WASH Emergency Officer (Refugee Influx), Kampala, Uganda 03 months

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

• And we never give up. -
• For every child, a Trustable hand
• https://www.unicef.org/where-we-work
• How can you make a difference?

Background And Purpose:

The humanitarian situation in Uganda continues to remain serious and growing concerns as the country continues to face multiple risks including climate shocks, food insecurity, malnutrition and stunting, refugee influxes, and public health emergencies such as an outbreak of Sudan Ebola Virus Diseases (EVD) and ongoing Mpox, Cholera, Measles, CCHF, Yellow Fever and other potential epidemics.

Uganda is the largest refugee-hosting nation in Africa with over 1.93 million refugees2, 57% of them being children, and is projected to reach 2.2 million by year-end. Since January 20254, 128,608 new arrivals have been registered, a 62% increase compared to the same period last year, placing extraordinary pressure on WASH infrastructure and services. The influx continues, particularly from Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. Particularly the beginning of the year, DR Congo has exceeded the threshold trigger two times between March and April 2025. On 28th March 2025, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) declared a Level 2 emergency for Uganda (DRC Refugee situation) to enhance UNHCR's response and coordination on the ground.

The steady influx is happening in a fast-evolving humanitarian situation, where the country's overall refugee operation experiences gaps in resources5 (US$102 ml out of the requested US$361 million in 2025) and needs additional support in order to continue providing effective services. UNICEF Country Office (UCO) is facing as well major gaps in terms of humanitarian funding for refugee response.

The DRC refugees arrive 300-350 persons daily in South-Western and Western Uganda and the Sudanese refugees arrive at Kiryandongo settlement in mid-Western Uganda, where 150-200 persons are screened at the reception center every day. Resources at the refugee settlement are severely strained, with lack of adequate services and infrastructure posing health and safety risks to the already vulnerable individuals. The availability of WASH services in particular is severely affected by the insufficient funding, with only 9 liters per person per day available to refugees in the settlement.

Uganda's refugee settlements are facing severe water shortages; average access to water often falls significantly below the SPHERE standard due to overwhelmed and fragmented supply systems. Many rely on unsafe or seasonal sources, which, coupled with frequent infrastructure failures, severely limit access. In certain locations, water availability can be as low as 7 l/p/d, and quality issues are compounded by poorly functioning surface water treatment plants and iron-rich borehole water. Tensions have arisen within some refugee camps as water resources are shared between refugees and host communities. Sanitation coverage is alarmingly low, with only 60% of existing refugees and 38% of new arrivals having access to latrines in locations like Nakivale, leading to severe ratios of available latrines per person, such as 1:338, leading to plenty of open defecation. Additionally, hygiene facilities and desludging services are inadequate, and hygiene promotion efforts are significantly under-resourced. These gaps particularly impact women, girls, children, and persons with disabilities, exposing them to dignity and safety risks, including gender-based violence. Funding cuts have further undermined service effectiveness, heightening public health risks.

The sustained and growing influx of refugees is expected to keep WASH needs at critical levels across Uganda’s settlements for at least the next year, necessitating continued deployment of an Emergency WASH Officer. Urgent priorities include expanding emergency water and sanitation services, and addressing critical water, sanitation gaps, and poor hygiene practices, and inadequate menstrual hygiene management facilities and supplies, which particularly affect adolescent girls and women. These interventions also intend to tackle protection concerns for children, women, and persons with disabilities in reception centers and settlements.

The surge role will also enhance inter-agency coordination and provide significant support to the office in mobilizing resources, including fundraising, donor engagement, and proposal development to bridge critical funding gaps.

UNICEF has supported the refugee response by providing WASH services to the refugee settlements including schools, healthcare care centers, child friendly spaces and host communities. UNICEF WASH participates in the WASH coordination mechanisms in place at the national and sub national levels.

Uganda witnessed Sudan Ebola Virus (SVD) that is understood to have entered the country through refugees – the first case was witnessed on January 30, 2025. However, with meticulous isolation and preventive measures, the country has been declared SVD free in April 2025. However, the country witnessed the first confirmed Mpox case on 24th July 2024. The epidemic continued to grow, infecting 7,865 people with 48 reported deaths (0.61 Case Fatality Rate (CFR)). As of 13 August 2025, 82% (120 out of 146 districts) reported at least one case since the beginning of the outbreak and 34% (50 out of 146 districts) reporting new cases in the past 21 days. This is continuing to demand some attention.

