The County WASH Engineer will be based in Turkana County, supporting the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Unit at the County Ministry of Water Services. The core purpose of this position is to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of County level activities concerning water supply initiatives. Furthermore, the role aims to enhance partnership and knowledge sharing to ensure synergistic efforts by various partners toward achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all.The technical extender position will receive overall supervision from the County Director of Water, working closely with the M&E consultant based at the WASH hub in the Ministry of Health in Nairobi, and receiving technical guidance from the WASH Specialist, UNICEF Lodwar Zonal Office.
Background
Monitoring and evaluation are crucial for increasing accountability, informing decision-making, and contributing to learning on the best ways to achieve WASH objectives. The County WASH Hub is designed to encompass all WASH activities and improve sector coordination. M&E Units within these hubs are critical for providing technical support to all actors at the County level. Upgrading sanitation hubs to WASH hubs ensures that M&E units are responsible for training on monitoring water supply interventions, providing progress updates, enhancing coordination among partners, and leveraging funds.
Key Tasks (Responsibilities)
- Support the county in ensuring the progressive realization of the human right to water towards universal access.
- Support the county in maintaining a directory of all agencies involved in WASH in the County.
- Engage with other partners and share their WASH experiences through documentation and dissemination of key good practices and lessons learned in integrated water resources management in the county.
- Support the county in conducting quarterly and ad hoc WaSH forums as per the Turkana County WASH Forum Terms of Reference (TOR).
- Support the County Department of Water Services, Water Resource Users Associations (WRUAs), Water Users Associations (WUAs), and water committees on effective engagement with the private sector to ensure effective and coordinated community and stakeholder participation and adoption of innovative market-based approaches to integrated water resources management.
- Enhance WASH partnership linkages through existing and innovative forums such as stakeholders’ meetings, water committees, and the county WASH forum.
- Support in capacity building and updating of water supply information through the Continuous Database Updating System (CODUSYS).
- Regularly update the system to capture real-time functionality of various water resources and ensure data collected is uploaded into the system for analysis, reporting, and evidence-based interventions.
- Generate monthly reports with specific actions identified for accelerating sustainable water resource management, and share the report with the County Director of Water services and the national coordinating teams.
- Ensure the County has access to various policy and technical documents on WaSH for reference and utilization during implementation.
- Provide technical support for the County and facilitate the development of related technical water supply standards and guidelines.
- Support the County Water Services Department to raise the profile of water resource management as a critical area necessary for the county’s socio-economic development to ensure prioritization of these in the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) and annual development plans.
- Any other work related to M&E assigned by the County Director of Water Services.
- Ensure secretariat of Wash coordination forums.
Deliverables
- CODUSYS fully updated with respect to physical progress in the field.
- Weekly and Monthly updates with analysis of progress based on the data in the CODUSYS and reports received from the water officers.
- Reports of follow-up meetings and agreed actions carried out with partners based on the partnership table. Minutes and reports of stakeholders/review meeting shared within two days of the meeting (WASH).
- Monthly reports on follow up actions on stakeholders’ and review/reflection meetings on water supply.
- All training materials reports shared to the National Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MOWSI).
- Quarterly Human-Interest Stories and good photographs of beneficiaries shared for internal and external use (WASH).
- Monthly progress report on post intervention sustainability actions.
- Monthly implementation plan for all partners prepared and shared with the national ministry.
- Monthly WASH Forum coordination minutes.
- Quality assurance and reporting about water supply infrastructure and services in the county.
Key Qualifications
- First degree holders in Civil/ Water Engineering, Public Health, Environmental Health, or a related discipline.
- At least 4 years of implementing M&E related to water, sanitation and hygiene or projects of related areas, especially in water supply.
- Computer skills and reporting experience.
- Good knowledge of WASH coordination, especially within the rural Kenya context, and familiarity with Sanitation and Hygiene programming.
- Good communication skills and a team player.
