Programme Assistant (Sub-Engineer)

Programme Assistant (Sub-Engineer) (166182)

Requisition ID: 166182 – Posted: 02/06/2022 – Short Term-SC WFP – Asia, Southern – Nepal – NEP – Other cit – Working Job Language (1) – PROGRAMME & POLICY

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

Organizational context:
The Government of Nepal (GoN) and the British Embassy Kathmandu (BEK) have developed the Local Infrastructure Support Programme (LISP) and sector Framework to help Nepal improve the Local Governments’ capacity for delivery of local infrastructure services in an accountable, inclusive, effective, and sustainable manner as demanded by Nepalese citizens. The LISP will be a BEK flagship programme, which will be delivered in three phases: (a) a small design, learning and preparatory pilot phase starting from June 2022 until July 2023, (b) up to £100m first phase of implementation starting from the Nepalese financial year of 22/23 but with preparatory work starting in 2022, and (c) Up to £50 million second phase of implementation following a performance review of the first phase in 2024/25.

With financial support from the BEK, the design and implementation of the learning pilot phase (LISP Pilot) will be implemented by United Nations World Food Programme (UN WFP) in partnership with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in selected 15 local governments (4 Municipalities and 11 Rural Municipalities) in Karnali Province. The pilot aims to gain evidence and experience on the effective, successful, and replicable operational modalities concerning green recovery job creation and climate-resilient local infrastructure development for scaling-up through the full-fledged LISP. WFP is the lead agency for the LISP Pilot and is responsible for implementation/delivery of incentive/co-financing of the Pilot, and UNDP as support agency is responsible for capacity development related aspects of the Pilot. The Karnali LISP Pilot aims to pilot approaches to support inclusive planning and delivery of local infrastructure and green recovery job creation and to test incentive mechanisms/co-financing together with the selected LGs for better performance, capacity building of local governments and the use of government monitoring and financing instruments.

JOB PURPOSE

A Technical Assistance (TA)/capacity and system support team will be set-up jointly by WFP and UNDP in each of the Local Governments (LGs) selected for the pilot. The TA team comprising of local governance/planning advisor and local infrastructure/technical advisors will be based in the selected LGs to provide technical guidance, advice, and hands-on support to the LGs in the key focus areas of the Pilot. The TA team with technical backstopping from Field Offices of WFP/UNDP and technical experts based in Field Offices/Surkhet , will support the LGs as per the Pilot’s TA strategy and plan. Hence, the proposed position – Programme Assistant (Local Technical Advisor) will work as regular TA staff in the assigned LG and will work together with the Local Governance and Planning Advisor assigned by UNDP and work as part of the LISP Pilot TA team in the LG.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

The Programme Assistant (sub Engineer) will be based in one of the 15 LGs selected for the LISP Pilot. The responsibilities will include providing support to LGs in planning, delivery, and management of climate resilient and green recovery job creating local infrastructure, as well as for selection and implementation of infrastructure co-financed by the LISP Pilot. The incumbent will report and works closely with the chief of the Infrastructure Section or Chief Administrative Officer of the assigned LG and work together with the Local Governance and Planning Advisor assigned by the UNDP. The incumbent will report to WFP Field Coordinator based in the LISP Pilot implemented respective district for programmatic and administrative matters and to Programme Engineer based in WFP Field Office, Surkhet for technical/engineering matters.

The main roles and responsibilities of the Programme Assistant / Sub Engineer will be :

Supporting in planning and standardization

• Support the LG in planning, implementation, and management of infrastructure sub-projects.
• Support the LG to make their local infrastructure labour-intensive, climate-resilient, and supportive of green recovery and local employment generation through participatory planning and prioritization process i.e. annual local infrastructure work plan/Project Bank etc.
• Facilitate in developing infrastructure related sectoral master plans, Detailed Project Report (DPR) preparation, feasibility studies in collaboration with relevant stakeholders
• Support in developing/improving/updating various infrastructure related guidelines, manuals, and procedures for endorsement from the LG executives.
• Support the LG to adopt an improved working procedures for effective management and monitoring of local infrastructure services of the LGs, including financial management based on best practices and learning of the Pilot (focusing on effective utilization/management of public fund, procurement, labour mobilization, construction materials handling, community ownership and quality control during construction; sustainability and regular repair, operations, and maintenance of local infrastructure).

