WASH in Emergencies Specialist – Roster Recruitment

Role Overview

• Lead or support rapid WASH needs assessments, technical assessments, service mapping and market assessments.
• Analyse WASH risks, service gaps, disease transmission risks, gender and protection concerns, accessibility barriers and priority needs of affected populations.
• Support the development of evidence-based emergency WASH response strategies, workplans, response plans and budgets.
• Ensure that programme design is aligned with Sphere Standards, the Core Humanitarian Standard, national standards, cluster guidance and relevant public-health requirements.
• Identify opportunities for integrated programming with Health, Nutrition, Protection, Education, Shelter and Cash and Voucher Assistance interventions.
• Provide technical oversight for emergency water supply interventions, including water-source assessment, water trucking, water treatment, chlorination, household water treatment, water-quality monitoring, storage, distribution systems and water-point rehabilitation.
• Provide technical guidance on emergency sanitation, including household, communal, institutional and school sanitation, excreta management, drainage, solid-waste management and vector-control measures.
• Support hygiene-promotion and social and behaviour change activities, including handwashing, safe water handling, household water treatment, menstrual health and hygiene, and community engagement approaches.
• Provide technical guidance on WASH in health-care facilities, infection prevention and control, outbreak preparedness and response.
• Review and support the development of technical drawings, Bills of Quantities, specifications, scopes of work, technical evaluation criteria and contractor deliverables.
• Ensure that infrastructure and service interventions are safe, technically appropriate, accessible, climate-informed and feasible for operation and maintenance by communities, local authorities or service providers.
• Establish or strengthen practical quality-assurance mechanisms, including water-quality testing, construction supervision, functionality monitoring, hygiene-promotion monitoring and post-distribution monitoring.
• Support Country Offices to establish emergency WASH response systems, including technical workplans, supply plans, activity trackers, monitoring tools, reporting templates and risk registers.
• Work closely with Supply Chain and Procurement teams to support procurement planning, technical specifications, supplier engagement, quality checks and delivery follow-up.
• Support field teams to establish appropriate systems for stock management, distribution tracking, water-quality monitoring, facility operation and maintenance, complaints handling and community feedback.
• Provide hands-on support during the initial phase of an emergency response, including field visits, technical troubleshooting, start-up planning and mentoring of WASH staff.
• Identify operational bottlenecks, implementation risks and corrective actions, and communicate these promptly to relevant management and programme teams.
• Represent Plan International in national and sub-national WASH Cluster meetings, technical working groups, inter-agency coordination platforms and sector coordination mechanisms as requested.
• Ensure timely submission of 3Ws/4Ws, activity updates, technical information and response data to relevant coordination platforms.
• Maintain constructive working relationships with government authorities, UN agencies, NGOs, donors, service providers, local partners and community structures.
• Support coordination with Health, Protection, Education, Shelter and other sectors to promote integrated, safe and accountable responses.
• Contribute to technical discussions, advocacy messages and coordination products that advance the quality, inclusion and sustainability of emergency WASH services.
• Contribute to the development of emergency concept notes, proposals, budgets, logframes, technical narratives and donor reports.
• Ensure that WASH proposals are technically sound, realistic, costed appropriately and responsive to assessed needs.
• Support the development of monitoring frameworks, indicators, targets, reporting systems and learning products.
• Review programme reports and provide technical input on progress, challenges, adaptations, risks and lessons learned.
• Contribute to after-action reviews, response evaluations, learning workshops and preparedness planning processes.
• Ensure that all emergency WASH interventions address the specific needs, safety concerns and priorities of girls, adolescent girls and young women.
• Promote disability inclusion, age inclusion, menstrual health and hygiene, protection-sensitive design and equitable access to services.
• Ensure meaningful participation of women, girls, boys, men, persons with disabilities and marginalised groups in assessments, planning, implementation and monitoring.
• Support the integration of community feedback and complaints mechanisms into WASH interventions.

Requirements

• Progressively responsible experience in WASH programming, including solid experience in humanitarian or emergency-response settings.
• Demonstrated experience in emergency WASH assessments, programme design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Proven technical experience in emergency water supply, water treatment, water-quality monitoring, sanitation, hygiene promotion and WASH infrastructure.
• Experience supporting public-health emergency responses, including outbreaks, displacement, conflict, flooding, drought or other humanitarian crises.
• Experience developing technical specifications, Bills of Quantities, scopes of work, procurement documentation and contractor supervision arrangements.
• Experience in donor proposal development, budgeting and reporting.
• Experience representing an organisation with clusters, government authorities, UN agencies, donors, NGOs and other external stakeholders.
• Experience managing, mentoring or strengthening the capacity of WASH staff and local partners.
• Experience working in complex, insecure or resource-constrained environments.

Benefits

• Must be available to deploy within 72 hours of confirmation, or as soon as visa and travel clearance are obtained.
• Must be willing and able to travel and work in challenging, insecure, remote or resource-constrained environments.
• May be required to work outside normal working hours, including evenings, weekends and public holidays, in order to meet emergency-response requirements.