Director, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Section, D-2, Programme Group (PG), Nairobi, Kenya
Apply now
Job no: 584418
Contract type: Fixed Term Appointment
Duty Station: Nairobi
Level: D-2
Location: Kenya
Categories: Senior Leadership Vacancies
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfil their potential.
Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.
And we never give up.
For every child, dedication.
UNICEF’s fundamental mission is to uphold the rights of every child, everywhere - across programmes, advocacy, partnerships, and operations. Guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF places equity at the heart of its work, recognising that the most disadvantaged and excluded children must be prioritised to achieve sustainable development for all. Equity means ensuring that every child has an equal opportunity to survive, develop, and thrive—free from discrimination, bias, or systemic barriers. When any child is denied this opportunity, their rights are compromised. By addressing inequity, UNICEF accelerates progress towards fulfilling the rights of all children while supporting the equitable development of nations.
Despite progress over the last decade, millions of children around the world still lack access to essential water, sanitation, and hygiene services, putting them at risk of disease and deeper social exclusion. While some progress has been made, major gaps persist. People living in low-income countries, fragile contexts, rural communities, children, and minority ethnic and indigenous groups face the greatest disparities. In 2024, 2.1 billion people globally – still lack access to safely managed drinking water, including 106 million who drink directly from untreated surface sources: 3.4 billion people still lack safely managed sanitation, including 354 million who practice open defecation, and 1.7 billion people still lack basic hygiene services at home, including 611 million without access to any facilities.
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is an integral part of UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2026–2029. It contributes across all five impact results, with particular emphasis on Impact Result 1 (saving children’s lives) and Impact Result 5 (reducing climate and environmental risks for children). The Global WASH Practice also contributes to the implementation of the United Nations System-Wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation and its Collaborative Implementation Plan. Access to affordable, safe, sustainable, and low-carbon climate-resilient WASH services at home and in communities is a prerequisite for children’s health, safety, and future development.
Under the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2026-2029, UNICEF WASH prioritizes accelerating access to safe and sustainable WASH by scaling high-impact solutions, supporting governments to build strong national systems, and creating enabling environments that attract new and additional financing to the sector. In humanitarian and fragile contexts, UNICEF continues to deliver life-saving WASH services while strengthening national systems and capacities to adopt more resilient and sustainable solutions.
These approaches also promote social cohesion and stability across the humanitarian–development–peace nexus. Access to affordable, safe, sustainable, and climate-resilient WASH services at home, in schools, in health care facilities, and in communities is a prerequisite for children’s health, safety, dignity, and development
The Global WASH Practice delivers programs at scale that provide resilient, equitable, and sustainable WASH service delivery that prioritizes the needs of children and women, even in resource-constrained and crisis-affected environments.
Strategic office context:
The Global Programme Division (GPD) plays a central role in driving programme excellence to expand opportunities for children. It provides strategic leadership and policy direction, develops and monitors frameworks and standards, ensures coherence and alignment across sectors, regions, and partners, and strengthens country-level implementation through integrated technical support, linking global policy with on-the-ground action to deliver results for children at scale.
As part of this structure, UNICEF has established Centres of Excellence (CoEs) to provide high-quality, demand-driven technical assistance to Country and Regional Offices, and governments and international partners. Located strategically in Nairobi, Panama, Amman, and Bangkok, the CoEs bring together cross-sectoral expertise across four time zones. Global Programme Practices in CoEs function as a single point of entry for support, delivering tailored assistance in priority areas such as policy reform in matters that advance the well-being of children, at-scale programme design, public finance, workforce development and institutional strengthening, and timely humanitarian response while promoting resilient development. In doing so, the CoEs also contribute to global policy standards, ensuring that UNICEF’s support is grounded in practical knowledge.
Purpose for the job:
The Director will lead the Global WASH Practice across Centers of Excellence in Nairobi, Panama, Amman, and Bangkok. The Director will also periodically assume the additional role of coordinator of the Nairobi Center of Excellence, sharing this responsibility on a rolling basis with the Global Directors of the Health, and Nutrition who are also located in Nairobi.
The Director will provide strategic leadership, vision and direction for UNICEFs WASH Programme Offer focusing on strategy, technical assistance to governments and Country Offices for the delivery of high– impact, evidence-based solutions services at scale as well as continuing to lead UNICEF’s global WASH mandate. This includes connecting national priorities with global expertise and partnerships providing policy advice, sector planning, regulation, standard setting, programme design, mobilisation of domestic resources and arming partnerships with private sector and IFIs.
An important ingredient of the work is to generate high-level political leadership, driving sector reform, and supporting demand generation — all underpinned by innovation, evidence generation, and advocacy and WASH program communication at local, national, regional, and global levels. This applies across both development and humanitarian contexts with a strong focus of building resilience to climate impact and other shocks and stressors. Another important element of the work is to provide leadership in the development of funding partnerships and mobilization of resources for UNICEF-led WASH programmes across the world, in coordination with Country and Regional Offices, and Divisions responsible for Public Partnerships and Private sector fundraising and Partnerships.
She/He will also lead UNICEF’s and work closely with key partners to ensure acceleration and scale up. The Director will be accountable for results, internal controls, resource planning and financial management for the Global WASH Practice and for working collaboratively with the other Global Programme Practices, Regional Offices, Country Offices and other Divisions.
