USAID West Africa Analytical Support Services and Evaluations for

Sustainable Systems in Agriculture, Environment and Trade

(USAID/West Africa ASSESS Project)

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (EOI)

Performance Evaluation of USAID/West Africa WASH Portfolio in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire

INTRODUCTION 

USAID/West Africa has commissioned the Analytical Support Services and Evaluations for Sustainable Systems (ASSESS[1]) project to conduct a performance evaluation of its WASH Portfolio in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire (CDI). In this regard, ASSESS is seeking Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from qualified individual consultants to conduct the Performance Evaluation.  The portfolio to be evaluated includes two (2) mechanisms intended to achieve the goals of increasing access to improved water supply and sanitation services:  first, to provide improved sanitation service delivery in West Africa; and second, to provide support to city governments and utilities to improve and expand their water and sanitation services to fill critical needs and reach unserved populations in targeted communities in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire.

BACKGROUND AND SCOPE OF THE ACTIVITIES

This evaluation will cover the last four years of the Sanitation Services Delivery (SSD) Activity implementation and the first three years of the MuniWASH Activity implementation. It intends to capture emerging results and learnings from USAID/West Africa WASH portfolio in Benin and Cote d’Ivoire from October 2017 to date, to inform decisions about current and future WASH programming.

Specifically, it will assess the performance of the SSD Activity from October 2017 to September 2021 to determine how the SSD Activity affected the sanitation market; in other words, if it has contributed to a more functional, inclusive, and sustainable sanitation market system for the urban poor and increased their sustainable access to improved sanitation and safe disposal of fecal waste as well as improving enterprise viability.

Given that the MuniWASH Activity is in implementation, the performance evaluation will assess the progress to date, identify areas for improvements that will facilitate the attainment of planned results, and inform potential course corrective actions for the remaining period of performance. The evaluation will take stock of initial lessons learned and serve as evidence for relevant decision making to ensure that MuniWASH activity achieves Its objectives.

The evaluation will assess the performance of the SSD and MuniWASH Activities in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire, mostly in the SSD former communes where MuniWASH is now being implemented.

The evaluators will be expected to conduct a representative sampling of intervention municipalities in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire to include municipalities that are joint SSD and MuniWASH municipalities, municipalities that are MuniWASH-only, and municipalities that are SSD-only. For the sample size, incorporate the MuniWASH municipalities (16) and for municipalities that are SSD-only, completeness should be sought so that SSD municipalities are represented. The complete list of SSD and MuniWASH municipalities in both countries will be provided to the evaluators for this purpose.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

The evaluators must, at a minimum, address the following questions:

Market functionality

How much, if at all, have SSD and MuniWASH affected the (1) sales trends, (2) business viability, (3) number of MSMEs (or public sector) providers, (4) profitability, (5) quality of WASH services, and (6) other market dynamics for sanitation providers in the selected communities?

●       How and how much have investment opportunities increased for WASH public utilities/private service providers?

●       What are the barriers to further improvements for MuniWASH’s continued activities? Please comment on, among others, governance, financial barriers, and/ or challenges.

●       What products and service models might still be missing to create viable (or near viable) business models and fill gaps that lead to safely managed sanitation?

Inclusivity

How much of the positive impacts of SSD and MuniWASH have benefitted target marginalized groups, including the poor, women and differently abled? This can include gaining access, improving access, inclusion in decision making, and other criteria as appropriate.

●       What barriers continue to exist targeting these beneficiaries, and what strategies or tradeoffs are required to overcome them?

●       What are the barriers and opportunities for more women to become sanitation entrepreneurs. What did the projects try and what worked and did not work and why?

Sustainability

How effective have the steps taken by SSD and MuniWASH to sustain the changes to sanitation coverage, sanitation utilization, enterprise development, and market creation been? How much of these changes have currently been sustained (especially in areas where SSD but not MuniWASH operate)? How much of these changes are projected to be sustained beyond the MuniWASH program (2024)?

●       How effective have steps taken, specifically in the governance and finance sectors, been in improving the enabling environment?

●       How has institutional and service provider capacity improved and what are the remaining gaps?

