UNICEF Zimbabwe is inviting applications from qualified individual international consultants to facilitate the Zimbabwe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector Review

Individual consultancy to facilitate the Zimbabwe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector Review

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, good water, sanitation and hygiene!

Consultancy Terms of Reference 

Subject: Consultancy services for the facilitation of the Zimbabwe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector Review

Type of contract: Individual Consultant (International)

 Duration: 2 months

Background

Zimbabwe has experienced a decline in the delivery and quality of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. The country missed targets under the Millennium Development Goals. Given regression in public sector investment in WASH, Zimbabwe is also set to miss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to WASH services. Reliance on development partners in a context of strained sector coordination has failed to address inequalities associated with weak to highly fragile WASH service delivery.

Water-borne diseases have recurred overtime. This has been a result of the declining socio-economic conditions.  Emergency responses initiated with development partner support during the cholera epidemic of 2008/9 have not sufficiently graduated to recovery and sustainable development. Ten years later another cholera epidemic exposed the fragility of urban WASH systems. Despite clear macro-economic and sector-specific regression Zimbabwe's 2030 vision is of an upper middle-income society. The 2018-20 Transitional Stabilization Program (TSP) and 2019 National Budget Statement anchor the vision and set pathways that address general issues and WASH-sector constraints. Zimbabwe's 2030 vision coincides with Agenda 2030, which has SDG 6 that advocates for universal access to WASH focused on availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Zimbabwe's most recent macro-economic policy (the Agenda for Sustainable Social and Economic Transformation, ZIMASSET 2013-18) espoused clear sector commitments. Unfortunately, these were not delivered upon. As such, there is a real danger that the 2030 vision may be unattainable without serious sector-specific and macro-economic transformations.

Enhanced evidence-driven and action-oriented sector dialogue is needed. This will aid development and full implementation (including funding) of appropriate WASH policies, organizational arrangements and program interventions aligned to relevant national and international goals. Properly framed responsibilities and accountability mechanisms binding on individual citizens as well as relevant state and non-state actors involved in the various aspects of the 3 WASH sub-sectors are needed. This is important given the relative complexity of the sector. Zimbabwe's WASH sector involves more than six-line Ministries, Departments and Parastatals currently coordinated by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement (MLAWCRR). There is needing to comprehensively address sector bottlenecks that have held back sector progress since the mid-1990s. The holdbacks include inadequate capital and operational expenditures on WASH service delivery, low national to local budget allocations towards WASH and a weak policy, planning and regulatory environment. Institutions (policies, laws and organizational structures) are highly fragmented with some agency roles overlapping resulting in accountability challenges.

Zimbabwe's last WASH Joint Sector Review (JSR) was conducted in 2011. A comprehensive JSR is therefore long overdue to take stock of sector as well as address emerging issues over the past seven years. The purpose of the proposed 2019 JSR is to build consensus on sector performance based on evidence, define commitments for necessary WASH sector improvements and frame public sector investments into the sector.

UNICEF in collaboration with MLAWCRR (in its capacity as the NAC[1] Chair) intends to engage a Consultant to facilitate and report on the JSR process.  Each sub-sector and the different actor categories[2] involved in it will reflect on performance, agree on reform and programmatic priorities, identify capacity gaps and frame priority responses. The consultancy builds on on-going evidence-gathering processes, which includes a WASH bottlenecks analysis and the pre-cursor study for the JSR that gives the status of the sector, challenges and opportunities including for financing WASH services. The consultant will identify additional input to be gathered in advance to inform decisions during the JSR workshop and process by which these will be gathered, analyzed and prepared for presentation at the meeting.

Objectives

The Consultant will work with a Technical Committee set up by the WASH Sector Lead Ministry (MLAWCRR) to facilitate sub-sector and sector-wide reflections will be pursuant to the following specific objectives:

1. Common or shared understanding of the state of the sector (service performance at outcome level, innovations, policy-regulatory soundness etc.);
2. List of priority actions across identified strategic areas for short, medium and long-term attention with clear outcome indicators;
3. Shared perspectives on the current performance of and ideas for revitalizing institutional arrangements as well as their coordination;
4. Enhanced alignment within and across levels of government on one hand and with development (and implementing) partners including the private sector in the WASH sector on the other; and
5. Benchmarking Zimbabwe's WASH sector against regional and international commitments.

The proposed JSR comes at a time the Government of Zimbabwe is implementing constitutional provisions on devolution. It is therefore expected to aid clarity of roles within the sector in the context of enhanced devolution of governance. Discussions to be steered by the Consultant and the JSR Technical Committee will take account of previously agreed sector commitments and indicators in relation to identified bottlenecks and collaborative efforts.

