Lead Writer and Advisor, UN System-Wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation

UN-Water is the United Nations (UN) inter-agency coordination mechanism for all freshwater related issues, including sanitation. The High-Level Committee on Programmes (HLCP) established UN-Water in 2003 in response to the need for strengthened coordination of United Nations’ work on water and sanitation related issues. UN-Water currently includes more than 30 Members (UN entities) and more than 40 Partners (non-UN system actors).

For the international community, the coming years will be critical to solve the water and sanitation crisis. Although Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) – ‘to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030’ – supports many of the other 16 SDGs, the world is off-track and the challenges are unprecedented and growing. To respond to the need for an immediate and integrated global response to rapidly improve progress on SDG 6, in July 2024 the UN system launched the UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation, which builds on the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework – a unifying initiative that involves all sectors of society to speed up progress by improving support to countries. Through the Strategy, the UN system and its multi-stakeholder partners, driven by country demand and coordinating through UN-Water, unify the international community’s support to countries for SDG 6. 

As UN-Water aligns its strategy toward achieving SDG 6, one emerging area where it is well-positioned to play an important role is to provide support to the delivery of SDG 6 at the country-level.

UN-Water promotes coherence in, and coordination of, water-related UN system actions aimed at the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other relevant policy frameworks, such as the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development and the New Urban Agenda. UN-Water supports the processes related to the UN conferences on water and coordinates the implementation of the recently adopted UN System-wide Strategy for Water and Sanitation (Strategy).

The Strategy enhances UN system-wide coordination and delivery of water and sanitation priorities across the United Nations system in support of Member States. To implement the Strategy, its Collaborative Implementation Plan includes time-bound actions towards the achievement of the Strategy’s outputs and outcomes, shows the respective contributions by UN entities and partners, and serves as a common agreed framework to jointly review and monitor progress on the Strategy. Six priority collaborative actions have been developed as part of the Plan, including for the post-2030 water agenda, collaboration for joint country programming, and elevating the ambition of UN conferences on water. 

1. Guide and support the full and effective operationalization of the Strategy and its Collaborative Implementation Plan

2. Produce reports for the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development including an in-depth review of SDG 6 to showcase the latest SDG 6 data and evidence, the impact of SDG 6 implementation on country progress, value added from SDG 6 towards the achievement of sustainable development outcomes and the importance of SDG 6 to the water community, including:

• Preparing the Concept and coordinating analytical contributions
• Drafting of Inputs document 
• Finalizing of Inputs document  

3. Advise and support the implementation of the Strategy at the country and regional levels, including the development of tools and resources and strategic engagements at the country and regional levels.


4. Design and organise strategic engagements for UN-Water, e.g. including engagements related to the UN conferences on water and other strategic events for the Strategy’s implementation, and engagements with other UN system-wide strategies/approaches.

• Production of reports for the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in-depth review of SDG 6 according to agreed timeline.

• Review and strategic guidance for the implementation of the Strategy’s Collaborative Implementation Plan provided.

• Strategic engagements and development of additional products supported as requested.

• Advanced university degree (MSc or equivalent) in a water relevant field, preferably environmental management, public health, international affairs, sustainable development, economics, public policy, social sciences, geosciences, hydrology, hydraulic engineering, or sanitary engineering. 

• A Bachelor’s degree with 2 additional years of experience may be considered in lieu of the requirement of a Master’s degree.

Required:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in water and sanitation, working in a wide range of countries and with a wide range of government stakeholders (such as Ministries of Health, Finance, Water supply) is required. Senior level or management advisory experience is required.

• Knowledge and experience with SDG 6, including experience with associated political processes is required.

• Strong network in the sector, including in-depth knowledge of global stakeholders and external support agencies is required.

• Experience in report writing and providing editorial review and line editing for high-level water and sanitation-related publications is required.

• Experience managing a co-authored, inter-agency publication is required.

Desired:

• Experience working in the UN system and with related organizations is desirable.

• Experience in condensing large knowledge products/documents into 2-3-page summaries would be an asset.

• Excellent interpersonal and partnership management skills would be an asset.

• Fluency in English (both oral and written) is required.
• Working knowledge of another UN language (French, Spanish, etc.) is an asset.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• UNOPS evaluates all applications based on the skills, qualifications and experience requirements outlined in the vacancy announcement. We are committed to considering all candidates in a fair and transparent manner, and we value diverse perspectives and experiences, including those of women, indigenous and racialized communities, individuals with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.



• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few mandatory courses ( they take around 4 hours to complete)  in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.