UN Youth Volunteer in WASH

The Office of the UNHCR was established on 14 December 1950 by the UN General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country (www.unhcr.org).

The East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes (EHAGL) region is subject to several conflicts and resulting emergencies. As a result, the number of forcibly displaced people in the region has almost tripled over the past decade. By 31 July 2024, the EHAGL region hosted almost 26.5 million forcibly displaced individuals . Of these, about 5.4 million were refugees and asylum-seekers, representing one out of every seven refugees globally. More than 21 million persons were internally displaced. The conflict in Sudan since April 2023 alone led to the displacement of over 12 million people, including to neighbouring countries such as South Sudan and Ethiopia. This major protection crisis continues to unfold, affecting civilians in proportions rarely seen in recent years.

In addition to these conflicts and emergencies, the EHAGL region is one of the most climate-vulnerable regions globally. In 2024, intense floodings took place in Burundi, South Sudan, Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia, often in regions which were only just beginning to recover from the devastating effects of a severe multi-year drought in the Horn of Africa. Forecasts for the upcoming La Niña episode indicate high likelihood for a drought episode in the Eastern Horn of Africa, which consequences may continue to unfold in 2025 . To effectively protect forcibly displaced and stateless people in the region, UNHCR will provide assistance and support for communities affected by climate change impacts, including in the sector of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

The Technical Support Unit (TSU) at the Regional Bureau for the EHAGL provides technical support, oversight and coordination to UNHCR’s operations in 11 countries in the region in the sectors of Settlement Planning, Shelter and Housing, Infrastructure, WASH, Energy, Environment, and Climate Action. To facilitate this, the TSU follows up on program implementation, provides technical advice to country- and sub-offices, assists in data collection, monitoring and reporting, supports proposal development, coordinates multi-country projects and programs, facilitates the communication between the headquarters and the EHAGL countries, carries out technical assessment and support missions, among other things. Due to the wide fold and diverse activities and challenges in the region, the TSU welcomes additional capacity to support the diverse processes and requests from the region in an optimal way, with a particular focus on supporting UNHCR’s interventions in the WASH sector.

UNHCR defines the EHAGL region as per the following countries: Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Uganda.
UNHCR Operational Data Portal (https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/rbehagl), accessed on 16 August 2024.
Food Security and Nutrition Working Group: Preparedness Planning Needed for Potential Drought in the Eastern Horn of Africa during the October - December Rainy Season. 2 August 2024. https://mcusercontent.com/9206ea93bb8c6f35f98cc8ccf/files/33f1581f-314f-09dc-ac60-c2b7b9d864f6/FSNWG_La_Nina_Alert_2_August_2024.01.pdf.

In order to carry out this work, the UN Volunteer will be properly trained both formally, through available workshops, seminars, e-learning platforms; and informally through on-the-job training, intensive coaching/mentoring, shadowing other colleagues to familiarize his/herself with the relevant global, regional and local policy and procedures related to WASH activities.

The UN Volunteer will be closely supervised by both senior and middle-level management within the unit, and it is expected that within a few months, s/he will have the necessary skills to carry out many of the daily tasks with limited guidance.

Under the direct supervision of the regional Technical Coordinator, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks :

• Learn how to provide technical support and guidance to UNHCR country pro-grammes, sub-offices, and field offices on activities related to WASH, including reviewing of project proposals, strategy documents, contingency plans, country operation plans, surveys, terms of references, contracts, and support monitoring of pro-gramme implementation.
• Support needs and resource assessments of country programmes, sub-offices, and field offices to prioritize needs and activities in the provision of WASH services for refugees and returnees, taking into account the current situation, projected population planning figures, and the expected scale of returns.
• Learn how to support and follow up on regional WASH data collection, analysis, gap identification, and development of action plans and advocacy documents. Due consideration should be given to UNHCR minimum standards for the provision of emergency and other types of assistance; to relevant policies adopted by the respective Government; as well as to standards in other relevant sectors such as Settlement planning, Shelter, Energy, Environment, and Climate.
• Assist in and check engineering calculations leading to detailed drawings for required WASH infrastructures and activities and associated cost estimates for camps/settlements, transit centres, etc.
• Learn how to support the development of regional strategic guidance and advise for WASH-related activities, and support country operations to develop or update country-level WASH strategies, as well as their efforts to improve and align with relevant global and regional technical strategies and guidance.
• Take part in regional coordination meetings within UNHCR as well as with other key stakeholders in the area of WASH.
• Learn how to connect with current/potential partners in the region to continuously learn from best practices to improve the WASH response for refugees.
• Support and collaborate with colleagues from other sectors at the Regional Bureau to jointly support the operations whenever a cross-sectoral approach is needed.
• Contribute to develop training plans and other capacity-strengthening activities and provide inputs in training sessions to ensure that implementing partners, refugees, and other persons of concern to UNHCR acquire the needed knowledge and skills.
• Support to facilitate regional knowledge exchange and sharing of good practices among UNHCR technical staff.
• Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.