Senior Project Officer (Sciences)

OVERVIEW

Position Number : 6KESCS0003PA

Grade : P-4

Parent Sector : Natural Sciences Sector (SC)

Duty Station : Dar es Salaam

Job Family : Natural Sciences

Contract Type : Project Appointment

Duration of contract : 1 year

Recruitment open to : Internal and external candidates

Application deadline (Midnight Paris Time) : 29/10/2026

UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism

Initial contract duration is for 12 months, renewable subject to satisfactory performance and availability of funds

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The Kilimanjaro Transboundary Aquifer System (KTAS) Project, entitled "Unlocking the Groundwater Potential of the Kilimanjaro Water Tower" (GEF ID 11547), is a five-year Global Environment Facility (GEF) International Waters initiative approved in June 2026. The project is implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as the GEF Agency and executed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in close collaboration with the Governments of the Republic of Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania.

The project will strengthen water security, climate resilience and ecosystem health through improved scientific understanding, protection of recharge areas, enhanced groundwater storage and monitoring, stronger groundwater-management tools, and sustained transboundary cooperation. The Kilimanjaro aquifer is a strategically important, shared groundwater resource that supports livelihoods, biodiversity and economic activity on both sides of the Kenya-Tanzania border. Climate change, land-use change, growing water demand and ecosystem degradation make coordinated management increasingly urgent.

The project comprises groundwater assessment and a Transboundary Diagnostic Analysis (TDA); exploratory drilling, managed aquifer recharge and recharge-area protection; harmonized monitoring, information systems and a Hydro-Environmental Observatory; a Strategic Action Programme (SAP) and permanent consultation mechanism; and stakeholder engagement, knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation.

OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

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The Senior Project Officer will be the senior manager and strategic technical authority of the Project Management Unit (PMU). The incumbent will lead the PMU and be accountable to UNESCO for coherent, timely and high-quality project execution across Kenya and Tanzania. The Senior Project Officer will lay out strategic and technical direction, integrate all project result areas, supervise PMU staff and consultants, safeguard compliance, advise the Project Steering Committee (PSC), and maintain the high-level relationships required for joint country ownership and sustainability.

Long Description

KEY ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Direction and Integrated Delivery

- Translate the approved project document and inception decisions into a sequenced implementation strategy, multi-year plan, annual work plans and budgets, procurement priorities and performance objectives.

- Direct implementation across all components, resolve interdependencies and bottlenecks, and ensure that scientific work, field investments, governance processes, capacity development, safeguards and communication advance as one coherent programme.

- Exercise delegated management authority over PMU work, resources and schedules, establishing clear assignments, controls, escalation routes and follow-up mechanisms.

- Maintain a strategic risk register and lead adaptive management, recommending material changes to UNESCO, FAO and the PSC through the applicable approval processes.

Long Description

Transboundary Governance and High-Level Coordination

- Serve as UNESCO's principal project-level interface with FAO, the co-chairing ministries, national coordinators, basin institutions, the Jumuiya Water Fund and other strategic partners.

- Lead substantive and secretariat support to the PSC by shaping agendas, presenting decision papers, ensuring accurate records and tracking implementation of decisions.

- Guide the Technical Committee and draw on the Knowledge and Scientific Advisory Board for independent advice, while preserving their advisory and country-led roles.

- Steer the political and institutional processes for the permanent transboundary consultation and information-exchange body, the SAP, and related policy and regulatory dialogue.

- Represent the project at authorized national, regional and international forums, including GEF International Waters knowledge platforms, and communicate agreed project positions.

Long Description

Technical Authority and Quality Assurance

- Set the project-wide technical assurance framework, including review gates, acceptance criteria and agreed standards for hydrogeology, geophysics, hydrochemistry and isotopes, modelling, drilling, monitoring, managed aquifer recharge, ecosystem restoration and data management.

- Approve, within delegated authority, scopes of work and technical specifications, and provide final substantive clearance of key outputs before formal submission by UNESCO.

- Ensure that the TDA, conceptual model, harmonized maps, monitoring framework, information system, Hydro-Environmental Observatory, pilots and SAP are scientifically credible, mutually consistent and suitable for national and transboundary decision-making.

- Convene multidisciplinary review where evidence is uncertain or contested and document the basis for significant technical decisions.

- Ensure cross-cutting integration of gender equality, Indigenous and local knowledge, youth participation, climate resilience, environmental and social safeguards, and conflict sensitivity.

Long Description

Team Consultant and Partner Performance

- Lead, supervise, coach and assess PMU personnel, including the Project Technical Officer, and promote an accountable, collaborative and inclusive working environment.

- Provide technical supervision of consultants, contractors and service providers; chair key inception and review meetings; assess deliverables against contractual requirements; and recommend acceptance or corrective action through UNESCO procedures.

- Coordinate the performance of co-executing and implementing partners against agreed work packages, milestones, budgets and reporting obligations without displacing their institutional mandates.

- Ensure that terms of reference, technical evaluation criteria and deliverable-review arrangements are fit for purpose and maintain appropriate separation of technical and administrative controls.

Long Description

Results Compliance and Reporting

- Lead results-based management against the project results framework and GEF core indicators, using disaggregated and verifiable evidence and ensuring early correction of performance gaps.

