Business Manager, CapVal Project - IWMI

International Water Management Institute (IWMI) seeks a candidate to supervise the operation and maintenance of the compost and briquette plants in Somanya, Ghana, under IWMI’s project “Creating and capturing value: Supporting enterprises for urban liquid and solid wastes recycling for food, energy and clean environment (CapVal)”.

Ghana lacks sufficient safe and hygienic sanitation facilities. Many cities in Ghana lack functional sewer systems. Municipal wastewater and fecal sludge treatment plants, if they exist, are barely functioning. As a result, less than 10,000 m3/d of wastewater is being treated for the entire country while wastewater generation, which was about 760,000 m3/d in 2000, is now estimated to exceed 1,000,000 m3/d. In cities, a large proportion of black water is disposed of in septic tanks while grey water is released it into street drains, often accompanied by excreta. Collected fecal sludge is occasionally treated, but mostly dumped in the environment, waterways or on land.

Given the forgoing challenges, the project, CapVal, proposes three-resource recovery and reuse solutions that have a high potential to incentivize local sanitation planning and management in Ghana, reduce waste transport costs, support the lifetime of landfills, and reduce environmental impacts through the establishment of co-composting, briquette and wastewater-fed aquaculture businesses in two regions of Ghana.

• The compost facility will annually transform 5000 m3 fecal sludge and 300 tonnes of organic solid wastes into 200 tons of safe compost.
• The briquette component will convert organic solid waste into low-cost fuel (briquettes) for use by households and institutions. The 1,000 tonnes/year briquette plant and the compost facilities will be sited in Somanya in the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly (YKMA).
• Our third intervention is in wastewater-fed aquaculture based on studies by IWMI and partners on the potential for the production of African catfish in well-treated wastewater. CapVal proposes to validate this business case with a proof of concept at the Chirapatre wastewater treatment plant in Kumasi, in collaboration with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA). Proceeds from the business will be fed back into the maintenance of the treatment plant.

All three interventions will be supported by appropriate capacity development of the private and public sectors.

Objective of the Assignment

Role of the CapVal Business Manager is to:

1. Oversee the operation and maintenance of the briquette / compost plant in Somanya
2. Report on the project indicators
3. Oversee field experiments, from set-up to data collection and reporting
4. Supervise field staff working at the plant
5. Manage a database with the digitized primary and secondary data
6. Engage with stakeholders and clients to maximize sale

Scope of work

General

The consultant will be supervising the operation and maintenance of the compost and briquette plants in Somanya. S/he will liaise with JVL (i.e. the plant manager) and YKMA engaged with JVL through a public private partnership (PPP). On a daily basis, and under the supervision of JVL, the consultant will:

• Manage the treatment and production plant, to ensure quality products are manufactured and treatment performance for wastes is satisfactory
• Ensure project targets are met. This includes targets for sales of products and profitability
• Manage the production facility
• Monitor products’ quality
• Draft 3-monthly reports on plant activities, according to the Monitoring and Evaluation guide
• Draft yearly reports on the plant, to be shared with project partners and the Donor
• Any other related activities related to the plant operation and assigned by the JVL supervisor

The Consultant will report to JVL on a daily basis and submit bi-weekly progress reports to IWMI.

Representation (meetings + conferences + other)

The consultant must also engage in some representation activities, to talk about the project, the plants’ performance, to secure new off-take contracts for the compost or the briquettes, etc.

• Represent the CapVal project in all partner meetings for the three components, upon request from the supervisor.
• Assist in the organization of project meeting and conferences in which the CapVal project and the plants will be showcased.
• Communicate with Media within the limits of the attributions, i.e. on the CapVal project realizations.

Monitoring of components

This is to assist in measuring progress, and obtain indications how to improve strategies, stimulate the participatory and learning process, while enhancing capacity of all stakeholders and increase accountability to each other, policy makers and donors on the relevancy, effectiveness and efficiency of the project. IWMI is responsible for the monitoring of the project and the reporting to the Donor. The consultant will support IWMI in these efforts.

The consultant will be expected to monitor outputs and to record outcomes by following the business as agreed in the PPP agreements, its defined CSR and sustainability Indicators using FIETS.

The monitoring of all activities carried out should include the following:

• Progress made (did we do what we planned to do), process (how did we do it and how did that work out) and outputs or direct results of the activities implemented (e.g. number of participants in the various activities, number and type of publications, etc.).

• Joint learning process among those actively involved in implementation and monitoring of the WASH projects to improve the strategies and working methods of the programme (in this location and/or for future replications elsewhere): What are our results? What can we do better? What have we learned?
• An information basis for evaluation in a later stage (the final assessment of the results achieved and analysis of the relevancy, effectiveness and cost efficiency of the project).
• Information materials on the project and its results.

Contract duration will be up to 31 December 2020.

This is a nationally recruited position and only citizens of Ghana are eligible to apply.

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Your application must include a copy of your curriculum vitae and contact information of three professional referees.

REQUIREMENTS

Essential

• BSc or MSc in agricultural science, environmental science, engineering, marketing, business development, or any related field.
• Five years’ experience in marketing products to farmers, companies and households.
• Experience in writing technical reports.
• Experience in representation.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Fluency in oral and written English.
• Proficiency in MS Office applications and in database management.
• Ability to work in a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural environment and to engage with a range of stakeholders.
• Proven ability to plan and organize own work, manage conflicting priorities and work under pressure.
• Willingness to relocate to Somanya and be prepared to travel.
• Ability and willingness to spend time in the field.

Desirable

• At least two years of experience in liquid waste reuse / recycling in agriculture.
• Good understanding of issues surrounding soil fertility management.
• Experience in resource recovery and reuse.
• Ability to engage and train other personnel.
• Knowledge of languages in use in Eastern region (e.g. Krobo).