Public Works Officer

Job Description

Background Information - Job-specific

UNOPS South Sudan Country Office (SSCO) will be implementing the South Sudan Safety Net Project (SSSNP), which is funded by the World Bank (WB) to address existing challenges of soaring levels of poverty, vulnerability, unemployment and idleness, particularly amongst youth. The project development objective is to provide access to income opportunities and temporary employment to the poor and vulnerable households and strengthen safety nets delivery systems.

SSSNP has three main components namely:

1. Public works plus including complementary activities like entrepreneurial skills, WASH training and early childhood development and nutrition messaging;
2. Direct income support targeting House Holds who are labour constrained;
3. Strengthening safety net delivery systems;

The project will be targeting the most vulnerable segments of South Sudanese population aiming to be benefit in excess of 68 thousand beneficiary House Holds in more than 10 vulnerable locations across the country

Functional Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Project Manager, the incumbent is required to provide technical design, feasibility study, quality control and oversee the implementation of the identified public works activities.

Scope of Work

The Public Works Officer will be a member of the UNOPS Project Management Team (PMT) and she/he will be responsible for:

Support to implementation of the selected public works

• Prepare terms of reference for all identified public works detailing technical specifications;
• Develop appropriate guidelines for public works activities;
• In consultation with the Environmental and Social Safeguards Officer, ensure environmental and social safeguards and are implemented;
• Organize and lead in the design and rapid feasibility studies of the identified public works activities;
• Ensure all planned PWs activities are implemented to the required standard and quality;
• Provide overall guidance and supervision to Team leaders and public works officers in the field;
• Contribute in the formation of public works supervisory structure that includes site engineer, community level (foreman that oversees all targeted groups and headman in charge of individual groups), counterpart officials from the government;
• Ensure involvement of the sectors at all stages, through the supervisor structure;
• Contribute in development of the beneficiary targeting criteria that will be used to guide communities and their leaders to decide members who should participates in the program, the gist of the criteria is to select members of the community, women, men and youth etc.; who are poor and vulnerable and ensure that the most vulnerable groups are reached and participate in the program;
• Provide guidance to the procurement unit for procurement of cash for works (CFWs) tools and PPE;
• Liaise with the ministry of Physical infrastructure for synergy in public works related activities;

Capacity Building of Stakeholders

• Identify training needs of the field staff and local stakeholders;
• Develop capacity building programs (training modules) and contribute to its implementation at different levels;
• Support provision of training at the grass roots level for the communities;
• Facilitate the provision of resources for training as required;
• assess the effectiveness of training provided;
• Review and modify training methods and curricula as necessary;
• Encourage and promote learning by doing for local stakeholders;

Sustainable Management of Public Works

• Develop principles and safety rules to be applied to identified public works activities;
• Ensure public works operation and maintenance guideline/manual are developed and applied;
• Contribute to the preparation and operationalization of monitoring and evaluation system of the PW programme;
• Ensure/contribute to the periodic review of PWP;
• Ensures the implementation of PWP review recommendations to amend the gaps identified;
• Produce reports for all activities undertaken monthly, quarterly and annually.

Education

• Masters degree or advanced degree in Civil Engineering or Agricultural Engineering or relevant field is required.
• Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering or Agricultural Engineering or relevant field with additional 4 years relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the Masters degree.

Experience

• A minimum of 2 years experience in public works projects is required.
• Skills in Engineering (2 years) is required.
• Experience in implementing the World Bank funded projects is an added advantage.

Languages

• Fluency in written and oral English is required
• Knowledge of Arabic Language desire

Contract type, level and duration

Contract type: Local Individual Contractor Agreement
Contract level: LICA-9
Contract duration: Ongoing ICA – ‘Open-ended, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.

This is a local position, therefore it is open to the nationals of South Sudan and applicants who have a valid residency work permit to work in South Sudan


For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link:
https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx

Additional Considerations

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

Background Information -South Sudan

The UNOPS South Sudan office helps a wide range of local and international partners improve the lives of the South Sudanese people by implementing infrastructure and procurement projects. All UNOPS operations have an increasing emphasis on developing national capacities and considering gender, environmental and community concerns. UNOPS is working in a range of sectors in South Sudan including: transport, education, health, post-conflict stabilization and emergency response.

About the Organization

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.