Senior Engineer , HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation

About HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation

HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation (HSI) is a non-profit, politically and denominationally neutral Swiss NGO engaged in 30 of the world’s poorest countries to bring about sustainable improvements in the living conditions of disadvantaged people. In 2006, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation opened a program office in Afghanistan and is focussing its activities in central Afghanistan in four districts of Samangan, Bamyan and Baghlan provinces, where it is implementing different projects to improve the livelihoods and resilience of the communities in the target districts through economic development, sustainable water and land management, disaster risk mitigation, education and skills development and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). All projects also aim at strengthening capacities and skills of local actors and institutions to effectively support and manage social and economic development initiatives.
The 2013-2015 WASH project will focus on delivering the soft- and hardware components with regard to water, sanitation and hygiene to schools and madrassas and to communities based on needs assessments and mobilization for planning and commitment. Furthermore the WASH project will support district stakeholders with basic tools to coordinate work towards achieving WASH minimum standards and emphasis will be given to test different modalities for strengthening operation and maintenance. 
By providing improved water and sanitation facilities to schools and madrassas and focusing on integrating hygiene education and practises into the school routine together with the teachers and mullahs the children will acquire skills for life which they will impart within their families. Mobilizing for an open defecation free environment and the construction of improved latrines as well as identifying lead persons within the community to promote critical hygiene practices will be part of the WASH planning at CDC level. The communities will be supported to construct or rehabilitate appropriate water supply systems, such as wells, gravity schemes or spring protections engaging the private sector, and bio sand filters will be introduced where people still rely on contaminated surface water. 

Job Summary

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Duties and Responsibilities

- Support the facilitation and implementation of participatory elaboration of WASH Development Plans ;
- Assist the communities in prioritization/selection of WASH infrastructure projects to be realized on the base of the WASH Development Plan;
- Conduct respectively review social, technical, environmental and financial feasibility studies related to rural infrastructure projects especially for WASH; 
- Plan, design, and support the implementation of WASH infrastructure projects in collaboration with the communities in a cost efficient manner;
- Ensure a timely and qualitatively high standard implementation of infrastructure projects;
- Propose options and support the establishment of community based, sustainable maintenance systems for the infrastructures;
- Ensure backstopping and quality control regarding the work of the Site Engineers and the Communities; strengthen the capacity development of the Site Engineers
- Instruct Site Engineers and construction workers on corrective measures to be taken if necessary;
- Contribute to the development of standard operations, maintenance and cost recovery guidelines for community infrastructure projects; 
- Coordinate with relevant governmental offices and other development agencies at district and province level;
- Support the development of district-wide WASH databases and ensure the databases are kept up to date with regard to infrastructures constructed with the support of HSI.
- Promote transparency and accountability of all technical and financial procedures at community level through support in procurement, social audits and community-based monitoring;
- Strengthen technical capacities and skills of participants in cash for work projects;
- Monitor and evaluate the activities and activity sequences at output level;
- Support the District Coordinator / Project Manager in the monitoring at outcome level;
- Support the project to get access to and establish trustworthy relationship with the partners and the direct and indirect beneficiaries;
- Facilitate the cross-learning between WASH and other projects of HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation and take part in knowledge sharing events;
- Timely monthly, semester and annual reporting.

Qualification

- University degree in Civil Engineering;
- Minimum of five years of professional experience as civil engineer;
- Knowledge in designing local infrastructure projects (e.g. WASH (gravity schemes, hand dug wells, tube wells, hand washing facilities, latrines), irrigation, protective infrastructure, etc.);
- Proven experience in development work;
- Demonstrated understanding of the context of rural development in Afghanistan;
- Experience in capacity development and on participatory approaches;
- Commitment to work in a multi-disciplinary team;
- Willingness to live in a remote district, to travel across and between all HSI target districts in central Afghanistan. Ability to work in challenging environments;
- Spoken and written fluency in both Dari and English;
- Knowledge of MS Word, Power Point, Excel and AutoCAD

Skills

Submission Guideline

Applications should be written in English and demonstrate the applicants suitability for the job. An application/motivation letter with a current Curriculum Vita should be submitted by e-mail to romal.omari@helvetas.org and fatemah.shams@helvetas.org with a copy to amir.khan@helvetas.org. 
Please reference the title of this position in the subject line.
Only shortlisted candidates will be called for interview and asked to submit further documentation as e.g. certificates, recommendation letters etc.