Consultancy - Construction Technical Advisor

Time Period: August 1 to December 16
Duration: 4.5 months
Location: Oecusse, Timor-Leste, with possible travel to Covalima

BACKGROUND

In Timor-Leste, Oxfam supports civil society partners to work with vulnerable communities, and government service providers, to realize their rights to accessible and affordable health, education, water and sanitation. The main geographic focus of the programme is in the districts of Oecusse and Covalima where Oxfam has field offices, but support is also provided to partners in the districts of Liquica. Oxfam has a strong commitment to gender equality and to mainstream gender in all of its work.

Currently, in Timor Leste only 56.6% of rural individuals have access to water and 35.8% has access to improved sanitation. Oxfam has funds from AusAID until June 2012 to complete construction of gravity-fed water systems, school latrines, spring catchments, and wells. Oxfam is working with several district based local non-governmental organizations (LNGOs) to complete this construction.

GOALS/OBJECTIVES

The main objectives of this consultancy are to:

• Ensure rural water supply and sanitation structures built function properly and meet appropriate construction quality standards,
• Build Oxfam staff capacity to monitor and mentor LNGO technical staff and on-site builders,
• Build capacity of LNGO technical staff and on-site builders in construction skills,
• Involve female and male Water User Group technicians and appropriate government leaders in the construction and Quality Assurance/Quality control (QA/QC) process,
• Document the construction process and QA/QC measures

ACTIVITIES

The Construction Technical Advisor will:

• Visit all LNGO current construction sites in Oecusse and Covalima together with Oxfam staff and help Oxfam staff to visit each site on a regular basis.
• Support staff to monitor selected construction sites for all critical construction times, such as spring catchment and tank construction. This will require stays on location at selected remote construction sites.
• Assist Oxfam staff in the mentoring of LNGO partners.
• Review current QA/QC processes and systems together with Oxfam and LNGO staff and government stakeholders, adapt the system as appropriate and document the process as outlined in the Deliverables section of this Terms of Reference (TOR).
• Ensure staff of Oxfam LNGO and Government stakeholders and Water User Group technicians are aware of and have experience in basic construction skills and simple QA/QC methods (such as slump test, counting quantities of cement, sand and gravel put into concrete mixes, etc...) as needed. Ensure documentation of the needs assessment and process to address.
• Ensure the involvement of key stakeholders in the construction and QA/QC process paying particular attention to female and male Water User Group technicians and appropriate government officials.

WORK ARRANGEMENTS

Oxfam will provide:

• One round-trip economy class airfare to/from Oecusse, including visa charges, if required,
• Basic accommodation in Dili, Covalima, Oecusse and rural village locations in a shared house or as a guest in a village public building or home

Per Diem will not be included and should be included in the consultants daily rate.

DELIVERABLES

• Ensure that a hard and soft file exists (where possible) for every major construction project that includes key documentation such as the design, QA/QC documentation, completion status etc
• Create a simple document detailing recommendations for monitoring of future construction works, mentoring of LNGOs, WUGs and other stakeholders and QA/QC procedures for Oxfam and LNGO staff,
• Create a simple document detailing the roles and responsibilities of WUG members, WUG technical staff, Oxfam staff, LNGO staff and government counterparts in the construction and QA/QC process
• Create a series of one page lessons learned documents to share with government and other stakeholders on construction and appropriate Quality Control/Assurance measures in rural water supply.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

The successful candidate with have:

• Significant experience in Rural Water Supply including building tanks and pipelines in logistically remote locations,
• Excellent concrete construction skills,
• Ability to stay in village settings without electricity or running water and eat locally available food,
• Experience training, mentoring and building capacity of multiple rural stakeholders such as community members (men and women), local authorities government counterparts and LNGO staff
• Experience in Timor Leste,

TETUN OR BAHASA INDONESIA LANGUAGE SKILLS WOULD BE AN ASSETAPPLICATION PROCESS

To apply, please send your CV and brief statement of qualifications to Benigna Vicente Martins, Senior HR Officer at benignam@oxfam.org.au. Your statement should include details of your construction experience, your experience teaching and number of years of capacity building and your daily fee. The statement should not exceed one page.

Applications must be received by Oxfam no later than 20 July 2011, 24:00 (GMT+9). Applications received after this deadline will not be considered. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.