Background
Re-Advertised: Those who previously applied do not need to re-apply.
The Ministry of Irrigation (MOI) with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme in collaboration with the Department of National Planning (NPD), Ministry Irrigation and Water Management (MIWM) Ministry of Agriculture (MA), Ministry of City Planning and Water Supply and Ministry of Disaster Management, secured financing from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to implement a USD 38.1 million project aimed at strengthening the resilience of Smallholder farmers in the dry Zone to climate variability and extreme events.
This Project will support the Government to implement integrated solutions to water management in three river basins in the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka. The Project aims to achieve higher levels of food, livelihoods and water security for flood and drought affected poor communities. GCF resources will be invested in improving access to irrigation and eco-system based agricultural practices, improved community managed drinking water infrastructure, scaling up decentralized drinking water systems and strengthening early warning, forecasting and climate advisories to protect farmers, particularly women from climate related impacts. The Project will benefit 750,000 people living in the three river basins directly through investments in irrigation, drinking water and disaster risk management. Moreover, around 770,000 people living in these districts will indirectly benefit from the project interventions in capacities and early warning systems. Under this Project, which will be implemented from 2017 to 2024 UNDP will work with a number of government institutions to deliver the Project outputs and activities and measures its impacts.
Component 1: Climate Resilient Investment to rehabilitate small tank-based cascading systems and related infrastructure and facilitate sustainable, climate-proof agricultural practices in targeted areas.
Component 2: Investments to increase access to and quality of drinking water in remote and rural areas through a multi-pronged partnership approach that seeks to replenish sources, build storage, purify contaminated water and address root causes of water quality issues.
Component 3: Improve community access to timely early warning for flood and drought to avoid losses and impacts on key livelihood assets. This includes the generation, coding, modelling, dissemination and access to weather related data/knowledge including advise and early warning.
The Project implementation modality includes a Project Management Unit established under the MOI with the Project Director, Deputy Project Directors responsible for three river basins, Project Accountant and other project staff and two field offices established in the project areas. UNDP as the responsible party for Project assurance will provide technical assistance to implement the Project. Under this, the service of a team of technical specialists will be provided by UNDP to facilitate the implementation of the Project. Further, a national level technical advisory committee will be established to obtain specialist advice to ensure integrated approach for climate resilient water management.
The Technical Specialist for Climate Resilient Drinking Water Supply will be part of the UNDP’s technical team for Project implementation and is responsible to provide overall technical guidance to implement the component 2 of the Project.
The Technical Specialist – Climate Resilient Drinking Water Supply promotes a collaborative, client-oriented approach consistent with UNDP rules and regulations.
The Technical Specialist – Climate Resilient Drinking Water Supply works in close collaboration with the respective CO Programme and Operations teams ensuring successful CO performance and compliance in programme management and finance.
Duties and Responsibilities
1. Support the UNDP team to strengthen the implementation model.
2. Assist in identifying critical paths of the Project and dependencies and interdependencies among the project activities of all three components.
3. Liaise and coordinate with Ministry of Water Supply, National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) and Department of National Community Water Supply (DNCWS) to implement and sustain the agreed Project Outputs and deliverables of Component 2 in line with the signed MOUs and drinking water sector policies.
4. Liaise and coordinate with other relevant national and district level stakeholders to ensure effective and efficient implementation and sustainability of the agreed outputs and deliverables in Component 2.
5. Review and upgrade/improve the Implementation Mechanism, Cost-Sharing Model including Counterpart Funds and Community Contributions, the annual work plans, the identified project interventions, capital investment requirement and quality assurance procedure of the activities carried out under the Project
6. Review, closely monitor and approve the deliverables of the Consultants appointed for Component 2, together with the Field Engineers to ensure implementation of the agreed Annual Activity Plans and Work Plans.
7. Liaise with the Consultant recruited for conducting the Training Needs Assessment (TNAs), Developing training modules and training materials, Conducting TOT programs and developing agreed training programs.
