UNICEF Zimbabwe Individual Consultancy to provide support to the Ministry of Health and Child Care on upscaling demand led sanitation and hygiene in Rural Areas of Zimbabwe

The purpose of the consultancy is to support the upscaling and rolling out of Demand Led Sanitation (DLS) activities in all provinces in Zimbabwe through capacity development of MoHCC staff at national and sub-levels.

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Background/Introduction

A very small proportion of households (30%) in Zimbabwe have access to improved sanitation. The national rate of open defecation is at an unacceptably high level of 30% (MICS, 2014). Open defecation practice contributes to negative socio-economic impact on the health of population, especially children who bear the brunt of the health and nutritional impacts of unsafe stool disposal. Zimbabwe did not meet the Millennium Development Goals target on sanitation by 2015, and a downward trend has been noted in access to basic sanitation in the rural areas - the proportion of population with access to at least basic sanitation decreased from 46% in 2000 to 36% in 2017 (JMP 2019).

Limited access to water, sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services is one of the major causes of water- borne disease such as typhoid and cholera and is ranked as number three among the risk factors that drive the most death and disability in Zimbabwe. Diarrheal diseases are one of the top most killer diseases in Zimbabwe and a leading cause of death among children.

The main factors contributing to the low access to sanitation and hygiene services include low investment resulting in demand not matching the population growth, weak coordination and planning mechanisms, lack of leadership and oversight by the Ministry of Health and Child Care and lack of clear capacity development plans based on skills gap analysis. Generally, the national budget allocations to sanitation and drinking water are fragmented and insufficient to provide effective and efficient services to the unserved as well as to maintain existing services. The sanitation and hygiene sub-sector is fragmented among different Ministries, hence pausing coordination challenges and prioritisation of sanitation issues within the country’s development agenda. There is also limited involvement of private sector in addressing sanitation and hygiene issues in Zimbabwe. In addition, the enabling environment is also highly compromised by the lack of policy guidance, the National Sanitation and Hygiene Policy which has taken a long time for approval.

Zimbabwe is as signatory to the African regional commitments: The Ngor Declaration Developed by African Ministers responsible for Sanitation and Hygiene at AfricanSan 4, Senegal in May, 2015. The vision of the declaration is to ‘achieve universal access to adequate and sustainable sanitation and hygiene services and eliminate open defecation by 2030’. The draft National Sanitation and Hygiene Policy resonates well with this vision and aligns to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.  Objective 2 of the UNICEF WASH Strategy for 2016-2030 also allude to ‘By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations’. However, as a country Zimbabwe have been found wanting in address challenges to realise the 2030 vision.

In response to the above protracted challenging situation, UNICEF has been supporting the Government of Zimbabwe to improve WASH service delivery in the rural districts using the demand led sanitation (DLS) approach through a programme entitled “Support to Improve Water and Sanitation in Rural areas - Zimbabwe” (popularly known as the Rural WASH Programme) The programme is funded by the Government of the United Kingdom (UK) through its Department for International Development (DfID). One of the key programme deliverables is to support targeted communities/villages to eliminate open defecation and increase latrine construction in 45 rural districts of the country using the demand led sanitation approach that was adopted in 2015. To date, a total of a total of 3,364 communities have attained Open Defecation Free (ODF) status in targeted RWP areas. This intervention has reached out to 225 wards out of the more than 1400 wards in the country.

Based on growing evidence on the that the DLS approach can yield considerable success in improving sanitation and hygiene service delivery, the Ministry of Health & Child Care (MoHCC) through the environmental health services department has now adopted the DLS approach as the national standard to accelerate progress in eliminating open defecation in Zimbabwe which is a positive step forward. However, the MoHCC lack adequate sanitation capacity and to this end has requested UNICEF for additional technical support to accelerate the sanitation progress of Zimbabwe (ref PS MoHCC letter of 6 Nov, 2019). This consultancy will support this request.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Justification

