Environmental Health/Emergency Rapid Response Manager (Re-Advert)

Background:

The International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest humanitarian international NGOs, provides relief, rehabilitation and development support to vulnerable people and communities over 40 countries. We began work in Ethiopia in 2000 in response to severe drought in Ethiopia’s Somali region and are currently providing assistance to Ethiopians and refugees in six regions in Ethiopia, implementing emergency and development programs in health, water and sanitation, economic recovery and development (ERD), women’s protection and empowerment, education, child protection, and multi-sectoral emergency response.

Job Overview: 

Under the direct supervision and management of the Field Coordinator in partnership with technical teams at Addis Ababa head office of ERR and EH coordinators and assistant coordinators, the ERR/EH Manager is responsible for the overall technical support of the ERR/EH teams in Somali Region to assess, and design ERR & WASH program interventions, including concept note/proposal and budget developments, response planning, implementations, reporting writing, staff management and development and ensuring smooth implementation and Management of Emergency WASH program of safe water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion. The position holder will travel to project locations to support field staff teams and monitor field activities and also participate in coordination platforms of different sub-clusters (ES/NFI, WASH, KPC surveys and assessments) and representing the IRC in other relevant humanitarian coordination meetings at the regional and at the Zonal levels where IRC has presence.

Key Responsibilities:

Program Planning and Implementation

·         Coordinate assessment, planning and Emergency Response in Somali Region.

·         Contribute and assist in drafting and preparing of emergency response concept notes development for direct interventions and the development of proposals, and budgets in coordination with head office technical and Grants teams.

·         Take the lead in the preparation of program activities, procurement, and spending plans in collaboration with the team and other departments.

·         Organize emergency operations, assessments, response planning, implementation, and supervising emergency response in new locations and setting-up office and warehouse when needed.

·         Assist in hiring field staff in conjunction with the Human Resources team and maintain updated job and orient new staff to the IRC and the ERR/EH program

·         Prepare designs and BOQs for Water and Sanitation infrastructures including water scheme rehabilitations, new water scheme developments, sanitation facilities and other infrastructures and supervise quality of construction works.

·         Monitor and make sure that all ERR interventions are done with in the required qualities and time frame.

·         Monitor the purchase and use of materials, equipment and supplies and assist in tracking emergency supplies dispatch, distribution and utilizations in different disaster affected communities and construction sites including full documentation.

·         Oversee the implementations of the ERR & WASH program to ensure the program is implemented according to schedule and budgets, standards, and that program objectives are met.

·         Work closely with the IRC teams in Addis and in Jijiga to ensure activities are implemented as per the standard and required qualities.

·         Any other duties as assigned by the supervisor to enable and develop IRC programs

Grants Management

·         Participate in Projects Opening (POM), Implementations (monthly PIMs), Closing (PCM), Learning (PLM) meetings and monthly Budget Vs Actual (BVA) review meetings and ensure action points from the meetings are addressed, supervised and reported on time.

·         Assist in tracking and review of spending of ERR interventions in the field in line with original plan, and burn rate goes in line with the activity implementation progress and take actions timely.

·         Manage and oversee all ERR/EH grants; develop and maintain work, spending (finance utilization) and procurement plans for all projects.

·         Conduct monthly BVA reviews and make necessary recommendations for actions to the concerned field support teams of finance, supply chain, HR/Admin and ensure regular cleaning up of the commitments in the BVA.

·         Work closely with the Finance team to ensure proper financial management of the grants and budgets are spent according to the program plan.

·         Ensure compliance with donor and grant requirements as stipulated in the grant agreements.

·         Prepare internal and external reports within agreed deadlines using IRC and donor formats, as the need arises.

·         Assure appropriate and timely spending of grants to achieve program goals, grant reporting contributions, use and distribution of supplies and resources.

Program Monitoring and Reporting

·         Assist in setting up, implementing and monitoring of client feedback mechanism.

·         Closely work with MEAL team on the project indicator tracking, conducting internal baseline/endline assessments as well as collecting and addressing of client feedbacks.

·         Facilitate IRC, Government and donor monitoring visits and trips to the project sites and Project Evaluation.

·         Participate and assist in the monitoring of IRC direct interventions and sub granted projects.

·         Conduct frequent field monitoring visit of the ERR/EH projects and provided feedbacks and remedial action in timely manner.

·         Conduct regular monitoring and internal evaluations including annual KPC surveys.

