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

Position Overview

Job Title: State Safe Water Manager

Employment Status: Full Time

Position Locations: Madhya Pradesh

Number of Position: One

Level: 5

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, water, & nutrition issues too.

The India program invites applications for the position of State Safe Water Manager (SSWM) to be based in Bhopal, 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 for 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 Manager (SSWM) will be responsible for overseeing and implementing the Safe Water program within their respective State. Reporting to the National Safe Water Operations Manager (NSWOM) the SSWM will be required to work in close coordination with other EAII Private Limited Departments and team members at the Delhi Office or state offices for appropriate functions. S/he will ensure the provision of safe and chlorinated water to the communities, while also addressing issues related to water quality, availability, and accessibility. The SSWM will collaborate with various stakeholders, including government agencies, NGOs, community organizations, and relevant experts, to develop and execute comprehensive strategies to promote safe water practices and improve the overall water infrastructure within the state. S/he will be responsible for management of all aspects of the water program in their respective state including installation and maintenance of devices, data collection, analysis, coordination with external partners like governments contractor management, supplier management, device operation, community engagement, Safe Water project implementation, and Safe Water project scale up. S/he will manage a state team of several dozen to over a hundred direct reports, depending on the stage of the program.

Roles & Responsibilities of the position

Safe Water project Implementation

• Lead and operate across all phases of the Safe Water project from Safe Water project establishment to implementation to scale up.
• Oversee installation, operation, and maintenance of water treatment devices in the states
• 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
• Hold suppliers and contractors accountable for work, agreements, and warranties under contract
• Manage and facilitate the data collection and information management firm(s) in his/her 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
• Iterate and improve program design by capturing and documenting lessons learned, challenges, and recommendations on devices, Safe Water project design, and Safe Water project implementation
• Maintain consistent communication and collaboration with other state teams and national team to ensure learnings are shared effectively
• Form 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 & Leadership

• Lead state team members distributed across locations throughout the state. Effectively employ his/her regional coordinators on location and action
• 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
• Manage 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 8 years in managing program-related activities;
• Strong technical skills and capacity, with at least 4 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 the state,
• Demonstrated experience supporting development or public health or WASH/water projects;
• Strong interest in the development sector and desire to be a part of a young and diverse team.

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.