●       What barriers to sustainability remain and how can MuniWASH’s continued programming invest in durable change?

●       To what degree has capacity been developed amongst local institutions that can continue to advance market development activities?

●       How are private sector companies taking ownership of the importation of sanitation products (i.e., SATO pans)? If not, why?

●       How can successful activities be replicated and scaled and how might resources be allocated by government and development partners to make that happen beyond the life of the USAID projects?

DELIVERABLES

1.      Inception Report

The inception report must link the Evaluation Questions from the SOW to data sources, methods, and the data analysis plan. It must also contain draft questionnaires and other data collection instruments, a list of potential interviewees and sites to be visited, sampling plan with justification of sample size, limitations to the evaluation design, and a dissemination plan. The inception report must also contain a work plan, which indicates the phases in the evaluation with key deliverables and milestones and timelines. The inception report must clearly document and discuss how gender analysis will be integrated into the design of the evaluation.

2.      Debriefing Meetings

●       In-Briefing and Team Planning Meeting

Within three to four working days, the evaluation team will meet with the USAID/West Africa environment team and the USAID POC for introductions and to discuss the team’s understanding of the assignment, initial assumptions, evaluation questions, methodology, and work plan, and/or to adjust the SOW, if necessary.

●       USAID and Stakeholder Briefings

The Evaluation Team Lead (TL) will brief the USAID POC weekly or biweekly to discuss progress. As preliminary findings arise, the Evaluation TL will share these during the routine briefing, and in an email.

●       Debriefing meeting for Recommendations Development

The evaluation team is expected to hold a preliminary meeting to discuss the summary of findings and conclusions with USAID as well as any requested recommendations for USAID review, inputs, suggestions, and modification if necessary. This meeting must provide a summary of any analytical results; discuss challenges, failures, successes, and way forward. The evaluators must deliver a PowerPoint Presentation of the evaluation findings, conclusions, and recommendations for each question to USAID, prior to finalizing the draft evaluation report. The Evaluation Team will incorporate comments received from USAID during the debrief in the assignment report.

3.      Draft Evaluation Report

After the field work and data analysis, the evaluator will hold a debriefing session with USAID on progress on the preliminary findings and key recommendations. Afterward, the team will submit the initial draft of the Evaluation Report to USAID for review and comments.

4.      Final Evaluation Report

The Evaluation Team must submit a final evaluation report that is based on analyzed facts and evidence and fully addresses all the evaluation questions. This will take into consideration all comments and recommendations made on the draft report. The report must be 40-50 pages (excluding table of contents, references, and annexes), written in English, single-spaced in Gill Sans MT, size 11 type fonts, and a 3-to-5-page Executive Summary; it must comply with the Checklist for Assessing USAID Evaluation Reports. Qualitative data should be coded as part of the analysis approach, and the coding used should be included in the appendix of the final evaluation report. Gender, geographic, and role (beneficiary, implementer, government official, NGO.) disaggregation must be included in the data analysis where applicable.

5.      Two-Pager Summary

The evaluation team will summarize the evaluation findings and recommendations in a two-pager, for dissemination to stakeholders.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The evaluation is expected to be conducted between January and June 2023.

CONDITIONS OF REMUNERATION AND REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPERTS

Each evaluation team member will be remunerated at an agreed fixed price per day to cover the assigned LOE for the completion of the assignment.

PLACES OF PERFORMANCE

The places of performance are Benin and Côte d’Ivoire. The extent of travel will be determined by the evaluation design and data needs as agreed upon by the contracting partners. The performance evaluation is expected to take approximately 6 months starting from January 2023.

 ROLES AND RELATIONSHIPS

The consultants will be contracted under the USAID/WA ASSESS mechanism. ASSESS and its partners, including USDA, KNUST and URI will be responsible for the administrative and technical management of their respective contracts. This will include monitoring of LOE and payments. This will include approval of the consultants’ work plan, assigning tasks within the scope of the contract, reviewing technical outputs, and providing feedback.

