GRET recruits 01 One technical assistant water, sanitation, hygiene and solid waste, in Laos – Volunteer french contract

Contexte

Founded in 1976, GRET is an international development NGO, governed by French law, which acts from work on the ground all the way up influencing policy, with the aim of providing durable and innovative answers to the challenges of poverty and inequalities. It supports social and economic sustainable development with an approach based on partnership and action research. Active in 28 countries, GRET has 13 permanent branch offices in Asia, Africa and Latin America. GRET combines the roles of project practitioner or co-practitioner, expert, contributor to public policy and producer/distributor of development references. GRET has been implementing projects in Laos since the opening of the representation office in 2004. GRET Laos implements projects in various sectors: WASH and solid waste (four ongoing projects and studies), natural resources management (“Bamboo” project), nutrition, tea value chain, and three regional projects on agroecology, geographical indications (GI) and land governance.

GRET projects are implemented in five provinces.

The Representation Office is in Vientiane, with branch offices in Houaphanh and Luang Prabang Provinces.

GRET Laos team consists of 20 members, including five expatriates.

The WASH and solid waste program in Laos started in 2004 with the pilot project MIREP (Small-scale Drinking Water systems) which aimed to extend access to drinking water in large rural towns in Laos through public-private partnerships (PPP). GRET currently works in urban and rural areas with the objective of improving the living conditions of communities through better access to essential services.

Today the WASH and solid waste program in Laos consists in three projects:

DEAR Water Luang Prabang project (DEveloping Access to Rural Water and sanitation), which aims to improve sustainable access to water and sanitation in rural areas (in partnership with Confluence organization, lead),
WISE Luang Prabang Project (Wetlands Improvement and Sanitation Enhancement in Luang Prabang). This project is supporting Luang Prabang municipality to improve the management of the urban wetlands for a more active preservation of the protected ponds. Wastewater treatment, community-based management, landscape management are the main activities to be implemented within this project.
SEWIT project (Support to the Extension of Water supply In small Towns), to support the Luang Prabang water supply company in order to improve access to water in Xieng Ngeun district through the extension of the existing water supply system and in Phonxay district through the creation of a new piped water supply system to provide access to water in and around Thaphor.

The WASH team is composed of four people: a socio-economist, a water and sanitation engineer, the WASH technical assistant and the program manager, who is also the country representative.

The program is financed by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Syndicat des Eaux D’Ile-de-France (SEDIF), the Agence de l’Eau Loire-Bretagne (AELB) and the Région Centre-Val de Loire (RCVL).

Positioning

The technical assistant will be under the direct responsibility of the GRET representative in Laos. He or she will be closely coordinating with the project manager based at headquarters for operational aspects.

The technical assistant will be based in Luang Prabang with regular travels to the various districts and to Vientiane.

Missions/Fonctions

The WASH technical assistant will be in charge of the following missions:

Participate in the planning and implementation of activities: support in the programming and implementation of activities, monitoring of programmed activities and expected direct results;
Participate in the drafting and dissemination of technical reports of projects: drafting of technical reports, activity reports, meeting minutes, newsletters, compilation of information for knowledge management etc.
Participate in the creation, updating or optimisation of project management tools: development and/or updating of activity programming tools, formalisation of project monitoring-evaluation systems, development and/or updating of project procedure guides;
Participating in the development, implementation and monitoring of intervention strategies: participation in the process of reflection on project objectives and their inclusion in national sectoral policies, participation in the consultation process for project steering (monitoring meetings, etc.);
Contribute his/her experience and support the training and strengthening of WASH programme project managers on project management aspects, institutional or technical dimensions of projects, methodological approaches, organisational methods and sectoral monitoring.
Support the WASH Programme Coordinator and the RPS in the economic and contractual steering of the WASH project portfolio: in particular, the monitoring of the local teams’ assignment matrix, technical and financial reports, requests for payment.

Conditions, rémunération (ou indemnités), durée

Nature of position: VSI, full time,

Duration of the mission: 12 months, renewable according to available resources.

Expected starting date: November 2020

Place of residence: Luang Prabang, with regular missions to Vientiane.

Volunteer compensation:

The volunteer’s compensation will be calculated on the basis of the grid applied by GRET for VSI, and the volunteer’s experience. GRET’s salary scale enables volunteers to live comfortably in a country like Laos.

The volunteer will also benefit from a return air ticket per year and an installation bonus in year 1. The costs related to the visa and vaccines are covered by GRET.

Experience / Training

Competencies and skills

Ability to analyse and understand actors’ roles and attitudes,
Ability to clearly understand his/her positioning vis-à-vis local project managers and the public authorities with which GRET works,
Understanding of the specificities of the intercultural context, humility in working relationships and ability to calmly manage conflict situations,
Coordination and facilitation of multi-stakeholder meetings in English and French,
Mastery of the project cycle,
Mastery of accounting management tools and administrative procedures,
Mastery of fundraising and project development.
Motivation to learn Laos, which will greatly facilitate daily working relationships.

Education and professional experience desired

3 years minimum experience. Validated Master’s degree in the field of water and/or sanitation/waste, and/or environment, and/or international project management. Experience in project management and project set-up abroad is required.

Languages used (read, written and spoken)

Good command of written and spoken English (working language). Motivation to learn Lao.

Driving licence

No special driving licence required. However, the volunteer will have to quickly learn to drive a two-wheeler. Some of the trips in the field or in Luang Prabang will be done by motorbike.

Salairy