International WASH Engineer consultancy

Contract

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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, care

According to the National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic, 8.9% of the population do not have access to safe sources of drinking water and use water from open water reservoirs that are hazardous to health. The sources of drinking water supply in towns and villages of the Kyrgyz Republic are rivers, reservoirs, deep artesian wells, canals and other facilities.

The problem is that only 29.1% of the population of the country are connected to the centralized water disposal systems and facilities according to statistics. In some settlements, there are existing wastewater disposal systems, but due to exceeding the service life and lack of capital investment, they are in a condition that requires rehabilitation or new construction. In rural areas, only 3% of residential and public buildings are connected to sewage systems, these are schools and medical organizations. Lack of safe drinking water and poor sanitation can lead to serious public health issues and outbreaks of infectious diseases, especially among children.

The situation with Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH) in schools is of concern, with significant implications, particularly for adolescent girls: one in four schools has no access to clean drinking water, 74.4 per cent do not have internal toilets and 68.2 per cent are not connected to the hot water supply.

In most schools, toilets do not meet inclusive and gender responsive criteria. Lack of privacy and safety is a major problem for adolescent girls who avoid using the school toilets whenever possible. Toilets are usually located outside the main building, and this creates a major risk of sexual harassment for girls. Handwashing facilities exist but are not located next to the toilets, which is making it difficult to ensure safe hygiene practices by children.

In 2016, a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic was developed to amend the sanitary and epidemiological rules and regulations "Sanitary and epidemiological requirements for the conditions and organization of education in general educational institutions"- this covers the requirements for the design and equipment of school toilets and hygiene rooms for girls.

In this regard, UNICEF plans to hire an International WASH consultant, who is expected to assist in revision of the National standards on WASH in schools in consideration of gender responsiveness and inclusiveness and propose a model WASH facility in selected schools.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment: Provide technical support to the Ministry of Education through making recommendations on the review and update of existing National standards on WASH in Schools and assist in building a model WASH facility.

Scope of Work:

The International Consultant is required to review and update the existing National Standards on WASH in schools and ensure its alignment with best international practices, particularly related to gender sensitivity and inclusion of the needs of children with disability. The consultant is expected to work in close collaboration with a national consultant. The international WASH consultant will ensure alignment with existing national policy, legal and regulatory frameworks where applicable.

The national consultant will be responsible for reviewing existing national documents related to WASH infrastructure in schools, including standards, policy and regulatory framework, sanitarium rules and norms, law on water and other relevant frameworks. The national consultant will generate an analysis on the current situation of WASH in schools, gaps and challenges, gender responsiveness and inclusiveness, with a particular eye on access by children with disabilities. The international consultant will support the national consultant by providing evidence of best international practices of gender and disability inclusive and climate resilient WASH facilities and review of analytical documents generated by him/her. The international consultant will support the Ministry of Education to build and scale up a model WASH facility at selected schools.

The national consultant will provide supportive functions such as identifying and arranging meetings with key informants and relevant stakeholders in WASH sector and translation (in Kyrgyz) during meetings. Due to technical terminologies of engineering, both oral and written translation service should be done by the national consultant/engineer is essential.

Key activities of the international consultant:

• Review information collected by the national consultant (existing documentation related to WASH infrastructure in schools, particularly national standards, policy and regulatory frameworks, with a focus on gender responsive and inclusive designs). Visit schools and kindergardens in both urban and rural Kyrgyzstan, meet national stakeholders to identify challenges and opportunities for improved WASH situation in educational settings and write a desk review of the current situation.
• Provide technical guidance and, in collaboration with the national consultant, design inclusive and gender-responsive standards for school latrines and WASH facilities ensuring adaptability to all conditions in Kyrgyzstan, including rural/urban context, and taking into consideration the available infrastructure, its quality, construction material and winter temperatures.
• Review and ensure quality assistance of the cost analysis to be done by national consultant for the development of a prototype at model schools based on the new proposed standards.
• Costing of the proposed prototype for scale up based on unit cost of WASH facility (toilet with hand washing sink with reliable water source) including building, infrastructure requirement and service maintenance (how to empty septic tank etc)

Supervisor: P3 Health Specialist.

Strat date: 01 October 2023 – 30 January 2024. Number of working days 90.

Work assignment overview attached in the TOR TOR WASH.docx

TRAVEL:

1. Travel to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
2. Local travel to Osh, Naryn, Batken, Talas, Jalalabad, and Issyk-Kyl districts, (each province -3 days for situation analysis and 3 days for prototype discussion and costing)

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

• An advanced university degree sanitary engineering or civil engineering and another relevant engineering field.
• Understanding of public health, gender, and disability-accessible WASH facilities
• a minimum of five years of professional experience in WASH-related programs, with particular focus on engineering experience of WASH facilities in developing countries is required.
• Fluency in Russian and 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.