UNICEF Zimbabwe is inviting applications for an individual consultant to provide technical support towards the delivery of WASH Emergency and Resilience activities (Open to Zimbabwean nation

Consultant Crisis & Emergency Response Programme & Policy Medical & Health

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, quality Water, Sanitation and Hygiene!

UNICEF has been operating in Zimbabwe since 1982. We are a team of passionate professionals committed to the protection and fulfillment of children’s rights.

The current UNICEF-Government of Zimbabwe Country Programme of Cooperation (2016-2020, extended to 2021) aims to support Zimbabwe to sustain and build upon the gains achieved for children during the 2012-2015 Country Programme of Cooperation. The programme focuses on improving the quality of social services, increasing access to services, and helping to build national and sub-national capacities to provide low-cost, high-impact interventions for all children, especially the most vulnerable.

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How can you make a difference?

UNICEF Zimbabwe is seeking to hire an innovative individual consultant to provide technical support towards the delivery of WASH Emergency and Resilience activities as per the below consultancy Terms of Reference

Consultancy Terms of Reference

Section

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)

Purpose

Under the direction of the WASH Manager and in close liaison with other members and technical specialists of the WASH team and other Sections as appropriate, responsible for supporting the coordination and information management of the WASH Sector including UNICEF's WASH emergency portfolio and the development of the WASH Climate Change Strategy with the City of Harare.

Furthermore, the consultant will support the development, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of UNICEF’s emergency response activities and results related to safeguard and improve public health of the affected population by ensuring access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene and the progressive restoration and improvement of WASH facilities and services, including appropriate use and maintenance; ensuring overall efficiency, effectiveness and delivery of results in accordance with UNICEF’s Core Commitment for Children in Emergencies (CCCs) and national and international humanitarian standards.

Location

Harare based

Duration

105 days

Start and end dates

To be advised

Reporting to

WASH Manager

Background

In Zimbabwe, vulnerable women, children and men continue to face multiple humanitarian challenges including but not limited to recurring droughts, cholera/typhoid outbreaks, at risk of flooding and the recent COVID-19 global pandemic. In 2018/19, the country experiencing the second worst cholera outbreak, with a cumulative 10,730 suspected cholera cases and 69 deaths. In 2019, the country was hit by tropical Cyclone Idai, that left a trail of destruction, affecting an estimated 270,000 people including women and children. While the country was recovering from the effects of tropical cyclone Idai and the 2019/2020 drought, the COVID-19 global pandemic came in 2020. Zimbabwe is currently facing a third wave of COVID-19, affecting all provinces. As of 29 June 2021, the country registered 1,249 new cases, all of which are local. Cumulatively, since March 2019, the country recorded 48,533 positive COVID-19 cases and 1,761 deaths. Within this multi-risk environment, it is often difficult to pinpoint when people and communities enter into a situation of acute humanitarian need. The on/off view of crisis masks the reality that many people in Zimbabwe live perpetually close to the edge of a humanitarian crisis. An erosion of coping mechanisms in an increasingly uncertain and unpredictable socio-economic environment has exacerbated vulnerabilities.

This situation calls for strengthened coordination and increased need for timely and improved information management and analysis, to ensure interventions are based on need, and gaps in the field are identified and addressed. In addition, it is important to identify strategic interventions, and ensure that relevant timely information is communicated back to WASH partners, in a useful format to support action. UNICEF is responsible to support the Humanitarian related coordination for the WASH sector in Zimbabwe, within the framework of the WASH Sector Coordination and Information Forum (WSCIF) and its Emergency Strategic Advisory Group (E-SAG), co-chaired by UNICEF. As such, UNICEF is responsible for supporting effective humanitarian coordination, information management and technical support to implementing partners. With these elevated risks on so many fronts, UNICEF is seeking a skilled WASH in Emergency consultant support to bolster the on-going office response.

Assignments:

WASH Sector Coordination:

