Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child but know this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it is girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges girls and vulnerable children face. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood and we enable children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

The Opportunity

Our new global strategy prioritises humanitarian scale up.

To respond to the growing unmet needs in emergencies and to strengthen the speed, quality, relevance and appropriateness of our emergency response and readiness work, we have recently created four new global humanitarian capability units, including the new Hunger Response and Resilience Unit, under which the food security and livelihoods portfolio is located.

The WASH Specialist will be part of the Global Rapid Response Unit in the Global Humanitarian Team. The post holder will work with technical teams within the other four units, other teams, departments, Country Offices, National Offices within the organisation to ensure that all Plan International’s work contributes to strengthening live saving interventions through WASH in addition to Food security, nutrition, livelihood, child protection, education in emergencies in an integrated manner.

The WASH Specialist will be required to be deployed to Plan International Country Offices for 75% of the time for a period of up to three months continuously, sometimes into hostile/crisis settings at short notice to provide  technical assistance to country offices.

This position demands technical knowledge, training experience, and work experience in a wide range of humanitarian contexts.

As WASH Specialist you will ensure technical soundness of the WASH interventions in the Hunger and other humanitarian Crisis response covered by the Plan International.

WASH interventions will cover both standalone water, sanitation and hygiene programming and, critically, also the integration of WASH within other elements of Plan’s life-saving intervention including Food Crisis response such as food distribution, school feeding, nutrition, in addition to education and child protection  and care in health facilities as a fundamental pre-requisite for maximising the effectiveness of these interventions.

In collaboration with Country Offices, regional management and National Organisations you will advise and support high performing country teams  to improve their WASH intervention approaches, strategy and practice, ensuring specific WASH/GEDSI (Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion) outcomes are included, and explore WASH and integrated programming related funding opportunities, ensuring accountability for meeting targets, and maintaining alignment with the Plan International global strategy.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Essential

· Experience of working in an international NGO, UN, multi-lateral agency or the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

· Significant experience in a variety of humanitarian response contexts (protracted, complex, conflict & rapid onset).

· Expertise and substantial direct experience supporting humanitarian response with a focus on WASH

· Up-to-date knowledge of WASH and hygiene programming approaches, and their integration with other sectors

· Proven experience of WASH in emergencies, especially from a girls’ rights perspective in a variety of contexts including acute & chronic food insecurity crises

· Highly competent with computer-based communications and information management technology

· Consistent decision making and sound judgement.

· Ability to work on a number or projects simultaneously and to manage competing demands and deadlines.

· Ability to network effectively and build good working relationships with colleagues across the organisation.

· Strong communication skills, with excellent written and spoken English.

· Knowledge and commitment to international humanitarian principles, codes, guidelines and cluster system.

· Ability to work independently, as a team member, and in culturally diverse settings

· Ability to effectively manage and prioritise a diverse workload.

· Child rights-based programming principles and approaches

· Demonstrated awareness and sensitivity to gender and diversity.

· An understanding of and commitment to Plan International’s mission and values

Desirable

· Training and facilitation skills

· Additional languages (Arabic, French or Spanish)