WASH Cluster – Sanitation and Public Health Emergency Coordinator, SHA-Secondment to UNICEF

Site

Palestinian Territories, Gaza Strip, Gaza

Sector:

Nonprofit/Community/Social Services/International Cooperation

Role:

Other

Date of last update: 2025-12-11 2026-03-11

FDFA / SDC / Humanitarian Aid and SHA

Web site:
skh.ch

activities

Tell a friend

Company presentation

The SDC's Humanitarian Aid is an expression of Switzerland's solidarity with people in need. It focuses on emergency relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation of affected areas, and disaster risk reduction. In a spirit of neutrality, independence and impartiality, it places the victims at the centre of its efforts.

The Humanitarian Aid prioritises the protection of people affected by crises, violence, armed conflicts and disasters, with a focus on safeguarding their safety, dignity and rights. Respect for international humanitarian law is therefore inseparable from humanitarian aid.

The SDC's Humanitarian Aid pursues the following thematic priorities:

Protecting civilians;
Disaster risk reduction;
Water and sanitation;
Gender-based violence;
Food security and cash transfer programming.

The Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit (SHA) is the operational arm of the SDC's Humanitarian Aid. Its specialists are deployed to implement projects of the SDC or its United Nations (UN) partners before, during and after natural disasters, crises and conflicts.

Please note that not all types of contracts and advertisements are listed in cinfoPoste. Find all of them here.

Job description

Verify your compatibility with this job ad
The compatibility is only an indication and should not discourage you from applying if you think your profile matches. It is also not taken into consideration for recruitment.

? %

Apply

Context

In the aftermath of the October 2025 ceasefire in Gaza, humanitarian access has improved, enabling the movement of people and the delivery of critical supplies. However, sanitation access remains severely compromised due to prolonged conflict, displacement, and supply chain disruptions. As a result, 57% of the population is exposed to sewage or fecal matter within 10 meters of their homes, posing serious health and environmental risks. Only about half of all households have access to basic sanitation, meaning they have private, improved facilities that safely separate human waste from contact. The rest rely on shared, inadequate, or unsafe options, increasing health risks and undermining dignity.

The risk of waterborne disease outbreaks, particularly cholera, is high, as confirmed by a joint WHO-MOH assessment, led in October 2025.

The WASH Cluster partners must urgently scale up the sanitation and public health emergency (PHE) response based upon common, strategic and realistic cluster response plans. This surge position will provide strategic leadership and technical coordination to address immediate needs and support planning in collaboration with national authorities and WASH and Health humanitarian partners for relevant cluster response plans.

Surge need justification

The current situation in Gaza necessitates urgent reinforcement of WASH capacity due to rapidly evolving conditions following the recent ceasefire. The movement of people and the entry of humanitarian supplies have resumed, creating both opportunities and challenges for public health and sanitation.

Sanitation systems have been severely undermined due to prolonged shortages of essential supplies, including sanitation units and sewage items.

The resumption of movement has increased pressure on already fragile infrastructure, particularly in displacement sites and host communities.

A recent cholera risk assessment conducted jointly by WHO and the Ministry of Health has highlighted a significant threat of outbreak. The findings underscore the urgent need for enhanced WASH interventions to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases, particularly in high-risk areas.

Given the scale and urgency of the response required, current WASH Cluster staffing and resources are insufficient to meet the operational demands. A surge position is therefore critical to:

• Coordinate WASH Partners to scale up sanitation activities

• Coordinate interagency efforts and ensure alignment with health sector responses.

• Support the distribution and monitoring of incoming supplies.

• Strengthen disease surveillance and community engagement around hygiene promotion.

This surge support will be instrumental in mitigating public health risks and ensuring a timely, coordinated response in the post-ceasefire phase.

Strategic Objectives of the Deployment

· Strengthen strategic planning and coordination for sanitation and outbreak preparedness and response in Gaza strip, ensuring alignment with public health priorities and national systems.

· Lead the development of a contextualized sanitation strategy for households, including decentralized solutions and procurement planning.

· Enhance outbreak preparedness and response capacity through integrated WASH-Health coordination mechanisms.

· Facilitate evidence-based decision-making through assessments, partner mapping, and gap analysis.

· Support localization and sustainability by working closely with the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) and other national stakeholders.

Key Deliverables

1. Household Sanitation Strategy: Develop with working group members relevant sanitation designs and procurement plans tailored to displaced and host populations.

2. Decentralized Sanitation Roadmap: Co-develop a strategic roadmap with PWA for decentralized sanitation systems.

3. Sanitation Working Group Leadership: Co-lead the working group with Oxfam and UNICEF; convene bi-monthly coordination meetings.

4. Public Health Emergency Coordination Strengthen WASH-Health Cluster collaboration for outbreak preparedness and response and ensure readiness and deployment of WASH teams in case of disease outbreaks.

