Terms of Reference for WASH Information Management Officer

Terms of Reference for

WASH Information Management Officer

Reports to:   ALIGHT

Level:

Duration:  364 days

Location: Hargeisa, Somaliland

The humanitarian crisis in Somalia continues to deteriorate. The current extreme, widespread, and persistent multi-season drought is unprecedented. Four consecutive rainy seasons have failed, a climatic event not seen in at least 40 years. The 2022 March-May rainy season has not materialized and is likely to be the driest on record, devastating livelihoods and driving sharp increases in food, water, and nutrition insecurity. The impact of the drought and increasing economic pressures are deepening the severity of needs and driving the country to the brink of famine. Nearly 50 per cent of the population – 7.7 million people – require some form of humanitarian or protection assistance, of whom 7 million are estimated to be affected by the drought. The drought has devastated the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable, and marginalized people, including women, children, and minority clans. Acute malnutrition in children is on the rise. An estimated 1.5 million children face acute malnutrition, which is 25 per cent increase compared to last year.

As of 8th April 2022, a Level 2 Corporate Emergency for the Horn of Africa drought crisis including Somalia was activated. This is to ensure that there is urgent and timely scaling up of humanitarian assistance to prevent extreme food security and nutrition outcomes, including the risk of famine. Hence, the WASH cluster needs to scale up WASH interventions to mitigate impacts of drought and arrest deterioration conditions including increased widespread outbreak of AWD/Cholera among the vulnerable population. Already overstretched supporting existing crisis, the current WASH Cluster coordination capacity esp at the sub national level needs to be strengthened to be able to match the level of response and increased footprints at lower level. There are over 67 active WASH partners working across Somalia and Somaliland, whose coordination support are provided by National WASH Cluster Coordinator (based in Mogadishu), a National NGO Co-coordinator (based in Mogadishu), one national cluster support officer based in (Mogadishu)- one WASH Cluster Information Management Officer (IMO). WASH Cluster has 10 regional focal points and 6 State Level coordination focal points, only 2 of which are full time focal points. There is need to strengthen IMO capacity of the WASH cluster and support existing IMO to scale on WASH data analysis and management.

On behalf of UNICEF, the Country Lead Agency for the WASH Cluster, and in support of the Government, Alight is recruiting WASH Information Management Officer (IMO) to be based in Hargiesa, Somaliland. The purpose of this post is to support WASH Cluster with information/data visual products to make evidence-based and strategic decisions on: (i) the scale, scope and coverage of the WASH; (ii) the needs of affected populations; (iii) prioritization of areas according to existing OCHA priority criteria and WASH sector indicators; (iv) needs for humanitarian actors; (v) the key gaps in needs and response; and (vi) availability of human, material and financial capacity.

The incumbent is expected to undertake regular field visits and spend a reasonable portion of their time in field locations.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS

Under the direction and guidance of the WASH Coordinator of ALIGHT and to a lesser extent the WASH Cluster Coordinator, the Information Management Specialist will support UNICEF and other operational agencies with information/data visual products to make evidence-based and strategic decisions related to below cluster core functions:

Supporting service delivery

• In consultation with WASH Sector at zonal field offices and at Country Office, WASH partners at federal and sub-federal levels, identify key WASH IM products, develop/adapt templates for collecting this information, support WASH section, WASH, and the cluster partners in producing a consolidated IM product in a periodical manner.
• Support monthly updates on status of WASH Sector in Somalia and where there are gaps for implementation.
• In consultation with WASH sector colleagues at zonal field offices and at Country Office, draft/compile WASH reports such as sitreps, progress and submit to WASH Cluster coordinator.
• Support WASH Cluster coordination team in conducting the mapping of all current and potential national and international humanitarian organizations as well as national institutions, the private sector through provision of regular inputs/updates on the clusters 3/4/5 W’s (Who, What, Where, When and for Whom) matrix, cluster priority response matrix and other tools.
• Facilitate information flow between the WASH section, emergency and other sections, WASH cluster and cluster partner WASH programmes by clearly outlining how data is collected, collated, and analyzed, and facilitate the identification of information gaps geographically and programmatically.
• Assist in developing mechanisms to eliminate duplication of service delivery based on existing data and proactively strive for effective methods of acquiring data from the relevant stakeholders to fill the information gap.
• Support the WASH cluster and section in organising and participating in regular WASH cluster and WASH sector coordination meetings with the aim of information sharing for appropriate coordination between government and all WASH partners.

