Assistant Engineer, Consultant, Ethiopia Community Solar Water Pumping project

POSITION TITLE: Assistant Engineer, Ethiopia Community Solar Water Pumping project

LOCATION: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

UNIT: Clean Energy and Circular Economy

REPORTS TO: Project Coordinator, Addis Ababa

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Assistant Engineer will support Winrock’s project Demonstrating A Scalable Revenue Model for Community Solar Water Pumping in Ethiopia, which has facilitated solarization of diesel water supply pumps by local private developers in ten pilot communities (2 in Amhara state, 8 in Oromia state). The Assistant Engineer will be based in Addis Ababa and will travel regularly to prospective communities in Oromia and the South West Ethiopia Peoples’ Region to assess their readiness for solarization of existing diesel water supply pumps. The position is full-time. Women are strongly encouraged to apply.

The project, which is funded by the Hilton Foundation, has three objectives:

1. Ten diesel community water pumps replaced with solar by local private developer partners, through three-year lease-to-own contracts;
2. 100 additional communities identified that are interested in solarizing their existing diesel water supply pumps, with a water system that is in good condition; and
3. Government agencies and Ethiopia’s One WASH National Program (OWNP) encourage commercial approaches for solarizing community water supply.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Support project activities to ensure smooth management and timely implementation; address and proactively identify problems and challenges. Key activities include:

• Travel regularly to communities in Oromia and the South West Ethiopia Peoples’ Region to conduct meetings with woredas to explain the proposed pilots, confirm whether the woreda agrees with the proposed business model, and identify communities interested to participate. Ensure equitable representation of women and people from vulnerable groups in consultations with woredas.
• Support a local consultant to assess the condition of the water system in each pilot community, including a hydrogeological survey, basic water quality testing, and inspection of the reservoir, borehole, and piped water distribution system.
• Assist with collecting qualitative and quantitative data from private solar developers and pilot communities to inform project monitoring and evaluation.
• Support a local consultant to conduct an endline survey of households in the ten pilot communities to assess their satisfaction with water quantity, quality, affordability, and access after solarization.
• Provide support for a workshop with government officials to share project results and understand their perceptions of the pilot business model for solarizing community water pumps.
• Work closely with the Project Coordinator to plan work and regularly monitor project progress and results.
• Identify any problems with project design, partnerships, or other implementation challenges, and recommend to the Project Coordinator changes needed to resolve them.

Education: Bachelors degree in engineering required.

Experience:

• Minimum 4 years of professional experience in donor-funded projects in a related role.
• Experience with solar water pumping required.
• Previous experience working in projects related to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), particularly community water supply, is required.
• Experience working with government at the ministry, regional, and woreda level, and ability to foster and maintain good working relationships with government officials.
• Experience integrating private companies into donor-funded projects, including knowledge of results-based grants, is highly desirable.

Skills:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, Amharic, and Afan Oromo required.
• Demonstrated effective interpersonal skills, including creative problem-solving and conflict management.
• Knowledge of effective strategies for gender and social inclusion (GESI) responsive and/or transformative project interventions.
• Excellent skills in Microsoft software (Word, Excel, Powerpoint).

Interested applicants are requested to apply on or before December 4, 2024. However, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and Winrock reserves the right to make an offer prior to the closing date for applications. Applicants are thus encouraged to submit their applications at the earliest opportunity. Applicants should go to https://www.winrock.org/join-us/careers/job-openings/ and submit a current curriculum vitae and cover letter referencing Ethiopia Community Solar Water Pumping Project: Assistant Engineer.

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