Methodology and Expected Outputs

Methodology will include but not limited to:

1. Desk Reviews
2. Stakeholder engagement
3. Workshop facilitation
4. Report writing

It is expected that the tasks under this consultancy will be conducted in 28 days over a two (2) month period. The specific tasks (to be further elaborated during implementation) are as follows:

1. Prepare for and design a results-based JSR process[3]. This includes (but may not be limited to) detailing how sessions will flow, identifying the content needed and the presenters, briefing presenters and the client etc. The basic structure of a JSR should allow the following:
   1. Assessment of sector progress in relation to national, regional and international agreements;
   2. Identification of challenges or bottlenecks; and
   3. Agreeing solutions (commitments) with agreed timeframes and agency roles.
2. Facilitate stakeholder engagement and consultative processes to systematically achieve the specific objectives of the JSR (above);
3. Ensure that outcomes of discussions (particularly issues for post-JSR attention) are captured within their appropriate context and response proposals are agreed;
4. Facilitate clear identification of necessary reform priorities separating them into policy and regulatory, funding or financial investments, organizational roles, operational structures and relations;
5. Distil commitments made by different arms and levels of the state, development partners (see also footnote 4); and
6. Produce a comprehensive 2019 JSR report, which will act as a point of reference for progress in future and contain actionable recommendations.

Major tasks, Deliverables, Timeframes and Payment Schedule

Below is the detail of activities/ tasks and deliverables to be completed in line with the consultancy objectives:

Consultancy Timeframe

The consultancy will begin early September 2019 for up to a maximum of 28 working days over a 2 months period.

Consultancy Requirements

It is expected that the Consultant will have proven experience in public policy analysis and development, public sector finance/budgeting, expenditure analysis and investment management, local governance, sector performance monitoring, strategic planning and an appreciation of Zimbabwe's WASH Sector. The Consultant is therefore expected to have diverse skills to meet the expectations of the JSR. Additional attributes include the following:

• A holder of a Masters or higher degree (s) in a relevant technical or management discipline;
• A minimum of 10 years experience in undertaking similar analytical work e.g. strategy, policy, capacity development and reviews in a relevant discipline or sector;
• Experience of facilitating high-level multi-stakeholder dialogue focused on government-based (both central and local government) transformations for basic service delivery with or without the assistance/participation of development partners;
• International or Regional experience;
• Proven skills in preparing and communicating high quality documents and reports for policy advocacy and lobby; and
• Excellent English report writing and communication skills
• A strong commitment to delivering timely and high-quality results--i.e. evidence of similar work is highly desirable

  Supervision

• The selected individual consultant will work under the strategic guidance of the UNICEF Chief of WASH or his designated representative.
• The consultant is expected to work closely with JSR Technical Committee.

The Consultant will be responsible for ensuring that the consultancy is undertaken as described in these terms of reference and in their proposal. The consultant should meet deadlines and ensure the quality of all products and deliverables.

UNICEF will manage the contract with the selected consultant as follows:

• Manage all contractual aspects with the consultant
• Provide and facilitate introductions to the JSR Steering and Technical Committees
• Provide a first quality review of deliverables presented by the consultant before they are submitted to the JSR Technical committee.
• Approving submitted work for payment upon verification that the work meets the Terms of Reference (ToR) and is of satisfactory quality.

The JSR Technical Committee will have the roles listed below (this is not exhaustive):

• Ensures that the consultant benefits from a high level of diverse technical knowledge and of a diversity of viewpoints from the perspective of Government of Zimbabwe.
• Participate planning for key meetings, drawing the JSR agenda and Press Conference with the consultant.
• Facilitate the communication and coordination between their respective ministries and areas of influence and assisting the consulting team in accessing the relevant documentation and persons/officials as required.
• Review all key deliverables and provide feedback that can be acted upon by the consultant.

Interim deliverables to be presented in printed and/or electronic copy, as per required.

At the end of the consultancy, consultant should submit an archive on electronic copies of all documentation processed.

Other Consultancy Costs and Payment Modalities

Consultant is requested to quote travel related and administration costs separately from professional fees as part of the financial and technical proposal submission. The consultant will be expected to utilize own vehicle for official duty in Harare and use the UNICEF vehicle for official duty outside Harare. The proposed Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) for undertaking the assignment should be included in the financial proposal.

for field missions should be shown as part of the financial proposal.

Competitive market rates will apply and the consultant should submit an all-inclusive fee (lump sum) in his/her proposal.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.