WASH Head of Project (Development)

Action against Hunger is an international non-governmental, private, apolitical, non-religious and non-profit organization created in 1979. Its goal is to combat hunger and dangerous situations that threaten men, women, and children. Currently 500 expats and more than 5,000 employees are working for Action against Hunger in more than forty-six countries working in projects concerning four areas of focus: nutrition, health, food security and water and sanitation. 

In Lebanon, the Syrian crisis continues to generate political, social, and economic pressure due to the war in Lebanon and keeps more than 1.5 million refugees in a situation of increasing vulnerability. In this environment of political, economic and social uncertainty, our teams have maintained their high levels of humanitarian response and aid to Lebanon. Likewise, our interventions have been maintained in the Bekaa and northern areas, as well as in the south of the country, with a special focus on working in partnership or in consortium with other organizations and on institutional strengthening of the relationship with both donors. institutional, such as with local authorities and entities.  

The WASH Head of Project (Development) will be responsible of:

Under the overall supervision of WASH PM, lead the implementation of assigned projects and contribute feeding data and information to develop strategies for ongoing and future interventions in Lebanon, supporting AAH Lebanon Mission in its mandate.

The main aim of this position is to manage independently all the WASH development project implementations, as well as functionally supporting other WASH projects in the south, while supporting the WASH PM in his/her strategic role. 

This will be articulated through the following sub-objectives:

• Guaranteeing proper monitoring, follow up, and quality on the implementation of all the development projects in South base, including but not limited to the management of the Madad and AECID funded ACF projects.
• Managing autonomously financial follow up, reports and interactions with the departments of Admin, Log, HR, and MEAL when it comes to the development projects.
• Providing support to the staff directly and functionally managed by her/him, building their capacity and independence, and lead the coordination with the other technical and support departments at base level as needed.

Objective 1: To ensure successful implementation of assigned projects according to AAH standards and protocols and in line with the humanitarian principles. 50%

• Conduct/lead/support Needs Assessments (whether stand-alone, through partners, or sectors) to ensure timely evaluation of target vulnerable population needs and gaps and recommend appreciative interventions – focusing specifically on the continuation of the currently assigned project activities.
• Contribute to the proposal preparation by providing inputs on implementation modalities of the intervention by capitalizing on former experiences (lessons learned and best practices). Provide inputs (together with Technical Coordinators/Program managers) for Project Procurement Plan to logisticians and for the project budget’s activity lines.
• Plan, organise and conduct Kick-Off meetings, ensuring the participation of all relevant departments and implementing partner(s) ‘personnel. Ensuring the clear outcomes of the conference: Understanding of the roles are reached; clear communication channels are established; Project objectives, potential risk scenarios/responses and timelines are reviewed and revised.
• Work closely with MEAL to make sure all areas of intervention are assessed in terms of needs and vulnerability and reports (baseline/KAP Survey/sustainable and feasibility assessments) are being updated, finalized, and validated from technical and MEAL managers/coordinators; fine-tune the action if necessary;  
• In relation to project activities, identify in advance the need for approvals from the local authorities and other stakeholders; feed the information to the relevant personnel involved in obtaining these approvals;
• Plan, organize and lead the beneficiaries registration and selection according to internal procedures and processes; assure the correct collection of beneficiary data (demographic, INA…)
• Participate in preparing (as part of proposal) and revising regularly the following AAH project tools on regular basis once the project starts:
• Prepare and update project work plan (monthly basis)
• Organigram of the project to define the roles and responsibilities
• Output indicators (at least monthly)
• Project Procurement Plan (at least monthly)
• Review the list of transactions from previous month to identify the potential errors in project expenses allocation (monthly)
• Review the BFU and update projections based on PPP; provide the explanation on deviations when analysing actual vs projected expenses.(monthly)
• In coordination with Technical Team produce Procurement Requests with the complete technical specification and submit it in timely manner to Logistic department for processing. Participate in selection process of suppliers.
• Ensure timely preparation and submission of projects and mission reports (sitreps, APRs, intermediate and final reports, and other necessary reports);
• Ensure that the implementing partner thoroughly follows program implementation as agreed with local authorities and agencies, and in line with validated plans, budget, and timeframes;
• Ensure timely preparation and measuring output indicators. 
• Conduct field visits during the different cycles of the project (including post-completion) to make sure good quality is maintained and AAH and donors’ standards are being respected and followed regularly.
• Participate in capitalization, lessons learned and evaluation processes 
• Ensure all documents related to the projects he/she is leading are documented and archived properly (hard copies and on AAH online systems); Provide clarifications in required by the auditors.
• Ensure that all the software implemented by the organization are followed properly like (project ADS, Kobo , PowerApps …)

