Intern

Internal/External Vacancy Announcement #054/2020

Natural Water Stewardship Programme (NatuReS), Hawassa

Climate change will have a significant impact on the supply, storage and demand of natural resources – especially water – in Africa and other parts of the world. Coupled with population growth, economic development, urbanization, land-use change, and ageing infrastructure, communities, businesses and governments will face many challenges developing more sustainable ways to use available water and other natural resources.

The Natural Resources Stewardship Programme (NatuReS), which is funded by BMZ (the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) and potentially co-funded in the future by other entities, is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (“GIZ”). NatuReS promotes corporate natural resources stewardship and multi-stakeholder collective action for more sustainable management of natural resources, especially those resources that are linked to water. NatuReS aims to strengthen and support local partnerships to address shared water-related natural resources risks. Due to the scale and complexity of emerging challenges related to water and natural resources, individual actions, though important, are limited in effectiveness. “Natural Resources Stewardship” addresses this issue by offering a pragmatic way of establishing a dialogue between public and private partners together with civil society to manage their shared natural resources risks. Put simply, stewardship is about taking care of something that we do not own but that is important to us. This is based on the premise that we are all accountable and therefore responsible for the sustainable use and management of our planet’s natural resources. Since 2009, GIZ has been assisting to catalyze multi-stakeholder collective action to manage and reduce shared water-related natural resources risks around the world. Prior to NatuReS, the International Water Stewardship Programme (IWaSP) was active in nine project countries: Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Saint Lucia and Grenada. The NatuReS project countries are currently: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa, with more project countries to come.

For decades, the rural population in the Ethiopian highlands has been affected by increasing food insecurity stemming from high population growth, deforestation and unsuitable agricultural production methods. In response to these challenges, the Ethiopian Government has adopted an ambitious five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (2015-2020), its aim being to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations and double Ethiopia’s GDP. Combating poverty and promoting economic growth and education are key elements of government policy.

In line with the Ethiopian Government’s objectives, German development cooperation with Ethiopia currently focuses on three priority Areas:

•           Labour-market-oriented education and Training

•           Sustainable land Management, agriculture and food supply

•           Biodiversity

NatuReS Ethiopia Programme

NatuReS programme in Ethiopia is picking up from where the predecessor programme, IWaSP left its activities. NatuReS Ethiopia is therefore now implementing a private-public-CSO partnership within Lake Hawassa and its catchment area. NatuReS is also actively engaging with other relevant key players in the natural resources sector to establish another partnership(s) within Ethiopia.

Protecting Lake Hawassa (PLH) Stewardship Platform

NatuReS is currently active in Hawassa, where it helped establish the Protecting Lake Hawassa (PLH) Stewardship Partnership, multi-stakeholder collaboration platform, in 2017.

PLH is a broad and platform to improve water security for people, business and the environment in Hawassa, its lake and sub-catchment.

The three-pronged agreed upon strategy of PLH are to:

·         Improve water-related infrastructure;

·         Promote good water management; and

·         Foster good catchment governance.

Through a series of multi-stakeholder workshops, three priority projects were identified by the partnership as having the largest potential impact on the long-term health and sustainability of the lake namely: 

·         Solid Waste management (SWM);

·         Afforestation and Soil Erosion Control (ASEC); and

·         Community and Stakeholder Engagement (CASE).

Responsibilities:

• Partnership Management
• Support the already existing PLH partnerships in implementation of activities and provide technical backstopping to partners 
• Attend partnership coordination or other meetings in Awassa representing NatuReS
• Government Relations
• Help to maintain linkages with PLH members and other relevant government, private and civil society organizations 
• Inform the programme’s staff of any development within the government that could have an impact on PLH activities (positive and negative)
• Conduct regular communications with key partners, like RVLBD, Hawassa City Administration offices mainly Environmental Protection Office (EPO) and Sanitation and Greening, ASEC project Woreda agricultural and natural resources offices and other project implementing partners for the purpose of reporting, planning, monitoring, promotion and other activities. 
• Support government and other partners in organizing or co-organizing joint activities, meetings, workshops and other events 
• Monitoring & Evaluation
• Coordinate M&E and other field visits in Awassa
• Support and conduct M&E of PLH projects
• Reporting
• Write project activity reports including M&E, monthly and other periodic reports 
• Write and share regular updates of important day to day communications with partners, clients and others 
• Knowledge Management
• Document project progress indicators with pictures, videos, and other records 
• Advocate and disseminate the stewardship approach at Awassa sub-basin level. 
• Due to the structure of the program, the position may require travel outside the duty station
• Other related activities as assigned by the supervisor
  

Qualifications and Experience:

• Master’s degree in environmental science, natural resources, land uses or another related field with some relevant experience
• Excellent skill in reading, writing and speaking Amharic and English, additional languages are an asset
• Computer literacy 
• Professional, confident and reliable conduct towards stakeholders, customers, service providers, suppliers, superiors and colleagues
• Exercises data protection in accordance to the GIZ and other corresponding rules

Professional experience

• Fresh graduate in the above specified fields, 
• Good understanding of the water and natural resources sector in Ethiopia, 
• Ability to apply good judgement in the context of assignments given, ability to plan own work and manage conflicting priorities;
• Good interpersonal skills to assist negotiations with partners and beneficiaries to provide effective support to the NatuRes programme team;
• Ability to work within a team; can work under pressure to meet deadlines