Emmanuel Chifunilo

YEP period 2018 - 2020, batch WWX1

Young Expert at WaterWorX - Malawi

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First position after YEP

Assistant Project Engineer at Southern Region Water Board, Malawi

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YEP Role

Position: Local Project Coordinator

Project:  Southern Region Water Board – Vitens Evides International WaterWorX Project

 

Duties: 

• Know all members of a team, including their strengths, weakness, and areas of expertise
• Assign various tasks to team members that relate to the completion of a specific project
• Coach team members on how best to accomplish their goals
• Motivate others and build enthusiasm for a project by keeping focused on its main objectives and the rewards for completion
• Design overall schedule for a project and make proposals for necessary adjustments if and when problems arise
• Look for ways to cut back on project expenses and increase the potential for profits
• Participate in educational opportunities to stay up to date on leadership techniques 
• Keep upper management in the loop by preparing project updates and presentations that showcase a project's value and status
• Stay familiar with companies’ policies and goals and works to make sure that all members of a project team adhere to set standards
• Create project schedules that include materials estimates and manpower needs to be submitted to management
• Work with field personnel to handle project issues as they arise
• Managing all contractual arrangements on projects to be implemented by Board including issues of tenders of tenders, valuation of bids, procurement

Click here for more information about my project.

 

Skills

Engineering Skills	Structural Analysis and Design   Quantity Surveying Water Supply and Waste Water Engineering  Environmental Engineering Fluid Mechanics Geotechnics     Geology  Land surveying Hydrology  Transportation Engineering Water Resources And Planning
Computer Skills	Scheduling: Microsoft Project Draft and Planning: AutoCAD 2016, AutoCAD 3D Civil 2016 Structural analysis: Autodesk Robot structural analysis Hydraulic modeling and statistics: Epanet Office software: Microsoft office package (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) Geo-mapping: ARCGIS
Professional Skills	Project management Risk assessments Conflict resolution and management High standard writing skills Outstanding oral presentation skills
Personal Skills	Problem solving Attention to detail excellent organisational skills Fast learner

Background

Nationality: Malawian
Education: BSc Civil Engineering 2015

 

Experience before YEP

Southern Region Water Board (SRWB) – 2016 to date

Position: Assistant Projects Engineer

Duties: 

• Preparing engineering analysis of new projects and maintenance/rehabilitation/modification of existing infrastructure including carrying out project feasibility studies, preliminary and detailed designs, life cycle costing, and equipment selection.
• Preparing technical construction specifications, Performing Engineering duties surrounding the following; buildings, drainage, roads, water supply infrastructure and environmental systems
• Preparing and interpreting blueprints, schematic drawings, layouts and other visual aids.
• Conducting engineering surveys to gather field data
• Performing civil engineering duties surrounding the following; mechanical devices, components, water pumping equipment, environmental control, materials handling and machine tools.
• Assisting to manage project issues, budgets, and schedules for internally and externally funded projects.
• Coordinating the activities of the design and construction teams. 
• Assisting in managing and evaluation of all contractual arrangements on projects to be implemented by the Board including issues of tenders, valuation of bids, procurement etc.
• Liaising with consultants on all contracted out studies and projects
• Management of keeping of inventories for water supply networks.
• Supervising construction projects for compliance with design specification/ standards. 

Central East African Railways - 2015 to 2016

Position: Civil Engineer

Duties:

• Planning and executing maintenance of permanent way infrastructure (i.e., rails, sleepers, bridges, drainage structures and all track components,) and building infrastructure 
• Ensuring compliance to and in accordance with pre-established safety standards and regulations when maintenance work is being carried out. 
• Carrying out bridge and track inspection regime, conducting defects trend analysis, incident investigations, on-site audits to understand persistent issues affecting maintenance work .
• Managing, leading, guiding, training and supervising in-house Technical Officers, Technicians and external contractors in maintenance work relevant to permanent way. 
• Developing and implementing failure management and emergency response procedures / processes when deemed necessary 
• Handling contract management issues concerning all department contracts, both service and material supply contracts (ensuring that contract terms are adhered to, and managing the subsequent payment claims).
• Preparing progress reports both monthly and annual for the permanent way department.
• the implementation of preventative maintenance schema, design and development of the permanent way.