Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Water Program Officer

🎯 Role Definition

The Water Program Officer is responsible for the operational delivery, technical quality, and adaptive management of water-related programs and projects. This role combines field and office-based leadership: designing evidence-based interventions in water resources management and WASH, coordinating with government and community partners, ensuring donor compliance and financial stewardship, and using monitoring, evaluation and GIS-enabled data to optimize outcomes. The ideal candidate brings a blend of technical water sector knowledge (hydrology, water quality, WASH), program management experience in donor-funded contexts, and strong stakeholder and partnership skills.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Junior Program Coordinator or Program Assistant (Water/WASH)
Field Officer or Technical Specialist in water resources or sanitation
Monitoring & Evaluation Officer with water project experience

Advancement To:

Senior Water Program Officer / Program Manager
Regional Water Advisor or Technical Lead
Head of Water Programs / Senior Program Director

Lateral Moves:

M&E Specialist (Water/WASH)
Grants & Compliance Officer (environmental/donor-funded programs)
Climate Resilience or Natural Resources Officer

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the design and development of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and integrated water-resources management (IWRM) project proposals, logical frameworks, and implementation plans that align with donor requirements and national policies.
Manage end-to-end program implementation for assigned water portfolios, ensuring activities are delivered on time, within scope and on budget while maintaining high technical quality and beneficiary focus.
Develop, maintain and monitor program budgets, cashflow forecasts and expenditure tracking in collaboration with finance teams to ensure responsible financial stewardship and donor compliance.
Build and maintain partnerships with national and local government agencies, water utilities, community-based organizations, NGOs and private sector partners to leverage resources, scale proven solutions and ensure sustainability of water services.
Oversee technical aspects of water quality monitoring, groundwater/surface water assessment, hydrological field surveys and interpretation of laboratory results to inform program decisions and risk mitigation.
Design and implement monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) frameworks, including indicators, baselines, periodic surveys and data collection protocols to measure impact against SDG6 and program targets.
Prepare high-quality donor reporting packages, narrative and financial reports, and contribute to contract management including compliance with grant terms, procurement rules and audit requirements.
Provide technical backstopping and on-the-job mentoring to field teams and implementing partners to strengthen local capacity in water engineering, WASH behavior change, operation & maintenance and community water governance.
Coordinate multi-stakeholder consultations, community mobilization activities and gender-sensitive stakeholder engagement to ensure inclusive participation and equitable access to water services.
Conduct risk assessments for program activities (technical, environmental, social, security and reputational), define mitigation measures and maintain a risk register with clear escalation pathways.
Lead procurement planning for technical equipment, water quality kits, construction contracts and service providers, ensuring transparency and adherence to procurement policies.
Design and oversee small-scale infrastructure and rehabilitation activities (e.g., borehole drilling oversight, piped system rehabilitation, latrine construction standards) in consultation with technical engineers and contractors.
Integrate climate resilience and nature-based solutions into program design, using climate risk screening and ecosystem-based approaches to make water services more resilient and sustainable.
Coordinate emergency water, sanitation and hygiene response activities where required, including rapid needs assessment, short-term service provision, and transition into longer-term recovery programming.
Manage the recruitment, supervision and performance appraisal of program staff and consultants, providing clear objectives, feedback and professional development opportunities.
Lead learning and knowledge management: capture lessons learned, produce case studies, technical briefs and thought leadership content to inform program scaling and sector influence.
Ensure all program activities adhere to environmental and social safeguards, safeguarding policies (including child protection), and national regulatory frameworks for water services and sanitation.
Advocate for improved water policy, financing and governance by preparing policy briefs, representing the organization in sector working groups, and engaging with local and national decision-makers.
Use GIS, remote sensing and spatial analysis to map water assets, service coverage and vulnerability hotspots to guide targeting and optimization of interventions.
Support and lead baseline, midline and endline evaluations, liaising with external evaluators and ensuring data integrity and ethical collection practices.
Establish and maintain beneficiary feedback mechanisms and complaints and response mechanisms (CRM) to ensure accountability and continuous improvement of water services.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests, exploratory data analysis and dashboarding (e.g., Tableau, Power BI) to make monitoring data actionable for program teams and partners.
Contribute to the organization's water data strategy and roadmap by proposing indicators, data collection tools and data governance practices that improve decision-making and donor reporting.
Translate programmatic and MEL needs into technical requirements for data engineers or IT teams, and participate in project planning and adaptive management cycles.
Facilitate cross-functional coordination with finance, procurement, MEL and communications teams to ensure coherent program delivery and consistent donor messaging.
Participate in program planning workshops, steering committee meetings and periodic reviews to support continuous improvement and strategic alignment.
Represent the organization at external forums, technical working groups and donor coordination platforms to raise visibility and mobilize resources for water programming.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Program design & management: proven ability to design logical frameworks, develop workplans, manage budgets and deliver donor-funded water projects.
Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL): skilled in indicator design, baseline/midline/endline surveys, qualitative and quantitative methods, and outcome-level reporting.
Water technical knowledge: practical understanding of hydrology, groundwater/surface water interactions, water quality testing, safe water supply technologies and sanitation systems.
WASH technical competencies: expertise in community-led approaches, CLTS, sanitation marketing, hygiene promotion and operation & maintenance models.
Data & geospatial skills: proficiency with GIS tools (QGIS, ArcGIS), GPS data collection, spatial analysis, and familiarity with dashboarding tools (Power BI, Tableau) and mobile data collection (KoboToolbox, ODK).
Grants and donor management: experience preparing donor proposals, budgets, financial reporting, contract compliance and audit-ready documentation.
Environmental & social safeguards: knowledge of ESIA processes, safeguard screening, gender mainstreaming and social inclusion in water projects.
Budgeting & financial oversight: strong financial literacy, budget monitoring, and cost control in multi-activity programs.
Technical supervision of infrastructure: experience overseeing borehole drilling, piped systems, water treatment installations and small-scale civil works.
GIS-enabled targeting & vulnerability assessment: ability to use spatial data and remote sensing to identify service gaps and climate risks.
Proposal writing & knowledge products: strong technical writing skills for proposals, policy briefs, technical reports and case studies.
ICT for development familiarity: experience integrating digital monitoring systems, CRM tools and remote monitoring sensors for water utilities.

