WASH Specialist
Organizational Context
UNICEF operates in over 190 countries and territories, dedicated to saving children's lives, defending their rights, and helping them reach their full potential. The organization is committed, passionate, and proud of its work, viewing the promotion of children's rights as a vocation. UNICEF fosters a culture of growth, offering staff diverse personal and professional development opportunities for fulfilling careers and rewarding missions, supported by attractive compensation and benefits. This context sets the stage for the recruitment of a National UN Volunteer WASH Specialist in Diffa.
Job Purpose
The UN Volunteer WASH Specialist will contribute to the planning, implementation, monitoring, and coordination of UNICEF's Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) interventions in the Diffa region. This role provides technical and programmatic support for both development and emergency interventions, focusing on sustainable access to safe drinking water, sanitation, hygiene promotion, WASH in institutions, and service resilience against climate and humanitarian shocks. The specialist will also strengthen the capacities of decentralized technical services, local authorities, implementing partners, and community structures to enhance the quality, sustainability, and accountability of WASH interventions, ensuring alignment with national standards, humanitarian principles, and UNICEF's Core Commitments for Children.
Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Head of Office in Diffa and technical supervision from the WASH Section in Niamey, the WASH Specialist will support the planning, monitoring, and implementation of WASH programs in the Diffa region. Key responsibilities include contributing to the technical quality of interventions, partner monitoring, WASH emergency preparedness and response, and coordination with technical services, local authorities, and humanitarian actors. The role ensures adherence to national standards, humanitarian standards, and UNICEF's Core Commitments for Children (CCC), while strengthening the resilience of WASH services against crises and climate change. The specialist will play a key role in site supervision, quality assurance, and direct support to implementing partners. This involves contributing to WASH program planning, implementation, and monitoring; tracking partner work plans, indicators, and activities; conducting regular monitoring missions; identifying bottlenecks and proposing corrective actions; supporting partnership follow-up; preparing programmatic reviews and reports; and collecting/analyzing WASH data. Technical support will be provided for the design, construction, rehabilitation, and monitoring of water and sanitation infrastructure, ensuring compliance with national standards and promoting sustainable, climate-resilient WASH solutions. The role also involves contributing to emergency WASH response, participating in needs assessments, and supporting the operationalization of contingency plans. Coordination with regional WASH mechanisms and fostering complementarity with other sectors like Health, Nutrition, Education, and Child Protection are crucial. Furthermore, the specialist will provide technical support to local systems, build partner capacities, document best practices, and contribute to advocacy for equitable and sustainable WASH investments.
Work Experience
A minimum of three years of professional experience in engineering is required. Proven experience in the design, monitoring, and supervision of hydraulic and sanitation works is essential. Experience in humanitarian and/or development contexts is a significant asset, as is experience or strong knowledge of WASH in emergency situations. Experience in humanitarian coordination or sector coordination mechanisms is desirable. Excellent analytical, writing, and reporting skills, with the ability to work under pressure in a multicultural environment, are necessary.
Skills
UNICEF Core Values: Caring, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Responsibility, Sustainability. Core Competencies: Establishing and Maintaining Partnerships, Demonstrating Self-Awareness and Ethical Maturity, Working Collaboratively with Others, Thinking and Acting Strategically, Innovating and Embracing Change, Managing Ambiguity and Complexity, Achieving Tangible Results. Technical skills include public health, immunization, water, sanitation, waste management, and community development.