National Consultant, WASH (Capacity building and System strengthening); Only for Bangladeshi-2 Positions

Consultant Programme & Policy Medical & Health

Contract

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Background:

There are 329 Pourashavas in Bangladesh among which only 159 have piped water supply facilities. Many More than two-third of urban households in Bangladesh depend on groundwater-based tube-wells for water supply. These sources are usually available at the household level or shared between neighbors, but have water quality problems in many areas, as well as issues with sustainability of source. Only 10 percent of the population enjoys access to piped water schemes, mostly in the larger Pourashavas. Some Pourashavas have basic piped water systems but these cover only a limited population at the core of the town. Some of these water systems are working but poor maintenance, quality problems, and high operational costs are common problems.

Besides this, sanitation in Pourashavas mainly comprises of household on-site pits and tanks that are infrequently cleaned and when cleaned, the fecal matter is dumped in the open posing public health hazards. Solid waste, drainage and flooding are other common problems.

Tarabo Pourashava / Homna Pourashava is one out of thirty Pourashava of Bangladesh Municipal Water Supply and Sanitation project funded by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), World Bank (WB) and Government of Bangladesh (GoB). The overall objective of the project is to increase access to improved water supply and sanitation services including improvement of city drainage system.

UNICEF is associated with this project to support the Pourashava for better management of delivering safe water supply and sanitation services. AIIB-WB project will provide infrastructural support for city wide pipe water supply, sanitation and drainage while UNICEF will support the Pourashava for efficient and effective management of water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, fecal sludge management and hygiene behavioral change through capacity building and system strengthening of the Pourashava to build this Pourashava as a model among the other Pourashavas.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The Sector Development Plan (SDP, 2011-25) articulates the role of Pourashavas in providing Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) services which includes, among others, a) ensuring access to piped water and sanitation services to all residents, b) operating the systems following commercial practices, c) recovering at least operations and maintenance costs, d) providing safety net for poor, and e) promoting and supporting private sector, NGOs and communities.

Although Pourashavas are the designated service provider for water and sanitation services, they are constrained by insufficient investment, limited sources of revenue and lack of personnel and capacity.

The WASH Consultant (Capacity building and System strengthening) positions have been supported by UNICEF to work closely with the Pourashava authority to assess the capacity gap and bottleneck of the systems and design/implement necessary measures to improve the situation. WASH Consultant will provide technical guidance to the Community Mobilizers to work properly as an interface between duty bearers and right holders. The Consultant will sit in the Pourashava and will provide technical guidance and management support to the Pourashava authority to ensure visible and measurable improvement of Pourashava capacity for management of WASH project activities supported by UNICEF.

Under this assignment, some of the expected tasks include:

• Analysis of capacity gaps for the Pourashava and come up with solutions for effective management of WASH project activities
• Design necessary interventions for system strengthening of the Pourashava for better service delivery
• Conduct Training Need Assessment (TNA) and design necessary training program for capacity building of Pourashava elected representatives/ officials, beneficiary groups, civil societies for sustainable management of WASH project activities.
• Support Pourashava authority for providing universal access to safe water and sanitation. Support Pourashava to ensure that the whole Pourashava is ODF and Hand hygiene has become a social norm.
• Develop necessary operational guidelines and orient the stakeholders for proper use and maintenance of WASH facilities including solid waste management and fecal sludge management.
• Ensure regular conduction of steering committee meeting and other meeting, prepare and circulate meeting notes and follow up actions to be taken.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline

1.1 Rapid self-institutional capacity assessment for the Pourashavas to identify current capacity gaps for managing WASH project, develop actions for improvement and support the implementation of these actions with standard operational procedures.

1.2 Conduct Training Need Assessment. Design and facilitate capacity building training for the Mayor and Pourashava officials on WASH rights, Pourashava Act. 2009, their role/responsibilities as a service provider to ensure effective and efficient WASH services to fulfil the targets 6.1 and 6.2 of SDG6.

1.3 Conduct study on Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP), willingness to pay, progressive tariff, users satisfaction and provide technical guidance to the Pourashava authority for taking management decision for better WASH service delivery

Institutional capacity assessment report and action plan,

Training Need Assessment (TNA) report

Facilitation of capacity building training, willingness to pay/ users satisfaction survey report (shared with Mayor and Pourashavas officials and adopted).

Case study on the enabling environment developed and advocacy document proposed

42 days

2.1 Develop effective mechanism for involvement of CSOs/NGOs/CBOs and private sector to work with communities to implement, manage and sustain WASH services.

