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For every child, WASH
Organizational Context and Purpose for the Job
The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the Organization does — in programmes, in advocacy, and operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop, and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education, and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give more children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.
Purpose of the Job:
The WASH Specialist reports to the Chief of WASH (Level 5) and is responsible for leading the Urban WASH portfolio and enabling environment pillar within the WASH section. The Specialist plays a critical role in the design, implementation, and oversight of urban water, sanitation, and hygiene programming, ensuring it is evidence-based, climate-resilient, and aligned with national systems. In parallel, the Specialist drives upstream engagement, leading UNICEF’s technical contributions to sector policy, strategy development, regulatory reform, and institutional capacity strengthening. This includes proactively addressing cross-cutting issues such as water scarcity, energy access, and environmental degradation within urban contexts. The Specialist ensures integration of these priorities across the programme cycle, while fostering strategic partnerships and policy dialogue to strengthen the overall governance and sustainability of the WASH sector
Key functions/accountabilities:
1. Programme development and planning
Draft of WASH inputs for the situation analysis, ensuring the availability of timely, comprehensive, and evidence-based data to inform policy dialogue, programme design, and strategic decision-making. Maintain up-to-date knowledge of sector trends, particularly in urban WASH and enabling environmental reforms, to maximize the impact and relevance of interventions
Actively contributes to strategic WASH programme planning, with a focus on strengthening urban WASH systems and upstream engagement. Prepare high-quality donor proposals aligned with UNICEF’s Strategic Plan, the global WASH strategy, and the national development agenda, while also considering the roles and contributions of other sector stakeholders.
Support the formulation of WASH outcomes and Urban WASH output results, including clearly defined indicators, baselines, targets, and means of verification. Contribute to the development of analytical and reporting documents for programme reviews and donor reporting.
Collaborate with colleagues and sector partners to define and refine strategies, methodologies, and implementation approaches for achieving sustainable WASH results, with particular attention to policy influence, institutional strengthening, and equitable service delivery in urban settings
Provide technical and operational support across all phases of the programme cycle, ensuring strong integration of WASH—especially urban WASH—with other sectors and contributing to coherent, systems-strengthening approaches across the country programme
Offer expert guidance on the integration of climate resilience, sustainable energy, environmental safeguards, and disaster risk reduction (DRR) into UNICEF’s WASH programming and advocacy platforms, with a focus on urban resilience and institutional readiness
Draft and contribute to relevant sections of the annual work plan, working closely with government partners and stakeholders to ensure alignment with sector priorities, capacity development needs, and enabling environment reforms that support long-term WASH systems strengthening.
2. Programme management, monitoring, and delivery of results
With other external support agencies, strengthen national government WASH sector monitoring systems, with a focus on WASH outcomes (behaviors), using bottleneck analysis tools available in the sector.
Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews, and annual sectoral reviews with government and other counterparts and prepare reports on results for required action/interventions at the higher level of programme management.
Prepare/assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in programming and management, and identify and document lessons learned.
Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative, and other assets), verify compliance with approved allocations, organizational rules, regulations/procedures, and donor commitments, standards of accountability and integrity. Report on issues identified to enable timely resolution by management/stakeholders.
Prepare sectoral progress reports for management, donors, and partners.
3. Technical and operational support for programme implementation
Actively monitor UNICEF-supported activities through field visits, surveys, and exchange of information with partners, to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems, and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely interventions.
Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners, and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes, and best practices in WASH, to support programme implementation.
Plan for the use of technical experts from the Regional Office and HQ, as and where appropriate, in the WASH programme, through remote support and on-site visits.
Participate in WASH programme meetings to review progress with government, other sector agencies, and implementation partners involved at various stages of WASH programme implementation to provide expert advice and guidance.
Draft policy papers, briefs, and other strategic materials for use by management, donors, UNICEF regional offices, and headquarters.
Serve as a focal point for urban water policy in support of infrastructure, planning, and operation and maintenance for a safely managed urban water and sanitation supply.
4. Humanitarian WASH preparedness and response
Prepare requisitions for supplies, services, long-term agreements and partnership agreements to ensure UNICEF is prepared to deliver on its commitments for WASH in case of an emergency.
Contribute to the WASH Cluster for humanitarian WASH.
Ensure that all UNICEF WASH staff are familiar with UNICEF’s procedures for responding in an emergency.
Take up support roles in an emergency response and early recovery, as and when the need arises.
5. Networking and partnership building
Build and sustain close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build the capacity of stakeholders to achieve WASH output results.
Prepare materials for WASH programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnerships, and support fundraising.
Participate in inter-agency discussions, ensuring that UNICEF’s position, interests, and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF development planning and agenda setting.
6. Innovation, knowledge management, and capacity building
Lead the development, implementation, monitoring, and documentation of WASH action research and innovation (technical or systems).
Prepare learning/knowledge products, covering innovative approaches and good practices, to support overall WASH sector development.
Create and deliver learning opportunities for UNICEF WASH staff to ensure our sector capacity remains up to date with the latest developments.
Contribute to the systematic assessment of WASH sector capacity gap analysis, in collaboration with government and other stakeholders, and support the design of an initiative to strengthen capacities systematically.
Participate as a resource person in capacity-building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders.
Keep up to date on climate, energy, and environment development trends, for maximum efficiency and effectiveness in programme design, management, and implementation.
To see the full job description, please click the link below:
WASH Specialist NOC Juba South Sudan.doc
To qualify as an advocate for every child, you will have…
Education:
An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: water or sanitation engineering or another relevant technical field.
Additional relevant post-graduate courses that complement/supplement the main degree are a strong asset.
Experience:
DEVELOPMENTAL: A minimum of five years of professional experience in WASH-related programmes for developing countries related to urban WASH services is required.
HUMANITARIAN: At least one three-month deployment mission in a humanitarian situation (with UN-Govt-INGO) is required.
Language Requirements:
Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.
For every Child, you demonstrate...
UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values
The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
- Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (2)
- Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
- Works Collaboratively with others (2)
- Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
- Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
- Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
- Drive to achieve impactful results (2)
- Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)
Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.
UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.
UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.
Remarks:
As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.
UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.
Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.
UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.
All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.
Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.
