Back Senior Specialist - Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

Summary

Save the Children (SC) is a global Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) leader with programming that advances essential services in communities, health facilities, and schools across development and emergency contexts across many countries. The Senior Specialist, WASH position is a key position in the WASH team and will support Save the Children’s global WASH portfolio in the areas of child health and nutrition, WASH infrastructure access and quality, Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and climate change resilience. The position provides technical expertise and support to global and country-level programs, including program design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. The incumbent promotes program quality; stimulates program innovation, learning, and documentation; supports global and country-level advocacy; mobilizes resources; and collaborates with key SC members in advancing policy, advocacy and program activities.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Technical Guidance and Support (60% level of effort)

• Provide direct technical assistance and capacity building support to specific countries and projects for program design, monitoring, and evaluation and report documentation in technical areas of child health and nutrition, WASH infrastructure access and quality, IWRM and climate change resilience.
• Work with the USAID Food For Peace funded PRO-WASH Project Director to develop a unified vision for a broad portfolio of work focusing on water resource management for support to USAID/Food for Peace (FFP) partners and other external implementing and research partners.
• Lead work on stakeholder mapping to identify areas for additional technical support and capacity-strengthening in water resource management, including water governance, service delivery and infrastructure, across partners working in development contexts.
• As required, develop and implement WASH capacity-building and knowledge-sharing activities, including designing and implementing Training of Trainers (ToT) curricula to achieve longer-term, sustainable learning capacities at all levels – HQ, field and technical – within implementing organizations.
• Create and disseminate capacity strengthening tools, trainings, and practice materials focused on water resource management including USAID WASH Infrastructure standards through multiple channels, including in-person trainings, distance learning, low-resource and low bandwidth A/V, and mentoring methodologies.

Program Coordination (15% level of effort)

• Maintain communication and coordination with SC’s global WASH colleagues across Member Offices and Country Offices.
• Work with the PRO-WASH Project Director to develop strategic partnerships with USAID/FFP, implementing partners, governments, and research institutions.
• Link practitioners to capacity strengthening opportunities conducted by other organizations (e.g., academic institutions, research bodies and other international agencies).

Program Learning, Knowledge Management, and Innovation (15% level of effort)

• Contribute to SC’s quarterly and annual reporting, strategic and operational planning and other knowledge management and documentation mechanisms.
• Assist in the development, testing and scale-up of relevant, evidence-based interventions and/or rigorous research as opportunities arise.
• As required, identify and conduct webinars highlighting new developments or approaches in water resource management, water service delivery and strengthened water governance for implementing partners.
• Monitor new developments, approaches and evidence within the water resource management sector; identifying evidence gaps and priorities for research and future documentation
• Develop and coordinate strong documentation, learning documents, toolkits and data collection methods to share with the larger food security community, including via FSN Network.

Resource Mobilization & Representation (10% level of effort)

• Contribute to proposal development in response to new business opportunities.
• Foster and maintain relationships with SC colleagues located in our country offices to position and pursue new business opportunities.
• Build partnerships with external agencies and organizations including multilaterals, NGOs and contractors to share and promote WASH learning and innovation and pursue potential WASH opportunities.
• Identify WASH funding opportunities from US Government and other donors and lead preparation of technical proposals for relevant WASH opportunities.
• Serve as an internal and external expert on WASH and represent SC at global forums including workshops, conferences and meetings, and within global projects.

Required Qualifications

· A minimum of 5-7 years' experience in area of related experience.

· Bachelor’s degree or relevant equivalent experience

· Experience working in water resource management including water service delivery and strengthening of local water governance.

· Experience designing and delivering WASH training curricula for a variety of country contexts.

· Experience providing technical assistance in WASH in a variety of country contexts.

· Demonstrated experience integrating WASH into nutrition and/or child health programs.

· Experience designing and implementing qualitative and quantitative monitoring and evaluation systems for WASH projects.

· Demonstrated capacity strengthening skills and experience with focus on institutionalizing capacity strengthening systems within partner organizations.

· Practical experience that demonstrates an understanding of the challenges working in development contexts.

· Proficient English written and verbal communications skills.

· Demonstrated experience in technical writing/documentation.

· Collaborative and respectful working styles with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and work settings.

· Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work both independently and as a team member with diverse headquarters, field office, and partner agency staff.

· Computer literacy in Microsoft Office Suite (MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint)

· Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% of the time on short notice. Travel includes both international and domestic trips.

Preferred Qualifications

· Advanced education in Engineering, Public Health, Environmental Health or equivalent is desirable

· Familiarity with USAID-funded activities, particularly within USAID/FFP, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment (E3) and/or Global Health.

· Experience working in USAID/Food for Peace partner countries.

· Business development experience (USAID and private sector donors).

· Experience designing, implementing and/or evaluating WASH programs in any of following sectors: sustainability of WASH infrastructure, public-private partnerships, social behavior change for WASH, climate change resilience and governance systems.

· Experience in qualitative and quantitative research, including those focused on improving access to and quality of drinking water, particularly those less reliant on heavy behavior change strategies and household expenditures.

· Experience working in the WASH sector within emergency contexts

· Ability to read, write and speak at a technical level in French or other languages is desirable.

Why you should join the Save the Children Team…

Save the Children US offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, pet insurance, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, 403(b), generous vacation, personal sick leave, family leave, parental/adoption leave, commuter benefits, dress for your day, and much more.

Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in YOU!

Why you should join the Save the Children Team

Save the Children US offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, pet insurance, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, 403(b), generous vacation, personal sick leave, family leave, parental/adoption leave, commuter benefits, dress for your day, and much more.

Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in YOU!

About Save the Children

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom Save the Children is in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation. Any violations of this policy will be treated as a serious issue.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.