2.2 Develop an accountability framework for all stakeholders, follow up and feedback.

2.3 Provide technical support and management guidance to Pourashava authority for ensuring universal access to safe drinking water, improved sanitation and ODF community.

2.4 Provide support to the Pourashava for timely bill preparation, revenue collection and complain handling.

Framework developed for engagement of CSO/NGO/CBO, Accountability framework developed and in practice,

Implementation plan developed for universal access to safe water and sanitation for the Pourashava

90% revenue collection on time.

Users complain addressed/resolved by 72 hours

30 days

3.1 Design and conduct training/ workshop/orientation/ refreshers for the communities on WASH rights, bill payment, progressive tariff, hygiene behavior, Water Safety Plan (WSP), ODF

3.2 Support the community people to voice out their own priorities, perceptions and experiences to the Pourashava/ Service provider and ensure their concerns are taken into account in planning/implementing for improvements in WASH service delivery- make necessary documentation.

3.3 Conduct promotional session on water safety plan, safe sanitation, ODF community.

Training module and training plan developed, facilitation of the training with training report prepared, prepare training materials for water safety plan, safe sanitation, implementation plan for ODF community;

30 days

4.1 Conduct mass campaign / awareness building on safe sanitation including waste management / fecal sludge management and ODF community

4.2 Provide training to the front-line workers (Septic tank cleaner/ Fecal sludge management, Solid waste management) about their safety focusing COVID-19 pandemic.

4.3 Strengthen monitoring and in – depth analysis of data to track WASH services, follow- up and reporting

Action plan developed for mass campaign on behavioural change, action plan developed for safe management of solid waste and faecal sludge, endorsed by Mayor.

Monitoring and reporting system in place and operational

21 days

5.1 Development/ revision and arrange printing of project operational guidelines, IEC/BCC materials on water, sanitation, hygiene, water safety plan, solid waste and fecal sludge management

5.2 Development of knowledge management products i.e. guidelines/manuals, advocacy tools, human interest stories

5.3 Develop skills/capacity of Community Mobilizers to perform their job properly

Communication materials updated and printed to use, provide on the job training to the Community Mobilizers for their skill development, development of resource products

21 days

6.1 Support the consultant to develop sustainable business model for water supply and sanitation project in the Pourashava.

6.2 Develop and train citizen consultation platform to dialogue with Pourashava authority to demand services

6.3 Support consultant to develop one stop digital service platform (billing, tax payment, trouble shooting, etc.) for effective and efficient WASH services to the dwellers including low income communities

6.4 Data collection, analysis and reporting back/ sharing with Mayor and Pourashava officials / DPHE about the performance of Pourashava and corrective measures

Sustainable business model developed, one stop digital platform activated, citizen platform activated to demand for their services, report to Mayor about performance of Pourashava

Policy paper on the business model presented

42 days

7.1 Development of necessary guidelines i.e. Operations and maintenance guidelines for the WASH facilities, management of solid waste and fecal sludge, policy interpretation and orientation

7.2. Keep Pourashava authority, civil society, private sectors informed about the progress and their role in sustainability of services.

Necessary guidelines, protocols, action plan developed for practicing mutual accountability mechanism

30 days

8.1 Arrange regular steering committee meeting, prepare agenda, serve notice well in ahead, prepare meeting notes and action points, follow up actions.

8.2 Present progress of work, challenges, cooperation needed and way forward to the steering committee meeting.

8.3 Prepare monthly progress report and submit to all concerned.

Convene meeting (steering committee meeting, progress review meeting, consultation meeting, trouble shooting meeting, etc), prepare meeting proceedings and action plan with necessary follow up

15 days

Minimum Qualifications and Experience required:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree) in one of the following areas: Social Science or Public Health Engineering, Civil Engineering (Water resources/ Environmental sanitation) Business Administration or a field relevant to WASH related development assistance.
• At least 8 years’ experience in development field, preferably in the water and sanitation sector (UN or development agency, donor, government regulatory body, academic institution or the private sector);
• Extensive experience in organizing and facilitating meetings/workshops/seminars;
• Familiarization with the policy environment of Bangladesh, the challenges within the WASH sector and the capacities of various stakeholders, would be considered an asset.
• Good interpersonal, leadership and management skills in implementing multi-party development projects.
• Well conversant with the development programme aspects of water supply and sanitation;
• Working experience with donors funded Government projects/organization/international NGOs
• Good written and spoken English.
• Computer skills especially in word processing, spreadsheet and PowerPoint presentation is preferred.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The functional competencies required for this post are...

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

* There are 2 positions, one for Tarabo Pourashava, one for Homna Pourashava.

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.

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Added 3 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: unicef.org