International Consultant Consultant to develop Village Level Operation and Maintenance (VLOM) Strategy in Sierra Leone

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, dedication.

Please access UNICEF Sierra Leone information here and here

How can you make a difference?

Background:

The Water and Sanitation Sector in Sierra Leone is positioned to achieve the sustainable development goals for water and sanitation and thereby increase access to WASH Services while seeking to ensure that improved water supply facilities continue to function most of the time. The renewed effort towards sustaining the functionality of water supply facilities is informed by recent studies that show that the level of functionality of improved water supply facilities is very low.

In Sierra Leone, 63% of the population has access to basic water services with access for 79.4 percent of people living in urban areas, 54% of people living in rural communities, and 57% of the dwellers of coastal communities. Although the functionality level of water systems is at 81%, 26.9% of the water systems break down within one year of completion which is very high especially when 44.9% of these water systems in Sierra Leone are seasonal as they dry up during dry season.

With these findings, access to safe water supply can be significantly increased if all existing water systems are made to function to full capacity.

In order to increase the functionality of water systems in the country, UNICEF Sierra Leone seeks to support the Ministry of Water & Sanitation to develop and institutionalise the Village Level Operations and Maintenance (VLOM), strategy in order to increase access to safe drinking water by reducing the break-down time of facilities through effective community-driven routine maintenance and private sector directed repairs.

Purpose and Objectives:

The objective of the consultancy is to provide technical support to the government and other sector players to develop and operationalise the VLOM strategy for the country towards: 1) mobilizing government at national and subnational levels to set up institutions and budgets to support the entrenchment of village level O&M of water facilities; 2) supporting the private sector to develop and operationalise sustainable water facilities spare part supply chain; 3) developing capacities of Local Area Mechanics (LAM) and artisans (Village Maintenance Worker-VMW) at all levels to provide repair services for water facilities; 4) Mobilising and sensitising communities to implement user-fees and use proceeds for operations and maintenance of facilities.

Specific Tasks, Activities and Deliverables:

1. Preliminary desk review and planning with key sector players to identify existing strategies and policies in the country.
2. Extensive consultations with key sector players in government, civil society and in the private sector.
3. Develop a draft VLOM Strategy including operation and maintenance management framework in line with the existing Water and Sanitation policy.
4. Organise National workshop of key players to present the draft VLOM Strategy for validation.
5. Mobilize at national and sub-national levels to set up and staff VLOM Units as a practical step to operationalizing the National VLOM Strategy including sustainable community management models.
6. Provide support in the establishment and/or strengthening of spare parts supply chains and at the national level and identify at least two Local Area Mechanics (LAM) for each district.
7. Document avenues of business opportunities and job creation within the implementation of the VLOM Strategy.

Please see attached ToR for detailed information. ToR for VLOM consultant.pdf

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Civil/Environmental Engineering; Water Supply and Sanitation; Civil/Sanitary Engineering; Water Resources Management and Hydrology/Geology.

Experience

• At least 8 years of relevant working experience in the WASH Sector including social and behaviour changes, particularly in piped water supply systems (Lift and gravity fed) and Construction Management.
• Proven experience in the implementation of VLOM systems.
• Familiarity with the Policy and Administrative context of the WASH Sector in Africa and particularly Sierra Leone.

Skills required

• Good communication, excellent writing skills, analytical in approach, working with people, and knowledge of the development context and UNICEF work.
• Willingness to travel to rural and semi-urban areas of the country.
• Fluency in English is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

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

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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.