Recruitment for WASH/Shelter Officer

Technical test

PLEASE REPLY TO BELOW QUESTIONS WITHIN MAXIMUM 2 HOURS

Use as much space to answer, as you need. Total score = 100 points

Complete as many questions as you can within the set try to be brief and use bullet points if
needed.

Position: WASH and Shelter Officer

Time received: 4:58pm

Time returned:

Question 1: Water Supply System:

Background information:

Due to the ongoing conflict in Syria, Al Jubran water station, which is one of the biggest stations
in the northern part of the country, hasn’t been functioning since 2019. Therefore it is not
supplying water to its designated area of coverage on a continuous basis. The rehabilitation of
this station is not an option at the moment due to issues of access, security and the overall
political situation in the area. This situation resulted in trucking water to the majority of unserved
individuals in and out of camps by the humanitarian community. Additionally, a number of illegal
wells was dug by inhabitants which created random tapping into the underground water affecting
the aquifer. Health actors are flagging issues around possible water borne diseases as the water
quality is not controlled.

Local authorities have pooled their resources and dug 50 wells inside and in vicinity of Al Jubran
station. Mercy Corps field teams received a support request from local authorities which was
conveyed to you. Local authorities are requesting to equip 24 wells with pumps and all needed
accessories according to the attached BOQ1 - Wells and Equipment.

The following was also indicated by the field teams:

 The authorities are conducting a pumping and water quality test in one of the wells.
 The local authorities have staffing plans in place ready to operate the 24 wells once the
rehabilitation is conducted.

You are requested to review this request, and approve it before discussing with your
management potential funding to cover the rehabilitation work.

A) What will be your questions to the field teams and local authorities to be able to make the
decision (Go/No Go).
When asking further questions please think around: project rationale, current tests,
further needed tests, costs, people served, demand, O&M, total supply, …etc)

B) Review the BoQ and add your comments and questions.

Question 2: Shelter Household Rehabilitation:

You are managing a shelter project which covers a range of activities including light emergency
shelter rehabilitation at household level. In coordination with the team in the field, the assessment
of a number of shelters have been launched to cover the most in need households.

The proposed shelter rehabilitation of one of these households appeared to be very expensive
(beyond the allocated average cost per shelter), therefore this case was raised by the shelter
team in the field for advice. The team prepared the attached BoQ2- HH Shelter Rehab for your
review:

 The Household consists of 23 members including two people with disabilities.

 The existing area is 71m2 including toilets and kitchen
 The team discussed with the Households members the potential of rehabilitating the
existing area and adding a new area (16m2) by rehabilitating the additional space which
was damaged as shown in the picture below:

A) Please review the attached BoQ2- HH Shelter Rehab and add your comments/questions, the
BoQ includes the estimated quantities of reinforced concrete among other items.

B) What would be your recommendations for the field team on the ways forward when facing
similar cases?

Question 3: Cost Recovery Mechanism:

Mercy Corps have rehabilitated a water supply system in a small towns in northern Syria. In
parallel, Mercy Corps launched the implementation of a cost recovery mechanism in coordination
with the local council. After the full hand over of the water system, Mercy Corps agreed to provide
fuel, oil and chlorine costs for a period of 4 months).
The monthly operational costs which includes fuel, oil, staffing, chlorine, filters and water testing
is USD 8000. Mercy Corps support to cover the costs of fuel, oil and chlorine is equal to USD
4000 for a period of 4 months total (USD 16000). The cost recovery mechanism (revenues
collected each month) will be covering 80% of the total monthly operational costs (which is USD
6400).

A) Given the above information, please indicate at which point (after how many months)
the system will not be able to cover the monthly operational costs from the collected
revenues as the revenues are only collected from 80% of the populations. Please
attached your excel worksheet for reference.

B) What will be your recommendations to the local council based on the findings of (A).