Individual National Consultant for WASH Construction Project Support, Viet Nam

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)

Background:

UNICEF Viet Nam has just started its new Country Program 2022-2026 in which the Child Survival and Development and Environment (CSDE) programme will shift to a stronger public health approach, with an increased focus on strengthening primary health care, prioritizing results at-scale in nutrition and Water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Increased focus will be given to public financing, policy reform, expanded partnerships with the private sector, and social norm change in critical priority areas such as addressing stunting.

The WASH programme aims to align with new areas of work, including privatization, sector financing, public-private partnerships, and climate resilience. WASH in emergency is also one of the top priorities for UNICEF to act as sector lead and supply provision for life-saving support to vulnerable people, particularly children and women. UNICEF WASH program will be at both national and subnational levels, while the national level will focus on advocacy, policy development, and sector coordination. At the sub-national level, UNICEF will prioritize gender-responsive and climate-resilient service delivery, innovation demonstration, and scaling up covering safely managed climate-resilient water and sanitation and promoting personal hygiene at school and community.

As a trusted, long-term partner of the Government in Viet Nam, UNICEF is committed to providing support for the Viet Nam Women’s Union, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) and selected provinces such as Dien Bien, Gia Lai, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, and Ca Mau to plan and implement the water supply, sanitation, and hygiene activities to achieve the targets of the National Strategy in Rural Water Supply and Sanitation by 2030 with a vision 2045 and Government of Viet Nam Commitments for SDGs.

In order to provide support for the partnership implementation, UNICEF would like to seek a consultant to support national agencies and the project provinces in strengthening and enhancing sustainability in the planning and implementation of climate-resilient water supply and sanitation construction projects for rural areas.

Purpose and Objectives:

Under the supervision and guidance of the WASH Officer, the incumbent will be responsible for monitoring all WASH construction activities in the Country Office (School’s climate-resilient WASH infrastructures, Water Supply schemes, Sanitation facilities/latrine options, etc.) and providing technical support on reviewing the technology, construction design, and rehabilitation activities of safely managed climate-resilient WASH infrastructure.

Summary of key functions/Accountabilities:

1 - Ongoing climate-resilient WASH construction project activities in the Mekong Delta provinces:

1.1. Monitoring of construction projects: Working with government counterparts to ensure effective construction execution and completion that involve project monitoring, quality assurance, site supervision, and handover.

2 - Upcoming climate-resilient WASH construction project activities in Dien Bien province and Mekong Delta provinces:

2.1. Planning and design stage: Working with government counterparts to conduct site assessments, review the design and technical documents (design drawings, technical specifications, bills of quantity, timelines and cost estimate), and monitor the procurement or partnership process.

2.2. Monitoring of construction projects: Working with government counterparts to ensure effective construction execution and completion that involve project monitoring, quality assurance, site supervision, and handover.

Location:

The consultant is expected to work from home, preferably in Ha Noi or Can Tho city, have meetings virtually and/or at UNICEF and partner offices, and conduct field trips to project provinces, including Dien Bien, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu, and Soc Trang.

Tasks:

Task 1: Ongoing climate-resilient WASH construction project activities in the Mekong Delta provinces:

1.1. Monitoring of construction projects: Working with government counterparts to ensure effective construction execution and completion that involve project monitoring, quality assurance, site supervision, and handover.

• Provide close monitoring of construction activities by undertaking regular site visits and conducting regular technical meetings, including joint monitoring with relevant Government technical services; follow up on progress for each activity per milestones and prepare site supervision reports to ensure work compliance with norms, standards, and timeline; verify quality and precautions on health and safety standards on the ground.

• Use effective monitoring and supervision tools to ensure easy assessment of works quality, progress, ESS application, and performance of engineering firms and construction companies during the entire duration of the project.

• Monitor payments/variations and compile records; monitor construction expenditures and progress/completion certificates; prepare and maintain relevant tables for each construction activity, prepare the final reports (performance evaluation and lessons learned).

Task 2: Upcoming climate-resilient WASH construction project activities in Dien Bien province and Mekong Delta provinces.

2.1. Planning and design stage: Working with government counterparts to conduct site assessments, review the design and technical documents (design drawings, technical specifications, bills of quantity, timelines and cost estimate), and monitor the procurement or partnership process.

• Work with local counterparts to develop the scope of construction works based on climate resilient, safely managed WASH Programme requirements, budget, and site assessment; define deliverables and partnership process.

• Provide technical support to local counterparts to apply UNICEF norms and standards (child-friendly, accessibility, Environment and Social Safeguard, etc.) to construction projects, considering the local environment and available materials; verify if compliance with green building standards is required.

• Review technical documents related to construction (design drawings, technical specifications, feasibility study documents, cost norms, and bills of quantities) in regard to the Government of Viet Nam’s regulations and standards; verify whether they are clear, complete, and compliant to programmatic and construction needs, ecoefficiency and accessibility requirements; undertake the actions required to endorse these technical documents by relevant ministries.

• Other tasks as required.

2.2. Monitoring of construction projects: Working with government counterparts to ensure effective construction execution and completion that involve project monitoring, quality assurance, site supervision, and handover.

Same as section 1.1 above.

Methodology:

The consultant will provide technical support to the relevant agencies and provinces through supervision, workshops, meetings, and field visits to the project sites in the provinces, including Dien Bien, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Soc Trang. The consultant will work closely with the UNICEF WASH team and relevant agencies on each aspect of the assignment.

Full TOR and deliverables as attached: Consultancy Notice WASH Construction project support.pdf

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience, at the national and/or international levels, in project monitoring, site supervision, quality assurance, and/or other directly-related technical fields is required.

• Good understanding of GOV’s regulations and standards in the construction field and WASH sector.

• Practical experience in managing construction projects in Viet Nam. Any experience in climate-resilient infrastructure construction is an advantage.

• Good analytical skill and negotiating skills.

• Ability to manage and monitor the effective use of resources.

• Ability to work with and influence local partners working on construction projects.

• Fast learner, adapts and responds to change, tolerates ambiguity.

• Fluency in English and Vietnamese is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or the local language of the duty station is considered an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Assessment criteria:

For evaluation and selection method, the Cumulative Analysis Method (weight combined score method) shall be used for this recruitment:

a) Technical Qualification: max. 75 points

• Educational background: 30 points

• Relevant working experiences: 45 points

b. Financial Proposal: max. 25 points

The maximum number of points shall be allotted to the lowest Financial Proposal that is opened/evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates in the technical evaluation. Other Financial Proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

The Contract shall be awarded to candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores, subject to the satisfactory result of the verification interview if needed.

Submission of applications:

Interested candidates are kindly requested to apply and upload the following documents to the assigned requisition in UNICEF Vacancies: http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/:

a. Letter of interest/confirmation of availability and CV;

b. Technical proposal which clearly explains the outline on how to deliver the tasks and deliverables (preferably 02 pages);

c. Performance evaluation reports or references of similar consultancy assignments (if available).

d. Financial proposal: All-inclusive lump-sum cost including consultancy fee, travel, accommodation and any other costs for this assignment (Travel 30 days: to Dien Bien x 2 x 4 days; Soc Trang x 2 x 6 days; Bac Lieu and Ca Mau x 2 x 5 days).

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.