WASH in Emergencies Specialist - Roster Recruitment

The Emergency WASH Specialist will deploy to support emergency preparedness, response, early recovery and transition programming by providing technical leadership and operational support for safe, inclusive and gender-responsive WASH services during emergencies. The role includes rapid assessments, response design, implementation oversight, coordination, proposal development, quality assurance, monitoring, capacity strengthening and transition planning.

Responsibilities

• Lead or support rapid WASH needs assessments, technical assessments, service mapping and market assessments in line with Plan International tools and humanitarian standards.
• Analyse WASH risks, service gaps, disease transmission risks, gender and protection concerns, accessibility barriers and priority needs of affected populations.
• Support the development of evidence-based emergency WASH response strategies, workplans, response plans and budgets.
• Ensure that programme design is aligned with Sphere Standards, the Core Humanitarian Standard, national standards, cluster guidance and relevant public-health requirements.
• Identify opportunities for integrated programming with Health, Nutrition, Protection, Education, Shelter and Cash and Voucher Assistance interventions.
• Provide technical oversight for emergency water supply interventions, including water-source assessment, water trucking, water treatment, chlorination, household water treatment, water-quality monitoring, storage, distribution systems and water-point rehabilitation.
• Provide technical guidance on emergency sanitation, including household, communal, institutional and school sanitation, excreta management, drainage, solid-waste management and vector-control measures.
• Support hygiene-promotion and social and behaviour change activities, including handwashing, safe water handling, household water treatment, menstrual health and hygiene, and community engagement approaches.
• Provide technical guidance on WASH in health-care facilities, infection prevention and control, outbreak preparedness and response, including cholera, Ebola and other public-health emergencies where relevant.
• Review and support the development of technical drawings, Bills of Quantities, specifications, scopes of work, technical evaluation criteria and contractor deliverables.
• Ensure that infrastructure and service interventions are safe, technically appropriate, accessible, climate-informed and feasible for operation and maintenance by communities, local authorities or service providers.
• Establish or strengthen practical quality-assurance mechanisms, including water-quality testing, construction supervision, functionality monitoring, hygiene-promotion monitoring and post-distribution monitoring.
• Support Country Offices to establish emergency WASH response systems, including technical workplans, supply plans, activity trackers, monitoring tools, reporting templates and risk registers.
• Work closely with Supply Chain and Procurement teams to support procurement planning, technical specifications, supplier engagement, quality checks and delivery follow-up.
• Support field teams to establish appropriate systems for stock management, distribution tracking, water-quality monitoring, facility operation and maintenance, complaints handling and community feedback.
• Provide hands-on support during the initial phase of an emergency response, including field visits, technical troubleshooting, start-up planning and mentoring of WASH staff.
• Identify operational bottlenecks, implementation risks and corrective actions, and communicate these promptly to relevant management and programme teams.
• Represent Plan International in national and sub-national WASH Cluster meetings, technical working groups, inter-agency coordination platforms and sector coordination mechanisms as requested.
• Ensure timely submission of 3Ws/4Ws, activity updates, technical information and response data to relevant coordination platforms.
• Maintain constructive working relationships with government authorities, UN agencies, NGOs, donors, service providers, local partners and community structures.
• Support coordination with Health, Protection, Education, Shelter and other sectors to promote integrated, safe and accountable responses.
• Contribute to technical discussions, advocacy messages and coordination products that advance the quality, inclusion and sustainability of emergency WASH services.
• Contribute to the development of emergency concept notes, proposals, budgets, logframes, technical narratives and donor reports.
• Ensure that WASH proposals are technically sound, realistic, costed appropriately and responsive to assessed needs.
• Support the development of monitoring frameworks, indicators, targets, reporting systems and learning products.
• Review programme reports and provide technical input on progress, challenges, adaptations, risks and lessons learned.
• Contribute to after-action reviews, response evaluations, learning workshops and preparedness planning processes.
• Ensure that all emergency WASH interventions address the specific needs, safety concerns and priorities of girls, adolescent girls and young women.
• Promote disability inclusion, age inclusion, menstrual health and hygiene, protection-sensitive design and equitable access to services.
• Ensure meaningful participation of women, girls, boys, men, persons with disabilities and marginalised groups in assessments, planning, implementation and monitoring.
• Support the integration of community feedback and complaints mechanisms into WASH interventions.
• Uphold Plan International’s safeguarding, child-protection, anti-harassment and code-of-conduct requirements at all times.