Capacity strengthening of LGs

• Support LG’s elected officials and staff in setting criteria and selecting and prioritizing sub-projects based on the agreed criteria for prioritizing climate-resilient, and green recovery local infrastructure.
• Identify and facilitate for various technical training/hands-on support to the LG’s technical team to increase efficiency of the LG for the implementation of standard specifications, norms, and design guidelines complying with the Local Infrastructure
• Development Directives, Manual, work norms, specifications, etc.
• Support the LG in deciding the execution model for each local infrastructure sub-project, i.e., through reconfigured user committee or contractor or blended contractor & user committee modality.
• Provide hands-on support to the Infrastructure Section of the LG in the preparation of contract documents, E-procurement, Bill of Quantities, contract administration, technical and functional review, resource planning and scheduling, and bid evaluation for the procurement of works and goods through local contractors and suppliers.

OTHER SPECIFIC JOB REQUIREMENTS

• Identify and agree on labour-intensive, climate-resilient, and productive local infrastructure with LG to be co-financed by the LG and LISP Pilot and support the LG to implement the agreed co-financed sub-projects through an improved working procedures for effective management and monitoring of local infrastructure, including financial management.
• Support the LG in the engineering design, drawing and estimate of the prioritized/selected local infrastructure sub-projects and preparing the construction management agreement with UCs/Contractor for each scheme specifying the role and responsibility of each party, scheme detail, budget, cost components, timelines, budget management and payment method, measurement, auditing provision etc.
• Support LG for improving local infrastructure related data management and visualization, including GIS and LG websites
• Support the LG to have pre-defined unskilled labour identification criteria and maintaining the record/database of the unemployed, poor, and food-insecure households including returnee migrants with poor backgrounds affected by the secondary impact of COVID-19, who will be eligible to get wage employment/unskilled labour in local infrastructure development activities.
• Support and facilitate the LG to establish and operate Local Infrastructure Maintenance
• Support Fund with a fixed initial amount at the municipal level with the Fund Operational Directive approved by Municipal Council and mandatory annual budget allocation to the Fund.

Supervision and Monitoring

• Participate in field activities for selection, quality assurance, monitoring of activities implemented by the LG in co-financing with the LISP Pilot and other LG-financed sub-projects.
• Support the LG to establish a system of regular monitoring of various infrastructure sub-projects whether funded by LG, co-financed by LISP Pilot or other partners, and develop mechanism for feedback.
• Support LG to improve the existing or prepare pre and post construction management training/orientation manual to be provided to UCs including asset’s operation and maintenance skills and operation and maintenance (O&M) plan preparation component.

Coordination

• Play proactive role for organizing regular meetings of stakeholders on progress update and planning of various development agencies in the LG in coordination with LG officials and Local Governance and Planning Advisor.
• Prepare and submit a monthly action plan and share it with the Infrastructure Section and WFP Field Coordinator in coordination with the Local Governance and Planning Advisor.
• Support LG in ensuring and applying transparency and accountability tools in all local infrastructure activities through an appropriate social accountability tool, and community feedback and response mechanisms.

Learning, documentation, and reporting

• Collaborate with LG officials, and ensure effective knowledge-sharing and lesson- learning (between and within LGs)
• Maintain up-to-date information of various local infrastructure services of the LG.
• Introduce innovative actions and capture real time learning from success and failures throughout the processes of the LISP Pilot implementation
• Ensure the timely submission of financial and operational reports
• Participate in programme review meetings.
• Perform other duties as required by the programme

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: A minimum post-secondary certificate (diploma in Civil Engineering) is required.

Language: Fluency in both oral and written communication in the UN language in use at the duty station and in the duty station’s language, if different.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• At least 5 years of relevant work experience in local/rural infrastructure in Nepal, including survey, design, estimate, construction supervision, preparation of bill of quantities, tender documents, technical training, users committee formation and providing capacity building training
• Experience in implementation and management of small-scale rural infrastructure, and Food Assistance for Assets/cash for work programmes.
• Knowledge of GIS, AutoCAD and other standard engineering software will be an advantage.
• Strong communication, interpersonal and leadership skills, as well as a strong team player with the willingness to learn and support the learning of others.
• Proven ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with Local Government; Ability to work effectively in remote areas, and willing to travel extensively throughout the project area, including on foot as well as by vehicle and motorbike.
• Experience of working in a multi-cultural setting as well as in difficult geographic terrain and living conditions .
• Female candidates are encouraged to apply.
• Must be familiar with MS office.
• Nepali Typing skill is an asset

TERMS AND CONDITIONS
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 16 June 2022

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.