Construction Assistant at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) - For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job Title: Construction Assistant

Job Number: 508393
Location: Maiduguri, Borno
Work Type: Consultancy

Purpose of Assignment

• Under the supervision of the Logistics Specialist, the Construction Assistant will assist in the conception, planning, sourcing and monitoring of the construction and/or rehabilitation projects for UNICEF Maiduguri Programme sections, mainly for Protection and to some extent for Wash, Education and Operations.
• She/he is in charge of the day to day monitoring, contributing to ensuring the overall efficiency and effectiveness of processes and activities undertaken to achieve timely delivery of infrastructures.
• She/he will furthermore provide  assistance to the field office team, including inputs to the development of the construction strategies.

Specific Project Objective to which the Consultant is related:

• Child Friendly Spaces and Adolescent Centres in Gulani and Gujuba LGAs, Yobe State

Major Tasks to be Accomplished
The main responsibilities of the Specialist will include but not limited to the following:

• Participate in the UNICEF construction projects, from their planning to their implementation and monitoring.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of monitoring and supervision tools are.
• Verify the completeness and quality of the works performed by contractors and engineering consultancy companies’ in compliance with technical specifications and UNICEF quality standards.
• Participate in the performance evaluation of service providers.
• Review the accuracy of technical aspects and cost estimates received as part of the proposals from potential contractors/suppliers.
• Assist the Supply section in all tender exercises for the procurement of construction and consultancy services.
• Identify risks and report them to the management and contribute to initiate corrective action where necessary, so that maximum benefit to client and stakeholders is achieved.
• Participate in the preparation of interim - final project and handover reports and maintain the relevant project records.
• Report on the progress of deliverables and works of contractors and service providers.
• Assist the Logistics Specialist in coordinating with Operations and programmes required activities to ensure proper and timely actions from both, UNICEF’s and Government’s side.
• Review requests for payments from contractors and submit them to the Supervisor for certification along with the required documents.
• Assist in the handing over of facilities to project beneficiaries.

Qualifications

• Completion of Secondary Education in Civil or Structural Engineering, Architecture or other relevant technical area. This basic education requirement if supplemented by a University degree or relevant courses is preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of professional experience at national and/or international levels in the relevant field of civil engineering, especially in preparation of construction technical documentation;
• Experience in working in complex environments and large infrastructure and/or civil works, particularly in the field of construction technical project documentation development as well as construction supervision;
• Working experience in the area of preparation, implementation and monitoring of technical/ (re)construction projects; methodological and calculation skills;
• Experience in technical design of high-rise structure is an asset;
• Knowledge of the UN rules, procedures and regulations would be an asset.
• Working experience in UN or other international development organization would be an asset.
• Background/familiarity with an emergency would be an asset.
• Estimated time of consultancy and deadline for submission of end product:  6 months

Application Closing Date
6th November, 2017.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note: Please indicate your ability, availability and daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference above (including travel and daily subsistence allowance, if applicable).  Applications submitted without a daily/monthly rate will not be considered.