·         Oversee the timely preparation and submission of field reports.

·         Compile and share internal reports (weekly progress updates, monthly progress reports, monthly management reports, indicator tracker, etc) to the concerned bodies in their due date.

·         Compile and share external reports (Donor and government quarter, annual and terminal reports), W4 matrixes, and assessments reports to the concerned technical teams at Addis in their due date.

·         Ensure the proper documentation of program records.

Team management:

·         Ensure to maintain updated job descriptions and manage the recruitment of ERR/EH staffs in collaboration with the technical and HR teams at head office.

·         Orient all new staff about the IRC and the ERR/EH program activities and ensure ERR/EH staff understands and follows IRC and donor Policies and Procedures.

·         Provide ongoing technical and managerial support for all ERR//EH teams and ensure Performance Management System documentation is in place and followed up regularly.

·         Ensure that clear goals are set for all ERR/EH team and conduct timely performance review of staffs to provide coaching, mentoring and ongoing regular feedbacks on the team performance.

·         Provide ongoing leadership to the project team and overseeing implementation and coordination of activity plans to ensure targets are met.

·         Provide ongoing supervision, and technical support and guidance to ERR/EH staff, and ensure all emergency EH staff adhere to best-practice principles in all aspects of program/projects implementation

·         Build staff capacity in work plan development and reporting to ensure accurate monitoring and documentation of activities.

·         Recommend and implement a capacity building/development plan for ERR/EH staff based on documented capacity needs assessments exercise.

·         Coordinate and lead Emergency Response Teams including emergency Health, EH, CWI, ES-NFIs and CPE in Emergency to effectively implement emergency response interventions in Somali region and ensuring to follow-up staff safety and security procedures.

·         Provide technical support for other departments as required.

·         Take any additional responsibilities as requested by supervisors (technical coordinators and/or Field Coordinator).

Representation, Coordination and Working Relationship

·         Take part in multiagency field assessments (seasonal/rapid) and rapid needs’ assessment in the event of an emergency in consultation with technical and field teams.

·         Attend relevant Task Forces and liaise with relevant Government Bureaus and NGOs in the area.

·         Strengthen inter-departmental collaboration and build working relationships with IRC program and operation teams through facilitating regular staff meetings for increased integration and teamwork.

·         Ensure government agreements (MoU) for each project are signed with relevant regional government Bureaus on time.

·         Represent IRC at Regional and Zonal WASH cluster Coordination and other relevant emergency coordination forums organized by UN, Government, donors and other NGOs.

·         Assist the regional cluster in assessment, preparation of guidelines, other technical documents etc.

·         Organize and share regular IRC update to the WASH cluster including 4W matrixes.

·         Develop and maintain effective working relationships with all stakeholders – including NGOs, UN agencies, Gov’t representatives and other IRC sectors to enhance cooperation and coordination.

·         Ensure that information or updates on emergency situations from coordination meetings is shared internally to supervisors and with other sectors, as appropriate.

·     BSc Degree or MSc Degree in Hydraulic Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, Civil Engineering, and other Environmental Health related from recognized university.

Preferred experience & skills:

·    4 years relevant experience in EH, preferably in a humanitarian setting (refugee/IDP camps, or emergency response) for first degree and 3 years of relevant experience for postgraduate.

·    At least 2 years management experience.

·    Competent in Windows, MS office, & Auto Cad, Water Cad, Epanet, email and database experience.

·    Experience of supervising staff and interaction with partners and donors.

·     Proven management, project planning, organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills.

·     Local knowledge and understanding of current contexts and management of emergencies in Somali region.

·       Ability to organizing and facilitation of trainings.

·      Ability to work under pressure in a potentially unstable security environment.

·      Flexible, willing to travel and live temporarily in harsh environment

·      Strong communication, networking, and representation skills.

·      Self-motivated, honest, and highly responsible.

·      Have excellent skill in coordination and integration with external stakeholders \.

·       Must be able to function effectively in a complex work environment and to set appropriate priorities and deal effectively with competing priorities and pressure.

·      Demonstrated experience in working with large, multi-sectoral grants and projects. Including supervising procurement, activity and spending plans, indicator track and devising timely course-correction strategies when required.

·      Strong organizational and time-management skills; proven track record to prioritize and deliver on time.

Language Skills:

·         Excellent verbal and written communication skills, Ability to communicate concisely in English.

·         Having local knowledge is an asset.