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The Officer's overall task will be to improve household water quality and water safety for communities living within the Lake Victoria tributary network of Western Kenya, who are disproportionately affected by water quality-related stressors and shocks. S/he will seek to work through two levels - community and school level engagement and direct testing of appropriate technologies, plus systems strengthening to ensure local stakeholders have the tools, capacities, and evidence to sustain improved water access. S/he will support chronic and acute emergency response needs with distribution of point of use (POU) products and complementary water safety and hygiene social behavior change (SBC) and will layer interim and medium-term efforts to transition POU-dependent communities towards safe water services.

JOB RESPONSIBILITY 1: Supervise the planning, design and implementation of water supply infrastructure improvements - 45%

• Lead on development of technical terms within contracts, documents, and all formal agreements related to civil works and construction activities.
• Work with CSDW staff and partners to develop infrastructure development plans;
• Co-lead with County officials and communities, the planning and implementation of construction and rehabilitation of designated water supply infrastructure, including:

1. Develop and maintain construction project management tools (e.g. Gantt chart, maps, budget tracking) to track and report out on;
2. Establish and facilitate regular county engagement and meetings to design water service improvements and to establish co-financing timelines, levels, and mechanisms; 
3. Facilitate community engagement activities, including negotiation of way leaves and easements, ensuring regular and pro-active community engagement and ownership throughout the implementation period;
4. Validate and review the scoping, feasibility, and costing assessments (previously completed by County authorities); 
5. Lead and supervise any further assessments, as-needed, with county authorities to refine the technical and financial scope; 
6. (alongside the PM and other Project Officers) Support development of equitable project management committees (PMCs) who support infrastructure development at the community level; 
7. Review and finalize pre-existing design and construction plans (previously developed through County and external engineering/construction firms; 
8. (alongside County Officials and the PM) Co-develop, tailor, and/or refine refinement SOPs and accountability metrics for O&M of rehabilitated water systems; 
9. (alongside County Officials and Health Workers) Perform (or supervise) source water quality testing and communication of water quality results and education back to the service area population; 
10. (alongside County Officials, and community groups): development and/or refinement of source water protection measures needed; 
11. (in consultaion with the PM) Lead on open bidding and contracting processes (e.g. tender/bid documents, work specifications, drawings, BOQs, and ToRs) to procure a construction firm(s)  for rehabilitation and/or construction;
12. (alongside the County Engineer) Provide supervision, oversight and QA/QC protcols to ensure construction proceeds according to to design, specification, and timeline (adhering to CARE Kenya, County and National Government regulations and standards); and
13. (alongside County Officials and other CSDW Project Officers) Support post-construction handover to communities, including strengthening the handover between the project management committee (PMC) and the water management committee (WMC).
14. Ensure geospatial (GIS) and other data-based reporting of infrastructure and water service improvements (e.g. into mWater, GoK databases, and WPDx).

• Support the Project Manager on the CSDW Objectives related to Water Quality, Water Treatment, and Water Safety Plans, including:
• County- and community-level support related to treatment methods, testing, source protection
• Support the PM and Research Officer on development of data collection tools, and results communication modules for water quality feedback loops.
• Support governance, learning and research activities, including:

1. Piloting, implementation, and documentation of water quality and water treatment interventions, including piloting of passive chlorinators, source protection, and other centralized treatment methods. 
2. Community action planning for water and water quality services.
3. Liaise and coordinate with the Program Officer in Migori County to ensure coherence of WASH and governance activities at the community level.

JOB RESPONSIBILITY 2: Programme Monitoring, Learning, and Reporting - 25%

• (Alongside the Research Project Officer and other CSDW team) Contribute meaningfully to the implementation of the learning agenda, including information sharing, dialog, and critical analysis that is intended to improve the quality of programming, adoption of good practice, and influencing policies and practice at scale;
• Lead on any collection of information and/or needs assessments related to water supply or water service needs in the areas of operation.
• Conduct regular field visits to programme areas to observe progress, compliance of design, work specifications and quality of the work, and subsequent application of findings/trip reports to inform and adapt implementation;
• Using relevant project management tools, regularly maintain and report out on infrastructure works progress, timelines, and any challenges:
• (as needed) Support the Research Office and PM with situational, baseline, annual, and/or other regular monitoring assessments and field surveys, with subsequent dissemination and application of findings into project adaptations and pivots. 
• (Support to PM) Contribute to drafting and revisions of donor reports (e.g. bi-annual, final reporting) in compliance with donor and CARE timelines and deadlines
• Support the PM to ensure proper archiving and storage of all project construction and infrastructure documents, reports, and data files to CARE USA and CARE Kenya file sharing systems. 
• Support the PM with needed inputs and compliance to the CARE PIIRS data systems, as requested and in timely fashion with CARE Kenya.
• Support infrastructure-related learning initiatives to answer questions such as:

1. What are the tangible and intangible benefits to co-investing and geographically layering infrastructure and governance activities? 
2. What are the processes, challenges, and metrics for success when integrating water quality and water safety planning into ongoing infrastructure planning, budgeting, and governance models?  

