FAO Somalia Water Resources Assistant (SWALIM Project) Job in Somalia

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Vacancy Announcement No: FAO/033/2011

Issued on: 04th  Oct 2011

Deadline For Application: 17th  Oct 2011

Position Title: Water Resources Assistant (SWALIM Project)

Grade Level:  SC 7 – 1

Duty Station: Hargeisa, Somalia with frequent in-country travel

Organizational Unit: Somalia Country Office  (FAO-Somalia)

Duration: 3 months with possible extension for project duration

Eligible Candidates: Somali Nationalities

Anticipated start date: As Soon as Possible

Under the overall guidance of the FAO Officer in Charge for Somalia, the direction of the Chief Technical Advisor and the direct supervision of the Liaison Officer Manager in Hargeisa and SWALIM Water Resources Team Leader, the Water Resources Assistant will assist the Liaison Office Manager to maintain and disseminate water resources information and products to stakeholders and engage in other water related duties.

Overall, he/she will ensure the water resources information systems and products are well maintained.

Specifically, he/she will carry out the following duties:

• Support the Liaison Office Manager with daily water information management related tasks including managing the Somali Water Sources Information Management System (SWIMS), the Climate Database, Automatic Weather Stations (AWS), etc. through attending to partners and clients, following up pending data requests, etc.
• Support and contribute to the water field activities in Somaliland including the hydro geological assessment, AQUASTAT and development of flash flood protective measures.
• Support government ministries and other agencies involved in water monitoring to process, file and transmit routine water monitoring data using relevant software. In particular, assist the data centre staff at the Somaliland Ministry of Mining, Energy and Water Resources (MMEWR) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) in maintaining the databases to better serve clients.
• Participate in the regional Water, Sanitation and, Hygiene (WASH) coordination meetings and present SWALIM related databases, act as SWALIM focal point for WASH, coordinate with MMEWR recording and sharing all meetings minutes and dissemination of the same to local stakeholders.
• Together with the Information Management Officer, install, set up and administer software at the liaison office including SWIMS, Dynamic Atlas, etc. and support government ministries and other agencies working with SWALIM to set up, administer, maintain and use SWALIM water related information products, etc.
• Work with the Liaison Office Manager to create awareness about SWALIM water information products and services and promote their use Puntland line ministries and other stakeholders. Also provide specific technical support on SWALIM water information products and services
• Assist the Liaison Officer Manager to organize and coordinate SWALIM water related training courses for government ministries and other partners.
• Support and carry out scheduled and unscheduled maintenance on data collection hardware (AWS) and software systems such as those for the telemetric stations. Facilitate and support water related field assessments and surveys by Nairobi based and consultant staff.
• Perform any other duties that may be assigned by Liaison Office Manager and/or Water Resources Team Leader.

Minimum requirements

Candidates should meet the following:

• University degree from a recognized institution in water/irrigation/geology/geography/civil/agricultural engineering, or soil and water science or environment or equivalent experience.
• Three years experience in water related field work with knowledge of information management systems.
• Good knowledge of MS Office is a requirement; additional computer skills are an advantage.
• Ability to communicate, plan and organize and work under minimum supervision.

To Apply

Send your application to:

Candidates are requested to submit a covering letter quoting the Position Title and Vacancy Announcement No. FAO/033/2011 along with their current/detailed Curriculum Vitae and FAO Personal History (PH) form (available at http://www.fao.org/VA/adm11e.dot – see following page for guidelines on how to fill it out).

E-mail is the preferred means of receipt and the application should be sent to HR-Somalia@fao.org.

The subject line of the e-mail message should read CONFIDENTIAL – FAO/033/2011.

If making a hard copy submission, the envelope should be clearly marked CONFIDENTIAL – FAO/033/2011 and sent to the following address:

FAO-Somalia
UN-Somalia Ngecha Road Complex
Corner Lower Kabete Road/Ngecha Road
P.O. Box 30470-00100
Nairobi, Kenya.

Applications may also be faxed, again clearly indicating CONFIDENTIAL – FAO/033/2011 in the subject line, to +254-20-4000333.

Applications must be received by the deadline.  Late applications will not be considered.

Only short listed candidates meeting all essential qualifications will be contacted.