Emergency WASH Specialist

Emergency WASH Specialist (Temporary Appointment), NO-C, Ha Noi, Viet Nam (for Vietnamese Nationals only)

Job Number: 509463
Locations: Asia and the Pacific: Viet Nam
Work Type : Temporary Appointment

If you are qualified and looking for a chance to make a real difference in the lives of Vietnamese children while gaining opportunities for career growth, you are invited to apply for the following post with The United Nations Children's Fund.

For every child, a champion!

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does - in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life - in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions - her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens - addressing inequity - not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

How can you make a difference?

Job organizational context

Viet Nam, as a lower middle income country since 2010, is at critical juncture in its development journey, especially under the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework which provides a strengthened partnership platform for supporting Viet Nam's efforts towards achieving key national priorities. With the increasing national capacity to invest its own resource for the development programs, UNICEF is increasing its role in upstream advocacy and technical assistance to eliminate barriers and bottlenecks across sectors including in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

Typhoon Damrey, made landfall in Viet Nam on early Saturday morning, 4 November 2017, with winds of up to 135 km/hour, 500 km south of Nha Trang. Additional heavy rainfall and floods, as well as additional tropical storms such as Kirogi, continued to ravage many of the affected provinces. An estimated economic loss and damages of US$630 Million has been estimated by the Government by mid-November 2017.

Multi-sectoral rapid assessments were conducted by the Government of Viet Nam (GOV) and the Viet Nam Red Cross in the first week after the typhoon and heavy rainfalls impacted the country, and all results were shared with the UN agencies. In addition, UNICEF joined multi-sectoral assessments in six most severally affected of the fifteen affected provinces. Provinces assessed included the most severely affected ones, including Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Quang Nam, and Thua Thien Hue.

At least 1 Million children, within a total of 4.3 Million people, have been affected by the storm and therefore a stronger focus is expected to be placed on the children, especially the most vulnerable ones who live in hard to reach areas, prioritizing their immediate and medium-term needs in terms of water supply, sanitation, health, nutrition education and protection. While many students in the affected areas had to temporarily drop out of school due to the typhoon and continued flooding, but school classes have started again on 13 November.

The Government estimated a total of 4.3 million people were affected by the typhoon, in which at least 395,000 people will need multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance to cover their critical life-saving needs in the medium and longer term over the next 6-12 months and beyond. UNICEF, as a lead agency for WASH within UN family is assisting the efforts of GOV and humanitarian agencies in coordination and response planning. UNICEF is also providing its own response through Government of Viet Nam to support 20,200 children and their families that has a total population of 81,200. The major ongoing responses in the affected region in WASH are as below:

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene:

1. Provide water treatment supplies for treatment of contaminated water sources.
2. Water supply system rehabilitation, water storage and water quality testing in typhoon and flooded areas.
3. Prevention of potential water-borne disease outbreak in all affected provinces.
4. Provide hygiene kits, and or water filters to the most extreme poor and vulnerable households.
5. Improve WASH services in affected schools (improve drinking water safety, rehabilitation of water supply facilities, water storage and hand-washing).
6. Monitoring and awareness building on water safety, sanitation, hygiene and water among affected children, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and communities to prevent malnutrition.
7. Improvement of operation and maintenance of water schemes for sustainable water supply.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and UN Agencies estimate humanitarian finance needs for the WASH component at a sum of US$12 Million for emergency and recovery responses to cover life-saving and recovery needs of estimated 150,000 people in the fifteen affected provinces in Central regions.

Moreover, the Government will need technical assistance for the recovery phase - including efforts towards internalizing Disaster Risk Reduction/Climate Chagne Adaptation (DRR/CCA), risk informed programming, and resilience building.

Purpose of the job

As Emergency WASH Specialist, the position intends to assist the P-3/P-4 WASH Specialist (TA) for the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of UNICEF's WASH emergency and recovery response to safeguard and improve public health of the affected population by ensuring access to safe drinking water, safely managed sanitation, and improved hygiene practices while contributing in the restoration of water services and sanitary and hygienic conditions; ensuring overall efficiency, effectiveness and delivery of results in accordance with UNICEF's Core Commitments for Children (CCC) in Emergencies and national/ international humanitarian standards.

The position further intends to support interventions related to integrated environmental management that will protect water resources, enhance storage, reduce water pollution and built resilience against potential extreme events - with emphasis on drinking/domestic water resources in schools and communities in three targeted provinces: Thua Thien Hue, Binh Dinh, and Phu Yen in Central region of Viet Nam.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities: as per attached JD

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have…

Education: Advance university degree or equivalent experience in Public Health, Environmental Science, Water and Sanitation Engineering, Emergency Programme Management, and another related field.

Experience:

• Minimum five years of progressively responsible professional work experience in the UN or any other international development organization, national government or the private sector. Background/ familiarity with emergency WASH (preparedness or response) and the Emergency WASH Working Group and cluster approach is preferable. Field work experience including community mobilization approaches on WASH preferable.
• Knowledge on the theories, principles and methods in the following areas: water supply project management, integrated water resource management, communication for behavioural change, monitoring and evaluation. Knowledge on the UNICEF policies and strategies to address WASH issues, including those relating to natural disasters, disaster risk reduction and environment is essential.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English and Vietnamese.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

Our core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication (II), Working with People (II) and Drive for Results (II).

Functional Competencies:

• Formulating strategies and concepts [II]
• Analysing [II]
• Applying Technical Expertise [III]
• Leading and supervising [I]
• Relating and Networking [II]

To view our competency framework, please click here.

Closing date for receipt of applications is Thursday 21 December 2017 at 23:55 hours Ha Noi Time.

What we can offer you?

• Competitive salary: Ranging from USD44,738 (net annually), depending on qualifications and experience.
• Pension benefits: You will become a participant in the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund.
• Health insurance scheme: You and your eligible dependents will be covered by the UN Medical Insurance Plan.
• Professional Development: you will have different learning opportunities to strengthen your skills and competencies.
• Become part of the United Nations: As an International organization that is part of the United Nations system, UNICEF offers opportunities to learn from other countries, and possible career options outside Viet Nam.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified candidates from all backgrounds to apply. 

Opening Date Fri Dec 08 2017 09:00:00 GMT+0700 (SE Asia Standard Time) SE Asia Standard Time

Closing Date Thu Dec 21 2017 23:55:00 GMT+0700 (SE Asia Standard Time)

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