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Civil Engineer

All MCC workers are expected to exhibit a commitment to: a personal Christian faith and discipleship; active church membership; and nonviolent peacemaking.

MCC is an equal opportunity employer, committed to employment equity. MCC values diversity and invites all qualified candidates to apply.

Civil Engineer in Tha Thom, Lao PDR

Term: 
2 years
Date Opened: 
August 15, 2011
Date Required: 
Available Now

 

Synopsis: 
The Civil Engineer will collaborate with the project team, district government partners and local communities to select sites, design, construct, and maintain small scale irrigation systems and rice paddy fields and assist in the areas of erosion control and water related health for the Tha Thom Food Security and Nutrition Project.

 

Qualifications: 
  • Bachelor’s Degree in Civil, Agriculture or Environmental Engineering or a similar field
  • Experience or training in surveying and designing small scale irrigation systems using appropriate technology
  • Ability to live and work in hot, rugged conditions; sometimes in camping type conditions
  • Readiness to ride motorcycle in rugged conditions
  • Previous experience with MCC overseas or experience with similar development agency desirable
  • Ability to work on a team and possession of genuine understanding of the value of processing decisions as a team
  • Patience and flexibility to work in a context where plans change frequently
  • Commitment to hearing local counsel and affirming local institutions and individuals
  • Commitment to learning Lao language
  • Basic computer competence; word processing, email

 

Assignment Description: 
The Tha Thom Food Security Project is aimed at addressing the issues of chronic food insecurity and lack of nutrition in selected villages in the Tha Thom district of Xieng Khouang Province. In order to address the inter-related issues of nutrition and food-security, this project will take a community based approach to addressing these needs. This project works in 10 targeted communities.

The project provides nutrition training for district health staff and teachers, nutrition and health education to primary schools and identified families in villages, livestock care training, resource management (water and forest) training and training in agricultural techniques (such as composting, using natural fertilizers and pesticides, etc.). The project is developing small scale irrigation systems in order to increase rice productivity. Currently several other organizations are in the process of developing clean water systems for the communities. As communities have increased access to water sources, the project assists with the construction of wet latrines.

The project implementers will also work with the community to encourage them to think about the future and how to build on the strengths of the community to ensure that there is long-term food security. This means that sustainable alternatives to the exploitation of rivers and forests will need to be found. These alternatives could include: increased forest and river conservation methods, the increased production of alternative food sources, the development of other income generation sources.
The role of the Civil Engineer will be to work with the MCC Irrigation Officer and local government irrigation technicians to survey, design, and construct small scale irrigation systems, dams, and rice paddy land. Together the team will identify appropriate sites in order to ensure the poorest families in the community with access to paddy land benefit. Prior to construction of irrigation systems and rice paddy fields, the land will be cleared of UXO’s (Unexploded Ordinances). Local villagers will construct the irrigation systems and rice paddy fields through the Food for Work component of the project. The Civil Engineer will work with the local team to ensure villagers have appropriate skills to maintain irrigation systems. The Civil Engineer will assist with writing English language environmental assessments and reports for the Canadian Food Grains Bank in consultation with the team.
The Civil Engineer will be supervised by the Tha Thom MCC Project Manager.
The project team includes 7 national staff and 2 MCC Service Workers.

 

Duties: 
  • Participate as part of the project team and district government technicians in choosing sites, designing and building small scale irrigation systems and rice paddy fields.
  • Collaborate with MCC project team and district government technicians on the planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating of project activities in order to ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards.
  • Identify possible water storage systems for crop growing year round.
  • Advise on construction of wet latrines and other related water and sanitation work.
  • Train or facilitate training for irrigation technicians to develop a strong team of district irrigation technicians.
  • Assist with writing English language environmental assessments and reports for the Canadian Food Grains Bank in consultation with the team.
  • Develop good relationships with the district government agriculture staff by attending formal and informal meetings.
  • Participate in the project management team that meets on a regular basis.
  • Attend and participate in various meetings as required.

 

Location Description: 
This position will be based in the remote Tha Thom District of Xieng Khouang Province in Laos. The District capital, Tha Thom, is a remote small community with all of the benefits of rural living. While you won’t see any theater productions, you will have an opportunity to know your neighbors, watch the children play, and see a magnificent display of the stars at night. Tha Thom is nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains approximately 260 km from the capital city. The town has a tiny early morning market for local “vegetables” (mostly green leaves) and meat (usually one animal is butchered every day), and two or three restaurants which serve noodle soup or sticky rice. Electricity and cell phone coverage are now generally available in town. The MCC office also generally has “high speed” internet access. The road to Tha Thom is currently under construction which creates unpredictable and challenging travel conditions. It is anticipated travel to Vientiane will occur every two months.

There are no churches in Tha Thom. Health services are extremely limited.

The main MCC office is located in Vientiane, the small, relaxed capital of Laos. Unlike many South East Asian capital cities, Vientiane has a small town atmosphere. All important government and commercial sites are within a ten minute drive.
The Friendship Bridge connects Laos to Thailand about 20 kilometers from Vientiane which makes travel between these two countries fairly easy. Night trains and daily flights to Bangkok are available.
For non-emergency medical help, most foreigners use an informal network of foreign medical personnel. The French Embassy operates a 24-hour clinic in Vientiane that can do some basic testing, give advice and referrals and administer vaccinations.
The Australian Embassy represents Canadians in Laos. There is an American Embassy in Vientiane.
Life in Laos can be very enjoyable. The Lao people are generally friendly and welcoming to foreigners. The climate is called dry and wet monsoon. That means that there are two seasons; rainy and dry. The rainy season runs approximately from June to October and the dry from November to May.
The countryside of Laos is made up of mountains and lowlands, rice fields and forests. When one travels around the countryside in the rainy season, the rice fields are a vivid, verdant green and the forested mist-covered mountains are a deep, lush green. It is a beautiful sight.
The Civil Engineer will have access, as available, to an MCC vehicle or motorbike for work related travel. There is also public transport available by bus.
In the past year, the Lao currency, the Kip, has gained strength against the USD (currently $1 = 8,000 Kip), and is also tied to the Thai Baht (1 Baht = 250 Kip).
The Lao economy continues to be heavily dependent on foreign aid money and loans.

 

Challenges: 
  • Limited contact with people outside of local community.
  • Health risks related to tuberculosis, dengue fever, malaria, etc.
  • Very limited contact with Christian community.
  • Limited access to health services in Tha Thom.