WASH Technical Consultant

Job no: 576580
Contract type: Consultant
Duty Station: Lviv
Level: Consultancy
Location: Ukraine
Categories: WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, hope

UNICEF Ukraine

Background:

Now in the third year of the full-scale war, there are severe consequences for the well-being of the country’s children. Even before the escalation of the conflict, in February 2022, approximately 10 million people in Ukraine lacked access to centralized piped water supply, and 20 million people lacked access to centralized wastewater collection and treatment facilities (GoU, 2021). Poor water quality (one-third of samples fail national standards) and inadequate sewage treatment present public health risks, including disease outbreaks. Costs have risen sharply, while demand and affordability have declined drastically.

Moreover, the water and sanitation facilities are overall old and decaying, and both drinking water supply and wastewater treatment depend on this heavily degraded infrastructure. As of 2021, around 40% of existing networks were in critical condition and almost 35% of sewage treatment facilities needed upgrades (GoU 2021).

UNICEF together with partners is working to ensure that emergency access to safe water and sanitation is available to children and families across the country, including some of the priority and most affected areas where large scale rehabilitation projects were initiated in 2022 and 2023. Since 2022, a majority of the interventions are focused in the frontline area where UNICEF supports vodokanals (water utilities), municipalities, hospitals, schools and collective centers, restoring water and sanitation services and facilities, providing equipment and essential consumables such as chemicals for water treatment.

Working through field offices, in 2024, UNICEF seeks to reach over 1.5 million people with critical WASH supplies, ensure approximately 4.5 million people access safe water and sanitation services from public utilities, and ensure child-friendly, gender-sensitive and inclusion WASH facilities in 260 social institutions. Additionally, UNICEF coordinates humanitarian and development partners for WASH response and recovery, generates awareness on hygiene and environmental sustainability, supports scalable models for improved WASH service delivery and governance, engages in capacity development, and bases its infrastructure intervention on environmental and social safeguards.

In 2024, one of the prominent lines of work for UNICEF is towards early recovery with piloting scalable models, working towards better governance and energy efficiency, also leading to cost recovery for the sector on a whole and specifically for water utilities. Thus, evidence generation, knowledge management, monitoring and reporting of these activities becomes critical.

How can you make a difference? 

Purpose of assignment:

The consultant will work closely with UNICEF’s implementing partners, provide technical support to the WASH Section, and work under the direct management of the Lviv Field Office WASH Specialist to deliver the following results:

Conducting periodic needs assessment

Consultant will be expected to conduct periodic assessment of WASH related needs at KfW Hromadas of Lviv FO Area of Responsibility (AOR). The consultant will be required to work with WASH activities and periodically visit Implementing Partners and Hromadas to obtain feedback about interventions and identify challenges and opportunities related to the implementation. The Assessment Report should provide UNICEF and its implementing partner(s) actionable information so that interventions are well planned/calibrated.

Documentation of implementing partners outcomes

Undertake specific field missions to document innovative and efficient WASH efforts in the field, with a special focus on sustainable market-based solutions and scalable models.

Monitoring and reporting

Undertake monitoring, evaluation and reporting of implementation of WASH related scalable models, as well as other projects led by WASH in Lviv FO AOR.

Support capacity development.

Provide technical support and expertise to supplement UNICEF WASH in different coordination and capacity development forums, when necessary.

Support of compliance to Environmental and Social safeguards

Monitoring and reporting on application of environmental and social management plans during implementation of WASH related activities led by WASH in Lviv FO AOR.The consultant will work closely with and under the supervision of the UNICEF Team.

Work assignment overview:

Travel plan (40 days):

Please provide an all-inclusive financial proposal including travels to carry out the deliverables listed above.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

Education: Master’s degree or higher in one of the following fields is required: engineering, architecture, public health, or other technical disciplines relevant to the fields of WASH, from an accredited academic institution.

Professional experience:

• A minimum of five (5) years of relevant experience, at the national and/or international levels, in WASH and/or other directly related technical fields is required;
• Experience in planning and implementation of civil design construction and WASH projects will be considered an advantage;
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation of civil design construction and WASH projects will be considered an advantage;
• Experience in development and humanitarian work, especially in emergency response, will be considered an advantage;
• Work experience with other UN agencies in WASH will be considered an advantage.

Languages: 

• Ukrainian: Advanced [C1];
• English: Upper-intermediate [B2] .

Skills and competencies: 

• Strong understanding on the project cycle management (especially monitoring and evaluation steps), technical supervision and financial management and planning.
• Good understanding on review and analysis of technical documents.
• Good understanding on legislation and regulations of government of Ukraine regarding contracting and construction of infrastructure projects.
• Good understanding and skills on communication with different stakeholders (local authorities, contractors, consulting firms, NGO/CSO).
• Good understanding of the humanitarian approach and of UNICEF’s mandate.
• Ability to perform several tasks in a timely manner with a focus on quality.
• Communicate key messages to different audiences.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

 To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors 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 selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates 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 assignment. It does not apply to consultants 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 consultancy contracts. 

Advertised: 22 Oct 2024 FLE Daylight Time
Deadline: 04 Nov 2024 FLE Standard Time