International Consultant for the Development of Phased Strategy to move Jigawa state towards climate resilient, safely managed sanitation services and ODF Sustainability Framework (Remote

Contract

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In Nigeria, UNICEF works in a complex humanitarian and development setting to fulfill and protect children's rights in partnership with government, civil society, children, and families. UNICEF Nigeria is one of the largest UNICEF Country Offices globally - click the link to learn more about UNICEF in Nigeria: https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/.

Organizational Context and Purpose for the job

The government of Nigeria (GoN) has been implementing the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet campaign (CNC) since its launch in November 2019, with a vision to make Nigeria open defecation free in alignment with the National Open Defecation Free (ODF) Roadmap and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6.2. The CNC and the ODF Roadmap have a strong focus on collective behaviour change towards LGA-wide ODF with the aim of achieving state-wide ODF across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Jigawa is the first state in Nigeria to have all its LGAs become ODF as of October 2022, thereby achieving state-wide ODF and becoming the role model for other states in country to learn from, replicate and adopt. However, reaching the ODF status is the beginning of the journey. The state is working towards sustaining open defecation free status with relevant programming in areas of ODF sustainability and moving households towards safely managed sanitation services, which requires more investments supported by adequate enabling environment, proper government structures and financial investment in both hardware and software to sustain gains made in ODF, reach new households (including those left behind); address slippage; ensure the use and maintenance of sanitation and handwashing facilities at household, institutions, and public places; ensure sanitation coverage in institutions and public places; and ultimately ensure households progressively move up the sanitation ladder from unimproved to safely managed sanitation services, including effective management of faecal sludge. Going forward, the following becomes important:

1) Plugging the gaps in access to sanitation that remain

2) Sustaining the gains of ODF

3) Moving up the sanitation ladder towards safely managed sanitation services

4) Addressing the entire sanitation service chain

5) Shifting the sanitation program towards climate-resilient services

This consultancy aims at supporting the government of Jigawa state and its population to sustain the gains made in ODF in the state, and progressively work towards safely managed sanitation services. This will be

achieved through the development of a Strategy for a phased approach to move Jigawa state towards climate-resilient, safely managed sanitation (SMS) services and an ODF Sustainability Framework (ODF-S), which will serve as a comprehensive guide to sustaining the gains made in achieving ODF status in Jigawa state under the CNC programme while supporting households to move towards safely managed sanitation services. Specific action plans and budgets for the ODF-S framework and Phased Strategy towards SMS for Jigawa State will be developed to help guide implementation at the state and LGA level and documentation of the strategy development process will be done to serve as an example that can be adopted and replicated by other ODF LGAs and States that will become ODF subsequently. To help monitor, certify, and validate communities on their ODF-S actions and key milestones within the Phased Strategy towards SMS, the consultancy will develop accompanying protocols, which will be appended with the National ODF Protocol (adopted September 2022).

Key responsibilities:

Based on the above, the following are the key assignments of the consultancy:

1. Inception report detailing the approach to the assignment and associated timelines for completion in consultation with the supervisor and other WASH section staff.

2. Develop:

a. A climate-resilient Phased Strategy for Jigawa state to move towards safely managed sanitation (SMS) services with accompanying implementation, financing and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plans to guide state-level implementation. As a first step in enabling communities, LGAs and states sustain the gains made in eliminating open defecation (Phase 1) and move from unimproved to improved and eventually safely managed sanitation, the phased approach will include priority strategies and incremental actions needed to achieve climate-resilient basic sanitation (Phase 2) and then safely managed sanitation (Phase 3), in line with the SDG 6.2. This will require framing of key requisite interventions to be prioritized by the state to support the population to progressively achieve SMS.

b. An ODF Sustainability (ODF-S) Framework which will provide the overall guidance on how the state-wide ODF shall be sustained with key components on how to address slippage, reaching households left behind, ensure functionality, and cover gaps, social and behaviour change communication, and other innovative approaches to sustaining change and moving households towards safely managed sanitation services.

c. Accompanying protocols to be integrated into existing national protocols for sanitation and hygiene. To help monitor, certify, and validate communities on their actions towards sustaining ODF and moving up the sanitation ladder incrementally, the consultancy will develop protocols for the strategy which will be integrated into the National ODF Protocol (adopted September 2022) or other relevant protocols at the national level.

3. Produce a consultancy report which will also be used for sharing information on project activities, results, pictures, and lessons learned with a wide variety of audiences from beneficiaries to high-level decision makers.

The Strategy and Framework would clearly identify the critical components (both software and hardware) and enabling factors for ODF sustainability and movement up the sanitation ladder towards safely managed sanitation services in both a state-wide and LGA-wide context. These will include key

components such as ODF sustainability actions; expansion of access to sanitation in public institutions and places; accelerating and increasing the number of households constructing improved toilets; access to hand hygiene for all; and key components of faecal sludge management are addressed including open dumping of untreated faecal sludge. The implementation plan will also identify immediate, mid-term and long-term activities, the level at which the activity will be implemented as well as the stakeholders responsible for these activities and their roles.

Given the UNICEF shift towards climate-resilient WASH services, the strategy and framework must integrate mitigation and adaptation to climate change in all aspects of the strategy and framework.

The Consultant will work with a national external facilitator to carry out the deliverables. The assignment is remote work and will require trip to Abuja and Jigawa, Nigeria, for field visits and consultations. The consultant will be required to have and utilize their own IT and Communications equipment.

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

Education:

Advanced degree in Development Studies, Public Health, Community Health, Public Administration, WASH Engineering, Social and Behaviour Change Communication and any other related field.

Experience:

The Consultant will work with a national external facilitator to carry out the deliverables. The Consultant shall have a minimum of 8 years’ experience in national and sub-national work in the sanitation and hygiene sub-sectors with skills in advancing and sustaining rural and urban sanitation interventions in developing country contexts.

In addition to this, the Consultant is required to have the following experiences:

• Experience supporting ODF sustainability.

• Experience with strategy development and or developing frameworks and guidance.

• Experience in Sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria desirable)

• Previous experience supporting movement up the sanitation ladder.

S/he should also have a solid report and technical writing skills in English language, with verifiable evidence of having done similar kind of work at the national and sub-national level.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken English language

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 for ensuring 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.

Please submit your all-inclusive financial and technical proposal along with the application. Application without these will not be entertained.