Informing strategic decision-making of WASH interventions

• Manage an inventory of database that contains relevant documents on the humanitarian situation (multi-sectorial assessments, WASH surveys/assessments, and assessment reports of other relevant clusters such as Nutrition, Food Security, Health, Protection etc., and other relevant information) and for WASH section WASH programme.
• Provide IM support for the preparation and/or update of the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP)and WASH situation analysis. Compile data and create maps where possible in a timely manner and as needed to assist WASH cluster activities as well as partners and other stakeholders.  Produce maps but not limited to the following products:

-          Operational presence and intervention coverage.

-          Core Pipeline status.

-          WASH priority/response/gap maps (i.e., WASH Severity Classification) in line with OCHA prioritisation.

-          Other maps as agreed by WASH partners and/or emergency section/community.

Prioritization, grounded in response analysis, and core WASH cluster function 4: Advocacy

• Work with Cluster partners to keep and maintain an up-to-date database and information for WASH programming.  Make this information available to facilitate planning and to facilitate impact assessment of the cluster response by the cluster and other stakeholders. Update the database and reporting tools structure as needed, aligning with revisions of the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP).
• Together with the WASH cluster coordinator, estimate both geographic and programmatic coverage of WASH interventions and produce coverage maps. Update inputs for mapping formats as needed to support the continuous review of WASH interventions.
• Support and draft/prepare situation reports for input to emergencies’ reports with emphasis on WASH cluster achievements by providing relevant and up to date information
• Compile regular inputs on the emergency affected areas for the federal/sub-federal level clusters with the expected outputs which include but not limited to:

-          Cluster meeting support material

-          WASH cluster operational planning/response matrix

-          Provide 3/4/5 W’s and other data as required

• Support the WASH cluster in developing regular decentralized data and information based on agreed outputs and share this information with stakeholders through relevant means that can be disseminated.
• Work with Cluster partners to identify information gaps at federal and sub-federal levels and propose ways to bridge information gaps
• Provide information management support in calculating the caseload for WASH interventions.
• Support the cluster in developing a framework for the monitoring and evaluation of the cluster response plan and support the development of indicators that cluster needs to monitor, linked to the response plan.

Monitoring and reporting the implementation of the cluster strategy and results

 Undertake regular monitoring visits to review WASH responses and provide oversite for quality control for partners’ reporting.

• In consultation with partners, and Federal ministry, develop/adapt and roll out monitoring and reporting system for WASH interventions, in line with global WASH standards and the WASH cluster response plan. Review the system each time the cluster response plan is modified to ensure that the system can capture newly identified indicators.
• In collaboration with Federal Ministry and WASH cluster coordinators, rectify any gaps identified in reporting against WASH interventions and the WASH cluster indicators of the service delivery (quantity, quality, coverage, continuity, and cost) by regularly communicating and discussing the gaps with partners and providing technical support aimed at enhancing timely and quality reporting.
• Work with cluster partners on reporting gender disaggregated data, that should inform cluster analysis.

Build National Capacity Building for Preparedness and Contingency Planning

• Promote and provide training and capacity building activities of WASH partners for reporting, use of the IM outputs, etc.
• Support the WASH cluster coordination team and in preparedness and contingency planning:  consolidation of inputs by partners for WASH response, maintenance/update of the WASH database to ensure quick access to data for analysis, and other IM tools, etc.

Accountability and Quality Assurance

• Support the WASH cluster coordination team and cluster partners in setting up and maintaining a cluster complaint and feedback mechanism based on the inputs/guidance provided and feedback regularly to the cluster partners.

Education:

• Advanced university degree preferably in a relevant field such as geographic sciences, humanitarian affairs, political science, Information Technology, Information Systems, Engineering, or Communications.

Professional Experience

• Minimum of five years of professional work experience at national and/or international levels of which two years should be in the humanitarian sector or in emergency-related programmes. 
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Technical Skills and competencies

• Good written and oral presentation skills.
• Strong analytical, synthesis and conceptual thinking skills.
• Experience in information management, data analysis and visualization tools and software (Excel, R, Adobe suite, Power BI, ARC-GIS, etc.)
• Experience with implementing multi-sectoral operational tools to quantify the number of people in need with the ability to classify the severity and drivers of needs and vulnerabilities is an asset.
• Experience working within a cluster is an asset

"QUALIFIED WOMEN ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY’’

Interested and qualified candidates can submit 1 page motivation/cover letter and Current CV and updated CV with three references (2-4 pages) to Alight [email protected] before Sept 26th ,2022, COB. Applications would be reviewed on rolling basis.

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NAGUSOO BIIR ---  SOMALI JOBS

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