WASH COORDINATOR

WASH COORDINATOR, SIERRA LEONE

Job Location:               Kenema (50%) & Freetown (50%)
Responsible to:            Assistant Country Director, Programs

Contract Length:         1 year

General Description of GOAL’s Work:
In 1999 GOAL began work in Sierra Leone with a disadvantaged Children and Youths’ Program for street children in Freetown and providing emergency relief in Kenema for the incoming Liberian refugees.  Since then GOAL has expanded in both locations.  In Kenema, to include a WASH and a child protection program and in Freetown, the main base of operations, WASH, child protection, HIV/AIDS, nutrition and health.

In Kenema GOAL implements a UNICEF and Irish Aid funded WASH program.  This program constructs or rehabilitates gravity flow systems, protected hand dug wells and bio-sand filters and uses the Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach to promote sustainable sanitation solutions for approximately 650 rural communities.  There is also a WASH in schools program that delivers School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE) and School-led Total Sanitation (SLTS) both directly by GOAL and through a local partner.

GOAL also has a three year Urban WASH project in Freetown, part of the Urban WASH NGO Consortium, funded by DFID. GOAL is continuing to expand activities into more slum and marginal communities across the city.

The three year programme aims to work with partners including Freetown City Council, Guma Valley Water Company and the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources to support the implementation of the Government of Sierra Leone’s National Water and Sanitation Policy and improve WASH conditions for vulnerable communities within 23 city sections of Freetown.

The programme focusses on a community led approach to diarrheal disease prevention, improving the management of faecal sludge in Freetown and contributing to a creation of a Cholera Preparedness plan.
GOAL is also funded by UNICEF to support Guma Valley Water Company (GVWC) to map public tap stands across the city.

Summary of the Role:
As the WASH Coordinator you will have strategic oversight of GOAL's WASH strategy and operations across all GOAL's areas of operation in Sierra Leone.  You will be expected to make specific technical and strategic recommendations to the Assistant Country Director of Programs, and to closely advise the WASH Program Managers and teams on implementation, capacity building and program development.  

Until August 2012 the WASH coordinator will be 100% based in Kenema to provide support to the rural program, after which his/her time will be 50/50 spent between Freetown and Kenema.  Technical support to this role will be provided by GOAL’s Global WASH advisor.

Program Implementation
•    Lead on the development and production of technical proposals to donors and provide technical input into internal and donor reports.
•    Ensure that all work aims to meet national or sphere standards.
•    Ensure that all work is carried out in a way that is sensitive to community needs and promotes the full and equal participation of women.
•    Ensure that programs are set up in a way that maximises learning opportunities, and ensure that lessons learnt are fed back into the refinement and development of other programs within the country and organisation.
•    Identify and develop systems to share information and extract lessons learnt between rural/urban WASH programs and eventually feedback to other GOAL countries.
•    Ensure that all financial and logistical procedures are followed during implementation.

Capacity Building
•    Support recruitment of dedicated WASH staff and develop and follow through on specific capacity building plans for key WASH staff.
•    Lead on WASH staff technical capacity development within the country.  This may include various forms of training, attending conferences etc. as well as possibly playing mentoring and coaching roles for key staff.
•    Share learning within GOAL globally and with external organisations as appropriate.
•    Lead on developing trial projects that feed into our learning, especially around new and appropriate technology.
•    Ensure technical cross learning between rural and urban is effective where appropriate.

Program Development
•    Coordinate with donors, governments and other stakeholders to ensure that GOAL’s WASH programs are in line with the national WASH strategy.
•    Build and maintain relationships with staff in Government Ministries and Institutions to ensure the smooth implementation and development of the WASH programme.
•    Link with the Global WASH advisor to ensure that Sierra Leone’s WASH programs are linked with the global WASH strategy.
•    Provide technical advice, or find alternative sources of technical advice as necessary, to programs on hardware and software issues relating to WASH, as well as on issues such as low cost technologies and innovative technologies such as sanitation marketing, semi-urban CLTS etc.
•    Work closely with GOAL’s health, HIV/AIDs, DCYP program managers and Assistant Country Director of Programs to ensure that programs are well integrated.
•    Link with appropriate professional networks at district, country and global levels to ensure that GOAL remains connected to current thinking and has an opportunity to influence others outside of the organisation
•    Lead on initiating, monitoring and learning from trial projects that will contribute to increasing our overall effectiveness.
•    Provide proactive support on program monitoring and development of appropriate monitoring frameworks and tools and assist with program evaluations as required

Other
•    Carry out any other duties as requested by the Assistant Country Director of Programs
•    Comply with GOAL’s Child Protection Policy at all times
•    Take the lead on WASH components of emergency responses undertaken by GOAL

Essential Requirements:
•    Formal qualifications at graduate or postgraduate level in WASH/engineering
•    Three years overseas working experience in a managerial capacity within an WASH program with an International NGO
•    Experience in proposal development, budget preparation and report writing
•    Good computer skills with a working knowledge of Microsoft office and ArcGIS
•    Proven knowledge of community development methodologies and the ability to work in a participative manner developing shared ownership and vision
•    Appropriate skills and experience in the capacity building and training of national staff and partners
•    Good communication skills, fluent oral and written English
•    Understanding of mainstreaming principles and experience of working on mainstreaming activities

This Job Description only serves as a guide for the position available. GOAL reserves the right to change this document. This is an unaccompanied position. Interviews will be held in Dublin or London. Unfortunately GOAL cannot contribute to financial costs incurred when attending interview.

Note: GOAL is an equal opportunities employer.

GOAL has a Staff Code of Conduct and a Child Protection Policy which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants and children from exploitation.  Any candidate offered a job with GOAL will be expected to adhere to these policies any job offer made is also subject to police clearance.

If you would like to apply for the above position, please send your CV and covering letter, ensuring that the job title and location of the role are clearly stated in the subject line of your email.

Thank you.

NO FEE

AJS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS AND AJS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON BANK ACCOUNTS.

SOME EMPLOYERS MAY ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF YOUR APPLICATION.