Afghanaid Irrigation Specialist

1. The Organization Afghanaid is an international NGO (www.afghanaid.org.uk), registered in the UK, specializing in Afghanistan since 1981. Afghanaid has been assisting and facilitating people-driven processes of recovery and development to address rights, entitlements and needs of Afghans in some of the most remote areas of the country for nearly three decades. Afghanaid’s Board of Trustees is based in the UK, together with its registered office. The Head Office is located in Kabul. Afghanaid works in four provinces, namely Badakhshan (north-eastern region), Samangan (northern region), Ghor (western region) and Nuristan (eastern region). 18 district offices and 4 provincial offices serve these provinces, which are well resourced with experienced and skilled Afghan women and men staff, with management support and technical guidance provided by a roving team of senior national and international managers based in Kabul. Afghanaid has over 400 staff members, 97% of them are Afghans. Afghanaid is mandated to facilitate and support Afghan women, men and children in their fight against poverty, inequality and vulnerability through a range of interventions, most supporting grass-roots and local level capacity development, facilitating local development processes, and institution building. Evidence of change from Afghanaid’s program work leverages its national level advocacy and policy influencing work. All advocacy and policy influencing work of Afghanaid’s is embedded in its grassroots programming work. Afghanaid values knowledge generation from its work and sharing for replication and/or scaling up by itself and others. The evidence of the impact of Afghanaid’s work has earned it recognition, respect and identity with stakeholders within and outside the country. Afghanaid’s work is guided by four pillars: Economic Rights (Food Security and Agriculture Growth; Rural Financing, Market Access and Rural Enterprise); Social Rights (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene; Education); Civil Rights (Gender Equality; Community Development; Local Governance); Right to Life (Humanitarian Response; Disaster Risk Reduction).

2. The Project: Afghanaid is expected to receive a financial contribution from the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), Government of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for consultancy services for the Economic Development Package (EDP-05A) in Kash district of Badakhshan province. The overall goal of the EDP is to attain sustainable growth in legal rural incomes and employment in Kash district. The specific objective of the project is to “deliver increased income and employment in Kash district through expanding value-added vegetable and honey production. The Project is focused on the development of High Value Horticulture, Apiculture, & Livestock

3. The Role The core objective for the position of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist are:

i) To develop and execute a system to monitor and evaluate results and impacts; ii) ii) to provide a basis for decision making on proposal development, necessary amendments in contracts and improvements; iii) iii) Promote accountability for resource use; and iv) iii) To document, provide feedback on, and disseminate lessons learned.

3.1 Duties and Responsibilities The Irrigation Specialist contributes the consultant (Afghanaid) team. H/she will be responsible to make an assessment of the current water use and irrigation system in the project location and will develop/improve the system with optimal participation of users. The specific duties for the position will include:

i. designs, lays out, and installs systems by considering water conservation, existing and proposed landscaping capacity, water flow rates, and time sequencing of existing systems; repairs and replaces pumps etc. ii. Monitors grounds during special events to insure protection of system; reports grounds condition and water or plant losses due to system malfunction; operates snow removal equipment. iii. Develop manuals for the project staff e.g. Social Organisers etc to train beneficiary communities on the various aspects of Irrigation. iv. To assist the project team in formation of the water users associations and conduct training of the users as well as project team. v. Assist the Project Manager in preparation of monthly progress report. vi. To train project team in rehabilitation and upgrading of the traditional irrigation system. vii. To work closely with the M&E Specialist and Engineers in computer assisted design technologies (AUTOCAD). viii. To assist Project staff in supervision and monitoring of irrigation systems construction and rehabilitation work ix. To conduct mapping of irrigation sub-project systems. x. To do other tasks, within the field of competence, as PD or TM assign him.

1. Qualifications and experience: i. University degree in Agriculture (or related science), or Engineering , preferably with post graduate skills or qualifications in Irrigation would be a distinct advantage; ii. Minimum of at least 7 years professional practical experience in the sector; iii. Strong knowledge and practical work experience in the field of agricultural extension, farm advisory work and/or small farmer training and development (preferred); iv. Work in rurally based commercially operated agri-business (preferred); v. Practical experience of agriculture/horticultural production in arid areas where water management is a key issue; vi. Experience in irrigation installations specifically in drip irrigation; vii. Experience in irrigation scheduling dependant on crop watering requirements. viii. Strong oral and written communication, presentation and liaison skills ix. Open, flexible working style with the ability to handle ambiguity x. Ability to work and live in remote areas under difficult conditions; xi. Excellent English writing and speaking; familiarity with Pashtu and Dari will be added value

How to apply:

How to apply: Please note that this position is contingent upon funding. Only applications that address the stipulated duties and meet the required qualifications will be considered. Applicants are requested to submit their CVs along with a cover letter explaining suitability for the position to Masooma Faizi, Human Resources Officer at:vacancies@afghanaid.org.uk Deadline for submission is 4th Aug 2012.