WASH Officer (Behaviour Change) – Uganda

THE ORGANIZATION

The Water Trust empowers rural communities in Uganda to reduce preventable death and debilitating disease by enabling access to safe water and a healthy, clean environment. Since 2008, The Water Trust has partnered with more than 900 communities in Masindi and Kiryandongo, benefitting more than 300,000 people. The Water Trust aims to increase the scale of its operations and pioneer new approaches to increasing the impact and sustainability of water, sanitation, and hygiene programs. In 2017, The Water Trust developed a novel approach to improving water sustainability by forming self-help groups in water point catchments, and leveraging these groups to mobilize funds for well repairs and provide a community platform for hygiene and sanitation promotion. Today The Water Trust has trained more than 900 self-help groups in western Uganda and plans to scale this approach to reach one million people by 2024 through direct implementation and partnerships. The WASH Officer plays an important role in implementing this expansion.

THE POSITION

The WASH Officer reports to the social team Program Manager and the position is based in Kiryandongo. The Officer is responsible for social behavior change activities in rural communities within a designated sub-county. These activities include training communities directly, as well as training and supervising community leaders to monitor and promote progress. The WASH Officer position is a great opportunity for early-career professionals with experience promoting hygiene and sanitation (and ideally savings groups) to make an impact on communities while receiving mentorship and support in developing their expertise on troubleshooting difficult challenges and effectively planning and supervising four to six community facilitators that cover 50 to 80 catchments. The ideal candidate will have two to three years of WASH promotion experience, be a proactive and eager learner, organized and effective communicator, and embrace a participatory approach to promoting behavior change that respects the dignity and challenges communities face in taking up healthy new behaviors. Candidates with more experience in school WASH are encouraged to still apply, as we may have a WASH Officer role available shortly that would have a significant school component.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Promote behavior change through local leaders: Plan and implement training and supervision work of four to six community facilitators that promote behavior change at the household and community level through self-help groups (savings groups that also take on water point fee collection and safekeeping of funds), water and sanitation committees, and natural leaders.
• Build capacity and supervise implementation quality: Participate in training-of-trainers activities of community leaders and government staff; accompany community trainers to evaluate and ensure they are proficient in both knowledge and in their training quality; provide regular supervisory spot checks, support, and performance feedback to community facilitators.
• Oversee and conduct mobile phone-based monitoring and in-person coaching and support: Supervise community facilitators in mobile phone-based monitoring of improvements and performance in community hygiene and sanitation promotion, self-help group operations, and water and sanitation committee operations.
• Evaluate community needs and build relationships: Conduct meetings with community and government leaders and build profiles of communities including an assessment of their needs.
• Help local leaders navigate behavior change obstacles: Help community facilitators and communities troubleshoot any challenges or problems, and elevate any issues that require more support to Senior Community Development Officer.
• Mobilize communities: Help community facilitators mobilize communities to participate in training activities.
• Coordinate with counterparts: Coordinate with government counterparts at the local level to ensure there is no duplication of efforts and that they are involved in our programming to the extent possible.
• Report regularly: Submit regular training reports and monthly reports on progress, as well as regularly document case studies and success stories with photos for donor reporting and qualitative research.
• Conduct monitoring and evaluation: Participate in and support monitoring and evaluation activities on an as needed basis, including household surveys, water point surveys, and/or focus group discussions.

QUALIFICATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS:

• Expertise equivalent to two to three years of INGO experience promoting hygiene and sanitation, and/or forming savings groups, including working with natural leaders in the community.
• A certificate or diploma in environmental health science, community health, public health, marketing, development or any discipline related to Water, Hygiene and Sanitation
• Expertise in CLTS and PHAST; VSLA experience highly desired.
• Experience with Children’s Hygiene and Sanitation Training (CHAST) preferred but not required.
• Highly organized: demonstrated ability to manage information, respond to communication in a timely manner, and meet deadlines.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills: demonstrated ability to summarize issues and communicate issues to communities members of varying education levels as well as management.
• Humble: appreciates the dignity and constraints of rural communities in changing behaviors, and communicates a humility and respect in approach to listening and speaking to community members, including in trainings.
• Excellent interpersonal skills: able to work across functions (e.g., finance, program), offices, and cultures and able to maintain strong working relationships with staff, as well as communicate openly and clearly when they need help or can offer help.
• Strong language skills: able to clearly speak and write in English, and one more of the local languages (such as Swahili, Runyoro, Luo, Iteso, Lugbara, Lugisu).
• Comfortable and capable adapting work and priorities to respond to changing situations in order to advance organizational goals and objectives.
• Must possess a valid riding permit and be capable of independently and safely riding a motorbike.
• Comfortable traveling across rural communities by motorbike for four to five days each week with work in communities for the majority of those days.
• Must be skilled in Microsoft Office package with at least basic ability in Excel, Word and PowerPoint.