UNICEF is looking for an international consultancy for sanitation and hygiene expert

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, clean water

Background

According to the 25 years progress on sanitation and drinking water report (2015 Update and MDG Assessment), only one country in West and Central Africa met its MDG target for sanitation, 3 made significant progress and 19 made limited or no progress. WCA is the only region with an increasing number of open defecators, the increase in access to sanitation has not kept up with population growth. In 40% of the countries more than 1 in 4 people defecate in the open and this behaviour is widely socially accepted. In addition, inequity is persistent with open defecation rate higher in rural area and among the poorest quintile.

Six countries have more than 50% of their population defecating in the open: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Sao Tome and Principe and Togo. Three countries have between 25% and 50% of their population defecating in the open: Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritania and Nigeria which ranked 2nd in the world for number of people practicing open defecation- 46 million people.

In 2018, UNICEF launched its Game Plan to end open defecation, there will be a special focus on sanitation programming in the 26 ‘high burden’ countries. These either have more than five million people defecating in the open or more than 50 per cent of the population. 9 of the priorities countries are in WCARO[1]

The regional translation of the Game Plan was also launch with the focus on Key Results for Children # 8 : ending open defecation with the following outcome  and output targets:

•  By 2021, the proportion of the WCAR population practicing open defecation will reduce from 25.4% (122m) to 15.6% (88m).
• 16 million additional people living in certified open defecation free communities as a result of UNICEF direct support.

UNICEF’s overall objective for sanitation is to contribute directly and indirectly to the progressive elimination of OD and reaching universal access to basic sanitation by 2030 in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goal 6.2. At AfricaSan 4, the African Ministers responsible for Sanitation and Hygiene articulated a similar vision and commitment in the N’Gor Declaration on Sanitation and Hygiene. Together these commitments create a favourable environment for sanitation that should be leveraged.

To ensure the elimination of OD and universal access to basic sanitation in the region, the access and the usage of the people currently using basic sanitation (150 million) needs to be sustained and the newly created social norms need to be reinforced and evolve from community social norms to nationally recognized social norms.

Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Togo

How can you make a difference?

Objectives

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the strengthening and scale-up of Sanitation and Hygiene (S&H) programs in West and Central Africa as an integral part of operationalising the Key Results for Children (KRC) Initiative. This will be achieved through the development of technical guidance for KRC#8, support to knowledge management events in the region, direct support to priority countries (remote and onsite) and support the Regional Sanitation & Hygiene enabling environment by supporting AMCOW to coordinate the AfricaSan International Task Force, and the monitoring and reporting on the N’Gor commitments for sanitation and hygiene.

 

Scope of work

The consultant will be expected to support capacity-building opportunities, provide technical support for country offices, support regional enabling environment through the support to the AfricaSan processes. The items below show the tasks for which the consultant will be responsible: 

OUPUT 1. Operationalisation of Key Results for Children – KRC#8.

Develop/ review technical guidance to support COs to operationalise the change strategies for the Output 8.1“Number of people living in communities certified free of open defecation in the reporting year only as a result of UNICEF direct support”.

Technical Support to WCARO and Countries

The consultant will support WCARO to provide remote support and advice to country offices engaged on KR4C#8 and high burden priority countries based on the KRC#8 Country Self-Assessment technical support needs and the 2018 Client Survey technical assistance requests for the realization of regional Key Results for Children through skype calls, email exchanges, and webinars on the following areas:

• Review and assessment of current Sanitation and Hygiene programming using country assessment template and any others relevant tools.
• Support the preparation and the facilitation of KR4C#8 quarterly webinars,
• Review and provide comments on sanitation and hygiene components of WCAR country documents (CPD, Sitan, and strategic note etc.), evaluations and reviews, donors report and proposals;
• Provide remote technical assistance and onsite support to WCAR countries for drive to achieve the KRC target.
• Prepare technical content for regional support the organization of regional events 

Capacity-Building and Knowledge Management

Facilitator for West Africa Sanitation Market Forum

The consultant will be responsible for supporting the organization of the West Africa Sanitation Industry Consultation/ Market Forum in Abuja the week of 13-15th November 2018.

• Support UNICEF Country Offices to develop and prepare content,
• Support WCARO and Nigeria Country office to prepare the event
• Support the facilitation of the event sessions and lead report preparation.
• Support webinar to share results with region and other interested countries

 OUTPUT 2. Support Regional Sanitation Scale-up: Support AMCOW to coordinate the AfricaSan International Task Force, and the monitoring and reporting on the N’Gor commitments for sanitation and hygiene, and the AfricaSan event.

