Arizona WASH Program Specialist

This is a full-time, 1-year temporary position. Depending on the funding capacity, this role has the potential to be renewed.   

 Water For People is a global nonprofit working across nine countries, bringing together communities, local entrepreneurs, and governments to build and maintain water and sanitation services that will last. We have a sustainable solution to end the global water and sanitation crisis, and our employees across the world help drive this solution. 

 ABOUT THIS ROLE

Water For People’s Domestic WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) Program works towards closing the access gap that affects millions of people throughout the U.S. This program focuses on partnership and coalition-building, facilitating knowledge exchanges, supporting and coordinating collaborative efforts, and advocating for equitable access. Arizona is the initial geographic focus for this program, working through partnership with local organizations and agencies, and supporting the Arizona Water For All Coalition (AZW4A). 

Reporting directly to the U.S. Program Manager, the Arizona WASH Program Specialist will support Water For People’s ongoing collaborative water leadership and network building projects in Southern Arizona. This will include conducting outreach, curriculum development, facilitation support for the Water Leadership Institute (WLI) and supporting the creation of a replicable process guide to scale this program to more communities. The role will also participate in the planning of community engagement and network building events to expand the Arizona Water For All network’s work. Beyond the local work in Arizona, the Arizona WASH Program Specialist will support growing and monitoring the overall impact of the U.S. Program, including conducting research, supporting the Monitoring and Evaluation of the program, and helping to build and strengthen new partnerships. 

IN THIS ROLE YOU WILL

Arizona Community Engagement and Partnership Support: 

• Collaboratively conduct outreach with community members and local organizations to shape the curriculum for the WLI, recruit participants, and session speakers. 
• Collaboratively develop culturally relevant curriculum focused on engagement and empowerment of water insecure communities.
• Attend and participate in meetings, planning sessions, set-up sessions, and other in-person gatherings to plan and prepare for events. Planning may also include administrative support like document and record storage, sign-up sheet management, etc. 
• Provide facilitation support for the WLI Sessions and host focus group reflection sessions with cohort participants. This will require some travel throughout Southern Arizona including Tucson, Nogales, and other key spots throughout the Santa Cruz watershed. 
• Work with key partners to collaboratively create a replicable place-based process guide for the WLI to help scale the program to other geographies and ensure that essential institutional knowledge and lessons learned from previous cohorts are retained. 
• Support the outreach, planning of AZW4A network-building events to connect community needs and priorities to researchers and decision-makers. 
• May provide wrap-up support to AZW4A, including coauthoring reports, distributing materials and analyzing data recordings to ensure community priorities are connected to researchers and the appropriate local decision-makers who can heed their concerns.
• May support the implementation of WLI alumni and partnership activities including a transboundary community science working group. 
• Support in planning the Arizona Water for All community network launch event, including agenda creation, outreach and logistic support.
• Provide outreach support: Water For People will connect AZW4A with community organizations and potential participants to aid in recruitment for WLI programs.
• Conduct virtual and in-person planning support and consultation to create engaging activities for community members.

U.S. WASH Programmatic Support: 

• Support the monitoring and evaluation efforts of Water For People’s U.S. Program.
• Liaise with Water For People’s Donor Impact Team regarding on-the-ground programmatic work. 
• Conduct research on water access and service gaps, stakeholder mapping, and provide recommendations for advancing the U.S. Program. 
• Engage in virtual and in person meetings, phone calls, and email conversations to ensure the successful deployment of all programming.  
• Support building and strengthening new partnerships. 
• Other duties as assigned.  

BEHAVIORS & COMPETENCIES:

• Connects to Mission – Understands and embraces the mission of Water For People; works to connect day to day tasks to mission; can explain Water For People’s purpose
• Manages through Ambiguity – Can recognize problems or opportunities when they arise and act to resolve; readily formulates multiple solutions through problem or issue analysis; is comfortable making and defending recommendations
• Demonstrates Cultural Awareness – Demonstrates a global mindset; values cultural differences and takes into consideration in any given situation; moves easily between people from different backgrounds and cultures; can work outside comfort zone 
• Action-oriented – Recognizes additional actions that will improve quality or facilitate achievement of outcomes; does not hesitate to do more than expected, but may overextend; sees opportunities beyond job description and recognizes those they can handle and those that require higher level input; thinks outside the box, anticipates how actions affect the team
• Sense of Team – Builds effective working relationships at all levels of the organization; aligns own behavior with the needs or priorities of the team; promotes teamwork among groups; discourages “us versus them” thinking; knows and considers the capabilities of coworkers

YOU WILL EXCEL IN THIS ROLE IF YOU HAVE

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience in Water issues or in communities’ development.
• Experience connecting with local community members and organizations, including conducting outreach, facilitating dialogues and training sessions. 
• Strong understanding of water-related community challenges in Southern Arizona and genuine interest in supporting communities as they work to close the WASH Access Gap.  
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex topics in a variety of forums, tailoring communications to effectively fit the targeted audience. 
• Experience working with colleagues and partners across diverse cultures and backgrounds. 
• Experience working with frontline communities including Native Nations and communities in border contexts, on social, environmental, or WASH related issues. 
• Ability to prioritize among multiple tasks and meet deadlines. 
• Self-driven and detail oriented with strong strategy and partnership skills. 

BONUS POINTS IF YOU HAVE

• Professional-level proficiency in Spanish.
• Experience creating and designing place-based curriculum. 

Note: This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or qualifications associated with the job.

MORE ABOUT THIS ROLE

• Remote opportunity in Arizona. 
• Ability to participate in in-person meetings, conduct outreach, recruit participants, and facilitate sessions in regions such as Santa Cruz Watershed in the great Tucson/Nogales. 
• Ability to work outside regular business hours to meet with team members located in other time zones. 

SALARY RANGE:

US anticipated salary range: $26.83 - $30.70 USD per hour. The actual salary will be determined based on experience and other job-related factors. 

 OUR BENEFITS:

Our benefits package for this temporary position includes medical, dental and vision coverage for you and your family as well as a Telehealth benefit.  Paid time off includes ten vacation days, six sick days, and ten public holidays. 

Water For People cannot provide immigration sponsorship for this position.

Water For People is committed to protecting children encountered during our work and by our employees, preventing sexual abuse and exploitation of all individuals with a particular focus on women and children and other marginalized communities in the performance of our work, preventing human trafficking in the performance of our work and in our supply chain and to having a drug-free workplace.  During the recruitment processes, additional documentation will be requested to comply with our policies and in accordance with the legal requirements in your country of residency, this includes a background check. If you apply for employment, we want you to be aware of our recruitment, selection and hiring processes including important policies regarding employee conduct. 

Water For People is an equal opportunity employer. Water for people strives to create and maintain a level of diversity that reflects the communities we serve. Achieving this—regardless of race, ethnicity, ancestry, tribal affiliation, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, veteran status, disability, socioeconomic class, educational attainment, or other social identities is critical to our ability to have a world where every person has access to reliable and safe water and sanitation services. 

Our commitment ensures that we:   

• Have a different array of thinking that comes from diverse backgrounds and cultures, enabling us to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges
• Strive for a culture of inclusion and belonging by treating each other with dignity, respect, and appreciation enabling us to feel welcome, supported, and valued
• Effectively connect, communicate, and build long-lasting relationships with stakeholders within our diverse communities
• Have diversity of thought, perspectives, backgrounds, identities, and talents that will support our mission to develop high-quality drinking water and sanitation services are available to Everyone Forever