FRANCE – AQA Project Manager (H/F) – Paris/Clichy or Remote work SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL

General objective:
As part of the Deputy Directorate of Operations for Programs, and under the direct supervision of the Senior Wash Technical Advisor, the AQA Project Manager will be in charge of coordinating and implementing, in partnership with OXFAM and the GWC, the activities under the responsibility of Solidarités International for the Phase 2 of the Accountability & Quality Assurance Initiative (AQA).

The Accountability & Quality Assurance Initiative (AQA) was conceived in October 2017 at a meeting organised by the Inter-Agency Working Group (IAWG) and the Global WASH Cluster (GWC). This meeting highlighted the challenges faced in ensuring that humanitarian WASH responses meet the minimum standards and expectations of quality for people affected by crisis. The AQA Initiative, as well as the global TWiG (Technical Working group), hosted by the GWC, on Accountability and Quality Assurance Systems, emerged from recommendations made at this meeting around strengthening the role of national humanitarian WASH coordination platforms in monitoring quality at the sector level, and providing guidance to WASH partners on actions to improve quality.

The initial phase of the project started in October 2018 and was completed in December 2019. It was implemented on behalf of the Global WASH Cluster as a collaboration between Oxfam, Solidarités International, Tufts University and UNICEF as the Cluster Lead Agency and funding agency. The objective was to provide UNICEF, HWNCPs (National Humanitarian WASH Coordination Platforms) and WASH partners with a Quality and Accountability Assurance System that is based on communities’ inputs and feedback, and which encourages participation and accountability of WASH Partners. The requirements set out for the AQA system were to (i) provide a mechanism to develop AQA, (ii) provide a mechanism for monitoring quality at the response level in a way that allows decision makers to plan and implement corrective actions in a timely and effective way, (iii) prioritise accountability and meaningful participation by highlighting the inputs and feedback of affected people and using these to inform analysis and (iv) be capable of being implemented by NHWCPs (National Humanitarian WASH Coordination Platforms) in different contexts with different structures and capacities

The first phase of the project consisted in (i) conducting a comprehensive desk review, (ii) visiting four humanitarian WASH responses (in Bangladesh, Myanmar, South Sudan and Colombia), (iii) developing an understanding of the current best practices in quality assurance, (iv) crossed comparing this to the systems in place at the response level and (v) developing the core documents of the initiative : a Guidance Note and a Modular Analytical Framework.

The second phase of the project, that took place in 2020 (despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that limited the capacity of the team to provide in-country support), focused on (i) participation, engagement and dissemination of the system developed among various stakeholders at global, regional and national level, (ii) support to countries (mainly remote) and (iii) improvement and further development of guidance, tools and training packages to support set up and early implementation. A total of 10 countries were selected based on several criteria to pilot the Phase 2 : Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Haiti, Mali, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bangladesh (Cox’s Baazar), Myanmar, South Sudan and Colombia.

The third phase of the project, that will start in August 2021 and last for 18 months will aim at achieving the 3 following objectives:

• NHWCP, partners and key stakeholders are trained and equipped with guidance, tools and training resources to support the implementation of effective AQA,
• Targeted NHWCP and partners implement AQA adapted to their context and integrated into HPC workflows and
• Lessons learned, good practices and technical resources developed by the initiative are shared and accessible to partners at the global, regional and local level, integrated into WASH programming and used across sectors.
  Therefore this phase will be an operationalisation and scale up phase that should roll out the mechanism widely..

By the end of Phase 3, GWC Priority National Humanitarian WASH Coordination Platforms should have an effective, routine and collective mechanism for quality assurance and accountability. .

For more information, see the GWC Website (you will find the core documents and other tools, reports and guidance) :
https://washcluster.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CTK/pages/10782135/Accountability+and+Quality+Assurance+System

The main challenges:
The primary objective of the position will be to provide both in-country and remote operational support to the NHWCPs in the target countries in the establishment and implementation of the accountability and quality assurance system developed in the previous phases.

As such, the AQA Project Manager is expected to make approximately six support visits (depending on the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic) to the focus countries over a period of 10 days per country to assist the NHWCP (National Humanitarian WASH Coordination Platforms) in setting up and implementing the AQA mechanism. He/she will work to support the NWCC and the Information Management Officer (both GWC and NHWCP) to implement and contextualize the AQA system guidance and integrate it into the humanitarian program cycle (SoF, HNO, HRP, etc.), providing additional capacity during the initial setup phase and gathering experience and ideas that can be used to make improvements to tools and develop training modules. He/she will ensure that the AQA framework is defined and implemented collectively by all NHWCP partners, ensuring sufficient ownership and adequate follow-up by each stakeholder, according to their roles and responsibilities.

The AQA Project Manager will also provide training to GWC help desk members to include quality assurance as part of the list of topics covered, with the FST trained to provide the necessary rapid and on-demand support and capacity building, and will also facilitate training for NHWCP partners.

Finally, the AQA Project Manager will produce and disseminate outreach materials, initiative results, learning points, and advocacy through a variety of mediums and media to ensure broader understanding and ownership of the system.

He/she will work closely with the AQA Deputy Project Manager (from Oxfam) to complete the various tasks.

In order to facilitate communication and information/data exchange with NHWCPs, and to ensure optimal coordination with the GWC and other humanitarian coordinating bodies, the AQA Project Manager may be required to travel to GWC headquarters in Geneva - Switzerland (in addition to field trips).

Responsibilities and main activities:
1. To adapt and revise guidance, tools and training resources to train and equip the NHWCP, partners and key stakeholders, with the support of the AQA Deputy PM (Oxfam):

• To revise the AQA Guidance Note and Modular Analytical Framework based on lessons learned and feedback.
• To develop a specific guidance document focused on applying AQA to strengthening of WASH programming based on the experience of implementing AQA system in National WASH Clusters.
• To develop an AQA Toolkit for coordination platforms based on actual tools and templates
• To develop training modules on key aspects of the QAAS process adapted to target audiences

2. To provide operational and contextual support to NHWCPs for setting up, implementing and integrating AQA system in the HPC workflow:

• To hold online awareness raising sessions for regional and country WASH stakeholders.
• To review existing cluster documents, tools and approaches at NHWCP level, identifying and prioritising next steps and briefing partner.
• To provide remote support: webinars, bilateral meeting, participation to cluster meetings, GWC helpdesk
• To provide in-country support: Deployments to targeted National WASH Clusters, facilitate training of partners
• Support to the development of a systematic tracking system to inform coordination, identify gaps and opportunities and create information that is relevant for coordination

3. To produce, share and disseminate technical resources, lesson learnt and good practices widely at global, regional and local level for integration and use into WASH programming :

• To product and disseminate AQA initiative awareness materials.
• To disseminate initiative outputs, learning and advocacy points carried out through the publication of articles, blogs and through the GWC website and mailing list.
• To hold Regional workshops with supported WASH Clusters and GWC TWG to identify lessons learned and recommendations
• To present lessons learned, good practice and technical resources at WASH sector events (GWC Meeting / EEHF, UNC, WEDC)
• To do post-visit follow-up to address issues, bottlenecks and capture lessons learned

SI WILL OFFER YOU

• French contract - CDD (short term contract) - 18 months
• Gross monthly salary (3168€ - 3300 €)
• Mutual (80%), meal tickets (60%) covered by the association
• Possibility to work remotely (in France) according to the teleworking charter
• Possibility to be based in Clichy la Garenne (92), at SI HQ
• Travel and per diem in case of travel