EVALUATION TEAM COMPOSITION

The positions available for experts to individually apply for are:

1.      Team Leader and WASH Evaluation Expert

2.      Sanitation/social marketing specialist

3.      Urban sanitation specialist

4.      Local WASH expert in Benin

5.      Local WASH expert in Côte d’Ivoire

EVALUATION TEAM QUALIFICATIONS  

It is expected that all evaluation team members will have:

●       Excellent oral and written communication skills, cultural sensitivity, ability to collaborate with people, good judgment, and commitment to conducting quality evaluation.

●       Relevant prior experience in West Africa especially Benin and Côte d’Ivoire

●       Extensive experience in application of global human rights and gender-sensitive methods in evaluations

●       Strong monitoring and evaluation experience, substantial knowledge, and experience in private sector WASH approaches

●       Prior USAID evaluation experience

●       Fluency in both English and French. Knowledge of any local languages could be an advantage but not a necessary requirement.

●       Excellent people skills to work with other evaluation team, and ASSESS staff and partners

●       Strong computer skills in Online Survey data collection, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel.

In addition, team members should have the technical qualifications commensurate with the position sought.    

Team Leader and WASH Evaluation Expert requirements.

●       A minimum of a master’s degree in Development Studies, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), Economics, Statistics, Public Health, Water and Sanitation, Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, or other relevant social science discipline.

●       Be able to communicate effectively with senior U.S. and host country officials and other leaders in French and in English

●       Demonstrate leadership, coordination, and assessment delivery for development projects and programs, including evaluations.

●       Have excellent writing/ organizational/ management skills and proven ability to deliver a timely and quality written product.

●       Demonstrated technical subject matter expertise in WASH, especially market-based sanitation, private sector approaches, urban WASH, WASH governance, and behavior change.

●       Demonstrated expertise in program design, management, monitoring, and implementation.

●       Demonstrated at least 10 (ten) years expertise in evaluation methods and approaches, including mix methods

●       At least 5 (five) years’ experience working in West Africa, especially Benin or Côte d’Ivoire

●       Familiarity with USAID policies and practices including Evaluation policy, Results frameworks, and Performance monitoring plans

●       Excellent interpersonal skills, including experience successfully interacting with host government officials, civil society partners, and other stakeholders

Sanitation Marketing Specialist requirements.

●       At least Master’s degree in Public Health, Engineering, Education, Marketing, Development Studies, Sociology, or other relevant field

●       Minimum 8 (eight) years of relevant technical experience in the design and delivery of Sanitation Marketing services to promote access to and uptake of household level sanitation services

●       Minimum 8 (eight) years of experience in sanitation marketing in low-income countries

●       Minimum 8 (eight) years of experience in designing and implementing IEC plans for connecting poor peri-urban communities in low-income countries to networked water and sanitation

●       Strong demonstrated understanding of barriers facing poor peri-urban families in connecting to water and sanitation networks, hygiene issues and in designing strategies to address them

●       Extensive experience in water and sanitation product promotion and marketing

●       Extensive knowledge of business financing and computation of profitability and related business performance indices.

●       Experience providing capacity building and technical assistance, particularly to local organizations and local government / utilities

Urban sanitation specialist

●       A post-graduate degree in Engineering, Urban Planning, Public Policy, Public Administration, Management, Development Studies, Civil/ Environmental Engineering, or a related discipline relevant to international WASH related development assistance.

●       At least 8 (eight) years of experience working on urban water and sanitation/urban development projects

●       Familiarity with the urban water and sanitation research and capacity building ecosystem in West Africa especially Benin and Côte d’Ivoire are an added advantage.