How can you make a difference?
Summary of key functions/accountabilities:
-
Vision & Strategy
-
Representation & Partnership
-
Technical Leadership, Policy Development and Advice
-
Management of people and resources
1. Vision & Strategy
- Shape and develop strategies to achieve the UNICEF Strategic Plan Target 2026-2029 across all five impact results, with particular emphasis on Impact Result 1 (saving children’s lives) and Impact Result 5 (reducing climate and environmental risks for children). by contributing to:
-
- 300 million children have access to safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene services and
- that 100 million children have access to climate resilient WASH services.
- Define strategies for the Global WASH Practice, translating the Global WASH offer, to support governments to programme at scale ensuring resilient, equitable, and sustainable WASH service delivery that prioritizes the needs of children and women, including in resource-constrained and crisis-affected environments.
- Maintain UNICEF’s position as the knowledge center on child rights and provide technical and thought leadership in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene through innovation, impactful partnerships, knowledge management and application of evidence in programme development and design.
2. Representation & Partnerships
- Develop and maintain strategic global and regional programme partnerships, including UN agencies, development partners, institutions/foundations, non-governmental organizations and academia and private sector to foster innovation, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and resource mobilization.
- Strengthening relations with key partners through effective policy dialogue and advocacy to mobilize and leverage resources for children.
- Develop and capitalize on new and emerging opportunities for resource mobilization including innovative financing and partnerships, especially in terms of non-traditional funding sources.
- Represent UNICEF in global and regional forums and to showcase the lead role of UNICEF of WASH in the UN system.
3. Technical Leadership, Policy Development and Advice
- Guide the update and implementation of the Global WASH Strategy 2016 – 2030 building on the recent Mid Term Evaluation report.
- Provide leadership on the development of the major policies, regulations, standards and systems leading to reform that underpin Technical Assistance and WASH offer to Regions, Country Offices and governments.
- Lead the provision high quality technical assistance support for WASH to countries in various contexts including in policy reform and programme design, at-scale financing of WASH services, workforce development and institution building, quality and timely humanitarian response, digital enhancements in service delivery, integration with cross-cutting imperatives such as gender equality and leaving no child behind, and routine programme management support to UNICEF Country Offices.
4. Management of people and resources
-
Lead the transition into a fully functional Global WASH Practice capable of fulfilling the new roles and accountabilities of the Global WASH Practice across all CoE locations, Nairobi, New York, Panama, Amman, and Bangkok.
- Ensure cross-sectoral (nutrition, gender, adolescents, child protection, social policy, education, health) and cross collaboration to align and maximize UNICEF’s support for WASH to regions, countries and governments.
- Create a unified culture to achieve common goals and objectives by motivating, coaching and supporting staff in the Global WASH Practice across the four CoE locations.
- Develop and manage workforce development, recruitment, performance management, learning and career management of staff.
- Manage staff performance and development through regular feedback, mentoring and career planning.
Key Performance Indicators include:
- Successfully establishing the Global WASH Practice.
- Change management leading to an integrated Global WASH practice delivering with impact.
- Strategic leadership skills.
- Global positioning of UNICEFs leadership in WASH.
- High quality Technical Assistance to Country and Regional Offices and Governments.
- Management of UNICEF’s human, financial and material resources assigned to the WASH portfolio.
- Deliver expected CoE roles and responsibilities to COs, ROs, and to the rest of GPD
To view the complete job description, please click here
To qualify as a champion for every child you will have…
Qualifications:
- An Advanced University Degree from an accredited institution in Public Health, Civil, Water or Sanitary Engineering, Social Sciences, Water resource management or related fields is required. A first level university degree may be exceptionally considered with two years of additional work experience.
- A minimum of 15 years of professional experience that combines intellectual and managerial leadership in an international organization or corporation is required.
- Excellent leadership, managerial and people skills, with particular strengths in supporting, nurturing, motivating and engaging diverse teams and influencing partners.
- Prior experience in leadership positions in humanitarian and development contexts is an asset.
- Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset.
Person Profile:
- Credibility and technical excellence in water, sanitation and hygiene and climate resilience.
- Recognized management skills in a multicultural setting, combined with ability to achieve results through motivating people and influencing partners.
- Proven ability to mobilize resources across traditional and non-traditional sources
- Results-oriented decision-making ability with an aptitude to address operational challenges and for developing practical solutions.
- Innovation mindset with risk management ability and a proven track record as a successful agent of change.
- Rigorous analytical and conceptual thinking.
- High sense of integrity, trust and confidence.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, including the ability to set out a coherent analysis in presentations.
- Strong diplomatic and communication skills and the ability to develop effective working relationships with clients and counterparts at the appropriate levels.
- Ability to represent UNICEF in international fora.
For every Child, you demonstrate...
UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values
Competencies
- Builds and maintains partnerships (level III)
- Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (level III)
- Drive to achieve results for impact (level III)
- Innovates and embraces change (level III)
- Manages ambiguity and complexity (level III)
- Thinks and acts strategically (level III)
- Works collaboratively with others (level III)
- Nurtures, leads and manages people (level III)
To view our competency framework, please visit here.
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 promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, 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 is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.
Remarks:
Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.
UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at https://www.whed.net/home.php.
UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also 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 cancelled.
Advertised: E. Africa Standard Time
Deadline: E. Africa Standard Time