5. IPC and WASH in Public Health Emergency Leadership: Co-lead the working group with Health cluster, UNICEF and WHO; convene bi-monthly coordination meetings.

6. Joint Assessments and Strategic Inputs: Conduct and Participate in interagency assessments and contribute to strategic planning and reporting on sanitation and public health matters.

Application of the Six Core Functions of Cluster Coordination

1. Supporting Service Delivery

• Facilitate partner collaboration in developing strategic plans, update the Gaza Cluster partners during the preparation processes. Ensure the promotion of the strategies and capacity development of partners as required.

• Facilitate partner coordination and ensure timely delivery of sanitation services and supplies.

• Lead operational planning for sanitation scale-up in accessible areas.

2. Informing Strategic Decision-Making

• Use assessment data and partner inputs to guide prioritization and resource allocation.

• Provide technical advice on sanitation risks and mitigation strategies.

3. Planning and Strategy Development

• Lead the development of sanitation strategies and roadmaps in coordination with national authorities.

• Align WASH interventions with health sector outbreak preparedness plans.

4. Advocacy

• Advocate for sanitation needs in inter-cluster forums and donor briefings.

• Highlight gaps and risks to mobilize resources and policy support.

5. Monitoring and Reporting

• Support the update of 4Ws, SitReps, and dashboards to reflect sanitation activities and gaps.

• Track progress against strategic objectives and report on key indicators.

6. Preparedness and Contingency Planning

• Develop contingency plans for cholera and other disease outbreaks.

• Ensure coordination mechanisms are in place for rapid response.

Ways of Working

The coordinator will be embedded within the WASH Cluster team, which includes:

• Two WASH Cluster Coordinators (national and international)

• One Information Management Officer

• Assessment and Monitoring Staff

The role will work collaboratively with WHO, MOH, PWA, CMWU and other WASH partners. Field travel across Gaza will be required to support assessments, partner coordination, and monitoring.

Regular documentation, reporting, and handover planning will ensure continuity and integration with the existing team post-deployment.

Duty station: UNICEF GAZA Office

P-Level / Salary scale: P3 / LK23

Starting date and duration: Asap for 6 months

Swiss citizenship or a 'C' residence permit for Switzerland is mandatory.

Please note that the COVID-19 vaccine is mandatory for SHA-Secondments UNICEF!

Miscellaneous

For reasons of duty of care (increased risks due to other privileges and immunities) and to avoid conflicts of interest and potential bias, employees and their accompanying persons who hold dual or multiple citizenships shall, as a matter of principle, not be assigned to countries of which they are nationals.

Contact/Application: Please send your application by e-mail to: odette.mauron@eda.admin.ch

View details

Working hours (%): 80-100% / 100%

Type of contract: Staff (Temporary)

Education level: Master's degree

Driving licence: Car driving licence

Macro-area: Middle East and Northern Africa

Area of work Definition: Environment, Disaster Risk Management DRM, Energy and Resource Efficiency

Map

Apply

Share this job ad

Other job ads posted by this Company: LOADING...

