Senior Project Officer (Sciences)

UNESCO

Dar es Salaam Project Facilitator Jobs , Project Manager Full time Jobs

Position information

Job Details

Job LocationDar es Salaam

Job CategoryProject Facilitator Jobs , Project Manager

Job TypeFull time Jobs

Job PostedOctober 9, 2026

Job Description

Senior Project Officer (Sciences)

OVERVIEW

Position Number : 6KESCS0003PA

GradeP-4

Parent SectorNatural Sciences Sector (SC)

Duty StationDar es Salaam

Job FamilyNatural Sciences

Contract Type : Project Appointment

Duration of contract : 1 year

Recruitment open toInternal and external candidates

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

UNESCO Core ValuesCommitment 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

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.