Justification

Given the scale, urgency, technical complexity, regional instability, and reduced humanitarian funding, UNICEF’s WASH human resource capacity is insufficient to meet operational demands. Critical staffing gaps limit rapid response and technical oversight, affecting the quality, coverage, and sustainability of WASH services. Therefore, the proposed Emergency WASH Officer consultancy for over three months is essential to maintain life-saving interventions, manage coordination, address WASH-related risks, and ensure operational capacity. During this period, a relatively longer duration emergency WASH support will be planned in the form of a TA or consultancy.

Objectives

Under the direction of the WASH Manager in close coordination with other members and technical specialist of the WASH in Kampala and in the UNICEFZOs, information management and Field Operations teams, the WASH Emergency Consultant for refugee, Refugee hosting communities and Public Health Emergencies, will be the focal person responsible for and supporting the implementation, and monitoring of UNICEF’s emergency WASH response for refugees and people affected by PHEs, in activities and results related to improving public health of the affected population by ensuring access to safe drinking water, excreta disposal and promoting safe hygiene practices, including appropriate use and maintenance of WASH facilities and services; ensuring overall efficiency, effectiveness and delivery of results in accordance with UNICEF’s Core Commitment for Children in Emergencies (CCCs) and national and international humanitarian standards.

Main Responsibilities And Tasks

• Support WASH sector needs assessment and identifies priorities to define the preparedness and response plans to deliver safe drinking water, safe excreta disposal facilities, and promote safe hygiene practices within affected refugee population and host communities, under the refugee coordination framework and corresponding response programme for Uganda.
• Plan, design, implement, monitor, and evaluate gender-sensitive WASH response programme for refugees and host communities to ensure quality delivery of the results in coordination with UNHCR, OPM, refugee settlement administration, Private Sector, WASH partners in consideration of multisector inputs, SPHERE, UNHCR and national standards.
• Strengthen the sustainability of water supply systems in refugee settlements and transit centers by improving operation and maintenance mechanisms, building local capacity for resource management, and providing targeted capacity-building to partners responsible for managing UNICEF-supported WASH infrastructure.
• Promote gender equality and women’s empowerment by ensuring the active participation of women, youth, and other marginalized groups in the management, operation, and decision-making processes of water source governance structures within settlements and transit centers.
• Ensure integration of WASH response with other sectors such as Nutrition, Health, Education, and Child Protection, to address the multi-sector needs of the refugee children and their families, wherever needed.
• Incorporate the critical cross-cutting needs such as disability-friendly and gender-sensitive facilities and approaches, while carrying out WASH response, recognizing the different needs and vulnerabilities of women, girls, boys, and men. Prepare timely and accurate reports on program activities, including assessments, progress, and challenges, for internal and external stakeholders.
• Coordinate with UNHCR, Government ministries/departments, NGOs, and other stakeholders involved in the emergency response to ensure harmonized and complementary of WASH interventions. Represent UNICEF in WASH-related sector coordination meetings, ensuring the agency's priorities are reflected in the wider humanitarian response plan.
• Assist developing plan and proposals for mobilizing resource under the guidance of WASH Manger; and engage in other relevant emergency support that is assigned.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

1. Advanced university degree or equivalent experience in Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Geology, Hydrogeology, Public Health, Sanitation Engineering, or another related field.
2. Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible experience in the WASH sector, with at least 2 years in emergency response settings (preferably in refugee or conflict-related situations in developing countries).
3. Proven experience in designing and implementing emergency WASH interventions, including water supply systems, sanitation, and hygiene promotion.
4. Experience in capacity building and working with local authorities, NGOs, and communities.
5. Experience in sector/cluster coordination, working with UN agencies, government bodies, and partners in a humanitarian response context.

More Details - Knowledge/Expertise/Skills Required:

• Demonstrated experience in conducting studies / assessments of WASH infrastructures in schools and health care facilities as well as working with children.
• Ability to mobilize muti-disciplinary team involving WASH programme persons and enumerators.
• Experience of working with relevant stakeholders from the government and non-governmental institutions.
• Excellent communication, leadership and interpersonal skills
• Knowledge of English is mandatory

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible for ensuring that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.