Similar job ads

Evaluation and Research Specialist - P3

Palestinian Territories, West Bank, East Jerusalem - UNICEF

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children's lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence. At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job ? it is a calling. UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package. Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF. For every child, hope UNICEF in the State of Palestine works to uphold the rights of children to access essential services and protection, from early childhood through adolescence. Our objective is to ensure that every child in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, irrespective of background or circumstance, has an equal chance to fulfil their potential. Following the escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip, UNICEF is responding at scale with Education, WASH, Nutrition, Health, Child Protection and Multi-Purpose Cash, while preparing for return to learning for children across the State of Palestine to respond to the most precent and critical needs of children, while supporting the restoration of essential services. UNICEF is seeking a candidate for Research & Evaluation Specialist to lead comprehensive aspects of evaluation, research, assessments, and studies portfolio of UNICEF State of Palestine. Under the guidance of Chief Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation (PME) with dotted reporting line to Evaluation Regional Advisor, Research & Evaluation Specialist provides technical and operational support to facilitate the overall planning, design, and implementation of the country office Integrated Monitoring and Evaluation & Research Plan (IMERP) and is responsible for managing and monitoring the implementation of IMERP within the country office, and where appropriate across offices, between agencies and with national and international stakeholders and collaborators. The Evaluation and Research Specialist plays a key role in designing, implementing, and promoting the use and wider learning through evaluations, research, studies, assessments and the Country Office's programme data. This role should also ensure all evaluative activities are carried out in alignment with UNICEF's mission, guiding principles, standards, commitments, and regulatory framework. Summary of Key Functions and Accountabilities The incumbent is expected to lead and/or contribute to the following areas: 1. Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Plan (IMERP) Ensure that the Country Office and national partners use a well-prioritized and realistic plan of research, and evaluative activities that will provide the most relevant and strategic information to manage the Area Programme toward achieving expected results while coping with emergencies. - Update State of Palestine Office's Costed Evaluation Plan for the remaining Area Programme Document (APD) cycle, 2026-2027, in consultation with the chiefs of programmes, chief of PME, and the Deputy Representative, Programme. - Monitor implementation of planned and ongoing IMERP studies, research and assessments by following up with programme focal points and updating the IMERP accordingly. - Updating EISI, the global online evidence database and uploading reports as required for completed assignments. - Liaise with programme focal points to disseminate evidence both internally and with external stakeholders. - Support programmes in preparing high quality evidence-based Terms of References (ToRs) and fulfill institutional requirements such as Ethical Standards and Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals where applicable. 2. Assessment, Surveys and Analysis Ensure that the Country Office's relevant programmes and national partners have timely and up-to-date knowledge and evidence based on evaluations, studies, and research to contribute to various assessments, analysis, and surveys. - Integrate technical inputs and program insights while recognizing field-level constraints, to effectively support programs in adopting the most appropriate and optimal methodologies. - Support the preparation and advancement of MICS with the national statistics bureau, regional office, and HQ. - Ensure all assessments, surveys and analysis are aligned with the national and EU-World Bank-UN tripartite Rapid Damage Needs Assessment (RDNA) and Recovery frameworks. 3. Evaluation Ensure that UNICEF-supported evaluations are designed and executed in line with UN quality standards, and that findings are promptly disseminated to stakeholders to enhance program performance and foster broader organizational learning. - Coordinate closely with the Evaluation Office at HQ to lead the scoping, implementation, and completion of the Country Office's Level 3 Evaluation. - Oversee and the manage the Country Office's key program evaluations?Cash Programme and Education Programme in the West Bank?ensuring their completion by March 2026. - Lead the initial planning for thematic evaluations in alignment with the Country Office's Costed Evaluation Plan. - Participate in technical evaluation for recruiting highly qualified and experienced individual consultants and/or firms for evaluations. - Follow-up of all ongoing Evaluation Management Responses (EMR) in the EISI database to ensure that they are up-to-date. 4. Research Management Ensure that UNICEF-supported research is designed and implemented according to established UNICEF policies and procedures, and the results are disseminated in a timely fashion to stakeholders to improve programme performance and contribute to wider learning. - Support to programmes in developing ToRs, recruitment of consultants and quality assurance of deliverables for all research activities that will be active during the course of this assignment. 5. Evaluation and Research Capacity Development Ensure that the evaluation capacities of the Country Office staff and national partners ? government and civil society ? are strengthened enabling them to increasingly engage in quality programme and project evaluations for programme performance and evidence generation. - Lead the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education M&E Capacity Building Programmes, ensure the final report, protocols, data policy are endorsed by the line ministries, the final products from two capacity building programmes are nationally owned in 2026. - Lead the M&E master's programme in partnership with a national university. - Identify the emerging needs from the country office's staff, academia, government and CSOs related to the national capacity building on monitoring, evaluation and research. To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have? Minimum requirements: Education: An advanced university degree (Master's or higher) in evaluation, economics, social sciences, public policy, statistics, development, or another relevant technical field. Experience: A minimum of five years of professional work experience in programme development and implementation with the main focus on evaluation, research, studies and assessment including data collection and analysis. Language Requirements: Spoken and written proficiency in English is required, proficiency in other UN languages, especially Arabic is an advantage. For every Child, you demonstrate... UNICEF's Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values The UNICEF competencies required for this post are? (1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels. This position is not considered an elevated risk role. However, UNICEF reserves the right to conduct further vetting/assessment within the scope of child safeguarding as appropriate. UNICEF is here to serve the world's most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. 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. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will 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. UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled. Remarks: As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. UNICEF's active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female are encouraged to apply. This is required for all posts requiring a higher education degree. ?UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process. The VA is open to all (internal and external candidates) Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants' bank account information. All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates. Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here. How cinfo Can Support You in the Application Process for This Position - Application and Interview Preparation: Whether you're preparing your application documents or getting ready for an interview, you can book a [Job Application Support](https://www.cinfo.ch/en/individuals/get-support/career-support-in-international-cooperation/job-application-support-in-international-cooperation) session to receive tailored guidance. - For Swiss nationals invited to the first round of the selection process (e.g., written test, interview, assessment center): Notify us at recruitment@cinfo.ch, and we will inform our HR partners in the respective organization and the Swiss Government to help increase your visibility. "Important Application Information: Please submit your application only via the official website of the hiring organization or by using the "Apply" button on CinfoPoste, which will redirect you to the organization's application site. Applications submitted through other job portals will not be forwarded to the respective organization and will not be considered. To ensure your application reaches the right destination, always follow the official application process as indicated in the job posting."

...

2026-01-16 2026-01-29

Don’t show this message again

Notes about cookies