Shelter and WASH Project Manager

Danish Refugee Council, one of the world’s leading humanitarian NGOs, we are excited to invite you to join our team as a Shelter and WASH Project Manager. If you are a skilled and motivated professional ready to make a difference, we want you on board! Together, we’ll work to deliver impactful humanitarian solutions in challenging environments.

About the job

The Project Manager will be ultimately accountable and responsible for the planning, timely implementation and achievement of all activities in Abeyie. S/he is responsible for managing DRC Abeyie Office, including efficient and effective financial operations and budgeting, administration, human resources, logistics, procurement and security in compliance with DRC and donor regulations.

S/He will work with Technical Specialist, CO Technical Coordinators to ensure timely and quality execution of the project activities.  They will also coordinate with MEAL, Support service and Finance team members to ensure that spending and implementation captured accurately. Reporting to the Country Director, the Shelter and WASH Manager will provide overall technical leadership and strategic vision, guidance, and sectorial technical coordination to DRC Shelter, Protection and WASH programing. The Shelter and WASH Project Manager will lead the implementation, management, coordination, technical support and representation of DRC’s project in Abyie in external coordination mechanism. This position is 100% Abeyie based position with regular travel between all locations with DRC presence and practical hands-on technical assistance to Shelter and WASH teams. Your main duties and responsibilities will be:

Project Inception and Implementation

• Develop and implement strategies for project phase-in, implementation, transition, sustainability, and extension, as required.
• Ensure that all staff receive, fully understand, and effectively utilize project documents and plans to guide their work.
• As per project design and donor requirements, prepare comprehensive implementation work plans and operational strategies to guide impactful and timely execution.
• Drive the implementation of the project recruitment plan, ensuring alignment with project needs and timelines.
• Prepare procurement plans against approved work plans and ensure timely initiation of procurement requests in line with established guidelines and procedures
• Work in collaboration with MEAL and Grants team to adapt and utilize appropriate tools and strategies to monitor progress, quality, and the impact of project implementation.
• Collaborate closely with Technical Coordinators to ensure that the project is implemented according to high technical standards and quality benchmarks.
• Prepare and submit weekly and monthly implementation progress reports to the Country Director and Head of Programs.
• Work with WASH and Shelter Project Team to review and provide technical sign-off/approval of BoQs (in alignment with international building codes, sectoral/Sphere, DRC and donor standards).
• Provide regular updates to grants and Head of program on required adjustments to project plans and management, ensuring responsiveness to changing contexts, resources, and opportunities.
• Facilitate coordination between Technical Coordinators based in Juba and Project Team Leaders.
• Work with the Technical Coordinators, Grants Manager, Head of Programs and Finance Manager to contribute to new project development, including both narratives and budgets.
• Coordinate the development for emergency response in case of additional large-scale influx of IDPs or refugees.
• Coordinate with the Support Service team on the project’s supply chain, finance and adminstration team to procure, store and distribute stock, supplies and services for the timely delivery of project objectives within the field area.
• Ensure that project goals, indicators and activities are implemented on time, within scope and budget.
• Ensure that selection of sites for displaced populations are based on approved technical guidelines, considering relevant factors like land availability, protection risks, conflict sensitivity, accessibility, security, water resources, and absorption capacity.
• Support Shelter and WASH Team to strengthen communication with communities, identify beneficiary information needs and provide guidance in developing information and awareness-raising materials and activities with community participation.

Financial Management

• Manage the project’s overall budget, ensuring effective use of funds and maintaining regular communication with finance and grants teams to track progress across all budget lines.
• Develop accurate budget plans, oversee the procurement of project-related products and services, and report on expenditures to ensure cost efficiency and compliance with financial guidelines.
• Prepare and maintain a procurement plan for all project resources, including inputs, services and consultancies
• Facilitate monthly budget follow-up meetings (BFUs) with special focus on accuracy of monthly expenditures and donor reporting
• Work with Supply Chain team to ensure a) timely purchase and b) delivery of supplies to field locations as well as c) payment of invoices.  

