WASH Consultant (Sabarkatha and Dahod) via DevNetJobsIndia

WASH Consultant – WASH Consultant- Sabarkatha and Dahod

The purpose of this assignment is to provide technical support to UNICEF WASH sector in enabling government and partners demonstrate innovative community based convergent models on environmentally sustainable sanitation, improving service delivery in excluded, unreached and migrant communities and facilitate implementing integrated development plans (SBCC, ODF-S and ODF+) and WASH in Institutions (School, Anganwadi and Health centres). The consultant will provide technical support for evidence-based action plan development, generate evidences and learnings on sustainable CR WASH models and support development and roll-out of WASH monitoring.

BACKGROUND / RATIONALE

Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India have launched Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G) phase-2 in April 2020 to sustain the gains of ODF movement. Further the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India also developed national rural sanitation strategy (2019-2029) that emphasises achieving environmentally sustainable sanitation through ODF-S and ODF+ activities implementation in all villages. In this context Project Implementation Plans (2020-2025) for SBM-Phase-2 and AIP (2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23) have been developed for Gujarat and resources have also been mobilized to enable implementation. UNICEF as Development Support Partner extended the required technical support at state level towards developing SDG Roadmaps, state ODF policy, protocols, ODF verification approaches, SBCC strategies, training modules for Sujal and Swachh Gaon, organizing training of trainers at the district level towards capacity building of key stakeholders, ODF sustainability interventions, monitoring and documentation of case studies and knowledge management.

Government of Gujarat is focusing on ODF sustainability, addressing the gaps to ensure toilet facility to unreached (LOB and NLOB) categories, providing community sanitary complexes (CSC) to reduce the risk of open defecation. Further efforts are being made to ensure each GP have trained Swachhagrahis and an active Nigrani committees to support the Gram Panchayat for regular ODF verification and conduct ODF sustainability checks. To facilitate the capacity building initiative at state and district level UNICEF have developed training modules on Sujal and Swachh Gaon and ODF+ at national level. Rural Development Department, Government of Gujarat with UNICEF has developed and demonstrated Environmentally Sustainable Sanitation (ESS) models one each in each priority district to facilitate stakeholder learning.

UNICEF is committed to extend the required technical support to priority and aspirational districts as Development Support Partner to facilitate achieving ODF sustainability through capacity building, coordination and field monitoring and knowledge management.

Technical consultant required to support WASH sector in strengthening capacities and systems at the district level (Sabarkantha and Dahod) to enable quality implementation of Open Defecation Elimination Plan (ODEP), ODF+ interventions, WASH in Institutions (Schools, AWCs and Health centers) and Menstrual Hygiene Management. The consultant will provide expertise support in developing contextualized action plans, capacity building and strengthening monitoring system. UNICEF strategically would be working in the priority district Sabarkantha & Dahod having tribal communities.

OBJECTIVE/s

To facilitate Rural Development Department in implementation of national flagship programme SBM (G) through:

• Evidence based contextualized action plan development integrating climate resilience and environment sustainability for Safely Manage Sanitation for focused districts
• Capacity building of key stakeholders on climate resilient sanitation approaches, developing ODF+ models, WASH in Institutions fostering convergence and Water safety and security approaches
• Implementation framework for SBC and SLRM plan with greater community involvement towards developing environmentally sustainable sanitation models  
• Support strengthening result-based monitoring of safely managed sanitation and knowledge management and dissemination.

Supervisor: WASH Specialist, Gandhinagar, Gujarat

Duty Station: Sabarkantha

Start Date: 5^th February 2023

End Date: 31^st December 2023

QUALIFICATIONS / SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE / EXPERIENCE/ COMPETENCIES (CORE/TECHNICAL/FUNCTIONAL) / LANGUAGE SKILLS REQUIRED FOR THE ASSIGNMENT (Please use as applicable)

It requires an individual with maturity, good judgment and the ability to work well with teams within the UNICEF Gujarat Field Office, with senior government officials and experts. Key requirements for this position include:

• A professional with master’s degree in Public Health/Urban Planning/Civil Engineering/Environment Engineering/Rural Development/Rural Management
• At least 4 years of experience in development sector, preferably in Rural and Urban Sanitation, rural water supply, hygiene promotion, community management, participatory approaches in development sector.
• Understanding of English, Hindi is essential and Gujarati language would be an asset. Fluency of speaking and writing in English and Hindi would be essential.
• Good liaising skills to interact with Government counterparts and ability to facilitate training at State, district and block level would be desirable.