Objective 2: Support coordination of project team at a base-level, including weekly, monthly, and quarterly work planning (10%)

• Ensure that project activities are work planned in the base workplan as needed
• Create and share weekly, task-based workplans with team members to ensure that workplans are clear
• Ensure that the base workplan is updated on a monthly basis in line with discussions with Program Manager
• Follow-up strategic tasks as determined during the monthly strategy work planning meeting

Objective 3: Manage project team members with a focus on capacity building (10%)

• Provide regular feedback to all project staff regarding performance, and regularly review all project outputs (ToRs / tools / reports) created by staff for quality. 
• Be an example of the Code of Conduct and AAH principles to the MEAL team
• Provide regular coaching and feedback sessions, providing adequate updates on progress against development plan and new objectives
• Actively notice gaps in knowledge and propose ways to fill these gaps
• Set clear expectations during appraisal periods, and communicate effectively when these standards are not being met
• Create an open atmosphere where all team members are treated with equality and respect
• Conduct weekly/bi-weekly team meetings to follow up on deliverable
• Be an example of the Code of Conduct and AAH principles to the project team

Objective 4: External representation 10%

• Participate on stakeholders’ meeting related to the WASH Sector, both at base and
• capital level.
• Represent Action Against Hunger in working groups, for a discussion and Interagency.
• WASH coordination meetings and taskforces when required.
• Maintain a good working relationship with the South Lebanon Water Establishment to ensure continued engagement on sustainable development and infrastructure project implementation.
• Participate on working groups and coordination meetings related to the Consortia structure where ACF is part of.

Objective 5: To contribute to building the capacity of AAH and implementing partner staff according to the needs identified 10%

• Contribute identifying Implementing Partner and AAH mission staff training needs and conduct/facilitate trainings/workshops focused on humanitarian principles for emergency and resilience, Project Cycle Management and Monitoring and Evaluation;
• Proactively foster good communication and synergy with other mission staff members, departments (MEAL, Admin/Finance, Logistics) and offices (capital, base, Beirut hub)

Objective 6: To contribute to developing and implementing strategies and programming in the mission 10%

• Contribute to analyses the humanitarian context in Lebanon and prepare context updates; accordingly,
• As a permanent process Incorporate Risk management in every activity and actions 
• Contribute identifying ideas/fields of intervention for AAH positioning and strategy for new programs, pilot projects, new geographical areas of interventions;
• Support the senior management team and/or the Coordinators in meetings with Donors, UN Agencies, other NGOs, sector working groups etc when requested

Objective 7 Abide by and promote AAH security (cross-cutting)

• Respect the security rules specified in the mission and base security plan, see to it that the team under his/her responsibility complies with the security plan and perform the security management tasks that can be assigned in its protocols.
• Communicate to the security managers of the working location any security related information or noncompliance with the security plan

Objective 8: Support humanitarian activities of Action Against Hunger (cross-cutting)

• Support the emergency interventions of the organization as per the employee’s abilities.
• Support any activity that helps reaching our humanitarian goals, as per the employee’s abilities.

Objective 9: Gender & Safeguarding (cross-cutting)

• Promote safe and equitable environments, through knowledge and application of the protocol against harassment and gender policy.
• Knowledge and compliance with safeguarding policy.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in civil or mechanical Engineering, Architecture or Environmental Sciences.
• Excellent knowledge and experience in water and wastewater WASH infrastructure construction.
• Excellent knowledge and experience in construction site management.
• knowledge and experience in water related awareness and mass campaigns’’ as well as ‘’Nonrevenue water (NRW) and Water policies knowledge’’.
• Significant understanding and experience with project budgets and financial management.

Action Against Hunger – Lebanon seeks to promote gender equality and is committed to empowering women to participate effectively in their communities, we strongly encourage women to apply.

We Strongly encourage people with disabilities to apply.

ACF has a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, and abuse (SEA).