Construction Officer - ECW FER Northwest - Zamfara

CONTRACT LENGTH: 1 year 

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:  

Level 3:  the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs; or are visiting the country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:

North-east region grapples with insurgency and armed conflicts, exacerbating the out-of-school crisis for girls and boys, the North-west has faced significant challenges from armed violence, kidnappings, insecurity and climate change. These factors, compounded by existing issues like poverty and displacements have led to widespread disruption in education, health, and basic services, particularly impacting adolescent boys and girls. The region’s extreme weather, marked by prolonged dry seasons, rising temperatures and flash floods, has damaged infrastructure and displaced communities, further hindering access to education.  Schools in states like Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna have experienced attacks and kidnappings, instilling fear among students, teachers and parents, leading to absenteeism, dropouts and school closure.   Furthermore, conflict over grazing land and natural resources has jeopardized safe access to education. 

With Funding from ECW, Save the Children is implementing a one-year project aimed In ensuring equitable access to safe learning environment for all, the project will assess existing learning facilities to ensure they are inclusive and sensitive to the needs of girls and boys with disabilities. The WASH facilities will be assessed for availability, functionality, safety, gender-responsiveness and disability friendliness in learning centres. The Construction Officer will be tasked with overseeing all functional aspects of construction related projects such as conducting feasibility assessment, preparing technical documents & tender documents, supporting supply chain team for the procurement process, mobilise contractors, conduct regular field visit and conduct intensive technical monitoring of construction related activities in close coordination with Education team in Zamfara, Kaduna and Katsina States.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: ECW Program Manager- Zamfara.

Staff reporting to this post: None

Role Dimensions: Field office-based position with at least 40% field visit

Key Areas of Accountabilities

• Conduct need assessment in the selected schools to identify needs of School WASH facilities in close coordination with Education team.
• Conduct feasibility study to construct TLS, latrines and hand washing facilities in selected schools.
• Prepare designs and BOQs for water supply, Classrooms and TLS constructions and installations for schools and host communities.
• Conduct hazard assessment and verify availability of land to prepare designs and drawings.
• Prepare design, Drawings, Bill of Quantity (BOQ), cost estimate and specifications of construction materials as per standard in close coordination with School Management Committee and Education team
• Ensure quality of construction work carried by contractors per SCI construction policy.
• Supervise construction work of Latrines, hand washing facilities and any other construction activities that SCI will undertake.
• Prepare construction quality checklist and prepare periodic reports.
• Conduct frequent field visit to conduct technical monitoring.
• Provide necessary suggestion and technical backstopping to contractors, construction workers and School Management.
• Maintain close contact with selected communities and inform them of issues related to the project;
• Provide periodic progress reports and undertake verification of payment invoices.
• Monitor construction budgets and overall performance with Program and Project Managers
• Verify all construction work carried out at the completion stage in cooperation with the relevant authority and ensure that all requirements are fulfilled before a Certificate of Completion is issued, and final payments paid.
• Liaise and collaborate with relevant local authorities and other key stakeholders.
• Strategically lead and support implementation of WASH and construction and Construction component of the project including construction/rehabilitations of water and sanitation facilities in collaboration with Education and CP stakeholders at state/LGA levels.
• Supervise borehole drilling and rehabilitation by contractors in the field to ensure adequate quality control is maintained and project specifications and timelines are adhered to.
• Ensure Child Safeguarding Risk Assessments are conducted for all construction and programme activities.
• Coordinate with logistics to facilitate procurement of necessary WASH items such and other materials and support in the distributions across the supported schools and communities. 

Capacity Building:

• Build the capacity of partners and SCI staffs on hygiene promotion.
• Ensure that community mobilisation approaches on the project fully integrate hygiene promotion concepts.
• Provide capacity to implementing partners that have less Construction experience 
• Engage community leaders and other key stakeholders at LGA level on hygiene promotion

Representation & Advocacy & Organisational Learning:

• Ensure that Save the Children's work is coordinated with efforts of other agencies and Government and support Interagency Coordination Sub Working Group, advocating for the specific needs of children. This may involve supporting the coordination of working groups and sub-working groups. 
• Under the guidance of the Project Manager, WASH and Construction TA, the Officer will ensure that the ECW funded project is implemented in selected communities in line with WASH and construction minimum standards.
• Contribute to communications and media work as required.

General:

• Comply with Save the Children policies and practice with respect to child protection, code of conduct, health and safety, equal opportunities and other relevant policies and procedures.
• Other ad hoc tasks as requested by Line Manager

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values.
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others.
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters.
• Values diversity sees it as a source of competitive strength.
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions.
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

QUALIFICATIONS 

• Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering/ Architecture or related field;
• Minimum 3 years of relevant working experience preferably in a humanitarian/recovery context;
• Experience on Construction and WASH related projects specially on design and construction of infrastructures.
• Knowledge about own leadership skills/profile.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential:

• Previous experience with other local and international NGOs
• Training and experience on borehole and VIP latrine construction/rehabilitation
• Community mobilization and advocacy experience
• Computer literacy (MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, AutoCAD and Epanet)
• Ability to work in partnership with government and other NGO staff
• Good interpersonal skills
• Independence, adaptability, and flexibility with good workload management, multitasking and ability to meet tight deadlines.
• Excellent communication skills
• Listening skills.
• Problem analysis and problem-solving.
• Proficient in relevant computer applications.
• Ability to work as part of a team, flexible, adaptable, and patient.
• Ability to work under pressure often to strict deadlines.

Desirable:

• Familiarity with mapping field equipment and software
• Experience with emergency water supply systems
• Familiarity with population fluxes and water supply management in the context of emergencies

Equal Opportunities 

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

• Ensure that project delivery complies to the highest safeguarding standards in line with Save the Children’s policy
• Work with the project safeguarding officer to ensure that all construction activities, construction sites and construction facilities have a safeguarding risk assessment and mitigation measures in place
• Ensure safe programming in the planning, implementation, monitoring, training of teachers and construction/rehabilitation of learning centres.
• Adhere to the Do no Harm principles across the entire steps within the Programme Management Cycle.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.