Soft Skills

Stakeholder engagement & diplomacy: excellent relationship-building skills with government, donors, communities and private sector actors.
Communication: clear, professional written and verbal communication tailored to technical and non-technical audiences.
Leadership & team management: ability to lead interdisciplinary teams, mentor staff and manage consultants.
Problem solving & analytical thinking: pragmatic approach to solving complex technical and operational problems using data-driven methods.
Adaptability & resilience: capacity to work in uncertain, resource-constrained and emergency contexts with composure.
Cultural sensitivity & inclusiveness: demonstrates respect and understanding of local contexts and ensures participatory, inclusive programming.
Negotiation & influencing: able to negotiate contracts, secure partnerships and advocate policy changes effectively.
Attention to detail and compliance orientation: meticulous in documentation, procurement, and donor compliance processes.
Time management & prioritization: effective at balancing competing deadlines and multi-site program demands.
Facilitation & training: experienced in organizing workshops, capacity-strengthening sessions and community mobilization events.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Water Resources, Civil/Environmental Engineering, Hydrology, Environmental Science, Public Health, Development Studies, or a closely related field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Water Management, Hydrology, Environmental Engineering, Public Health (WASH focus), Development Practice, or similar advanced degree.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Water Resources Management
Environmental Science / Engineering
Civil Engineering with WASH specialization
Public Health (water, sanitation, hygiene)
Hydrology / Hydrogeology

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 3–8 years of professional experience in water, WASH or natural resources programs, including at least 2 years of direct implementation experience in the field.

Preferred:

5+ years managing donor-funded water or WASH programs with demonstrated results.
Experience working with multilateral or bilateral donors and familiarity with donor compliance and reporting cycles.
Proven record of supervising technical staff, partners and contractors in multi-site programming.
Prior experience in low- and middle-income countries, rural and/or humanitarian contexts, and with community-led implementation approaches.
Professional certifications a plus: PMP/Prince2, WASH-specific certifications, GIS certification, or relevant sector credentials.

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