Afghanistan: Skills and Technology manager

THE RECRUITING ORGANISM

GERES (www.geres.eu) is a French NGO working worldwide for the improvement of people’s living conditions through preservation of environment and fair and sustainable energy access. In Afghanistan, GERES has been working since 2002 in energy efficiency and rural development.
In the Central Highlands of Afghanistan, GERES, in partnership with MADERA and Solidarités International, is implementing a 10 million euro programme (Called CHP) funded by the French Agency for Development (AFD) for 3.5 years. It aims at the general improvement of living standards through agriculture and livestock development, natural resource management, and energy efficiency. Following a preliminary assessment phase, programme activities started in March 2014.
Component II of the Programme targets the improvement of energy resilience and living conditions of rural households, through the development and dissemination of energy-saving solutions (ESS) such as veranda, improved cooking stoves, etc.
The approach for the dissemination is a business based approach following the coming principles:

• Validation of adapted technologies (in terms of needs, uses, craftsmen knowledges, available materials, price …),


• Validation of marketing message (benefits, uses, etc.)


• Training of relevant craftsmen


• Provide households and communities with market-based tools to facilitate the dissemination of newly validated technologies;


• Provide craftsmen and/or retailers with business and marketing support to sustain their enterprises.

OBJECTIVES AND TASKS

The Skills and Technology Manager is in charge of management and technical supervision of activities, programs, process and results of the Central Highland Skills and Technologies Unit. (S)he provides a technical support to the programme in the framework of GERES knowledge production and transfer.
The Skills and Technology Manager:

• Works under direct supervision of the Project Manager of the Component II,


• Directly manages and builds capacity of the Skills and Technologies unit team composed by the R&D Technical Assistant and the Craftsmen relationship supervisor,


• Works in close collaboration with the Business and Marketing Unit (BMU).

The objectives of the Skills and Technology Unit are:

• Design, test and validate new ESS (Energy Saving Solutions) in line with the project’s objectives;


• Provide project and BMU with all support information for dissemination (technical features, benefits, uses, training …)


• Evaluate long-term impact of previously validated ESS (durability uses, impacts, etc.)


• Update ESS if opportunity to do so (improving quality, reducing price, facilitating building, etc.)


• Ensure the sustainability of the R&D process for the continuous development of ESS within the framework of the project.

His/her main tasks can be summarized as follows:

Coordination and technical support to Skills and Technology Unit on CHP – 60%

• Writing of R&D guidelines for ESS;
• Management and capacity building of STU team
• Development of new ESS:
o Through feedbacks of field teams: proposition of new techniques adapted to local context and in line with GERES mandate
o Design tests and pilot processes adapted to each ESS
o Support the analysis and validation of technical solutions
o Train the craftsmen/retailers for validated ESS (including support, manual, theoretical training, etc.)
• Support of the B&M process of ESS by providing all the technical information necessary for dissemination (uses, benefits, price, requirement, quality checklist, BOQ, etc.)
• Observation of un-expected effects:
o Self-dissemination (changes in the design, house-holders self building, etc.)
o Uses (actual benefit not expected)

Technical monitoring of Central Highland Component II project – 25%
The Skills and Technology Manager is responsible for:
• Supervising the technical work to reach the projects LFA expected results in collaboration with Project Manager
• Participation to design of technical training and implementation methodology based on R&D results
• Propose a comprehensive methodology and milestones to reach the objectives;
• Technical monitoring of disseminated techniques (in collaboration with monitoring and evaluation staff and BMU)
• Design of quality control process (random quality check, etc.)
• Implementing & releasing methodologies

CHP Technical support – 10%
The Skills and Technology Manager will provide support to the global project team in:
• Drawing the yearly work plan and supporting strategic decision if required by the PM
• Advising project managers of the different components in their strategy and resources
• Finding the technical resources available within GERES or outsourced
• Participation to knowledge production and transmission
• Design internal and external technical documents (positioning documents, best practices, methodology, etc)
• Providing technical input for the strategy process
• Facilitating internal and external consultancy (participation to writing of terms of reference, technical management)

Technology watch – 5%
As the Skills and Technology Manager, (s)he has to keep him(her)self up-to-date on GERES’ activities :
• Being in charge of the technical watch on topics linked to GERES activities
• Looking at other existing solutions to enable constructive comparisons and enhance existing solutions

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Compulsory skills: Rigor, capacity of adaptation, empathy, patience, diplomacy, team-working spirit, stress resilience.

Education : University degree in a relevant field such as Energies & processes engineering Master; Master related to setting up & management of research and development cycle.

Experience : Minimum of 1-year of working experience in cross-cultural development projects required
International work experience (especially in developing countries)
Knowledge of project monitoring and evaluation systems and methodologies.
Knowledge of environment, energy efficiency & saving, bioclimatic constructions an asset.

Technical skills : Thermal sciences
R&D processes
Manual and inventing skills
Technical pedagogical skills and capacity to adapt it to the people
Excellent oral and written communication skills
Editorial skills, ability to analyse and summarize information (be synthetic and clear)
Very good interpersonal skills and ability to work with multi-cultural teams

Languages : Fluent in English mandatory
Local languages (Dari/Farsi) would be appreciated

Computer skills : Computer literacy with command of :

-MS Office Suite, mail; -Technical software: Design and Engineering software (Sketchup, AutoCAD, ArchiCAD…), thermic software (TRNSYS, Energy Plus…).

Personal skills : Very motivated by challenges
Responsive, dynamic, analytical mindset and autonomous
Organised and able to prioritize; Capacity to travel to remote areas
Knowledge of Islamic environment is a plus

CONDITIONS

• Contract: French fixed-term contract (CDDU) of 12 months, renewable;
• Start date: Beginning of march 2016
• Salary: according to profile and experience
• Location: Position based in Bamyan;
• Paid Leaves: 26 days of paid leaves + 5 R&R days per intermediary break;

Other Advantages:
• Accommodation in GERES guesthouse with a monthly living allowance of USD 330 (based on the time spend in Afghanistan);
• 2 return tickets between Afghanistan and home country and 2 lump sum allowances of EUR 400 for intermediary breaks in the sub-region;
• Covered and managed by the employer: Afghan visa & work permit costs; health, retirement, and unemployment insurances costs (partly); repatriation insurance.