Job Title: Place of work: International Programme Officer (Water Stewardship) Malawi Pay: 21,880 24, 306 Reports to: Travel: Term: Director, Water Stewardship Malawi This post involves regular travel within Malawi, including to remote field locations, and occasional international travel. 1 year, extension subject to performance and funding Key dates: Closing date for applications Friday 8 th September, interviews week of 25 September. In post October 2017 Background Water Witness International (WWI) works for a water secure world where all people have reliable access to the water they need to thrive, and are protected against pollution, flooding, drought and water conflict. WWI has grown rapidly since 2008 as a highly influential NGO working at local, national and global scales for sustainable water management and social justice. Water stewardship has emerged globally as a means of engaging end users in water management, guiding them to use water responsibly and to get involved with, and support policy implementation for sustainable water use within and beyond the fence line of their operations. With our partners, WWI has played a leading role in shaping the stewardship agenda: investigating and reporting on performance, flagging the opportunities, exposing the risks, and developing standards and principles to guide action. In particular, WWI is a founding member of the Alliance for Water Stewardship, and has guided application of the International Water Stewardship Standard (AWS Standard) across Africa. The AWS Standard guides and recognises responsible water use and engagement, and its application has been shown to be costeffective and beneficial for water users, ecosystems, local people and government institutions in Africa. Based on this successful track record, and with new financial support from the Scottish Government, we are expanding our operations to respond to the growing demand for water stewardship in Malawi, and for application of the AWS Standard within small-holder supply chains and at the community level. This work will contribute to improved water security locally, establish Malawi as a centre of excellence on water stewardship, and make an important strategic contribution to water stewardship practice globally, by strengthening the business case and developing guidance for water stewardship by small enterprises, small-scale farmers, and community water users. Job Summary and Purpose This is a key position within a people focused and dynamic NGO, which will place the successful applicant at the heart of our work for a fair water future in Malawi, Africa and globally. We are seeking an international development practitioner with specific expertise in project management, network building, capacity development and training, communications and advocacy to strengthen our team, outputs, and impact. This high calibre individual will help establish our new operations in Malawi, where they will
work with the Director of Water Stewardship Malawi. They will be supported by WWI s International Programme Manager to deliver and document a programme of practical support, capacity development, and development of tools and guidance. The post-holder will play an important role in establishing water stewardship practice in Malawi and addressing global learning priorities in agricultural supply chains, small-holder cooperatives and community hubs, and in capturing and sharing knowledge in the region and globally. Guiding the adoption of water stewardship by carrying out field work, conducting participatory water security assessments, and developing context-specific and stakeholder-owned water stewardship strategies will be central to the success of this position. This is an excellent opportunity for a focused and gifted individual to further establish their professional credentials in Malawi and globally, and to develop their career as a leader for sustainable and equitable water resource management. Duties and responsibilities The objective of this role is to support delivery and ensure impact across our water stewardship work in Malawi. The post holder will support the Director of Water Stewardship Malawi with technical assistance from the International Programme Manager of WWI. They will support our international teams on monitoring and evaluation, field documentation, research design and management, communications and advocacy, authorship and publication of documents and other media, and engagement with partners and stakeholders to deliver on the objectives of the Malawi Water Stewardship Initiative: To scale and embed our water stewardship work to drive improved water security for jobs and growth, and increased climate resilience for 20,000 vulnerable people in Malawi. To establish Malawi as a regional centre of excellence in water stewardship by driving contextually appropriate adoption and use of the AWS Standard by companies, farmers, schools, hospitals, and government. To generate new guidance and strengthen the business case for water stewardship by smallmedium scale enterprises and community water users. To build local capability to apply water stewardship, and generate evidence-based advocacy to drive improved water-security in the long term. To capture and share knowledge generated to drive uptake of water stewardship in the region and globally. Specific responsibilities will include: 1. Guiding water stewardship practice Work with the team and partners to design, manage and execute our water stewardship strategy through focused practice, and stakeholder-owned action. I. Implementing water stewardship: working with businesses and community based water users to develop and implement context-specific and stakeholder-owned water stewardship strategies. II. Developing guidance: Generating and communicating new guidance for water stewardship practice amongst small-medium scale enterprises and community water users at local and international levels.