Sustainable development goal target 6.2 calls for countries to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations by 2030. UNICEF is a valued government partner that has been providing continuous support through times of stability and crisis. This gives UNICEF a unique role in the sector to support government, advocate for WASH Sector reforms and support planning and coordination to scale up sector results. It is also opportune time for UNICEF to leverage on the recently reviewed Public Health Act (August 2018) that has enhanced the legislative environment in provision of sanitation and hygiene service delivery in Zimbabwe, vesting powers to the Minister to convene multiple governmental agencies, and realizing access to safe and potable water and adequate sanitation as one of the underlying determinants of health and wellbeing. It is also amble time to support the MoHCC in operationalizing the National Sanitation and Hygiene Strategy (2018-2022). The MoHCC have also since last year been recruiting Environmental Health Technicians who are very key in WASH service delivery, more than 200 have been recruited for the past two years. Most of the new staff joining the department lack skills on ‘demand led sanitation approaches. A pragmatic approach is therefore required to ensure the MoHCC get appropriate and experienced expert advice to acquire the required staff and partners’ skills.

It is therefore important that the MoHCC gets support through this proposed consultancy to address the identified issues and UNICEF is supporting on this request via a Consultancy given that all WASH team staff are fully employed to deliver on current donor commitments and this support requires a full time dedicated technical person to be embedded into the MoHCC.   

Purpose of the assignment

To support the upscaling and rolling out of Demand Led Sanitation (DLS) activities in all provinces through capacity development of MoHCC staff at National and sub-levels.

The specific tasks are:

1. To support the Ministry of Health & Child Care, Environmental Health Services department in establishing a government led national planning & monitoring mechanism from district to national level in upscaling sanitation and hygiene interventions including support mechanisms for sustaining positive hygiene behaviors and ODF status;
2. Ensures that a sustainable internal capability at both MoHCC Head Office and all 8 Rural Provinces and relevant stakeholders is established within the first three months and developed over the duration of the assignment;
3. To facilitate the development of a communications strategy for DLS and prompting open free defecation communities based on communication for development (C4D) principles.
4. Establish monitoring mechanisms that will enable systematic performance tracking of the ‘upscaling’ progress and effectiveness of the demand led sanitation approach initiatives

Methodology

Based on the inception report the detailed planning for the assignment and requested output will be refined and / or further detailed, in close coordination with the MoHCC Environmental Health Director

 Major Tasks, Deliverables & Timeframe

Timeframe

The individual will be engaged for a maximum of 128 working days within 9 months effective 2 January 2020.

Qualifications and experience

• Master’s Degree in environmental/Public Health, Sanitation Engineering, Social Sciences, Community for Development (C4D), Development Studies applied to WASH, or other related field of study;
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience with proven record of accomplishment and exposure with WASH programmes in developing countries especially on Sanitation and Hygiene, community demand led sanitation or community led total sanitation (CLTS) approaches, hygiene behavior change interventions, communication for development in WASH programming and cross-cutting areas including gender, disability and adolescents;
• Prior experience in similar assessments especially will be an added advantage;
• Experience with self-build approaches in infrastructure will be a distinct advantage;
• Experience in monitoring & evaluating the effectiveness of the DLS approach initiatives;
• Computer literacy, excellent writing skills and ability to produce high quality reports suitable for use at an elevated level;
• Ability to deliver high quality products in the allotted time;
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, take initiative and innovate;
• Possess strong interpersonal skills, organization networking, ability to communicate effectively with varied partners;
• Possess initiative and a drive to achieve results;
• Excellent communication skills and ability to communicate fluently in English (written and spoken), while mastering or knowledge of other languages spoken in Zimbabwe would be an asset;
• Experience in working with UN or similar agencies will be an advantage.

 Supervision

UNICEF's Chief of WASH or his delegate will supervise the consultancy. 

Administratively to maintain regular schedule of feedback and discussions on day to day deliverables with the MoHCC Director of Environmental Health Services.

Location of Assignment and Office Accommodation

The assignment will be in Harare. Office accommodation will be provided at the Ministry of Health and Child Care Offices at Kaguvi Building, Harare, with regular field missions to selected Provinces and Districts.  Official travel arrangements and costs to and from the duty station, must be covered within the financial proposal.   

Other Consultancy Costs and Payment Modalities

Competitive market rates will apply.  The consultant should submit a technical and all-inclusive financial proposal (lump sum) to deliver the assignment.  Field travel will be required to all Provinces for 5 trips at 4 days per trip = 20 days in the field thus DSA and related costs should be included in the financial proposal.

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 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, 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.