Water and Sanitation Governance Expert job at IRC||Deadline 29th October 2021

The vacancy:

To support our mission we are recruiting a Water and Sanitation Governance Expert for the Rwanda team of IRC’s Africa Regional Programme. The position is full-time for one year, with the possibility to be extended until the end of the USAID THRIVE WASH Isoko y’Ubuzima Project.

Isoko y’Ubuzima is a five-year (2021-2026) programme being implemented nationally and in ten selected districts in Rwanda. The project is carried out by a consortium, led by Water For People Rwanda, implemented with IRC, VEI, CARE, and African Evangelistic Enterprise (AEE) in collaboration with the Government of Rwanda’s Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA), Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC), and district authorities including health and education departments. The goal is to improve safe drinking water and sanitation services through strengthening national and decentralised WASH governance and improving rural sanitation and handwashing services and products.

Main responsibility

You will be joining the Isoko y’Ubuzima consortium as a member of IRC’s team. IRC’s work package is focused on improving decentralised water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) governance through national systems strengthening. This entails working with IRC’s senior governance expert to collect and analyse data for a national sector assessment and to organise and facilitate stakeholder review meetings and capacity building workshops. This may also include occasional travel to the project’s target districts across Rwanda.

You will represent IRC in Rwanda. As you will be supporting the Government of Rwanda to develop and implement a WASH system strengthening agenda, you will communicate and coordinate with the government, donors, NGOs, private sector companies and civil society organisations. This includes sharing an office and participating in regular Isoko y’Ubuzima team meetings with Water For People and the wider consortium.

You will report to IRC’s international lead for the Isoko y’Ubuzima project.

Specific responsibilities

• Qualitative data collection (through interviews, workshops, desk review) to support a comprehensive WASH sector assessment using IRCs WASH systems analysis methodology with specific emphasis on governance and finance.

• Analyse policies and reports to assess their performance according to gender, equity, and social inclusion metrics, with guidance from gender experts in the consortium.
• Support MININFRA to implement its national agenda to improve decentralised governance, including organising training and workshops for key institutions.
• Collaborate with MININFRA to strengthen the WASH Finance thematic sub-group under the WASH Sector Working Group and provide finance training to sector stakeholders.
• Be one of two governance experts representing IRC in Rwanda.
• Participate proactively in coordination and collaboration with other sector stakeholders and Isoko y’Ubuzima consortium members.
• Actively engage and be a part of IRC’s global team, including joining internal webinars and meetings - mostly virtual with the possibility of travel.
• Follow project management protocols and track progress against agreed project milestones, contributing timely and responsible administrative reporting.

Core competencies

• Passionate about improving water and sanitation governance in line with the Government of Rwanda’s strategy
• Systems thinking and ability to combine technical skills with interpersonal ‘soft’ skills in order to support a group of stakeholders to pursue a common vision
• Water and sanitation sector expertise, knowledge of service delivery models, Sustainable Development Goal standards and targets, institutional arrangements and monitoring approaches
• Experience in multi-year planning and strategy development are an advantage
• Respectful communication, ability to engage diplomatically with government representatives, intercultural communication

• Self-starter with the ability to work independently and remotely (virtually) with colleagues located in other offices or countries.

Skills and experience

• At least five years of experience in water, sanitation, public health, or related sectors on governance, including addressing systemic factors such as policy and legislation, institutions and coordination, costing and finance, planning, monitoring, regulation, equity and inclusion

• At least a master’s degree in public governance, water, environmental or sanitation policy, public health, engineering, or a related field.
• Experience working with government at the national and/or district level
• Experience working with international organisations or collaborations, experience in USAID funded projects a plus
• Strong interpersonal skills, good oral and written communications skills: English required, Kinyarwanda and French a plus.

Details of the position

You will initially be offered a one-year full-time contract, with the possibility of an extension based on performance. At IRC a full-time working week exists of 40 hours whereby we will be following the local working hours and national holidays as observed by Water For People Rwanda. The contract will be based on an IRC Associate (freelance) contract, with monthly invoicing billed by hours in correspondence to the production of agreed deliverables.

The position is in line with IRC’s Programme Officer level. The remuneration rate will be determined in accordance with the experience and qualifications of the applicant, using competitive local rates.

Start date as soon as possible and in consultation.

Candidates are kindly requested to respond with a short motivation letter (maximum 1 page) explaining:

• Your motivation for the position
• Your perspective on what good water and sanitation governance looks like

In addition please share a concise curriculum vitae before 29 October 2021 to IRC, attn. Marion Giese at recruitment@ircwash.org or P.O. Box 82327, 2508 EH, The Hague, the Netherlands. Job interviews will be scheduled online in Kigali (or virtually if required), in the first week of November. For additional information please visit our website at www.ircwash.org or contact Angela Huston, IRC Project Manager for Isoko y’Ubuzima huston@ircwash.org.