• Under the framework of National Action Committee (NAC) structures at national, provincial and district level and, in conjunction with other WASH stakeholders, including disaster response mechanisms and on behalf of UNICEF, support the overall analysis of sectoral needs and priorities and the definition of strategies and standards to ensure the delivery of safe drinking water to affected population, in accordance with national and international humanitarian standards.
• Attendance & participation in WASH sector Technical Working Groups and forum as and when require including dissemination of progress updates with stakeholders and ensure alignment and complementarity with other sectors
• In collaboration with ESAG and other development partners, contribute to the development, implementation and monitoring of the WASH sector national response plan, ensuring optimisation of resources, synergies with other sectors and timeliness of the response
• Ensure appropriate coordination mechanisms between all WASH humanitarian partners are in place, including effective links, communication and information management, as well as technical working groups and/or sub-national coordination platforms as appropriate.
• Contribute to enhancing the quality of the national WASH response including incorporating Early Recovery and Disaster Risk informed approaches as integrated component of UNICEF’s response in the WASH sector
• Based on overall sectoral needs analysis, support ongoing WASH response strategy and plans including supporting donor engagement, tracking and monitoring of the WASH sector response and plans
• Effective links with other clusters or sectoral coordination platforms and represent the interests of the WASH sector
• Support UNICEF’s WASH response including interacting with government and partners (including UN, Donors, NGOs, CSOs, etc.) in the different stages of the emergency programme implementation, following up on cooperation agreements, recommendations and other UNICEF’s commitments for the emergency response, including the development of partners’ capacity.

Information Management

• Support the development of data requirement, collection and analysis to inform required corrective action and knowledge management of the response as well as for reporting and advocacy
• Adequate monitoring mechanisms are in place to review outcomes of WASH interventions and progress against strategy and action plans; including an analytical interpretation of best available information in order to benchmark progress over time (monitoring indicators: quantity, quality, coverage, continuity and cost; with target population data disaggregated by sex, age, etc.).
• Information on all current and potential WASH partners, their capacities and areas of work (including Who, What, Where and When) are properly collected, analyzed and fed back to partners
• Adequate WASH outcome reporting and effective information sharing (with government and other partner support) to demonstrate closing the gaps.
• Provide support to UNICEF WASH team for quality monitoring and reporting on its response
• Facilitate documentation of sector and UNICEF impact stories

WASH Climate Change Strategy

• Support City of Harare in the development of the WASH Climate Change Strategy

• Facilitate and support implementation of urban WASH resilience activities in urban areas, including City of Harare and Bulawayo

  Monitoring, Technical Support and Reporting

• Provide overall technical guidance to Implementing partners, Rural District Councils (RDCs) and Department of WASH Coordination (DWASHCo) to carry out WASH emergency humanitarian programme delivery, formulate, implement and monitor planned WASH activities while ensuring alignment with the country strategies and Quality of rights-based approach.

• Conduct field visits to cyclone affected areas as required in coordination with the RDCs and other government counterparts and ensure dissemination of findings with the appropriate authorities for necessary action
• Support donor missions to cyclone affected areas
• Collaborate with the design and effective implementation of a monitoring plan to follow up the implementation of UNICEF’s emergency humanitarian response in the WASH sector, incorporating required changes into WASH activities, with special attention to special needs of women, children and people with disabilities and other cross-cutting areas.
• Provide Emergency WASH situation reports, field reports and donor update reports as and when required with inputs from IPs and RDCs
• Support collation of data from the field including making inputs for donor proposals
• Promote effective Knowledge management and communication through sharing good practice, lessons learned, including providing inputs /liaising with Communications on Human-Interest Story for reporting and advocacy purposes
• Ensure UNICEF’s engagement and contribution/participation in cross-sectoral assessment, analysis and evaluations of the emergency response such as Damage Loss Assessment (DLA), Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA), Post Distribution Monitoring of Supplies

WASH and UNICEF Section Interactions

• Provide technical support to the WASH section in emergency preparedness and response plans, based on WASH emergency programmatic requirements
• In coordination with other members of the WASH team, explore possibilities to strengthen UNICEF’s WASH regular/development programme/intervention through recovery/reconstruction/stabilization activities
• Support convergence and joint implementation with other UNCIEF sections.

Consultancy Tasks and Deliverables

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Timeline (days)

Payment Schedule (%)

Technical support and facilitation of WASH Sector Coordination

• Organizing of WSCIF/ESAG meetings. Crafting of meeting discussions/ action points and sharing with sector partners in liaison with DWASHCo
• Developing of bi-monthly WASH Sector bulletins
• In collaboration with ESAG partners and other UN agencies (UNOCHA, WHO), lead the development of sector response plans (HRPs, Flash Appeals, Contingency plans,)
• Ensure effective linkages with other clusters or sectoral coordination platforms and represent the interests of the WASH sector e.g participation in the ICCG, IACCH

1. 8 bi-weekly meeting minutes with action points produced and shared timely with UNICEF, WASH sector partners & stakeholders
2. 3 WASH Sector bulletins developed and shared with UNICEF, WASH sector partners & stakeholders
3. WASH sector response plan documents (HRP, Flash Appeals, sector Contingency plans developed in consultation with WASH partners, government, and UN agencies
4. Summary of discussions and action points shared on monthly participation in inter-agency coordination bodies such as the ICCG, IACCH and other clusters, demonstrated

