Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, with a network of 191 member National Societies. The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” The IFRC works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises. The IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), together with its member National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The work of the IFRC is guided by the following fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity, and universality. The IFRC is led by its Secretary General, and has its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The Headquarters are organized into three main Divisions: (i) National Society Development and Operations Coordination; (ii) Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization; and (iii) Management Policy, Strategy and Corporate Services. The IFRC has five regional offices in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The IFRC also has country cluster delegation and country delegations throughout the world. Together, the Geneva Headquarters and the field structure (regional, cluster and country) comprise the IFRC Secretariat. As one of the five decentralized parts of the IFRC Secretariat, the Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) leads the implementation of operational plans in support to National Societies of 39 countries through eight Country Offices and five Country Cluster Support Teams. As part of the Asia Pacific Region, the Afghanistan country delegation supports Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) capacity building and program implementation guided by the ARCS established strategic plan in the areas of health, disaster risk management, food security and livelihoods, social outreach, organizational development, and COVID-19 pandemic operations. The Snr. Officer, WASH reports to the Manager, Community Health. He/she is a member of the country Health and WASH Team. This position will work closely with other technical teams including Health, operations, Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA), Protection, Gender and Inclusion (PGI) and quality and accountability teams during response as well as preparedness, recovery and development. He/she will coordinate and manage all WASH programs in Afghanistan

Job Purpose

Under the supervision of the Manager, Community Health, the Senior WASH Officer is responsible to oversee the implementation of IFRC WASH operational plan to support to Afghan Red Crescent Society. He/she will work closely with Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), ensuring WASH programme is implemented effectively and efficiently in coordination with MRRD and other relevant stakeholders at national and local levels. This position is fully embedded in IFRC structure and will work closely with ARCS WASH at the HQ and provincial/regional levels to build ARCS WASH team capacity including overall WASH programme design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Programme planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting

• Support ARCS with planning, organizing, and implementing WASH activities at the field level.
• Support ARCS in supervision, monitoring, and evaluation of the WASH activities.
• Support ARCS in follow up of project indicators and activities regularly, ensuring activities and completed within recommended timelines.
• Ensure that procurement of WASH goods and their delivery to the project areas is done in a timely manner and in accordance with standard guidelines.
• Participate actively in the program planning process and budgeting of the program.
• Preparing monitoring reports and follow up action points through developing proper M&E mechanisms.
• Establishing a sound coordination system with all ARCS relevant staff.
• Responsible for organizing WASH related trainings for ARCS staff and volunteers.
• Provide technical support to ARCS staff and volunteers during their practical work in the field.
• Responsible for program reporting to IFRC and its back donors (monthly, quarterly and annual).
• Review the quality of the work completed with the teams to ensure that it meets the projects standards, targets, and objectives.
• Represents IFRC by attending meetings, sharing information, and providing feedback when requested.
• Enforce the implementation of aims and objectives of donors in line with IFRC-ARCS policy/strategy.
• Support ARCS to implement hygiene promotion interventions, which suits the local context and is widely accepted by beneficiaries.
• Ensure IFRC, National and SPHERE standards are considered through the program cycle and are well documented.
• Ensure the consideration of cross cutting areas such as gender, protection, environment, DRR and sustainability within all WASH interventions.
• Work closely with programme support functions (logistics and finance departments) for WASH programme supplies to procure projects’ supplies within the project timeline. • In collaboration with Engineers and other technical staff, provide oversight to WASH related construction activities e.g. WASH in schools, CIMP etc. including regular monitoring and supervision.
• Ensure IFRC WASH supported programs and projects use appropriate PMER tools in compliance to IFRC planning and budgeting process.
• Conduct monitoring and evaluation visits to IFRC WASH supported programme/project areas and prepare the report from the field visits for feedback to ARCS team at HQ and regional levels.
• Take lead in preparation of case studies and success stories for reporting through the communication department.
• Responsible for budget utilization/tracking on monthly basis in coordination with Manager, Community Health and finance department.
• Identify WASH priority areas and provide expert inputs in executing WASH programme/project proposals, DREF, Emergency Appeals for ARCS Health programme support.
• Ready to be deployed nationally as a WASH Expert during emergencies or any other needs.

NS Technical and Operational Capacity Support

• To work closely with ARCS Health-WASH team and help find solutions, especially in skill building and qualitative data collection and analysis.
• Provision of technical support and build the capacity of ARCS WASH team to take the responsibility of WASH program design and implementation.
• Support ARCS to adhere and follow WASH national standards.
• Build ARCS capacity and provide oversight in the planning, implementation and management of the WASH components of NS emergency response and recovery programmes, ensuring that these are according to agreed standards.
• Ensure the on-going learning and development of ARCS WASH counterparts in program planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting.

Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

• Support, coach and mentor ARCS WASH staff, assist IFRC Health Development Coordinator and link into wider organizational capacity development mechanisms .
• Provide guidance and inputs to ARCS WASH counterparts in the process of developing WASH program guidelines and tools and when needed the program proposal/DREF/Emergency appeal.
• Contribute to country office strategic and operational management discussions and meetings aside from WASH programming.

