. National UN Volunteers are part of the malicious insurance plan. National UN Volunteers are expected to be culturally sensitive and adjust to the prevailing culture and traditions.
The contract lasts for the period indicated above with possibility of extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity and satisfactory performance. However, there is no expectation of renewal of the assignment.
The applicable Volunteer Living Allowance is provided monthly to cover housing, utilities and normal cost of living expenses. Life, health and permanent disability insurance are included (health insurance for up to 3 dependents – except for UN Community Volunteers), as well as final repatriation (if applicable). You can check full entitlements at https://app.unv.org/calculator .
Furthermore, in non-family duty stations that belong to hardship categories D or E, as classified by the ICSC, a Well-Being Differential (WBD) will be provided monthly
Inclusivity statement
United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
Reasonable accommodation
UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.
Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements
In addition to duty station-specific vaccine requirements, appointments are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the appointment. It does not apply to UN Volunteers who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their contracts.