- Oversee the timely preparation and substantive quality of progress and financial narratives, annual implementation-review inputs, PSC documentation, co-financing reports and other reports required by UNESCO, FAO and GEF.

- Ensure compliance with the UN-to-UN Agreement and applicable UNESCO, FAO and GEF requirements on fiduciary management, procurement, safeguards, gender, ethics, visibility and records management, in coordination with responsible specialists.

- Lead management responses and follow-up for audits, supervision missions, the Mid-Term Review and Terminal Evaluation.

Long Description

Partnerships Financing and Sustainability

- Maintain strategic partnerships with government, regional organizations, academia, communities, civil society, the private sector and development partners, and ensure complementarity with related programmes.

- Track the realization and alignment of confirmed co-financing, identify gaps, and mobilize additional or parallel financing consistent with the approved project and country priorities.

- Guide the partnership conference and investment dialogue around SAP, including preparation of credible priority investment propositions.

- Embed sustainability and institutional ownership of governance mechanisms, monitoring networks, information systems, the Hydro-Environmental Observatory, capacity and knowledge products beyond project closure.

COMPETENCIES - Core (C) & Managerial (M)

- Communication (C)

- Accountability (C)

- Innovation (C)

- Knowledge sharing and continuous improvement (C)

- Planning and organizing (C)

- Results focus (C)

- Teamwork (C)

- Building partnerships (M)

- Driving and managing change (M)

- Strategic thinking (M)

- Making quality decisions (M)

- Managing performance (M)

- Leading and empowering others (M)

Short Description

For detailed information, please consult the UNESCO Competency Framework .

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION

- Advanced university degree (Ph.D) in hydrogeology, geology, water resources management or a closely related field.

WORK EXPERIENCE

- A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible relevant professional experience, preferably including at least three (3) years acquired at international level.

- Demonstrated experience leading a complex, multidisciplinary water, environment or natural-resource programme involving multiple institutions and countries or jurisdictions.

- Substantive experience in groundwater assessment or management and the ability to direct and quality-assure multidisciplinary technical work.

- Experience supervising personnel and consultants, managing work plans and budgets, and delivering results and donor reporting under formal accountability frameworks.

- Demonstrated experience facilitating government-led processes and building partnerships across public institutions, technical organizations, civil society and development partners.

Long Description

SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

- Strong strategic judgement and ability to translate complex scientific and institutional issues into clear decisions and implementation priorities.

- Excellent leadership, negotiation, facilitation and diplomatic skills in a multicultural and politically sensitive transboundary setting.

- Strong command of results-based management, risk management, quality assurance and clear technical and executive writing.

- Ability to manage competing priorities, make timely decisions and maintain accountability.

- Digital proficiency, including standard office and project-management tools, and sufficient familiarity with hydrogeological data, GIS and information systems to oversee quality and use.

LANGUAGES

- Excellent knowledge of English (written and spoken).

- Excellent knowledge of Swahili (written and spoken).

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

WORK EXPERIENCE

- Experience with GEF International Waters projects, project design, TDA/SAP processes, or projects implemented or executed by a United Nations organization.

- Professional experience in Eastern Africa and knowledge of the water-governance systems of Kenya and Tanzania.

- Experience with transboundary aquifers, volcanic hydrogeology, groundwater information systems, managed aquifer recharge, ecosystem-based approaches or climate-resilient investment planning.

- Demonstrated resource mobilization or co-financing stewardship experience.

LANGUAGES

- Knowledge of another official language of UNESCO (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russia and/or Spanish).

BENEFITS AND ENTITLEMENTS

UNESCO’s salaries consist of a basic salary and other benefits which may include if applicable: 30 days annual leave, family allowance, medical insurance, pension plan etc.

The approximate annual starting salary for this post is 113 814 USD

For full information on benefits and entitlements, please consult our  Guide to Staff Benefits .

SELECTION AND HIRING PROCESS

Please note that all candidates must complete an on-line application and provide complete and accurate information, by the above deadline.

To apply, please visit the UNESCO Careers website . No modifications can be made to the application once submitted.

The process may include pre-recorded video interviews and/or written assessments, interviews with a Panel, as well as reference checks. In addition, candidates may be requested to provide additional information which may be pertinent to the position’s qualifications.

Please note that all candidates, whether selected or not, will be informed of the outcome of their application in due course.

Short-listed candidates may also be added to Talent Pools; subject to their consent (i.e. Data Privacy Statement).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

- UNESCO recalls that paramount consideration in the appointment of staff members shall be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, technical competence and integrity.

- UNESCO applies to a zero-tolerance policy against all forms of harassment.

- UNESCO is committed to achieving and sustaining equitable and diverse geographical distribution, as well as gender parity among its staff members in all categories and at all grades. Furthermore, UNESCO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Candidates from non- and under-represented Member States (last update here (https://www.unesco.org/en/geo-distribution)) are particularly welcome and strongly encouraged to apply.

- lndividuals from minority groups and indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply.

- All applications will be treated with the highest level of confidentiality.

- Geographical mobility is required for staff members appointed to UNESCO’s international posts.

- In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. UNESCO 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)/UNESCO. The list can be accessed through the link: https://www.whed.net (https://www.whed.net/home.php)

- The statutory retirement age at UNESCO is 65 years.

- UNESCO appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by the Organization, is required for International Professional positions.

- UNESCO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.