JOB RESPONSIBILITY 3: Technical Capacity Building of Water Service providers and Water Resource Regulators - 15%

• Facilitate the capacity building and training efforts focused on water service authorities (SAs, e.g. County Water Officials) and water service providers (WSPs) including community WSPs (informal), and any private or semi-private WSPs, with a focus on building capacity and motivation for water quality and water safety planning (WSP), as well as broader water sustainability benchmarks;
• Support other Project Officers, the PM, and national and county water actors to pilot, document, and/or scale centralized or bulk water treatment methods and/or source water protection. 
• Capacity Building of Water Management and Water Users Committees to be able to effectively manage water facilities in decentralized water systems and empower them to run their own water supply systems in line with the approved rural water management models for improved governance and sustainability.
• Support in the development and implementation of water safety plans and risk management plans for the water supply projects.
• Carry out feasibility studies, water resource and quality mapping, and environmental assessments for the proposed water supply installation and rehabilitation works.

JOB RESPONSIBILITY 4: Liaison with Government and Non-Government Organizations - 10%

• Establish professional working relationships with all programme stakeholders, in particular, national and county government departments 
• Represent CARE’s CSDW project at relevant WASH sector workshops and seminars;
• Liaise with other CARE’s CSDW staff to share experiences and learning from CARE programmes elsewhere.  
• Representation of CARE Kenya in key WASH and Construction stakeholder forums / meetings at the Ward, sub-County and county levels as request
• Facilitate community education on Laws, Policies and Standards on WASH & Construction Service delivery.
• Provide support to community led processes of monitoring public service delivery.
• Ensure communities are mobilized and participate in their WASH and collaborate with county government and other development partners to ensure implementation of service models and leverage on construction of WASH projects.

JOB RESPONSIBILITY 4: Any other assigned duties - (5%)

• Perform any other duty as may be assigned by supervisor or designee from time to time.
• Participate and contribute in committees and task forces which you may be appointed to anticipate in.
• Ensure that policies and guidelines as laid down in CARE manuals and policies are always adhered to.

1. Education:

• At least Higher National Diploma or first  degree in Water/ Civil Engineering from a recognized institution/university

2. Experience

• Minimum 3 years’ experience in engineering project design, needs assessments, surveys, and construction of WASH infrastructure.
• Proven experience in working / programming in development context including managing a large-scale Community based water project with evidence of successful implementation of similar projects.
• Ability to conduct community WASH needs assessment, program planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of WASH activities.
• Good understanding of water supply of water quality improvement technological models including in-line chlorination systems, rural water services operational efficiency and sustainable service models for rural water management.
• Expertise in water safety plans for WASH projects. This includes Water Quality Testing, Monitoring and reporting.
• Experience in water resource management - environmental protection and conservation as an added advantage.
• Prior experience in collaborative and partnership agreement formulation with development partners, county governments and community in WASH related interventions.

3. Other Competencies:

• Good experience in construction project design and implementation 
• Excellent English communication skills (both oral and written).
• Knowledge and application of auto / arch CAD and GIS Excellent computer skills, including proficiency in MS Office and Microsoft Outlook 
• A team player, capable of building staff and community capacity in WASH governance and systems strengthening trainings.
• Ability to take initiative, a team leader able to work with minimum supervision
• Cross-cultural sensitivity and emotional maturity 
• Ability to maintain performance expectations in diverse cultural contexts

Desired

• A second degree (Masters or otherwise) in Water Supply, or Environmental Engineering
• General understanding of O&M and management requirement of water structures in rural communities
• Experience in the Rural WASH sector
• Experience with research, learning and WASH activities in  development and emergency sector

AUTHORITY:

Spending Authority:    - None 

Supervision: - None    

Decision Making:

• Makes decisions regarding aspects of technical intervention for water infrastructure in consultation with the project manager.

CONTACTS/KEY RELATIONSHIPS (internal & external):
 
The program requires maintenance of relationship, high degree of tact, and judgments with complex changing of situations from time to time.
The main contacts will be; the national and county governments through Technical working groups and implementation agreement between CARE and county water, health and education departments. Others sector players include;

• Water Users Associations
• Water management committees
• Water Resources Authority 
• Water Services Regulatory Board 
• NGO/Agencies in WATSAN and livelihood Sector
• Other INGOs, local NGOs and FBO 
• Community members and leaders

Deadline to receive all applications will be on or before  3rd January 2022, at 5.00 P.M EAT. 

Only short listed candidates will be contacted. Canvassing will lead to automatic disqualification.

CARE does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. Qualified Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply. CARE has a commitment to gender, equity and diversity in our workplace and operations. CARE respects and values diversity and does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, gender identity, sexuality, ethnicity, age, disability, religion or politics. This is reflected in our recruitment decisions which are made entirely through a transparent, merit-based selection process. All CARE staffs are required to comply with the Code of Conduct, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) and Child Protection (CP) policies.