III. Measuring impacts of water stewardship practice: Supporting development of credible approaches to improve the attribution and articulation of the benefits of water stewardship to strengthen the business and development case for water stewardship internationally. VI. Sustainable support and scaling of water stewardship practice: Development of an active and impactful community of practice and learning; triggering and sustaining autonomous water stewardship activities. 2. Supporting efficient and effective internal systems The production, capture, analysis and sharing of reliable knowledge and information is critical to our effective operations, learning, adaptive management and impact. The post holder, in close collaboration with our existing team, will be responsible for: - Ensuring effective data capture and rigour of documentation processes; - Design and delivery of training, mentoring and technical assistance to water stewardship implementers and beneficiary communities; - Supporting our monitoring and evaluation activities and donor reporting; - Supporting continual learning, team reflection and adaptive management to develop and deliver our theory of change. 3. Ensuring external impact and influence Our impact is highly dependent on our ability to convene key stakeholders and communicate effectively to influence target audiences. The post holder will therefore work closely with the team across our outreach and communication work. Specifically, they will: - Understand the nature of key audiences, their needs and constraints regarding information exchange and effecting change; - Co-produce outputs across our water stewardship work to ensure that WWI s influence and thought leadership role is maintained and strengthened; - Support in hosting the Secretariat of the African Water Stewardship Network, and convening existing networks of practitioners to share project results and guidance; - Ensure quality assurance across all external communication activities; - Build and maintain excellent working relationships at the local level with businesses, communities, and government; - Support design and delivery of national, regional and international learning events; - Co-produce learning and research reports/articles for publication and presentation; - Generate and deliver evidence-based advocacy to drive improved water-security. The post-holder will maintain a flexible and dynamic approach required within a small and growing organisation and will deputise for other managers, or undertake other duties, including representation of the organisation and partners as required. Key working relationships and logistical arrangements The successful applicant will help establish our new office in Malawi, where they will work alongside and report to the Director of Water Stewardship Malawi, with technical assistance from the International Programme Manager of WWI. 3
Person Specification: The successful applicant will be able to demonstrate the following: Experience and qualifications: Essential - A postgraduate degree in a relevant field (International Development, Business Administration, Environmental Sciences). - At least 2 years relevant experience in a development environment. - Demonstrable experience in project management, monitoring, evaluation, and learning. - Excellent level of understanding of the water or natural resource sectors, climate change, and/or certification schemes, sustainable business practices and water stewardship. - Experience in writing, editing and preparing communications materials, including layout and design. Desirable - Experience of working in an international setting, and as part of a multi-cultural team. - Experience in the design, delivery and documentation of field work. - Training design and delivery, and capacity building experience. Skills and attributes: Essential - Exceptional organisational skills and ability to prioritise issues and actions. - Proven ability to deliver results with minimal supervision in a fast-paced and challenging environment. - Highly articulate with demonstrable ability to communicate technical information in simple and engaging terms, both verbally and in writing. - Advanced skills in MS PowerPoint, Excel and Word. - Exceptional written and spoken English. - High level of professional and ethical conduct. - Must be dynamic, creative, and passionate about delivering positive change in the world. Desirable - Working ability or fluency in Chewa or other indigenous languages. - Skills in the development of tools, guidance and learning materials. - Ability in advocacy and communication strategy design and delivery. - Knowledge in graphic design, photography, photo editing, infographics, and videography. - Familiarity and competence in use of social media for development. Application Procedure Closing date: Friday 8 th September 2017, 0900 hrs BST Interviews: Interviews will be held week of 25 September 2017 Expected start date: Mid October 2017 or as soon as possible after this date Interested and suitably qualified candidates should send the following attachments in an email with IPO VACANCY APPLICATION as the subject heading to jobs@waterwitness.org before 9 am BST on Friday 8 th September 2017:
1. A covering letter explaining why you are interested in the position and demonstrating how you meet the person specification. 2. Your current CV with email addresses and telephone numbers of two referees. 3. A fully referenced, self-authored paper of no longer than 1,500 words entitled: Benefits and drawbacks of environmental and social certification schemes for small-holder farmers. Water Witness International is committed to welcoming people from a wide diversity of backgrounds, culture and experience. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Unfortunately, we cannot provide feedback to unsuccessful candidates. 5