Project Officer, WASH - Catholic Relief Services

Job Description

Job Title:         Project Officer - WASH

Department:     Programming (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion)

Grade:         7

Reports To:     Senior Project Officer (Community Mobilization)

Country/Location: West Mamprusi Municipal, NER, Ghana

Start Date:    November 2019

End Date:     June 2020

Job Summary

As a member of the Integrated Community Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement (ICOWASH) project team, you will monitor and report on all project activities in support of Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) work serving the poor and vulnerable. Your thorough and service-oriented approach will ensure that the project consistently applies best practices and constantly works towards improving the impact of its benefits to those we serve. This will be achieved through providing technical guidance to implementing partners to achieve quality WASH programs and ensure appropriate documentation is available for strategic and policy influencing work.

Job Responsibilities:

• Support the coordination and implementation of all assigned project activities as outlined in the detailed implementation plan in line with CRS program quality principles and standards, donor requirements, and good practices.
• Support to mobilize and sensitize communities on key project strategies including participatory sanitation and hygiene behavior change approaches using BCC, CLTS, etc. to promote and market sanitation in rural communities.
• Develop and manage relationships with partner organizations especially in the District Wide Approach Program to ensure the effective implementation of sustainable water supply, sanitation and hygiene projects in communities, schools and health centers
• Ensure that gender, protection, local culture and other important cross-cutting concerns are considered in program implementation, especially in ensuring that gender issues are considered in the selection and training of WASH committees, Sanitation Advocacy Groups, etc.
• Monitor and report any challenges and/or gaps identified to inform adjustments to plans and implementation schedules.
• Support accountability through coordinating project evaluation activities and assisting partners in their efforts to collect and analyze project data per specified mechanisms and tools. Actively seeks and responds to feedback from all members of targeted communities and other stakeholders.
• Collect information on technical assistance needs of partner organizations and monitor capacity building and technical support activities to ensure effective impact.
• Complete project documentation for assigned activities. Assist with identifying information for case studies and reports on promising practices.

Scope

Not Applicable

Key Working Relationships:

• Supervisory:      Not Applicable
• Internal:     Regional/HQ technical advisors, Head of Programs, WASH and other line managers, Project Manager, Senior Project Officers for WASH, Community Mobilization, SILC, M&E, and other Project Officers
• External:      Government partners and Service providers (Contractors)

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Required Skills or Experience

Education and Experience:

• University degree in WASH engineering, water resources management, community development, public or environmental health, or any other relevant professional background in WASH
• Minimum of 3 years of work experience in project support. Experience in the field of WASH programming and for an NGO would be a plus.
• Experience in participatory action planning and community engagement
• Experience monitoring projects and collecting relevant data preferred
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
• Possession of License to ride a motorcycle
• Knowledge of local language would be preferable

Personal Skills:

• Observation, active listening and analysis skills with ability to make sound judgment.
• Good relationship management skills and the ability to work closely with local partners and community members.
• Attention to details, accuracy and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities.
• Proactive, results-oriented and service-oriented.
• Excellent facilitation and presentation skills.
• Knowledge of local level issues

Required/Desired Foreign Language:
Not Applicable

Travel Required:
75% of time (day trips)

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Serves with Integrity
• Models Stewardship
• Cultivates Constructive Relationships
• Promotes Learning

MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning) Competencies

• Accountability: Improving our accountability to a range of stakeholders through increased participation, transparent communication, responsive feedback mechanisms, and adherence to internal and external quality standards and requirements.
• Analysis and Critical Thinking: Engaging with data, challenging biases and assumptions, posing thoughtful questions, pursuing deeper understanding of evidence through reflection and perspective-taking, and making informed programming decisions.
• Monitoring: Implementing monitoring activities, including timely collection of quality data, set up and maintenance of databases, facilitation of participatory reflection on monitoring results, and submission of timely progress reports.