Water Quality Monitoring Expert at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Under the the direct supervision of  the Regional Sub-programme Coordinator for Ecosystems, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Undertake a technical review for laboratory requirements for effective water quality monitoring and assess the capacity need of government officers and of the laboratory stuffs The consultant shall undertake a technical review the needs for water quality monitoring in the Turkana county, assess the existing technological capacity for laboratory and develop requirements of the water quality monitoring laboratory facility in the County of Turkana. The technical review will also assess the capacity needs of the technical staff working in the laboratory facility.
• The final results from the validation workshop will inform the laboratory requirements, specifications for equipment to be purchased and to develop the training programme that will be used to train water managers/experts, field officers and other relevant technical staff in the County of Turkana.
• Prepare specifications for equipment to be purchased and design the capacity development programme in collaboration with the overall lead of the program:
• The expert will prepare a specifications of laboratory equipment including hardware, consumables, and software as appropriate to facilitate their procurement and commissioning. Indicative equipment may include spectrophotometer, accessories, etc.
• Train laboratory technicians, water managers, field officers and other relevant technical staff on water quality monitoring:
• The consultant will develop a capacity building programme/module to train relevant staff and stakeholders on the different aspects of water quality monitoring from field to laboratory etc. Depending on the budget, provided by County Government of Turkana the consultant will facilitate knowledge exchange activities which will be built into the training program by bringing water managers/experts, field officers and other relevant technical staff from other counties as well as facilitate County Government of Turkana experts to visit other counties/ laboratories. The training programme will include skills in operation and maintenance of the laboratory equipment.
• Facilitate the County Government of Turkana to develop standard operating procedures in areas identified under this consultancy:
• The consultant will coordinate the County Government to develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the analytical methods implemented in the Water Monitoring Laboratory and for field measurements with respect to the instrumentation used for those methods and measurements.

Qualifications/special skills

• Advanced university degree (masters and above) in water resources management, hydrology, Analytical chemistry or closely related area of study is required. 
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university.
• At least 7 years of work experience in water resources management is required.
• Previous work experience in water resources management with a bias towards water quality monitoring from a laboratory perspective including demonstrated experience in managing a national level laboratory accredited to ISO 17025, and developing Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) for analytical method is desirable

Languages

• Fluency in English is required for this consultancy.