Director – Pro-WASH Program

Job Description

Summary

PRO-WASH (Practices, Research and Operations in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is a five-year project led by Save the Children and funded by the USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs (BHA). PRO-WASH actively works with partners to strengthen the quality, effectiveness and sustainability of WASH and Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) practices in BHA-funded resilience and humanitarian food security activities. This includes delivering several core activities aimed at strengthening implementing partners’ capacities to deliver high-quality WASH and IWRM and service delivery. The project is funded until January 2023.

The PRO-WASH award is one of several similarly-structured food security mechanisms that provide continuous technical assistance, knowledge sharing and operational research support to USAID/BHA implementing partners from award inception, through implementation and post-award learning. Additional information about how these programs provide support to a global community of food security partners is available at www.fsnnetwork.org.

The PRO-WASH Director will identify and support strategic and sustainable capacity strengthening, learning, and knowledge-sharing activities, focused on both WASH and IWRM approaches, as funded by USAID/BHA Title II funding. You will exercise independent judgment and discretion on significant matters and will implement objectives independently, after approval by their senior management and with management support, to determine accomplishments, key milestones and overall success.

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Technical Leadership and Support (60%)

• Provide strategic leadership for the development, implementation and monitoring of program workplan activities;
• Serve as Chair and lead convener of the PRO-WASH Steering Committee;
• Ensure annual workplans (inclusive of the Program Monitoring Plan) are successfully carried out throughout the program;
• Oversee the design and implementation of WASH and IWRM capacity building activities, including designing and implementing Training of Trainers (ToT) curricula to achieve longer-term, sustainable learning capacities at all levels – HQ, field, management and technical – within implementing organizations;
• Provide quality assurance on all PRO-WASH capacity strengthening tools, trainings, and practice materials focused on IWRM and WASH through multiple channels, including in-person trainings, distance learning, low-resource and low bandwidth A/V, and mentoring methodologies;
• Provide follow-up remote mentoring support to USAID/BHA partners, as needed, to deliver quality theories of change, research studies, capacity-strengthening and learning activities and other technical assistance needs as indicated by the donor or implementers;
• Provide input to the strategic direction and oversight for learning events and webinars focused on sharing partners’ experiences around implementation of multi-sectoral food security activities inclusive of WASH and IWRM;
• Lead the development of strong documentation, learning documents, toolkits, and data collection and management methods for sharing with the larger food security community, including via FSN Network;
• Work with USAID/BHA and implementing partners to identify core WASH and IWRM operational research needs, provide leadership and oversight to the PRO-WASH small grants program and work with research institutions and experts to identify and initiate applied research activities;

Management and Coordination (40%)

• Serve as the primary liaison with USAID/BHA, implementers, IDEAL and other Associate Awards (e.g. IMPEL, PCS, SCALE, REAL);
• Manage the program budget in accordance with Save the Children standards and protocols;
• Manage all PRO-WASH program staff and oversee their professional development;
• Build partnerships and/or networks with external agencies and organizations including multilaterals, NGOs, and contractors to share and promote WASH and IWRM learning and innovation and pursue opportunities to disseminate developed tools;
• Solicit relevant qualified short-term technical assistance based on specific program needs;
• Lead donor reporting as per donor requirements;
• Contribute to Save the Children’s quarterly and annual reporting, strategic and operational planning and other management and documentation mechanisms.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in a WASH or water resources management-related field, including, but not limited to, civil and/or environmental engineering, environmental science/health, public health, or related field;
• Minimum 7-10 years’ experience implementing WASH or IWRM programming in the context of programs in international and resource-limited settings with at least 3-5 years in a leadership role;
• Demonstrated experience supporting USAID/BHA-funded food security activities, or similarly funded rural WASH or IWRM targeting highly vulnerable populations in both humanitarian and development settings
• Experience designing and implementing WASH or IWRM capacity building, research and/or knowledge-sharing activities;
• Ability to communicate effectively and maintain productive relationships with donors, implementing partners, research institutions, and national governments;
• Ability to demonstrate strong management, planning, supervisory, and leadership skills. Ability to think critically, strategically, and operationally;
• Computer literacy in word processing, graphics, and spreadsheet software packages and particularly use of PowerPoint;
• Familiarity with USAID-funded activities, particularly within USAID/BHA, Bureau for Resilience and Food Security and/or Bureau of Global Health;
• Strong written and verbal communications skills;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and collaborative and respectful working style with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and work settings;
• Ability to work both independently and as a team member with diverse headquarters, field office, and partner agency staff;
• Ability to travel up to 20% of the time. Travel includes both international and domestic trips.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree strongly preferred in a WASH and/or water security-related field, including, but not limited to, civil and/or environmental engineering, environmental science/health, public health, with at least 10 years of experience and 5 years of experience in a leadership role;
• Practical and/or intellectual experience applying WASH or IWRM in extremely resource-limited settings, with a focus on rural water supply, water service operations and maintenance (O&M); multi-level governance and capacity building; demand-driven sanitation; hygiene behavior change and/or watershed management;
• Experience in qualitative and quantitative WASH and/or IWRM research;
• Experience working globally, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa;
• A fluent or native English speaker with French or other secondary language skills.

Why you should join the Save the Children Team…

Save the Children US offers outstanding benefits that include health, dental, vision and life insurances, pet insurance, short-term and long-term disability coverage, an Employee Assistance Program, 403(b), generous vacation, personal sick leave, family leave, parental/adoption leave, commuter benefits, dress for your day, and much more.

Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in YOU!

About the Organization

About Save the Children

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the United States and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

Our work for children and their families requires that we commit—at every opportunity—to work together to identify and dismantle persistent systemic and structural racism, inequality, and any other forms of discrimination in this country and beyond. As an anti-racist organization, Save the Children will not tolerate discrimination in any form—in our employment practices, amongst our staff, in our leadership or toward the people we serve. We stand in solidarity with all people to fight for equal rights, justice, inclusion, and belonging.

We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse. In addition, it is Save the Children’s policy to create and proactively maintain an environment that aims to prevent and deter any actions and omissions, whether deliberate or inadvertent, that place children at the risk of any kind of child abuse. All our representatives are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.