Requirements

• Progressively responsible experience in WASH programming, including solid experience in humanitarian or emergency-response settings.
• Demonstrated experience in emergency WASH assessments, programme design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Proven technical experience in emergency water supply, water treatment, water-quality monitoring, sanitation, hygiene promotion and WASH infrastructure.
• Experience supporting public-health emergency responses, including outbreaks, displacement, conflict, flooding, drought or other humanitarian crises.
• Experience developing technical specifications, Bills of Quantities, scopes of work, procurement documentation and contractor supervision arrangements.
• Experience in donor proposal development, budgeting and reporting.
• Experience representing an organisation with clusters, government authorities, UN agencies, donors, NGOs and other external stakeholders.
• Experience managing, mentoring or strengthening the capacity of WASH staff and local partners.
• Experience working in complex, insecure or resource-constrained environments.
• Strong knowledge of Sphere Standards, the Core Humanitarian Standard and relevant WASH Cluster guidance.
• Strong understanding of the Humanitarian Programme Cycle and humanitarian coordination architecture.
• Sound understanding of gender, child protection, safeguarding, accountability to affected populations and disability inclusion in WASH programming.
• Good understanding of public-health principles, disease prevention, outbreak response and WASH-related health risks.
• Familiarity with humanitarian procurement, logistics, programme-quality systems and monitoring approaches.
• Strong technical and analytical skills in emergency WASH programming.
• Ability to rapidly assess complex situations and develop practical, context-appropriate response options.
• Strong proposal-writing, report-writing and budget-development skills.
• Strong interpersonal, coordination, negotiation and representation skills.
• Ability to work independently, prioritise effectively and make sound decisions under pressure.
• Strong team-management, mentoring and capacity-strengthening skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively across technical, operational and programme teams.
• Strong computer literacy, including Microsoft Office applications and data-management tools.
• Full professional proficiency in English is essential.
• Full professional working proficiency in Spanish is essential for this roster.
• Professional working proficiency in French, Arabic or Portuguese is desirable.
• Must be available to deploy within 72 hours of confirmation, or as soon as visa and travel clearance are obtained.
• Must be willing and able to travel and work in challenging, insecure, remote or resource-constrained environments.
• May be required to work outside normal working hours, including evenings, weekends and public holidays, in order to meet emergency-response requirements.

Skills

• WASH Programming
• Emergency WASH Assessments
• Programme Design
• Programme Implementation
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Emergency Water Supply
• Water Treatment Technologies
• Water quality monitoring
• Sanitation
• Hygiene Promotion
• WASH Infrastructure
• Public Health Emergency Management
• Technical Specifications
• Bill of Quantities preparation
• Procurement Documentation
• Contractor Supervision
• Donor Proposals
• Budgeting
• Reporting
• Stakeholder Representation
• WASH Staff Management
• Capacity Strengthening
• Sphere Standards knowledge
• Core Humanitarian Standards
• WASH Cluster Guidance
• Humanitarian Programme Cycle Management
• Humanitarian Coordination
• Gender Inclusion in WASH
• Child Protection
• Safeguarding
• Accountability to Affected Populations
• Disability Inclusion in WASH
• Public Health Principles
• Disease Prevention
• Outbreak Response
• Humanitarian Procurement
• Logistics Management
• Programme Quality Systems
• Data Management
• Proposal Writing
• Report Writing
• Budget Development
• Interpersonal Coordination
• Negotiation
• Representation Skills
• Team Management
• Microsoft Office Suite

Languages

English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Portuguese