Water Policy Advisor (ARBE) at African Union(AU)

Purpose of Job

• The African Union Commission (AUC) has secured funding from the European Union to implement the Blue Africa Transboundary Water Management Project. The programme intends to strengthen the African Water Architecture, which governs and anchors a continental water security agenda within broad developmental contexts and regional integration

The Specific Objective (Outcomes) of this Action are: 

• Strengthen the continental water governance institutional frameworks (with its regional and national building blocks), notably on transboundary water cooperation;
• Stimulate investments in the African water agenda and improve financing for water priorities and transboundary investments, including in climate adaptation, natural resources management and nature-based solutions; and
• Develop further African benchmarking and monitoring tools on water security.
• Monitoring and reporting framework, prudent management of financial resources, and monitoring and evaluation.

Main Functions

• The Water Policy Adviser shall perform the assigned tasks under the overall strategic leadership and guidance of the Director of the Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy Directorate (SEBE) and SEBE Head of Sustainable Environment Division and direct supervision of the Water and Climate Adviser and Project Coordinator, within the Water and Sanitation Unit. S/he will be part of the project staff responsible for technically leading transboundary water management issues and water security and gender equality.
• Under the direct supervision of Water and Climate Adviser and Project Coordinator, the incumbent shall be providing guidance to the Project and the SEBE Directorate on various water policy matters - manage and lead the AU water security and climate resilient water and sanitation policy agenda.

Specific Responsibilities

The specific duties of the Water Policy Adviser will include, but not limited to:

• Lead the AU climate resilient water and sanitation policy related matters;
• Contribute to the shaping of external policy debates on climate-resilience water security and sanitation to increase the attention and resources; 
• Act as a resource person for the development of policy responses and taking the lead on developing informed AU positions on policy issues;
• Support the overall day-to-day management and operations of the Project Implementation; 
• Support on technical issues, such as: development of term of references, concept notes, review of reports, reporting, annual work plan and budget, workshops organization and stakeholders’ engagement and consultations;
• Organize and facilitate stakeholder engagement and consultation processes;
• Closely follow, accurately summarize and clearly communicate developments on policy debates and development;
• Systematically communicate and share knowledge with all stakeholders, in the form of case studies, presentations, briefs, etc;
• Systematically ensure that relevant experiences and lessons learnt elsewhere in the region or world-wide inform the implementation of the project, particularly on policy; 
• Prepare policy papers, discussion notes, policy briefs and presentations on issues arising, for consideration by AU, Member States and other stakeholders;
• Provide technical support to design policies for advancing climate-resilient water security and sanitation and dialogue on water and related environment issues;
• Facilitate and develop multi-stakeholder policy dialogue, workshops and broad-based consultative processes, programmes, project documents on water policy;
• Performa any other activity and assignment, as requested by the Director of Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy Directorate. 

Academic Requirements and Relevant Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized university in any or combination of the following fields: water resources management, water policy, hydrology, environmental policy or other related disciplines; with ten (10) years’ experience in policy analysis, implementation and development of efficient policy dialogue platforms, including experience in standard techniques in policy development and implementation;
• Or a Master’s degree from a recognized university in any or combination of the following fields: water resources management, water policy, hydrology, environmental policy or other related disciplines; with seven (7) years’ experience in policy analysis, implementation and development of efficient policy dialogue platforms, including experience in standard techniques in policy development and implementation;
• Overall - a minimum of three (3) years of demonstrable expert level knowledge of water sector policies, strategies, procedures and practices of regional, major bilateral and multilateral partner development agencies is required

Required Skills:

• Knowledge and experience of the political, social and environmental factors and issues related to water resources in Africa;
• Good understanding of evidence-based policymaking, challenges and opportunities is required – including, working experience in similar policy advisory position, preferably in Africa, with national and transboundary water resources dimensions of advantage; 
• Demonstrate knowledge of the current developments related to water and transboundary water resources, water related natural resources and environment, climate change, etc. 
• Excellent communication, strong interpersonal skills and proven ability to work and communicate effectively across diverse cultures, as well as ability to develop and maintain effective working relationships with others;
• Ability to work collaboratively across state governments, development partners and other regional and international organizations;
• Proven ability to write concise reports and summarize consultation meetings, including addressing and incorporation of comments; 
• Ability in preparation discussion notes, policy briefs and presentations on issues arising for consideration by AUC, Member States and other stakeholders;
• Skills in organization, facilitation and development of multi-stakeholder policy dialogue, workshops and broad-based consultative processes;
• Ability to work independently with limited supervision;
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Proficiency in MS Office suite package
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Proficiency in one of the AU working languages is required, fluency in another AU language and or English in particular is an added advantage.

Leadership Competencies:

• Strategic Insight
• Change Management
• Managing Risk

Core Competencies:

• Building Relationship
• Accountable and Complies with Rules
• .Learning Orientation
• Communicating with Influence

Functional Competencies:

• Conceptual Thinking
• Job Knowledge and information sharing
• Drive for Results
• Continuous Improvement Orientation

Tenure of Appointment

• The AU Commission is an equal opportunity employer and qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply.

Gender Mainstreaming:

• The Appointment will be made on a fixed term contract for a period of one (1) year, of which the first three (3) months will be considered as a probationary period. Thereafter, the contract may be renewed for a similar period subject to funding availability, satisfactory performance and agreed deliverables.

Languages:

• Proficiency in one of the AU working languages (Arabic, English, French, Kiswahili, Portuguese, and Spanish) is mandatory and fluency in another AU language is an added advantage