National Consultant: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Governance Consultant, Janakpur, Nepal (Only for Nepalese Nationals)

Consultant Programme & Policy Medical & Health

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UNICEF Janakpur Field Office has been providing technical and financial support to the local and provincial governments of Madhesh and Koshi provinces for socio-economic upliftment and rights protection of children, adolescents, mothers and people of deprived communities through different sectoral interventions.

In relation to WASH, major activities initiated in Madhesh province include improvement of service delivery and capacity building/system strengthening of WASH sector. UNICEF’s support under the CPAP, aims to scaling-up WASH interventions, such as advocacy and awareness for development and effective implementation of policies / guidelines in line with federalism through extending support to all three tiers of governments. The support is focused to development and rolling out of WASH Plan, MIS (Monitoring and Information System), increase access to safe water supply, safe sanitation & hygiene, and improvement of WASH in Schools & Health Care Facilities at scale.

Purpose of the Assignment:

The overall objective of this assignment is to provide technical assistance to Madhesh province government and selected local governments to accelerate the initiatives towards strengthening the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) system at sub-national level in Madhesh Province.

The dedicated technical support from the Ministry is requested to be based in Ministry of Energy, Irrigation and Water Supply in Madhesh province to accomplish below mentioned pending activities which will make significant impact in the WASH sector.

The Madhesh Province Government has not yet developed the WASH Act, policy, and guidelines and 66 local governments still do not have a WASH plan due to lack of technical assistance.

The Ministry of Energy, Irrigation, and Water Supply (MoEIWS) needs to operate the WASH MIS system at the provincial level and support the local governments in handling and maintaining it.

The Education Development Directorate (EDD) has collected baseline WASH data from more than 5000 schools, and the Provincial Health Directorate (PHD) has collected baseline WASH data from about 1400 health care facilities (HCFs) recently. This data needs to be maintained, updated, and utilized at the respective office. He/she will support to the EDD and PHD to handle and update the WASH MIS system. Moreover, this support will contribute to resource leveraging for WASH plan development, WASH in Schools, and WASH in Health Care facilities (HCFs) by advocating to higher-level authorities using the collected WASH data.

Scope of Work:

The UNICEF Field Office Janakpur has been covering Madhesh province with those programmes, which are implemented in close coordination with the provincial & local governments and development partners. However, in case of emergencies, WASH in emergency support is being provided in all affected Local governments in close coordination with the local & provincial governments and WASH stakeholders available at local level.

The major outcomes expected from this consultancy support (directly and indirectly) are as below.

1) Provincial-level WASH Act, by laws & guidelines on water-safe community, water quality monitoring, and ODF sustainability are prepared and endorsed,

2) Technical support provided to local governments to develop and endorse WASH Act and Guidelines on water-safe community, water quality monitoring, ODF sustainability, and establishment of WASH unit with dedicated WASH focal person.

3) Coordination and communication mechanism between the province and local government for WASH sector improvement, at sub-national level will be strengthened.

4) Provincial level Monitoring and Information Management System strengthened in line with the sector MIS based on NWASH,

5) The process of WASH plan development of remaining local governments of Madhesh province will be accelerated

6) Best practices and learning from the field are properly documented and shared with programme partners and UNICEF for fundraising and advocacy purposes.

7) WASH Contingency plan of the province and high-risk programme municipalities are prepared/ updated to provide timely responses in the affected communities.

Duration of Contract: The total duration of the contract is for 8 months.

Duty Station: The consultant will be based in Ministry of Energy, Irrigation and Water Supply (MoEIWS), Madhesh Province, Janakpur.

Deliverables:

Tasks****Deliverables****Timeline Proposed FeeSupport provincial government for development of legislative frameworks/policy instruments

The consultant will involve process for the main task such as Meeting of the Task team, consultation workshops, key informants interview, consultative meetings and share draft Acts.

Submission of report on finalized Province level WASH Act, Guidelines on Water safe community, water quality monitoring, ODF sustainability developed and endorsed by Madhesh province By 15 November 2024 Facilitate selected local government for development of legislative frameworks/guidelines through provincial government’s programme/platform. The process will involve engagement through the provincial govt platform to update the status of WASH governance (status of preparation of WASH act & guidelines, establishment of WASH units, information management, and WASH plan development, trend of budget allocation and utilization)Submission of report on local government level legislative frameworks of at least 10. of local governments with finalized WASH Act/Guidelines on water safe community/ water quality monitoring mechanism, ODF sustainability and established WASH Unit with focal person By 15 December 2024 Support Provincial Govt in municipality WASH plan development and updating WASH data in NWASH. The process will involve support to organize consultation workshops, meeting with the local governments for resource allocation for WASH governance and service delivery, facilitate to the prov govt to guide enumerators to collect the data and trouble shooting and WASH plan's data verification.

Submission of report on development of WASH plan at least 10 no. of local governments have drafted WASH Plan

By 28 Feb 2025 Support strengthening the N-WASH MIS system at province level. The process will involve data base review in coordination with NWASH team at DWSSM, updating provincial data set/dashboard/ preparing WASH status report covering all sub-sectors of WASH including WASH in School and WASH in HCF.Submission of report on updated Provincial NWASH dashboard and Published WASH status report By 30 April 2025 Support Provincial government and UNICEF Janakpur Field Office in monitoring and Knowledge management around WASH. The process will involve providing technical support and guidance to the front-line workers and focal persons of the local & provincial governments and partners in documentation of learning and innovations from field and preparing monthly and event reportSubmission of report on the technical guidance provided to the front-line workers and focal persons of the local & provincial governments and partners in documentation of learning and innovations from field By 15 June 2025 To qualify as an advocate for every child the consultant will have…

Academic Qualification:

• Bachelor’s degree in one of the disciplines relevant to the following areas: Civil Engineering, Environment/Sanitation Engineering, Public Health, Planning, Sociology and Rural Development.
• Additional training in Social Behavior Change, Health Education; Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and Communication for Development (Programme Communication) focusing to WASH, is an asset.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of three (3) years of professional experience in WASH governance, water supply, WASH in schools, WASH in Emergency and water quality,
• A good working knowledge of recent developments and approaches on safely managed water, sanitation, and hygiene services, water quality, WASH in schools, and WASH in emergencies,
• Three years of progressive professional work experience in the UN or other (inter)national development/humanitarian organization, national government for WASH, GIS, and Governance.
• Demonstrated experience implementing water supply projects, in the communities and institutions (schools and health care facilities), water quality and recovery and reconstruction work in emergencies including result-based, human rights and gender/disability issues, specifically relating to children and women, and the current UN/ Govt’s position and approaches.
• Good theoretical and technical knowledge of local and provincial planning and management,
• Good knowledge, experience, and expertise in WASH information management, and use of NWASH application,
• Experience of working with the provincial and local governments, especially in WASH plan development with the use of the N-WASH application,
• Excellent knowledge and skills in computer along with the NWASH Application and other data/ information management applications,
• Strong communication skills (written and oral) in English and Nepali is required.
• Candidate with experience working in provinces, qualified females and candidates from under-represented ethnic groups, and persons with disability are highly encouraged to apply.

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:

Request to submit financial proposal (Nepalese currency) based on the deliverables for this assignment.

Female candidates and candidates from the under-represented ethnic groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

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.

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Added 21 hours ago - Updated 2 hours ago - Source: unicef.org