• Provide technical assistance to AMCOW to coordinate AfricaSan international task force and its sub-committees;
• Contribute to AfricaSan Monitoring and Learning sub-committee coordination workplan;
• Provide guidance for UNICEF staff on the N’Gor declaration monitoring process and country level facilitation.
• Support the preparation, organization of meetings on accelerating sanitation in Africa – West and/or Central Africa Sub regional meeting,

Deliverables and Schedules,

 

The consultant will furnish the following deliverables:

Output/deliverables	Est. number of days	Expected time line
Output 1: Operationalisation of Key Results for Children	24 days	12th of September 2018 to 28th of February 2019
Review and assessment of current Sanitation and Hygiene programming using country assessment template and any others relevant tools- 1 day Support the preparation and the facilitation of KRC#8 quarterly webinars – 2 day Review and provide comments on sanitation and hygiene components of WCAR country documents (CPD, Sitan, and strategic note etc.), evaluations and reviews, donors report and proposals- 1 day Provide remote technical assistance and support to WCAR countries to achieve the KRC target – 2 days Conduct at least one field mission to support country road map development or to review of rural sanitation programming and propose recommendations- 9 days (1 day preparation, 4 days on site, 2 days travel, 1 day report writing) – Ouagadougou Support the organisation of West Africa Sanitation Industry Consultation/ Market Forum in Abuja the week of 13-15 November 2018 – 9 days (1 day preparation, 4 days on site, 2 days travel, 1 day report writing, 1 day webinar)	Remote support: 6 days;   Country Missions: 9 days   Capacity building event: 9 days	Remote support: 12th of September 2018 to 28thof February 2019       Country mission: Q4 2018       Capacity building event: November 2018
Output 2: Support Regional Sanitation Scale-up : Support AMCOW to coordinate the AfricaSan International Task Force, and the monitoring and reporting on the N’Gor commitments for sanitation and hygiene	26 days	12th of September  2018 to 28th of February 2019
Provide technical assistance to AMCOW to coordinate AfricaSan international task force and its sub-committees; and contribute to AfricaSan Monitoring and Learning sub-committee coordination workplan – 2 days Provide guidance for UNICEF staff on the N’Gor declaration monitoring process and country level facilitation- 2 days Support the preparation, organization of meetings on accelerating sanitation in Africa – West and/or Central Africa Sub regional meeting-  10 days (2 days preparation, 2 days travel, 5 days in country, 1 day report writing) – Libreville Support remote preparation of country inputs for AfricaSan 5 event scheduled for February 2019 – 2 days Support organization of meetings and facilitation at AfricaSan 5 in February 2019 in Abidjan – 10 days (1 day preparation, 2 days travel, 6 days in country, 1 day report writing)	Remote support: 6 days   Sub-regional meeting: 10 days   AfricaSan 5 meeting: 10 days	Remote support: 12th of September 2018 to 28thof February 2019   Sub-regional meeting: Oct/Nov 2018 AfricaSan 5 meeting: February 2019

 

Timing

The contract will commence on 12^th of September 2018 and will conclude on 28^th of February 2019 for a total of 50 working days. The payment will be done in two instalments based on deliverables as follows:

Instalment	Output/Deliverables	Number of days
Instalment 1   15th November 2018	Output 1: Consultancy report + mission report Remote support (4 days) West Africa accelerating sanitation capacity building event (9 days) Output 2: Consultancy report + Mission report Remote support (4 days) Sub-regional meetings (10 days)	27
Instalment 2   28th of February  2019	Output 1: Consultancy report + mission report Remote support (2 days) Country mission (9 days) Output 2: Consultancy report Remote support (2 days) AfricaSan 5 (10 days)	23
Total		50 working days

 

Reporting Requirements

The consultancy is home-based with travel.  Deliverables will be shared with the WCARO Sanitation and Hygiene Specialist and Regional Advisor via email. For each instalment a consultancy report will be provided including a mission report for all missions, four (4) during the consultancy.

 

Administrative Issues

The supervising officer will be the Regional Advisor within the WCARO WASH Section. Monthly calls between the consultant and Regional Advisor/Sanitation Specialist will be held via Skype or Skype for Business to ensure progress during the contract. Furthermore, the consultant will be required to liaise with the rest of the WASH WCARO team as well as the Sanitation Team in NYHQ.

 

Specific education, competencies, qualifications and experience required of the contracted consultant:

• An advanced degree in water and sanitation field, public health or related field;
• At least 12 years’ experience of which half conducting sanitation or hygiene promotion program in several countries at local, national and regional level;
• Have developed or participated in the development of reference materials about sanitation and hygiene: operational guidance, national plans, strategies;
• Have worked in several countries providing technical assistance to government and partners on sanitation programming- experience in West & Central Africa is preferable;
• Prior experience providing technical assistance to continental and regional bodies (e.g. AMCOW, ECCAS, ECOWAS) is desirable;

For every Child, you demonstrate commitment

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

 

The technical competencies required for this post are:

Working with people (L3), communication (L3), delivery of results (L3), persuading and influencing (L3)

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.

 

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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