●       Demonstrated record of having worked in development program, in close association with a sovereign government

●       Advanced Technical Knowledge of the theories, principles, and methods in the following areas: Centralized and decentralized household wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal as well as communication for behavior change

●       At least 8 (eight) years of experience in strategies and concepts formulation for technical adherence to the Urban Sanitation program, maintaining communication flow between the various partners and effective supervision and monitoring process

Local WASH Experts (2)

●       At least University degree in water engineering focused on WASH related field

●       A minimum of five years of relevant working experience in similar sector in Benin or Côte d’Ivoire is required

●       At least 3 (three) years of demonstrated experience in international relief and development in a WASH project management position is required

●       Experience in consulting with governmental/local authorities and NGOs

●       Experience in Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed data collection methods

●       Proficiency in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire local language(s) preferred

●       Benin and Côte d’Ivoire nationals are encouraged to apply

TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

The evaluation team will be required to conduct fieldwork in the two countries. Fieldwork activities will include interviewing stakeholders, key institutions, and organizations within the program evaluation countries, entering data online, analyzing data, and interpreting same for an evaluation report.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested candidates should send a 2-3-page expression of interest with a brief description of the proposed methodological approach, considering the evaluation questions, objectives, and scope of the assignment. Applications will be evaluated on a rolling review schedule from January 10, 2023.

Expressions of Interest should be submitted by email to mashiteye@assess-wa.org with copy to jtchorlyboadi@assess-wa.org and barthur@assess-wa.org

Please specify the position you wish to apply for in the subject line of your application. ASSESS is under no obligation to select a consultant upon receipt of his/ her EOI. ASSESS will also not reimburse a consultant for the time and resources used in the application process.

ANNEX 1: DESCRIPTION OF INTERVENTIONS TO BE EVALUATED AND THEORY OF CHANGE

The USAID/West Africa (WA) Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) portfolio to be evaluated includes two (2) mechanisms intended to achieve the goals of increasing access to improved water supply and sanitation services:  first, a cooperative agreement with Population Services International (PSI) to provide improved sanitation service delivery in West Africa; and second, a direct contract to Tetra Tech, ARD Inc to provide support to city governments and utilities to improve and expand their  water and sanitation services to fill critical needs and reach unserved populations in targeted communities in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire.

B1- Description of SSD Activity

SSD was implemented in Benin and Côte d’Ivoire from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 2021. This included the second-year program extension, requested because of the time delay impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This extension year focused on COVID-19 prevention activities alongside sanitation activities in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire.

Based on analysis of their urban sanitation markets, each country developed and implemented sanitation products and service delivery models designed to address the locally specific sanitation challenges. SSD developed and tested scalable, market-based models that directly contributed to the achievement of overall program outcomes (2014–2020) and Year 7 results (2020–2021):

Program Objectives (2014–2020)

●       Increase use of improved sanitation

●       Increase use of safe disposal of fecal waste

●       Disseminate learning on market-based approaches

Year 7 Results (2020–2021)

●       Affordable product offerings through the existing supply chain

●       Promotion of handwashing and hygiene practices among water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) service providers and informal sector water suppliers

●       Economic opportunities for microentrepreneurs

SSD Theory of change:

The SSD theory of change presents a high-level framework showing how interventions to influence the sanitation market system can lead to increased access to and use of sanitation and safe disposal and/or reuse of fecal waste among the urban poor. It was expected that increased use will lead to positive health and well-being impacts. The theory of change guided the research, analysis, intervention design and monitoring and evaluation of the project. In the diagram below, sanitation is an overall term that includes both sanitation and fecal sludge management.

Figure 1: SSD Theory of Change

B2- Description of MuniWASH Activity:

MuniWASH is a five-year (9/2019 - 9/2024), $18 million USAID/West Africa regional activity operating in Benin and Côte d'Ivoire. Tetra Tech is the lead implementing partner with PSI and SEGURA Consulting LLC operating as sub-awardees.

The objective of MuniWASH is to support city governments, national directorates and agencies, utilities, and service providers to sustain and expand city-wide water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services and fill critical needs that reach poor and underserved community members in priority municipalities.

MuniWASH theory of change:

MuniWASH’s TOC hypothesizes that:

IF the financial sustainability of water and sanitation utilities and service providers increases, AND IF the operational reliability of water and sanitation utilities and services providers improves, AND IF water and sanitation sector governance and management capacity at the subnational level are enhanced, AND IF regional learning and knowledge sharing to replicate successful approaches increase, THEN municipal water and sanitation service delivery will improve, especially for the poor and underserved.

Figure 2. USAID MuniWASH Theory of Change