Environmental Engineering Officer

The overall purpose of the role:

The Environment Engineering Officer will be responsible for technical quality assurance and due diligence of all Engineering activities of the Uganda Refugee Resilience Initiative (URRI) in the six districts Terego, Madi-Okollo, Yumbe, Koboko, Obangi and Moyo. These include ensuring appropriateness and quality of actual work as well as supporting community trainings, particularly Community Management Committees.

The objective of the URRI programme is to enhance climate resilience for women, men and youth in refugee and host communities and promote inclusive, cohesive and environmentally sustainable development in refugee affected areas aligned with local priorities. The programme is fully integrated, aiming for sustainable results through the mutual reinforcement of the three outcome areas;

1. Enhanced climate adaptation and resilience for women, men and youth in refugee and host communities through inclusive climate-smart agriculture.
2. Sustainable management of the environment in refugee-affected areas through inclusive interventions leading to enhanced conservation of natural resources, biodiversity, ecosystem services, and productivity, and:
3. Enhanced gender equality and women’s empowerment and rights among refugees and host communities in relation to agriculture, climate change adaptation and sustainable management of the environment. URRI will start in September 2024 and run to December 2028.

The Environment Engineering Officer will be directly contributing to outcome 2 and will support three local partner organisations to deliver on the same.

Responsibilities:

• Prepare engineering drawings, designs, and BOQs and supervise the construction works of all landscapes projects in the area.
• Conduct technical assessments as and when required and monitor the quality and quantity of materials used for projects
• Undertake Hydrological assessment for the design of all Landscapes programs within the selected micro-catchments.
• Coordinate project activities with the District Focal Persons from the relevant departments approved by the District Technical Planning Committees (DTPC)
• Undertake identification and training of competent contractors to achieve high-quality structures in the operational areas.
• Supervise the technical aspects of forestry and land restoration activities.
• Participate in the identification, planning, designing, and implementation of environmental risk management, constructing of water management infrastructure, soil and water conservation structures and other technologies and practices with the greatest potential to improve water and natural resources management.
• Assess the activities undertaken and ensure efficient use of resources.
• Continuously monitor and supervise any construction works in the projects in close collaboration with the Resilience Programme manager, Environment Officers and the Water Engineering Assistant.
• Inspect and supervise work for quality and compile inspection report
• Ensure regular communication between communities at the project implementation sites and DRC
• Processing payment certificates for contractors after completion of works
• Participate in training Project Management Committees (PMCs) and Project User Committees (PUCs) together with District technical team.

Staff Development and Management

• Support the Resilience Programme Manager in technical development of the Water Engineering Assistant.
• In liaison with the Resilience Programme Manager, support in the setting of objectives and performance appraisal for the Water Engineering Assistant.

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Identify, document, and disseminate relevant project success, and challenges, and follow up on the implementation of the Project’s action points.
• Participate in quarterly OPM and District monitoring project reviews and evaluations

Reporting

• Provide engineering data and information for the preparation of donor reports, e.g. monthly highlights, and quarterly and annual reports.

Additional tasks

• On request, perform any other additional duties assigned by the supervisors to allow the organization to function optimally.
• Adhere to DRC’s code of conduct

Experience and technical competencies:

• Minimum of five years of full-time relevant professional experience in Environmental Engineering or Water Engineering.
• Experience from 3 projects as an Engineer
• Broad knowledge of concepts, principles, techniques and practices of IWRM, environment and/or climate change, safe access to energy and biodiversity conservation.
• Experience with donor-funded projects and international Non-Governmental Organizations
• Relevant work experience from Northern Uganda.

Desirable Experience

• A good team player
• Commitment to gender equality
• Excellent Communication skills
• Excellent analytical and negation skills
• Proven commitment to accountability practices
• Proven ability to prioritize tasks, meet deadlines and work with limited supervision
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills

Education

• A bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering, Water Engineering, Civil Engineering or any other relevant course.

Post Graduate training in Water Resource Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or Hydrology is an added advantage.