Coordination and Communication

• Coordinate with RCRC movement partners, MRRD/PRRD, local and international NGOs, UN agencies, local Afghan Government Authorities, and other stakeholders to ensure holistic support to project implementation.
• Work with ARCS and liaise with WASH cluster and other relevant national technical setups to bridge the technical knowledge to ARCS.
• Concrete linkage with ARCS and contribute to implementation of both ARCS upcoming 5-year strategy and ARCS overall strategic plan.
• Closer relations and effective coordination with ICRC and build one community of practice on WASH.
• Facilitate effective liaison and coordination with WASH programme technical counterparts from the movement, donors, government, UN agencies, INGOs and LNGOs.
• Foster collaboration within ARCS and IFRC WASH and with other relevant ARCS and IFRC offices.
• Participate in WASH sector and relevant thematic WASH technical networks to share and keep them abreast of the latest developments and issues.
• Participate and produce meeting briefs/reports for feedback to ARCS and IFRC WASH colleagues.
• Coordinate with the APRO WASH Coordinator about latest development of IFRC guidelines, etc.
• Attend WASH cluster meetings together with ARCS counterpart and keep the cluster well updated of ARCS’/IFRC’s SCOPE OF wash programming in Afghanistan.

Quality and Accountability

• Ensure the production of regular, timely, accurate and quality narrative and financial reports as well as any other required updates and situation reports; facilitate the generation of quality content which can be used for publicity and promotional purposes.
• Actively engage in support to ARCS for improved data collection and management, including contextual analysis, baseline and ensuring ARCS regularly updates data and information related to hard and soft components of WASH.
• Ensure evidence, best practices and core standards are applied to all levels of public health emergency programming, to ensure quality of services especially at community level.

Working with and Capacity Development of Afghan Red Crescent Societies

• Support building ARCS capacities on preparedness and response capacities for WASH programmes and deliver valuable technical support for emergency operations.
• Support ARCS in delivery, monitoring, evaluation and reporting of WASH programme activities through agreed strategies, targets, common risk management approaches, and effective monitoring, evaluation and reporting mechanisms as well as proposal writing.
• Take a capacity building approach to work, providing training, technical support, mentoring a dissemination as part of emergency response and recovery activities. Reinforce, when possible and appropriate, the capacity of the National Society’s volunteers.

People Management

• Provide direction and guidance to other ARCS WASH staff to ensure quality program implementation and monitoring.
• Work closely with the Manager, Community Health, Health coordinator, and Senior Management Team regarding pledge management to ensure that donors receive timely communications regarding arising issues.

Education

Required:

• Degree in Relevant Field: A bachelor’s or master’s degree in fields such as Environmental Science, Public Health, Water Resources Management, or a related discipline. Experience in WASH Programs: While not strictly educational, highlighting relevant experience in WASH programs, project management, or humanitarian response can be important.

Preferred:

• Relevant post graduate qualification/technical training (or equivalent experience). Specialized Training: Additional certifications in WASH-related areas, such as water quality management, sanitation engineering, or emergency response, can be advantageous.

• Certification as Environmental Science, Public Health, Water Resources Management, or a related discipline.

Experience

Required:

• 10 + years of experience with minimum of 5 years of managing and motivating teams,
• Experience in responding to epidemics, health/WASH crisis and emergency response
• Experience of managing and integrating projects and people within a specialist area
• Experience of planning and managing finances and budgets.
• Experience of working in both emergencies and developmental contexts with international Organization .
• Experience in NS capacity building in preparedness, response and recovery.

Preferred:

• Experience in managing multiple projects.
• A broad understanding of global humanitarian issues, disaster recovery and related areas.
• Experience of working for the Red Cross / Red Crescent or other humanitarian organization.
• Experience working with the National Societies

Knowledge, Skills and Languages

Required:

• Ability to prioritize, work well under pressure and meet deadlines. Able to achieve results through collaboration/teamwork.
• Able to strategically plan for community health and first aid initiatives

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, able to negotiate while maintaining effective working relations

• Ability to adapt and adjust to change, take extra miles to accomplished work task

• Ability to work well in a multicultural team and in a changing environment

• Ability to manage and motivate teams

• Good representation and facilitation skills

• Computer skills: Windows, Word Processing, PowerPoint, Excel. (spreadsheet and database application) + Ability to use video conferencing application i.e., Microsoft Teams, Zoom etc.

• Ability to be flexible to work in pressurized working environments e.g., disaster affected area.

• Fluently spoken and written English

Preferred :

• Able to travel frequently to project areas
• Good command of another IFRC official language (French, Spanish or Arabic).

Competencies, Values and Comments

1.Core Competencies: Communication, Collaboration & Teamwork, Judgement & Decision Making, National Society & Customer Relations, Creativity & Innovation, Building Trust.
2.Values: Respect for Diversity, Integrity, professionalism, Accountability.
3.Managerial competencies: Managing Performance, Managing Staff Development
4.Functional Competencies: Strategic Orientation, Building Alliances, Leadership, Empowering Others.