WASH and Engineering Adviser

Job Title: WASH and Engineering Adviser

Reports to: Senior WASH Adviser

Liaises with: Other units in the Strategy, Advocacy and Learning department, Country Offices, International Programmes Department, and the Emergency Unit.

Manages: N/A

Job location: London or Dublin with 40% travel

Pay Band: Dublin-Band 5: €49,905 – €58,711 /UK 5C: £42,962 – £47,484

Contract: Two year fixed, with possibility for renewal

Job Purpose: The WASH & Engineering Adviser will provide technical advice and support to Concern’s infrastructure projects, in order to improve the quality and sustainability of these projects. These infrastructure projects mainly cover Water and Sanitation, but there is also a focus on other areas of construction such as school classrooms, health facilities, storage facilities and small bridges. The adviser will also explore and promote innovative approaches to help ensure the provision of sustainable WASH services, and support general WASH programming across Concern’s country offices.

Key Responsibilities:

• Work with teams at the country level to ensure construction projects are implemented in line with donor requirements and international best practices, are technically appropriate to the operating context, and in accordance with Concern’s Engineering standards and, where WASH-related, Concern’s WASH Strategy.
• Provide technical advice and support to all programme teams in planning and budgeting of construction activities, including supporting the development, assessment, and/or approval of engineering designs, where appropriate.
• Conduct reviews of Engineering designs (WASH or otherwise), including analyzing drawings, BoQs, and technical specifications for conformity; giving advice and approving, where appropriate, medium to large-scale works.
• Provide support in-country and remotely on all elements of construction projects, from technical assessment of previous projects and planning of new ones to the approval of designs and supporting the project management of all works. Where necessary this can include longer-term deployments to support construction projects
• Support staff or partners with contract tendering and contractor selection and other aspects of contract management as requested.
• Provide support to field teams to develop systems for monitoring the construction, operation, maintenance, and management of infrastructure, working with the monitoring and evaluation team.
• Contribute to the management of standard operating procedures for engineering works in Concern.
• Provide technical support to field staff for their community mobilization work related to construction, the management of infrastructure, and the promotion of hygiene and sanitation.
• Explore and promote innovative approaches to help ensure the provision of sustainable WASH services, including at a minimum supply chain issues for spare parts, the funding of life cycle costs as well as operational management models.
• Contribute to the development, dissemination, and updating of Concern’s construction contracts, standardized technical specifications, standardized designs, and the Engineering Minimum Standards.
• Provide support to field teams writing funding proposals and reports, etc., taking the lead where necessary.
• Contribute to the development of WASH programmes, and non-WASH programmes including engineering aspects, so that they are in line with Concern strategies
• Ensure that construction projects are designed in such a way as to reduce risk and vulnerability and inequalities among the beneficiary population and that disaster risk reduction issues are considered.
• Develop and manage relationships with engineering groups or other networks globally that can provide technical support to Concern.
• Represent Concern in various WASH consortia, working groups, and conferences where appropriate.
• Support with the recruitment of national and international WASH / Engineering roles.
• Undertake and lead on capacity building/training of WASH / Engineering staff.
• Manage and support WASH interns and/or trainees.
• Participate in Rapid Emergency Response as necessary (including deployment for up to 6 weeks)

Skills and Experience Required:

Essential:

• Master’s degree in Civil/Structural Engineering.
• At least 5 years total professional experience in the field of WASH and civil engineering (or similar), of which at least 3 years experience with an NGO/local organization in fragile and conflict-affected contexts (FCAC) on WASH / Engineering programmes.
• Structural engineering experience for small-scale infrastructure projects
• Experience in leading supervision and training of contractors and technicians, and working with government technical staff and community groups.
• Experience in the construction of non-WASH infrastructure in FCAC settings such as schools, health clinics and roads.
• Practical experience of contract management with managing infrastructure projects, under FIDIC or other standardized contracts.
• Understanding of the role of quality assurance and advisory functions and how they link and contribute to overall programme quality.
• Good collaboration and interpersonal skills with local, national, and civil society stakeholders
• Experience in programme monitoring and evaluation
• Good understanding of development & humanitarian issues with an emphasis on participation and sustainability
• Experience in supporting and managing the softer elements of WASH programming, such as hygiene promotion, CLTS, and PHAST approaches, etc.
• Excellent report-writing skills
• Word processing & excel skills, AutoCAD proficiency

Desirable:

• Fluency in spoken and written French and/or Arabic.
• Proficiency in other relevant analysis programs such as EPANET, Pipeflow, etc.

To apply: CVs should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date: Monday 31th of October.

Candidates must be legally entitled to work in Ireland/ the UK at the time of application.

Concern Worldwide encourages all qualified candidates, irrespective of gender, ethnicity and origin, disability, political beliefs, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status to apply to become a part of the organisation. Concern is against all forms of discrimination and unequal power relations, and is committed to promoting equality.

Concern has an organisational Code of Conduct (CCoC) with three Associated Policies; the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy accessible here. These have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organisation, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context, staff have a responsibility to the organisation to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and Associated Policies as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the Associated Policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies. Additionally, Concern is committed to the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable adults and children are recruited by us for such roles. Subsequently, working or volunteering with Concern is subject to a range of vetting checks, including criminal background checking.

Your Personal Data:

During this job application, you will provide Concern with your personal data. Concern takes its responsibilities towards this personal data very seriously and is committed to complying with all relevant data protection legislation.

Concern receives a substantial amount of funding from external donors each year. Increasingly donors are introducing requirements whereby future funding is conditional on ensuring that the name of any employee or volunteer (existing or new), does not appear on terrorism lists generated by the European Union (List of person, groups and entities to which Regulation (EC No. 2580/2001 applies), the US Government (Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated Nationals and Blocked Persons) and the United Nations (Consolidated List).

Any offer of employment (either paid or voluntary) with Concern Worldwide will only be made following a successful clearance check being conducted on the applicant and such checks may be updated periodically during the course of the period of employment.

By submitting a formal application for paid or voluntary employment to Concern, you agree to Concern carrying out a clearance check as outlined above and that Concern will not proceed to recruit you should your name appear on any of the aforementioned lists

In certain circumstances, donors may request that personal data relating to employees to work on the activities that they fund be provided directly to them – so that they can perform their own counter terrorism checks. This may involve transferring some basic personal data outside the EEA. It will be a condition of your employment contract that Concern be allowed to share this information with institutional donors for these purposes.

For additional information, please consult our web site or contact the Human Resource Division in our Head Office.

You have certain rights under data protection legislation. For more information on how to exercise those rights, please visit www.concern.net/about/privacy

Please only apply for this position if you are satisfied with the proposed processing of your personal data as outlined above.