Careers in Uganda at Danish Embassy - Water Sector Adviser

Job Title: Senior Adviser (N1) – Water Sector Adviser

Job Ref: DK-50991-2013/UGA.03-W

Employer: Danish Embassy (DANIDA)

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

Application Deadline: 1st Nov 2013

Duties and Responsibilities:

The scope of work of the Water Sector Adviser will include advisory services to DWD and MWE at large, with the aim of strengthening the sector’s overall performance. Emphasis will be on the three sub-sectors of Rural Water and Sanitation, Urban Water and Sanitation, and Water for Production. It will include but not be limited to:

1. Improved sector performance

The Water Sector Adviser shall contribute to strengthening the sector’s role in poverty
reduction by supporting DWD/MWE in its efforts to:
• Improve sector planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting, with a special focus on employing a Rights Based Approach in i) the identification and reduction of socioeconomic disparities and gender inequalities; and ii) the relevance and reliability of data and the information systems in which they are used;
• Continuously improve the institutional, organisational, staffing and managerial structures of sector institutions, with the aim of enhancing their contributions to sector performance;
• Maintain and/or establish sector funding mechanisms that are well functioning, transparent and accountable, and aligned to government rules and procedures;
• Refine and implement the sector’s decentralisation policies, including the separation of functions such as implementation; regulation; policy-making; O&M and monitoring;
• Actively involve users/consumers in the planning, financing, management and monitoring of water and sanitation facilities;
• Enhance sector transparency and accountability at all levels, leading to a tangibly increased share of resources that actually benefit the end-user/consumer;
• Strengthen the overall sector coordination and liaison function;
• Support MWE in preparing inputs to the Joint Budget Support Framework/Joint Assistance Framework (JAF) planning and monitoring process for provision of budget support to the GoU;
• Implementation of the sector capacity development strategy.

2. Harmonisation and Alignment
The Water Sector Adviser shall assist DWD /MWE in:

• Strengthening and consolidating SWAP arrangements, based on the Sector Investment Plan (SIP) as the point of departure for continuously increased alignment and harmonisation of contributions from JWESSP as well as non-JWESSP partners;
• Identifying strategic dialogue issues for the Joint Sector Reviews and Joint Technical Reviews, as well as policy and strategic issues for discussion in the WESWG;
• Developing procedures for integrating JWESSP resources in the planning, budgeting, implementation and reporting systems of MWE and its directorates, while ensuring that confidence from development partners and other stakeholders remains intact;
• Developing internal DWD/MWE support mechanisms for i) coordinating the utilisation of JWESSP resources and ii) preparing comprehensive work plans, budgets and reports – based on departmental inputs – for presentation to the WESWG and required sub working groups as well as development partners;
• Support the system of the WESWG and its sub-working groups, for interaction between government and JWESSP development partners, which allows strategic dialogue and informed decisions on work plans, budgets and reports, while discouraging outside involvement in tasks that are part of DWD/MWE’s management responsibilities;
• Improving uniform reporting systems that satisfy both government and development partners;
• Liaise closely with the Water Sector Adviser for the Directorate of Water Resources Management (SA-DWRM).

3. Strengthening the involvement of the private sector and civil society and the regulatory function of DWD over water utilities
• The Water Sector Adviser will provide support and advice to DWD/MWE on the following issues relating to the private sector and civil society:
• In liaison with the Operation and Maintenance Adviser, carry out promotion and training of private operators in small towns, rural growth centres and rural gravity flow schemes, hereunder the private sector organisations for operation and maintenance of private sector managed systems;
• Support to NGOs/civil society organisations through the Uganda Water and Sanitation NGO Network (UWASNET) Secretariat to leverage own funding, by empowering them to address development partners and access funds for sector activities directly from them;
• Support to NGO/civil society through UWASNET Secretariat in their watchdog role, as well as in strengthening the role of the user in monitoring and influencing how sector resources are used at the local level;
• Supervision and regulation of water authorities/utilities.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• The applicant should possess a master’s degree or corresponding qualifications in subjects relevant to the water and sanitation sector, management and/or public sector restructuring and reform;
• Profound experience in comprehensive water and sanitation sector reform, including institutional reform and enhanced involvement of the private sector and civil society, or equivalent experience of institutional reforms in other sectors, where institutional reform of the public sector is combined with private sector and civil society involvement;
• Strong experience in capacity development within public institutions;
• Extensive work experience from central governments and/or donors;
• Strong experience from developing countries and, preferably, Eastern Africa;
• Fluency in written and spoken English;
• Experience in catchment-based planning and implementation;
• Experience in employing a Rights Based Approach to planning and implementation.
• Good analytical skills, outgoing and robust with a pragmatic approach and appreciation of the dynamics in a politically managed organisation;
• Ability to work as part of an interdisciplinary team with relations to different ministries and stakeholders.

Terms of employment:
The contract period is three years, with the third year pending budgetary approval.  Attractive remuneration package reflecting family status. Contribution to a pension scheme,  health insurance and reimbursement of school fees. Free housing. Grant for relocation.

How to Apply:

Information about the mandatory application procedure can be found at: www.danidajob.dk. Reference number DK-50991-2013/UGA.03-W should be stated in the application.

Preliminary interviews and personal evaluation: week 47 (18-19 November 2013).

Mercuri Urval will conduct a personal evaluation of selected candidates.

Language test:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided that all candidates called in for interview - except for those to whom the relevant language is mother tongue - shall be language tested in Denmark in the working languages of the duty station (i.e. English).

Presentation to the appointments committee: 20 November 2013.
Decision: A decision is expected shortly after 20 November 2013.