Job Opportunity for State Safe Water Officer at Evidence Action in Bhopal

Description

Evidence Action – India Program

Position Overview

Job Title: State Safe Water Officer

Employment Status: Full Time

Position Location: Madhya Pradesh

Number of Position: One

About Evidence Action

Evidence Action aims to be a world leader in scaling evidence-based and cost-effective programs to reduce the burden of poverty for hundreds of millions of people in the poorest places. Last year Deworm the World reached 280 million people with deworming medications, partnering with governments to launch, scale, and sustain mass school-based deworming programs, including in India. Meanwhile, Dispensers for Safe Water provided 4M people across rural Africa with clean water, saving thousands of young lives. The approach relies on an innovative and human-centric design to deliver clean water at the source. These serve as just two examples of the work Evidence Action is undertaking.

In addition to running these scaled programs, Evidence Action leverages its unique Accelerator to develop the next generation of programs. These programs are rigorously tested to ensure exceptional scale, cost-effectiveness, and clear evidence of impact. In 2019 we launched an ambitious new strategy, intending to double our impact over the next five years, with much of that impact coming from new programs identified and scaled through the Accelerator.

Evidence Action has a presence across 9 countries, with major offices in Nairobi, Kenya; Delhi, India; and Washington, D.C. Evidence Action’s programs have been recognized by GiveWell, the Skoll Foundation, the Life You Can Save, Giving What We Can, and covered in the Economist, NPR, and the New York Times.

In India, Evidence Action’s technical partner EAII Advisors provides technical assistance to select state government’s ministries of health, education, and women and child development to implement the school and Anganwadi based National Deworming Day program and Iron and Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation program to improve children’s health, education, and long-term development. In the long term EAII Advisors aims to expand to provide technical support to more state governments and on other public health & nutrition issues too.

The India program invites applications for the position of State Safe Water Officer to be based in Madhya Pradesh.

About the India Safe Water Expansion Team

Our flagship Dispensers for Safe Water (DSW) provides safe water to over 4 million people across rural Uganda, Malawi, and Kenya, and is on track to expand its reach to over 9 million people by 2024. Recent evidence highlights that water treatment may be among the most cost-effective interventions available to save young children’s lives, reducing all-cause child mortality by about 25%. The dispensers program – based on research by Nobel-winning economists – utilizes an innovative and human-centric design to deliver clean water at the source in rural settings, achieving usage rates which are 5x that of comparable interventions. We are currently incubating a next generation technology, in-line chlorination (ILC) that targets peri-urban communities.

In addition to the above programs, Evidence Action has recently begun leading safe water work in India in collaboration with national and state government agencies. We will be overseeing the operation of a number of promising water chlorination technologies across three Indian states. The project is currently in the small-scale pilot phase, after which we plan to expand to at-scale implementation across the three states.

The pilot will focus on establishing greater understanding of operational considerations regarding water chlorination in various Indian contexts that governments can rely upon during their scale-up process. Post-pilot recommendations will include an analysis of device performance and applicability across various factors such as water infrastructure requirements, maintenance required, electricity requirements, level of expertise required to operate, and more. Following the pilot, findings and recommendations will be provided to national and state departments of water for incorporation into policy, water treatment guidelines, procurement processes, and implementation. The post-pilot recommendations will inform which devices are taken to scale in the three Indian states, and what implementation and operational models will be adopted.

About the Position:

The State Safe Water Officer (SSWO) will report to the State Safe Water Manager (SSWM). S/he will be the focal for the program in the state and anchor the execution of Safe Water project related details and operations under the supervision of the SSWM.

The SSWO will support the SSWM in all aspects of the Safe Water project implementation in their state including installation, operation, and maintenance of safe water devices, data collection and analysis, coordination with government, contractor management, supply chain management, and community engagement, As for all staff, s/he must possess a sense of collaboration and mutual understanding and a willingness to assist colleagues. S/he will be required to work in close coordination with other EAII Advisors Private Limited Departments and team members at the Delhi Office or state offices for appropriate functions.

Roles & Responsibilities of the position

Safe Water project Implementation

• Support the SSWM to lead and operate across all phases of the Safe Water project from project establishment to implementation to scale up.
• Together with SSWM, represent Evidence Action and EAII Advisors Private Limited in engagements with Jal Jeevan Mission state representatives, state departments of water, NGO partners, suppliers, manufacturers, communities and others
• Lead water treatment training and sensitizations for state governments, area governments, facility managers, water service committees, and communities
• Oversee installation, operation, and maintenance of water treatment devices in the state
• Hold suppliers and contractors accountable for work, agreements, and warranties under contract
• Work with SSWM to manage and facilitate the data collection and information management firm(s) in your state to capture baseline, Safe Water project conduct, and post-Safe Water project information
• Oversee assessment of each device’s installation process, operational feasibility, and device efficacy of water treatment technologies in your state
• Keep Safe Water project leadership team informed of progress, challenges, and forecasting for locations within your state
• Maintain a learning perspective and throughout the process capture and document in written form lessons learned, challenges, and recommendations on devices, Safe Water project design, and Safe Water project implementation
• Support SSWM in preparing a final recommendation and report to your state level government and Jal Jeevan Mission on the performance and efficacy of the water treatment technologies in their designated intervention points

Program Management & Support

• Lead regional coordinators distributed throughout the state.
• Support the SSWM to continually assess where challenges may arise in Safe Water project development, implementation, and scale up. Place self and regional coordinators at greatest points of friction to mitigate those challenges
• Support SSWM in human resources requirements throughout the Safe Water project team

Requirements

Essential:

• A Graduate with degree in business, water, social sciences, public health, health management or related disciplines;
• Work experience of minimum 5 years in managing program-related activities;
• Strong technical skills and capacity, with at least 3 years of practical experience managing water and/or health initiatives;
• Demonstrated experience working with contractors and suppliers;
• Strong leadership skills to lead the state team and manage day-to-day administrative and human resource issues.
• Experienced in data review and analysis as a rigorous practice;
• Ability to communicate effectively with people at all levels of the organization;
• Ability to effectively report performance, challenges, and progress to the Safe Water project leadership team
• Ability and willingness to operate in time constrained and uncertain environments;
• Ability to work under pressure and adhere to deadlines and timely responds to requests;
• An experienced tech savvy professional with exposure of working on varied tech platforms including Microsoft Office/Google, cloud-based applications, virtual platforms etc.
• Willing to travel up to 30% of the time.

Desirable:

• Prior experience in managing and implementing projects in Madhya Pradesh.
• Strong interest in the development sector and desire to be a part of a young and diverse team.
• Demonstrated experience supporting development or public health or WASH/Water projects;

Disclaimer: The duties and responsibilities described are not a comprehensive list and that additional tasks may be assigned to the employee from time to time.

Benefits

Compensation: Competitive and commensurate with the individual’s credentials, experience, and previous pay scale.