WASH Governance and Capacity Building Specialist at Mercy Corps

General Position Summary

The WASH Governance and Capacity-building Specialist will be responsible for strengthening the capacity of the State Water Agencies on urban water governance covering the states of Abia, Delta, and Imo in Southeast and South-South Nigeria. The successful candidate will support the Activity by bolstering the capacity of the state governments to provide essential WASH services and create a sustaining enabling environment for urban Water Supply Agencies to operate effectively.

S/he will support the State Water Agencies (SWAs) and State government focal ministries to deliver on the project’s goals and objectives. S/he will work closely with the States WASH Utility Engineers, the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team, the cost-share coordinator, and the communication team in carrying out specific WASH infrastructure data collection, assessments, and documentation of success stories as well as preparing training modules on the operation and maintenance of the schemes and water governance and advocacy strategies for effective WASH implementation in the states. The successful candidate will drive Mercy Corps capacity-building interventions and will support prior work under the E-WASH program to improve the capacity of State Water Corporations. The STWASH program will work with those actors including the Abia State Water and Sewerage Corporation (AbSWSC), the Delta State Urban Water Corporation (DSUWC), and the Imo State Water and Sewerage Corporation (ISWSC), as well as private sector stakeholders, to ensure that the operations and maintenance needs of the water delivery system are understood and that actors have the capacity to ensure ongoing management of the facilities.

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Lead the mapping exercise of staff of the SWAs’ capacity and training needs.
• Undertake Training Needs Assessments as and when needed.
• Facilitate the development of the training plan, including budget and logistics requirements as per timelines detailed in the project work plan.
• Help define an approach to teaming/partnering with other organizations and the private sector.
• Identify opportunities for linkages and coordination among the public, private, and civil society to increase representation and efficiency.
• Lead development and finalization of training material in consultation with subject matter experts and other team members as required.
• Coordinate effectively with Government representatives at the state level, as well as representatives of supervisory Ministries of the State Water Agencies (SWAs).
• Lead in organizing the Training of Trainers (ToTs) for block capacity-building personnel of the SWAs and their supervisory Ministries.
• Create an effective monitoring mechanism for tracking training progress and coverage of trainees and a training evaluation system.
• Facilitate documentation of the training activities.
• Prepare, present, and submit training reports as per project requirements.
• Oversee the Training of Trainers, coordinate, and implement capacity-building programs in WASH governance and management of WASH infrastructure. The successful candidate will carry out this responsibility, taking into cognizance the States’ WASH Policies and laws to avoid policy conflicts.
• Foster and maintain effective, professional relationships with a broad range of public and private sector stakeholders in the WASH sector.
• Ensure the timely and quality completion of all relevant program deliverables and reporting.
• Actively participate in the development of annual work planning, design, implementation, and reporting related to the STWASH technical activities.
• Ensuring information and decision processes and flows between management and governance layers are clear and functional. The successful candidate will develop an information/decision-making process flow chart for the SWAs with the support and concurrence of the management of the SWAs.
• Support the knowledge management and communication officer to develop and implement a communications strategy to ensure effective communications with the broader Mercy Corps networks.
• Work closely with the communications team on the documentation and dissemination of lessons learned, best practices, and success stories from the project.
• Establish a quality assurance mechanism and ensure compliance with established norms.
• Policy development and review; ensure compliance with the code of conduct, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse of Program Participants and Community Members (PSEA), Child Safeguarding, Sexual Misconduct in the workplace policy, etc., while working with relevant departments of the SWAs and their supervisory Ministries.
• Undertake other tasks assigned by the supervisor to accomplish the project objectives.

ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING

As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient, and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

 Accountability to Beneficiaries

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, construction supervision, monitoring, and evaluation of our field projects.

Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs, and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

Supervisory Responsibility: No direct supervision

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Senior Infrastructure Manager and dotted line reporting to the Chief of Party.

Works Directly with: The State WASH Utility Engineers, technical team, MEL team, cost-share coordinator, and communication officer.

Key Working Relationships.

• Internal: Supervision of quality work and ensure compliance with agreed standards. Also, liaise with MEL officer and other technical staff to ensure tracking and documentation of infrastructure-specific indicators.
• External: Key functions include representing MC in various forums and forging relations with the government, sector stakeholders, and beneficiaries. Also, work with the Infrastructure Quality Assurance Advisor to ensure that the STWASH mandate for quality service delivery is implemented in tandem with the project documents.

Knowledge and Experience

• B.Sc./Master's degree in social sciences, community development, peacebuilding, or other relevant fields with an engineering background.
• Experienced trainer with significant expertise in WASH capacity development, governance, operation and maintenance, sustainability management, and stakeholders’ management.
• Documented experience in implementing donor development activities related to WASH, peacebuilding, and good governance.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications such as MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Have a good understanding of State WASH Policies and Guidelines.
• Have a good grasp of the challenges facing WASH in urban settings.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.
• Knowledge of the South-South and South-East's geographical terrain, culture, and language.
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task and process information into actionable and implementable strategies.

Skills and abilities

• Proven ability for quality delivery
• Ability to transfer skills and knowledge through, training, mentorship, and accompaniment.
• Demonstrated ability to work with and in teams.
• Excellent written and oral communication.
• Excellent computer skills (Microsoft Office), WASH data collection software, etc.