General Background
(Brief description of the national, sector-specific, or other relevant context in which the individual contractor will operate)
The Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa, based in Dakar, oversees 9 country operations with a UNHCR presence, including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal. The Regional Bureau is accredited to ECOWAS and the regional body for the Central Africa region, ECCAS, and maintains close liaison with UN regional entities. The region comprises countries where the official language is either English or French. The region has English-speaking and French speaking countries. Full proficiency in both English and French is thus mandatory. The ability to communicate clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing, in both languages is essential.
The region is home to approximately 13.1 million displaced persons. The majority of this population remains in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, the Central African Republic, and Chad, many of whom were compelled to flee their homes due to armed conflicts, intercommunal clashes, persecution, and other serious human rights violations. While there have been some voluntary repatriation movements and small-scale spontaneous returns in the region, the current trends in population movements are expected to continue in 2025 and beyond, with limited prospects for solutions. It would be advantageous to have knowledge of and familiarity with operations in the West and Central Africa region, emerging trends in the Sahel region and the full range of political and humanitarian challenges and opportunities.

The Technical Coordinator will coordinate the settlement planning, WASH, energy and environment, climate action, and shelter interventions. The incumbent will ensure compliance of UNHCR policies, rules, and regulations in the relevant technical fields. The incumbent will work closely with the technical sector specialists.
S/he will coordinate the technical needs assessments, develop integrated strategies taking into account community needs, protection concerns, regional and local context, age and gender, culture, climate, environmental conditions and available resources and skills. S/he will also monitor, support, and provide guidance to partners. In addition, s/he will be the face of UNHCR with external actors and UN/NGO partners with regard to the coordination of technical projects/interventions as part of inter-agency response efforts.
Given the Regional Bureau’s role in providing managerial oversight, technical guidance, and support to operations in the region, the ideal candidate for the position will have a strong technical capacity and experience in their field of expertise. The ideal candidate will be a strong team player, with a service-oriented approach, flexibility, and proactivity to manage any arising situations and challenges. They will also be expected to coordinate closely with other units in the Regional Bureau, promote collaboration and diversity in a multicultural environment, and contribute to a positive work environment.


Purpose and Scope of Assignment
(Concise and detailed description of activities, tasks and responsibilities to be undertaken, including expected travel, if applicable)

• Proactively lead and/or participate in inter-agency fora to ensure that UNHCR’s mandate and programmes are given due attention and reflected in linkage at the country level, Regional Bureau level, and at the policy levels of humanitarian and development coordination systems.
• Contribute or lead the effective establishment and maintenance of coordination mechanisms for the shelter and settlement, WASH, Energy and Environment technical sectors
• In line with the refugee coordination model and globally agreed arrangements ensure timely and effective sectoral technical needs assessment, appropriate planning, prioritization, implementation, reporting and evaluation.
• Contribute to joint appeals, regional refugee response plans, regional refugee and migrant response plans, refugee and resilience plans, comprehensive responses.
• Approve project designing including preparation of BOQs/specifications and costing, carry out and provide recommendations, plan of action, and verify compliance in the implementation for these technical sectors.
• Coordinate internally and externally the technical interventions and ensure compliance with technical standards.
• Lead actively technical interagency working groups and ensure constructive and amicable relationships with government and partners.
• Ensure environmental considerations are taken into account for all the technical interventions planned and implemented in settlement, shelter, wash and energy programmes.
• Promote the sustainability of technical interventions through local capacity building and self-help in collaboration with partners in the field. Ensure and lead community consultations.
• Guide and oversee the procurement of sector related materials or equipment, including the development of technical specifications for bid documents, technical evaluation of bids, review/inspection of the quality of products/works.
• Ensure regular reporting and updating of plans.
• Build key strategic partnerships with development and humanitarian agencies in relation to WASH and other community-based infrastructure interventions.
• Lead cross-functional preparation of issues and follow-up within UNHCR in the relevant substantive units and services.
• Ensure comprehensive monitoring of technical related activities is in place.
• Perform other related duties as required.

The incumbent of the position will be expected to travel on missions to remote field-locations, some of which may have challenging living and working conditions as well as security constraints.


