Senior River Engineer – Adviser (Home-based Retainer) (open for national and international applicants)

About UNOPS:

Background Information – UNOPS

UNOPS – an operational arm of the United Nations – supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by successfully implementing its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management, and human resources.

Working with us

We are proud of our people. With a wealth of knowledge and skills in various disciplines – engineering, finance, human resources, ICT, leadership, project management, procurement, and more – they help tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. Their work around the world supports progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At UNOPS, we offer a range of short- and long-term opportunities in various environments and duty stations – from Denmark and Kenya to Mexico, Switzerland, Myanmar, Senegal, Uganda, and many more.

Diversity

With over 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,400 personnel recruited on behalf of our partners, spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced and diverse labor force — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs. We continually strive to maintain our gender-balanced workplace. We encourage qualified underrepresented groups as per UNOPS Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy to apply for our vacancies.

Background Information – Afghanistan

With more than 20 years of experience in the country, UNOPS Afghanistan focuses on providing maximum support to the people of Afghanistan through the delivery of projects and services that improve the lives of people in need. The UNOPS Afghanistan Country Office (AFCO) serves as an organizational mechanism to deliver a range of projects for which UNOPS has been designated as the implementation agency. At present, UNOPS AFCO activities cover a range of sectors including humanitarian, basic human needs, cash for work, infrastructure, development, procurement and HR services.

The functional objective of UNOPS AFCO is to contribute to improving the lives of girls, boys, men and women living in Afghanistan. The aim of UNOPS AFCO is to provide efficient and cost-effective implementation services on behalf of all our partners to support the humanitarian response and development of the country. UNOPS AFCO’s mission is to exceed the expectations of all stakeholders in the delivery of AFCO services, at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, in order to improve the lives of Afghans in need.

Background Information – Job-specific

Project Information

The Water Emergency Relief Project (WERP) was established in response to the significant, ongoing drought exacerbating water access issues which has created an emergency situation in rural areas across southern and central Afghanistan. WERP will finance the provision of off-grid solar systems to support surface water irrigation in selected districts throughout Afghanistan. The UNOPS-managed WERP project primarily addresses water scarcity challenges faced by farmers in drought-affected districts by providing them with access to solar PV powered water driven pumps. These solar pumping systems will enable water to be drawn from rivers to irrigate agricultural land.

The project will pilot the Energy as a Service model (EaaS) by contracting Private Energy Service Companies (PESCs) to carry out the provision of services. These include the construction, installation, operation and maintenance of the solar PV powered irrigation pumps, pipelines; associated equipment and services. The intention is for the project to provide 80% of the capital costs (solar PV and water supply systems equipment) with the PESCs contributing 20% (Civil works, including pipeline materials). The project will pay for the operation and maintenance costs either fully or partially until the end of the two year project. The estimated completion date is mid 2025.

The project will only consider rivers that are perennial, not seasonal. One of the project focus areas is to adopt appropriate technology for the instructure elements that make up the water supply and solar PV systems. The estimated quantity of water that is to be pumped from the river abstraction sites ranges from 10 to 250 m3/hr with the majority of the pump stations using the smaller pumps. The intention is to not to construct weirs or large pump stations that are appropriate for large irrigation schemes or municipal water supply systems. The proposed intake structures are small in terms of size and of low complexity, suitable for rural irrigation schemes.

Job-Specific Information

The Senior River Engineer shall work under the direct supervision of the Senior Project Manager and  support project team members on the concept design of river engineering elements. The Senior River Engineer will provide technical input to irrigation water supply river abstraction structures, including site selection; flood hydrology; hydraulic design and general advice on river engineering and hydrology matters.

 Functional Responsibilities

Specific responsibilities and duties include but are not limited to:

• Advise and guide the technical team on actions, analysis and inputs required for the feasibility assessment of specific project sites.
• Advise the team on hydraulics and hydrology issues, including the concept design of extraction works at specific sites.
• Review the data provided by the technical team and provide the technical assessment recommendations for the project sites with respect to the river capacity and works (hydrology and hydraulics), typically considering technologies such as gabions or similar appropriate structures.
• Review and provide feedback and recommendations on the technical outputs from the technical team.
• Provide advice and recommendations on river hydraulics and hydrology components of the feasibility report.
• Support Development of typical designs with notes on site-specific aspects adaptations
• Support site-specific design development by UNOPS AFCO team.
• Support review of designs.

Education/Experience/Language requirementsa. Education

• Advanced University Degree (Master’s) in civil, environmental or water resource engineering is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

b. Professional Registration

• Professional license or registration from a recognised professional body or institution is required.

c. Work Experience 

Essential

• Minimum 7 years of progressively practical and responsible experience in the planning, investigation and design of river water abstraction sites.
• Flood hydrology experience.
• Experience in hydraulic design of river pump stations.
• Experience in design of river off-take works, fluvial processes and sedimentation mitigation measures.
• Exposure to appropriate technology in terms of water supply for small scale irrigation systems.

Desirable

• Knowledge of the UN system and familiarity with UNOPS procedures is a distinct advantage.
• Demonstrated experience working with UN agencies, international development organizations, governments, NGOs or private sector organizations is desirable.
• Experience in design review and advisory capacity.
• Experience working in Afghanistan, Pakistan or a country with similar river systems to Afghanistan.
• Climate change adaptation in terms of river systems.

d. Language Requirements:                    

• Fluency (oral and written) in English is required.
• Working knowledge of Dari and or Pashto is an asset.

Please click on the below link for actual vacancy announcement to see the complete details and submission guideline as this is only an attempt for attracting female applicants for gender parity in organization. Please make sure you fill your profile/application properly with all relevant details in order to be considered for the next stage of recruitment/selection.

https://jobs.unops.org/pages/viewvacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=28154

https://jobs.unops.org/pages/viewvacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=28154