Staff Management and Capacity building

• Overall responsibility for managing the DRC staff in Abeyie including ensuring positive and collaborative working relationships in line with DRC's Code of Conduct, leading performance planning and evaluation process including staff capacity building for the team in collaboration with the HR department.
• Train WASH and Shelter Team in the use of the various standards and technical templates including bill of quantities, bill of materials, and technical reporting templates as well as on data entry and analysis.
• Apply a result-based management approach and monitor the project outcomes, in addition to the outputs and activities, including changes at the household and community level achieved through the project.
• Conduct weekly and monthly meetings with relevant project staff to review the planning and discuss the main concerns.
• Lead on recruitment and selection of WASH and Shelter staff.
• Identify needs and gaps in technical capacity of DRC staff and partners and prepare a training plan to address these.

Accountability, Monitoring and Reporting 

• Collaborate closely with the Grants Unit to manage the grant, ensuring timely reporting and adherence to donor compliance requirements.
• Ensure adherence to donor guidelines, particularly in relation to grant acknowledgment and reporting requirements.
• Ensure most vulnerable are targeted through participatory approach, considering people with special needs, gender, and protection issues.
• Develop and submit weekly progress updates and monthly narrative reports, ensuring they are accurate and aligned with project objectives.
• Facilitate timely and high-quality reporting by coordinating with the project team, Technical Coordinators, and the Grants team to finalize accurate and comprehensive donor reports.
• Contribute to and support effective monitoring, evaluation, and learning processes, ensuring efficient data and information management. Regularly report on project activities and outcomes.
• Collaborate with the MEAL Officer to ensure timely tracking of project progress using the monthly indicator tracking table (ITT).
• Capture photos, stories, and lessons learned to be shared internally, with donors, and with partners to highlight project impact and foster knowledge sharing.
• Undertake routine field visits to the project sites to provide technical guidance and supervision to the team as well as regularly monitor the progress of WASH, CCCM, protection and Shelter activities.

External relation/Coordination

• In coordination with the Area Manager, develop a work plan outlining the project’s stakeholder coordination and engagement strategy for the project team.
• Maintain daily communication with Technical Specialists and CO (Country Office) Technical Coordinators to ensure the high-quality implementation of proposed activities.
• Proactively participate in state-level clusters and other relevant coordination mechanisms as appropriate. This includes sharing verified information from CO Technical Coordinators on concerns, principled advocacy efforts, and progress updates.
• Provide project-specific technical inputs to support the development of new proposals.
• Safety and Security
• Assume overall responsibility for staff safety in the area of operation in close coordination with DRC Safety Coordinator/Advisors
• Ensure that all relevant information regarding safety, security and the context is collected, updated and shared in a regular and timely manner
• Ensure that the Safety Focal Person manages basic security planning including information gathering and regular updating of risk assessments, standard operating procedures, and evacuation and contingency plans
• Make decisions and assist the Safety focal point to manage
• Ensure that team is aware of security protocols and the SOPs are followed in order to minimize risks and threats.

Required

• Minimum of 5 years of practical experience in program management, including budget and staff management.
• Field experience and broad knowledge of characteristics relevant to conflict-affected or post-conflict contexts, and specific operational experience with refugee emergency and recovery programming within a host community
• Ability for rapid analysis of complex issues, strong decision-making, and translation of programmatic learning and priorities into operational strategies
• Recent Project Management/oversight in all or some of the following sectors: WASH, Shelter, Protection, SGBV, Camp Coordination and Camp Management.
• Solid experience (3 years) in project cycle management, including proposal writing, budget management and donor reporting
• Experience of coordinating activities across multiple locations
• Excellent English writing and editing skills for external audiences (including governments and donors).
• Strong technical expertise in relevant engineering software, including AutoCAD/WaterCAD, EPANET, GIS, and structural analysis tools.