Monitoring and Progress Controls
(Clear description of measurable outputs, milestones, key performance indicators and/or reporting requirements which will enable performance monitoring)
• Measurable Outputs
• Establishment and maintenance of coordination mechanisms for shelter, settlement, WASH, Energy, and
• Environment sectors.
• Documentation of coordination mechanisms and their effectiveness.
• Completion of sectoral technical needs assessments.
• Development and approval of sectoral plans and prioritization documents.
• Compliance reports and recommendations for project implementation.
• Integration of environmental considerations in technical interventions.
• Joint initiatives and projects with partners.

Performance Indicators
• Quality and impact of contributions to inter-agency fora.
• Compliance with technical standards and environmental considerations.
• Community satisfaction and engagement levels.
• Timeliness and accuracy of procurement processes.
• Quality of procured materials and equipment.
• Outcomes and impact of joint initiatives.

Reporting Requirements
• Progress updates on inter-agency coordination and project implementation.
• Challenges and mitigation strategies.
• Detailed reports on sectoral technical needs assessments and planning.
• Updates on local capacity-building initiatives and community consultations.
• Comprehensive evaluation of technical interventions and their impact.
• Strategic partnership outcomes and future plans.
Qualifications and Experience
(List the required education, work experience, expertise, and competencies of the individual contractor. The listed education and experience should correspond with the level at which the contract is offered.)
Education (Level and area of required and/or preferred education)
Required Degree Level: Graduate degree (MA, MS, or MEng)
Type of degree: Civil-Engineering, Water and Sanitation Engineering. Public Health Engineering or any other relevant field


Work Experience
(List number of years and area of required work experience. Clearly distinguish between required experience and experience which could be an asset.)


Essential
• Prior experience of implementing infrastructure and WASH projects in humanitarian context and large-scale emergencies coordinating with partners, and governmental technical departments.
• Prior experience in designing and implementing community-based projects.
• Hands-on project formulation, planning, supervision, and management experience.
• Experience of technical project management (including site supervision, monitoring, quality control, evaluation etc.) and application of participatory approaches to facilitate active participation of communities into the project cycle and into the construction process.
• Ability to develop projects/activities with political awareness and in due consideration to local context, including sensitivity to cultural and gender specific needs to ensure that the social and cultural background of the communities is taken into account while designing, developing and implementing infrastructure works (engineering/ WASH).
• Strong experience in inter-agency coordination.
• Strong experience in building on existing local capacity and transfer knowledge as appropriate.
• Fluency in both English and French

Desirable
Diverse experience with UNHCR programming, policies, and standards, and with sustainable response approaches.
Key Competencies
(Technical knowledge, skills, managerial competencies, or other personal competencies relevant to the performance of the assignment. Clearly distinguish between required and desired competencies)


Functional Skills
• CL-Site Governance & Community Engagement
• EX- Knowledge Management
• EX-Experience in an international capacity
• EX-Field experience with UNHCR and/or with other humanitarian organizations
• MG-Decision Making
• MG-People Management
• MG-Planning
• MG-Project Management
• MG-Team Building
• PG-Experience with coordinating with Implementing Partners (Government/INGO/NGO/Corporate)
• PG-Monitoring Programmes/Projects
• PG-Needs Assessment and Response Analysis

Core Competencies
• Accountability
• Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Client & Result Orientation


Managerial Competencies
• Empowering and Building Trust
• Judgement and Decision Making
• Leadership
• Managing Performance
• Managing Resources
• Strategic Planning and Vision


Cross-Functional Competencies
• Change Capability and Adaptability
• Stakeholder Management
• Planning and Organizing


Standard Job Description
Required Languages
• French
• English
Desired Languages
Additional Qualifications
Skills
Climate Change, Shelter Management, WA-WASH in emergencies
Education
Masters of Science (MS): Civil Engineering
Certifications
Work Experience
Other information
N/AThe English version is considered original and authoritative, translation to other language(s) serve the purpose of advertisement of local positions where applicable but are not considered as official translationsN/AThis position doesn’t require a functional clearance