8. Liaise with the appointed National Consultant for Social Development regarding social development strategies to achieve sustainable outputs and to develop required training materials and training programmes for community and stakeholder training and sensitization programmes.
9. Together with the National Consultant for Social Development and Field Engineers, liaise with CSOs hired for community mobilization and advise them regarding building awareness and mobilizing the communities for preparing Climate Resilient Water Safety and Security Plans, Emergency Response Plans including water source protection, monitoring of construction, operation and maintenance of the water supply systems built.
10. Make available specific technical inputs (i.e., checking bidding documents, pre-bid meetings, short listing of bidders, evaluation of bidders etc.) to Procurement associate of UNDP in the procurement process.
11. Ensuring that climate resilient features are incorporated into the interventions in Components 2 and drinking water management/ground water management are integrated with the cascade level management plans.
12. Guide the Project staff and Field Engineers in technical matters related to drinking water supply schemes.
13. Liaise with the Technical Working Group and expert panel and facilitate incorporation of their advice to the designs, construction and maintenance activities.
14. Assist PMU in coordinating of project activities with relevant government and nongovernment agencies
15. Assist the Field Engineers for preparation of Drinking Water Management Plans, Ground Water Management Plans, Water Quality Surveillance of VISs in Cascades etc. in consultation with Irrigation Specialist.
16. Together with the Field Engineers, implement Climate Resilient Water Safety & Security Plans, Ground water recharge and watersheds/catchments protection and improvement plans.
17. Record and share experiences, design research proposals to document innovative approaches and climate resilient aspects.
18. Any other tasks assigned by the Project.
Reports to :
- Project Manager Technical Specialist – GCF (CET)
Competencies
| Core | |
| Achieve Results: | LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have a lasting impact |
| Think Innovatively: | LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks and develop new ideas to solve complex problems |
| Learn Continuously: | LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences |
| Adapt with Agility: | LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands |
| Act with Determination: | LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate tasks/barriers and take action to achieve greater results |
| Engage and Partner: | LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigating complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration |
| Enable Diversity and Inclusion: | LEVEL 3: Appreciate the benefits of a diverse workforce and champion inclusivity |
| Cross-functional & Technical competencies Thematic AreaNameDefinitionTechnicalWorking with evidence and dataAbility to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-makingTechnicalStrategic engagementAbility to capture and sustain engagement, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure in buy-in of high-level vision and objectivesTechnicalNature, climate and energyClimate change adaptation, embedding adaptation into policy/planning/decision makingTechnicalNature, climate, and energyClimate change adaptation: Drinking water supplyCross-FunctionalHorizontal scanning/Trend analysisAbility to scan and analyze the trends, provide early warning and projectionsCross-functionalStrategic ThinkingAbility to develop effective strategies and priority-led plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground and creating tangible solutions; Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP.People for 2030GenderGender Mainstreaming | |
Required Skills and Experience
| Min. Education requirements | Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Engineering, Public Health and Integrated Water Management ORA first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.(Degree must be from an accredited university) |
| Min. years of relevant Work Experience | Master’s Degree with two (2) years OR Bachelor’s Degree with four (4) years of progressively responsible work experience in drinking Water Supply and other related fields in Sri Lanka.Substantial relevant experience in the design and implementation of integrated development projects, e.g. community water supply, poverty reduction, food livelihood and water security including working on community based initiatives. |
| Required skills | Good computer literacy, including Microsoft Office and Excel. |
| Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section | Experience in the formulation and management of similar projects with global funds including: (a) Project design, management, and monitoring & evaluation. (b) Working with multi-disciplinary teams including local and expatriate technical experts.Experience in economic and financial analysis for project viability and budget formulations.Familiarity with technical issues related to adaptation, methods of costbenefit analysis for adaptation options, identification of multiple benefits of adaptation, including economic, social and gender related.Ability to prepare reports, presentations and information for case studies.Previous experience working with UN organizations. |
| Required Language(s) | Fluency in English and working knowledge of the Tamil or Sinhala languages would be an advantage. |
| Professional Certificates | ACCA, CIPS, and CISCO if required for specific services. |