26 days

25%

Support Information Management for the WASH Sector and Resilience/ Emergency WASH

• Monthly updating of the WASH Sector 4/5W matrix and sharing with stakeholders, including UNOCHA
• In liaison with implementing partners, update and analyze the UNICEF bi-weekly partner reporting portal and share infographics with UNICEF and partners
• In liaison with partners, DWASHCo and UNICEF WASH team, develop a functional mWater platform for WASH sector and UNICEF IP monthly updates
• Support the development of national data collection tools (ZIMVAC,) by analyzing and inputting WASH indicators
• Facilitate documentation of sector and UNICEF impact stories

1. 5 x WASH Sector 4/5W matrix reports shared with WASH partners, government and UNOCHA
2. 8 consolidated bi-weekly partner reports produced and shared with UNICEF and partners
3. Water Dashboard for WASH sector partners operational with monthly updates

21 days

20%

4. WASH sector data collection tools for national surveys (rural and urban ZIMVAC, MICS) developed and shared with stakeholders
5. At least 2 most significant change stories drafted and shared with UNICEF WASH team
6. 1 WASH Field Note developed and shared with UNICEF WASH team

21 days

20%

Development of a WASH Climate Change Strategy with City of Harare

• Support City of Harare in the development of the WASH Climate Change Strategy
• Facilitate and support implementation of urban WASH resilience activities in urban areas, including City of Harare and Bulawayo

1. Draft WASH Climate Change Strategy for City of Harare developed and shared

11 days

10%

Monitoring, Technical Support and Reporting

• Conduct field visits as required in coordination with the UNICEF WASH team and other government counterparts and ensure dissemination of findings with the appropriate authorities for necessary action
• Provide Emergency WASH situation reports, field reports and donor update reports as and when required with inputs from IPs and RDCs
• Collate lessons learnt through good practices and develop knowledge management products
• Participate in cross-sectoral assessment, analysis and evaluations of humanitarian responses

1. At least 4 field trip reports with clear action points developed and shared. Depending on the COVID-19 restrictions, could either be physical site visits reports or based on virtual meetings
2. 1 quarterly WASH situation reports produced and shared
3. Bi-monthly emergency WASH Stock Inventory reports produced and shared. This include an analysis of prepositioned stocks in provinces and hotspot areas
4. Post distribution monitoring reports consolidated from partners and shared for WASH hygiene kits including analysis on uptake, and recommendations for effective usage
5. Draft inputs for at least 2 donor reports shared with UNICEF WASH team

26 days

25%

Total

105 days

100%

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

• An advanced University degree in any of the following disciplines; Civil/ Environmental/ Water/ Mechanical Engineering, Public Health or other technical sciences related to the WASH field. * A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 10 years of relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• At least 5 years of field experience in management and technical assistance to WASH programmes in developing countries, including emergencies.
• Knowledge of WASH sector as a whole and its priority issues; an ability to strategize on how sectoral needs are met through collective delivery, and ensuring that the roles, responsibilities and functional linkages among Cluster support team are clear and well-coordinated.
• Proven experience supporting government agencies, international organizations, and development partners for the delivery of WASH services in humanitarian situations.
• Strong knowledge of WASH sector IM needs and broader response IM needs.
• Strong knowledge of Google Earth Excel and preferably MS Access or other databases.
• Ability to present information in understandable tables, charts and graphs.
• Knowledge of multi-variable mapping techniques.
• Data storage and file management expertise.
• Assessment, survey, and monitoring and evaluation expertise.
• Knowledge of ArcGIS or other mapping software.
• Knowledge & experience of WASH emergency activities & management of WASH Emergency response programmes.
• Demonstrable understanding and experience of cross cutting issues including disability and gender equity issues and their relevance to humanitarian response work.
• Strong report writing skills.
• Previous experience in a UN agency will be an advantage.

Other Consultancy Costs and Payment Modalities

Competitive market rates will apply.

If interested and available to undertake the consultancy, please submit your application online and attach the required documents including the technical and an all-inclusive financial proposal (detailing professional fees, DSA, airfare etc. where necessary). This consultancy involves 30 field travel days. UNICEF will provide transport support for the field trips related to this assignment.

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.

View our competency framework at

UNICEF Competency Framework - HomePage (sharepoint.com)

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:

Candidates who applied previously do not need to reapply.

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