Wash/Shelter officer Niger Maradi – Niamey

Niger faces a multitude of humanitarian crises (population movements, malnutrition, food insecurity, recurrent epidemics, cyclical floods and drought), exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The “conflict” problem, the main cause of growing insecurity and instability in Niger and neighboring countries, is generating population displacements which currently affect five regions of Niger: Diffa, Tillabery, Tahoua, Niamey, and Maradi. The regions of Tillabéry and Maradi, where most of NRC’s Shelter and WASH activities are present, account for 46% of internally displaced people, while the region of Maradi where Shelter and WASH activities target refugees, accounts for 23% of refugees. from Niger (from Katsina and Zamfara States in Nigeria).

NRC has been present in Tilabéry since 2019 where the organization implements WASH and Shelter activities for displaced populations whose access to basic social services and livelihoods is compromised in a context where inadequacies were already significant before the crisis. In Maradi, NRC had been present since 2020, Shelter activities had been suspended in August 2020 thanks to the arrival of other humanitarian actors. With the response gaps that have been created over time as displacement continues and needs grow, NRC plans to resume its Shelter activities, as well as WASH, energy and community management for the assistance to Nigerian refugees settled in the villages of opportunity, but also to internally displaced persons and host communities in the host villages.

NRC’s Shelter and WASH programming in Niger is built on strong integration with the other sectors of its response, namely education, housing, land and goods, but also increasingly with food security, and protection. Note also that clean energies will take more and more place in Shelter and WASH programming in Niger in order to promote a healthy and better environment for the populations we serve.

The organization is therefore looking for a dynamic Shelter/WASH Officer capable of ensuring regular supervision of the implementation of the project in a complex area.

Generic Responsibilities:

1. Ensures compliance with NRC policies, guidelines and standards
2. Ensures compliance with Shelter and WASH strategies, tools, manuals, guidelines and standards
3. Guarantee of specific technical responsibility for WASH – Shelter for the implementation and documentation of the technical activities of the WASH and Shelter project(s)
4. Guarantee of specific technical responsibility for WASH – Shelter for quality control and monitoring of WASH and Shelter project(s) activities
5. Provides specific technical support and capacity building to project(s) staff
6. Provides specific technical analysis and feedback to NRC representatives in coordination forums
7. Evaluates, promotes and documents technical improvement ideas and program development options
8. Ensures that the project/s targets the beneficiaries most in need, and explores and evaluates new and better ways to assist them

Specific responsibilities: 

These responsibilities are the same for all positions with the same title. Responsibilities should be short and essential. Details are included in the work and professional development plan.

• Plan and supervise quality control of construction or rehabilitation works of WASH systems and shelters according to different modalities (e.g. through contractors, on a cash basis, by beneficiaries) . 
• Ensure the quality of construction or rehabilitation work on WASH systems and shelters by carrying out regular field visits and giving advice to field teams.
• Produce and contextualize technical tools to support the team’s implementation of the program (field supervision checklists, reporting templates, data collection tools, etc.)
• Support the monitoring of assistance provided for project management, logistical and financial reconciliation, accountability and Monitoring-evaluation (beneficiary counting).
• Ensure weekly quality control of evidence/verification sources (collected by field assistants). 
• Ensure the inclusion of considerations relating to the SIP (Safe and Inclusive Program), in particular to guarantee the accessibility and security of beneficiaries.
• Initiate purchase requests and monitor the process of acquiring goods, materials and services for WASH and shelter activities (including the development of tender documents, plans, quotes and technical evaluation of offers).
• Plan and ensure implementation of soft activities, including community engagement and behavior change in WASH and Shelter activities, contextualizing NRC guidelines and approaches.
• Assess the training needs of community members (and other target populations, e.g. schools, etc.), on targeted behaviors as identified by the program. 

Prepare training modules and support the team in community engagement and in the implementation of behavior change activities using participatory methods and integrating cross-cutting aspects (safe and inclusive programming, gender, access… ).

General professional skills: 

• Documented results related to position responsibilities
• University degree (BAC + 3) in social sciences, civil engineering and/rural engineering, hydraulics, hydrogeology, environment or in another appropriate field of development aid. 
• Proven experience implementing projects in a humanitarian/recovery context.
• Proven experience in Shelter and WASH areas of technical expertise, with emphasis on physical aspects.
• Prior experience working in complex and volatile contexts.
• Be willing to travel and work in the field (outside the office) regularly.
• Fluency in French, both written and spoken

Context-specific skills, knowledge and experiences: 

• Previous work experience with satisfactory performance in the same or similar field, preferably with humanitarian NGO or UN agency
• Knowledge of the local context (Maradi and Tillabéry regions)
• Practice of one or more local language(s) is an asset
• Technical knowledge and experience of the behavior change process in a humanitarian context.
• Computer knowledge (MS Office required, CAD Software required for hard profiles; GIS is an asset)
• Excellent verbal communication skills

 Behavioral skills: 

The NRC skills framework references 12 behavioral skills. The following skills are essential for this position:

• Plan and get results
• Team working
• Communicate in a respectful and impactful way
• Managing insecure environments

Performance Management

The employee is expected to carry out the responsibilities of the position and act according to the associated behavioral competencies. The following documents will be used for performance evaluations: 

• Job specification 
• Employee work and development plan 
• The skills framework

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) is the world’s authoritative source of data and analysis on internal displacement. Since our establishment in 1998 as part of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), we offer a rigorous, transparent and independent service to the international community, and inform policy and operational decisions to improve the lives of people living in, or at risk of, internal displacement.

With a team of more than 30 people in Geneva and an annual budget of over 5 million USD, we monitor more than 130 countries in the world for which we provide verified, consolidated and multi-sourced estimates of the number of people internally displaced or at risk of becoming displaced by conflict, violence, disasters and development projects. We complement this global data with interdisciplinary research into the drivers, patterns and impacts of internal displacement. Using this evidence, we provide tailor-made advice and support to inform global, regional and national policy-making. Our data and evidence are published on our website and via our Global Internal Displacement Database (http://www.internal-displacement.org/database/displacement-data). Our flagship report, the Global Report on Internal Displacement (https://www.internal-displacement.org/global-report/grid2020/), published every year in May, is the world reference on IDP statistics, featuring trends and thematic analyses, country and regional spotlights.