SELECTION PROCESS (tick one and delete what is not applicable):

X Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS)                  

Technically Qualified Least Cost Selection (LCS)

QCBS (Technical Evaluation Criteria – with weights for each criteria)

A two-stage procedure will be followed in evaluating proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any evaluation of the financial proposal. Evaluators of the technical proposals shall have no access to the financial Proposals until the technical evaluation is completed.

The evaluation criteria will be a split between technical and financial (price proposal) scores (75 / 25).

IDENTIFICATION OF RISKS FOR THE CONSULTANCY/INDIVIDUAL CONTRACT AND PLAN FOR MITIGATION (FOR INTERNAL PURPOSE ONLY)

Transfer of key government official or the change in strategic priority in the Government Departments may lead to change in some of the Consultancy deliverables. UNICEF will jointly discuss a plan of action for the deliverables with key relevant departments and stakeholders to finalize an action plan, additionally timely joint reviews will be conducted to keep progress on track. Joint performance discussion will be undertaken with consultant to guide the progress on key deliverables. Since the Terms of Reference is deliverable based and it is likely that consultant will be able to deliver in timely manner.

PAYMENT SCHEDULE

Payment will be linked to deliverables as outlined in the attached financial template. For contractors, payment will be made against a monthly report.

PERFORMANCE REVIEWS:

The supervisor shall complete interim and annual performance evaluations using the UNICEF evaluation templateOutput Evaluation Form with scores and comments justifying the scores for all the deliverables submitted by the Consultant. An interim appraisal will be done at the mid-term of the assignment against the major tasks captured above. The performance Evaluation form will be used for the final evaluation. 

CHILD SAFEGUARDING  

Is this project/assignment considered as “Elevated Risk Role” from a child  safeguarding perspective?  

YES   X NO       If YES, check all that apply:

Direct contact role          YES   X  NO      

If yes, please indicate below the number of hours/months of direct interpersonal contact with children, or work in their immediately physical proximity, with limited supervision by a more senior member of personnel: 

Child data role                     YES   X NO      

If yes, please indicate below the number of hours/months of manipulating or transmitting personal-identifiable information of children (name, national ID, location data,       photos):

More information is available in the Child Safeguarding SharePoint and Child             Safeguarding FAQs and Updates 

IMPORTANT NOTES:

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.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the health insurance (and visa if applicable) required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

Application Procedures

Qualified female/male candidates are requested to please indicate their ability and availability to undertake the terms of reference above.

We request you to please inform us where you have seen this advertisement.

Your application should be sent to Gandhinagar.consultants@unicef.org by COB 27^th  January, 2023 1030hrs with subject line “WASH Consultant- Sabarkatha and Dahod” in separate files consisting of:

An application letter with updated CV and P11 form (which can be downloaded from our website at http://www.UNICEF.org/india/overview_1440.htm)

A financial proposal in PDF format indicating deliverable based fee as per template attached. Please mention your name in the file name while saving.

The selection will be on the basis of technical evaluation & financial proposal in the ratio of 75:25. 

Only short-listed candidates will be called for further discussion/interview (if applicable). 

The financial proposals of only those candidates, who are found technically responsive, will be opened.

Any attempt to unduly influence UNICEF’s selection process will lead to automatic disqualification of the applicant.

Joint applications of two or more individuals are not accepted.

Please note, UNICEF does not charge any fee during any stage of the process.

For any clarifications, please contact: Gandhinagar.consultants@unicef.org