Programme Manager: Non-Revenue Water (Programmes)

Job Description

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is mandated by the National Water Act, 1998 and Water Services Act 1997 to be responsible for national water resource infrastructure and supporting municipalities with the provision of water services. To support the implementation of the National Water & Sanitation Masterplan, DWS has designed and implemented the National Water Partnerships Programme (NWPP) comprising of several sub-programmes within the water sector that will address specific challenges facing the sector.

The DWS has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the South African Local Government (SALGA) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to jointly implement the programme. To give effect to the NWPP, the parties have established the Water Partnerships Office (WPO) which includes the following:

• The development of a standardised programme for the preparation, funding and implementation of projects within the water sector
• Providing support to municipalities and water boards to prepare, fund and implement projects according to a standardised approach
• The development of innovative and blended finance funding solutions, that will unlock and enable private sector investment in the water sector
• Facilitating partnerships with the private sector and other key stakeholders

The role of the Programme Manager: Non-Revenue Water (NRW) is to manage the development of a pipeline of municipal NRW projects to be prepared, financed and implemented.### Key Responsibilities

Programme Development and Management

• Develop strategies and plans for the execution of the programme and to optimise the support provided to municipalities and water boards.

• Maintain the NRW Programme as a standardised programme within the WPO, to support municipalities to address and reduce their nonrevenue water.

• Develop and maintain a “toolbox” of standardised documentation, best practice approaches, methodologies, models and mechanisms to support the preparation, funding and implementation of projects.

• Engage with municipalities and water boards to introduce the programme and the Unit/Team as the “centre of excellence” for municipal NRW interventions in the country.

• Conduct a needs analysis to identify project opportunities and develop a pipeline of projects to be prepared, financed and implemented.

• Identify sources of project preparation funding for NRW projects and work with the Head: WPO to secure the funding.

• Manage the preparation, design, development and structuring of projects according to the clients and funders agreements.

• Design and review the implementation of projects / programmes including:

  • The preparation estimates and detailed programme plans for all phases of the programme.
  • Implementation plans with outputs, activities, responsibilities and time frames.
  • Programme budget and report against budget.
  • Resource plan and allocate responsibilities.

• Manage, coordinate and monitor a portfolio of NRW infrastructure projects and programmes involving multiple stakeholders from cradle to completion in line with the overarching policies, frameworks and master plans in the Local Government structures and the Department of Water and Sanitation’s strategy.

• Facilitate project costing and cost control methodologies and procedures to ensure that projects are completed within budget.

• Map key programme dependencies and the interfaces between projects and facilitate cohesive project interfaces and collaboration.

• Manage challenges, risks and programme change requests and implement risk mitigating measures to prevent adverse impact on the project deliverables.

• Provide status reporting regarding programme milestones, deliverable, dependencies, risks and issues, communicating across leadership and identified stakeholders.

• Develop and support the implementation including improvement of project management methodologies, tools and standards.

• Provide inputs to contracts, agreements and other legal documents with partners/ service providers and manage the enforcement of agreements.

• Monitor the implementation of safety, health and environmental standards by contractors in compliance to the requirements and guidelines of the DBSA.

• Prepare monthly progress reports that is required by the WPO (for purposes of reporting to the Oversight Committee as well as to the DBSA)

Procurement

• Establish and maintain service provider panels to ensure there are adequate resources to achieve programme objectives in planned timeframes.
• Procure, appoint and manage service providers for the preparation, funding and implementation of projects.
• Support the procurement of contractors and operators for the implementation and operation and maintenance of projects, potentially on a Performance Based Contracting model.

Stakeholder Management

• Establish parentships with private sector role players in the NRW environment.
• Build and manage relationships at various levels with the project stakeholders, partners in accordance with the NWPP and NRW Programme development objectives and stakeholder relations and communication strategy.
• Coordinate efforts and work with the NRW teams within the DWS, City Support Programme, SALGA, Water Research Commission) WRC, Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) and others.
• Participate in structures created to support the NRW Programme such as a NRW Programme committee, NRW Community of Practice, etc.
• Effectively providing key stakeholders/partners comfort that their investment on agreed projects / programmes will be successfully and timeously completed.

People Management

• Establish, lead and manage a team of specialist resources in the NRW Unit/Team
• Provide direction and guidance to the direct reports to enable the execution and management of their portfolios and responsibilities effectively.
• Facilitate team development while holding teams accountable for their commitment to ensure strong team delivery.
• Conduct performance management for all direct reports, managing their performance in relation to quality standards and agreed benchmarks and objectives, in line with sound performance management principles.
• Provide transferable skills, frameworks and toolkits to promote empowerment of the team.
• Promote DBSA values and a culture of High Performance within the areas of responsibility.
• Manage, coach and mentor project management resources.
• Perform other strategic, operational and other duties as assigned.

Key Measurements of Outputs

• Successful maintenance of the NRW Programme and Unit/Team within the WPO

• Approved NRW Programme short-, medium- and long-term plan/s

• Number of NRW projects identified, prepared/developed and implemented

• Value of funding sourced for the design, preparation and implementation of the NRW Programme from relevant and applicable local and international institutions

• Number of catalysed opportunities resulting in a robust pipeline of bankable projects

• Successful oversight, management and implementation of agreed NRW projects:

  • Percentage of performance targets met as per business plan
  • Quality of delivery of projects / programmes

• Investor satisfaction of invested NRW projects / programmes

• Quality of presentations and reports

• Accuracy and quality of presentations and reports

• Effective performance management and strong culture of performance and delivery in NRW Unit/Team

• Good governance and ethical behaviour

• A clean audit

Expertise & Technical Competencies

Minimum Qualifications

• A Degree in Engineering (preferably Civil Engineering) or Finance

Minimum Experience

• A professional engineering registration with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) if the candidate is an Engineer
• A minimum of 10 years demonstrated technical work experience (planning, design, implementation) in the field of municipal NRW (including advanced metering infrastructure, innovative technol