WASH Engineer

Mission and objectivesUNICEF works in some of the world’s most challenging environments to reach the most disadvantaged children and adolescents. In Ukraine, UNICEF supports humanitarian response, early recovery and system strengthening to ensure that children have access to safe water, sanitation, hygiene, heating, health, education and protection services. UNICEF’s work is guided by its Equity Strategy and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, with a strong focus on resilience, sustainability and accountability in a protracted crisis context.

ContextUNICEF works across 190 countries and territories to reach the children and young people who are most at risk and most in need. We work to save their lives. To protect their rights. To keep them safe from harm. To give them a childhood in which they are protected, healthy, and educated. To give them a fair chance to fulfil their potential, so that someday, they can build a better world. The full-scale war in Ukraine has caused widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, including water supply, wastewater treatment and district heating systems, particularly in frontline and border oblasts such as Kharkiv and Sumy. Recurrent missile and drone attacks, prolonged power outages, population displacement and winter conditions have severely affected the continuity, safety and quality of essential services, increasing public health risks for children and vulnerable populations. In response, UNICEF Ukraine’s WASH programme has transitioned from short-term emergency interventions toward a hybrid humanitarian–resilience model. The programme combines urgent repairs and winterization with medium-term investments in system resilience, energy efficiency, decentralization and utility capacity strengthening. In Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts, UNICEF supports municipal water and heating utilities, local authorities and implementing partners to restore and sustain services for households, health facilities, schools and collective centres. The scale, technical complexity and geographic dispersion of WASH and heating interventions require strong field-level assessment, monitoring, quality assurance and reporting capacity. To support this, UNICEF Kharkiv Field Office seeks to engage a UNV National Specialist – Local WASH Expert to provide hands-on technical support for assessments, implementation monitoring and completion reporting of WASH and heating projects.

Task DescriptionUnder the supervision of the WASH Manager, UNICEF Kharkiv Field Office, the UNV National Specialist – Local WASH Expert will carry out the following tasks: 1. WASH and Heating Assessments: • Conduct field-based assessments of water supply, wastewater, sanitation and heating infrastructure in conflict-affected communities, institutions and utilities. • Assess technical condition, functionality, risks, winterization needs and energy dependency of systems. • Support preparation of technical scopes of work, Bills of Quantities (BoQs) and cost estimates in coordination with UNICEF engineers and partners. 2. Implementation Monitoring and Quality Assurance: • Carry out regular monitoring visits to project sites in Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts. • Verify compliance of works with approved designs, technical specifications, safety standards and environmental safeguards. • Monitor contractor and implementing partner performance, construction progress and material quality. • Identify technical risks, delays or quality issues and propose corrective actions to the UNICEF WASH team. 3. Accountability, Verification and Documentation: • Collect and verify field-level evidence, including photographs, measurements, checklists and test results. • Support commissioning, completion and handover processes of WASH and heating facilities. • Ensure proper technical documentation and site records in line with UNICEF quality and accountability requirements. 4. Reporting and Knowledge Management: • Prepare clear and timely field monitoring reports, assessment summaries and project completion reports. • Provide technical inputs to donor reporting, management briefs and internal updates. • Maintain organized technical files and contribute to knowledge sharing within the WASH team. 5. Coordination and Field-Level Support: • Liaise with local authorities, municipal utilities, contractors and implementing partners at the field level. • Support facility managers and utility staff in understanding operation and maintenance requirements of rehabilitated systems. • Participate in coordination meetings, joint missions and technical discussions as required.

Competencies and values- Builds and maintains partnerships - Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness - Integrity - Accountability and sustainability - Drive to achieve results for impact

Living conditions and remarksAs it is a national UN Volunteer's assignment, the UN volunteer shall organize his/her accommodation by themselves. Entitlements of National UN Volunteer Specialist >> USD 1587 The contract lasts for the period indicated in the vacancy with the possibility of extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity, and satisfactory performance. However, there is no expectation of renewal of the assignment. This is a full-time contract. Allowances: • Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA): A Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA) USD 1587 (equivalent in UAH) is provided monthly to cover housing, utilities, and normal cost of living expenses. This includes Well-Being Differentials for the period while the ICSC applies hardship classification to duty stations in Ukraine as “E”. • USD 400 entry lump sum, one-time payment. Medical and life insurance: • Medical insurance: The UN Volunteer and eligible PFU dependents will receive UNV provided medical insurance coverage. Coverage for UN Volunteers begins from the Commencement of Service and normally ceases one month after the last day of the UN Volunteer Contract date. • Life Insurance: UN Volunteers are covered by life insurance for the duration of the UN Volunteer assignment. If a UN Volunteer dies during the UN Volunteer assignment, the eligible designated beneficiaries will be entitled to receive a life insurance lump sum. Leave entitlements: • Annual leave: UN Volunteers accrue an entitlement to 2.5 days of Annual Leave per completed month of the UN Volunteer assignment. Unused accrued Annual Leave up to a maximum of 30 days is carried over in case of a contract extension within the same UN Volunteer assignment. Unused accrued Annual Leave may not be carried over in case of reassignment or a new assignment. • Learning leave: Subject to supervisor approval and exigencies of service, UN Volunteers may request up to ten working days of Learning Leave per consecutive 12 months of the UN Volunteer assignment, starting with the Commencement of Service date, provided the Learning Leave is used within the contract period. • Certified Sick Leave: UN Volunteers are entitled to up to 30 days of certified sick leave based on a 12-month cycle. This amount is reset every 12-month cycle. • Uncertified Sick Leave: UN Volunteers receive seven days of uncertified sick leave working days in a calendar year. This amount will be reset at the established interval period. In addition to duty station-specific vaccine requirements, appointments are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met before taking up the appointment. It does not apply to UN Volunteers who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their contracts. UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.