Engineer, SC9 Lodwar at World Food Programme (WFP)

JOB PURPOSE

Specifically, the incumbent will be responsible for the following

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

• Contribute to the implementation of WFP policies, standards, norms and practices ensuring compliance with the wider WFP policies, procedures, guidelines and operations.
• Provide engineering and project management services, apply best practices, standards and innovative technologies that comply with WFP standards and processes.
• Undertake capacity gap needs assessment of the partners and organize capacity building programmes (workshops, training, exchange visits etc.) to address these gaps, especially focussed on small-scale irrigation and other rain water harvesting systems in Turkana County.
• Support Turkana County government and WFP Cooperating Partners in designing quality projects that address the underlying causes of food insecurity.
• Contribute towards analysis of the project proposals from the county to enable effective decision making on project technical feasibility.
• Monitor the implementation of the projects through field visits and provide necessary technical support.
• Collate data and contribute to preparation of accurate and timely reporting on outputs to facilitate informed decision-making and consistency of information presented to stakeholders including information for a database and website.
• In liaison with the WFP Monitoring and Evaluation Unit, ensure the establishment and maintenance of a sound database.
• Work closely with Head of Lodwar Office and Nairobi Rural Resilience team, provide technical guidance that support procurement of quality non-food items and ensure they are supplied to the communities for effective implementation of projects.
• Participate in technical or design review, exchange of knowledge and experience keeping abreast of water harvesting technologies and engineering technologies in general, to facilitate implementation of innovative engineering solutions.
• Support building of partnerships with other UN agencies, NGOs & Government to improve synergy and impact of the projects.
• Prepare evidence-based recommendations on measures to improve facilities / infrastructures suitability to operational purpose, safety, and efficiency of structures and equipment including support in development of project guidance materials (e.g. manuals) on project implementation.
• Support county government develop policies, strategies to guide food security programming.
• Support the Head of Field Office and Nairobi team in organize field missions for donor/media/Senior WFP management and ensure that WFP staff, partners’ agencies and GoK staffs are informed on time and provide sufficient relevant information including inputs for donor briefs.
• Represent WFP in meetings and conferences, that focus on livelihoods / resilience building at the County level
• Review items accounting documents for Non-Food Items (NFI) from the partners to ensure completeness and accuracy before submitting to Nairobi.
• Perform other related duties as required.

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Understands WFP’s Strategic Objectives and the link to own work objectives.
• Be a force for positive change: Flexibly adapts individual contributions to accommodate changes in direction from supervisors and internal/external changes (such as evolving needs of beneficiaries, new requirements of partners).
• Make the mission inspiring to our team: Recognizes and shares with team members the ways in which individual contributions relate to WFP’s mission.
• Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Sets own goals in alignment with WFP’s overall operations, and is able to communicate this link to others.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people’s skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses to increase self-awareness, and includes these in conversations on own developmental needs.
• Create an inclusive culture: Participates in open dialogue, and values the diverse opinion of others, regardless of background, culture, experience, or country assignment.
• Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Proactively seeks feedback and coaching to build confidence, and develop and improve individual skills.
• Create an ‘I will’/’We will’ spirit: Participates in accomplishing team activities and goals in the face of challenging circumstances.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Shows willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
• Focus on getting results: Consistently delivers results within individual scope of work on time, on budget and without errors.
• Make commitments and make good on commitments: Commits to upholding individual accountabilities and responsibilities in the face of ever-changing country or functional priorities.
• Be Decisive: Makes rational decisions about individual activities when faced with uncertain circumstances, including in times of ambiguity regarding information or manager direction.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Seeks to understand and adapt to internal or cross-unit teams’ priorities and preferred working styles.
• Build strong external partnerships: Demonstrates ability to understand and appropriately respond to and/or escalate needs of external partners.
• Be politically agile & adaptable: Portrays an informed and professional demeanor toward internal and external partners and stakeholders.
• Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Provides operational support on analyses and assessments that quantifies and demonstrates WFP’s unique value as a partner.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s Degree in the following fields; Irrigation Engineering, Water Engineering, or Agricultural Engineering, from recognized universities.
• At least six years field experience in working at county level implementing and community based development projects
• Competent in MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Understanding of community based participatory planning approaches
• Ability to conduct capacity gaps needs assessments and design programmes to fill these gaps.
• Experience in working in arid and semi-arid parts of Kenya
• Familiarity with water harvesting technologies and pastoral livelihood approaches
• Excellent communication skills – both written and oral in English and Kiswahili. Skills in workshop facilitation.
• Strong organization and planning skills coupled with good interpersonal skills.
• Good analytical skills; resourcefulness, initiative, maturity of judgment, tact, negotiating skills;
• Ability to work in a team, and establish effective working relations with persons of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Ability to deal patiently and tactfully with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.