Afghanistan: Consultant

Water Supply and sanitation support to the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), Afghanistan

BACKGROUND:In early 2016, UNICEF-Afghanistan WASH program expects USD$ 30 million long-term funding from USAID in support of the water supply component of the CPAP 2015-2019. An L4 Water Supply specialist is currently under recruitment, but is not expected to start before early 2016. Two key components of the water supply programme are the introduction of community-based Water Safety Planning and the involvement of the private sector in the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the rural water supply services. The community-based WSP concept has not been introduced in Afghanistan yet, but with a limited government infrastructure at lower administrative levels, the need and potential of communities managing the safety of their own water supplies is key. A core part of the WSP concept is the regular operation and maintenance of rural water supply systems. In neighboring Pakistan there are some good examples of private sector engagement in O&M of rural water supplies, elements of which may be implemented in rural Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, there are some private sector actors that are engaged in the O&M of rural water supply system, but there experiences have not been documented yet.

UNICEF supports over 40 staff at the Rural Water Supply and Irrigation programme (Rur-WatSip) at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD). At the end of 2015, the performance of these staff needs to be evaluated and given the outcome of the assessment and the programmatic needs for 2016, the current national Technical Assistance (NTA) contracts need to be converted to contracts paid against the Capacity Building for Results (CBR) scale – which is significantly lower than the NTA pay-scale.

OBJECTIVE:This assignment contributes to output 1 and 2, of the UNICEF-GOIRA CPAP 2015-2019:

Output 1: Strengthen Capacity of government departments at all levels to cost-effectively deliver sustainable and safely managed drinking water and sanitations services

Output 2: Increased access and use of improved drinking water supply and sanitation facilities by deprived and vulnerable populations

Reference is made to the WASH rolling Work Plan 2015-2016 activities:

1.1.2 Conduct a capacity needs assessment of WASH staff at MRRD, MoPH and MOE

2.1.3 Explore the potential for public-private partnerships and a participation model for sustainable O&M and supply chains for community drinking water supply

2.3.2 Facilitate research on community-based water safety planning with Tufts University

This assignment has three main components:

1)Develop a recommendation for the introduction of community-based Water Safety Planning (WSP) under UNICEF’s supported water supply program

2)Develop a recommendation for increasing private sector engagement in operation and maintenance of rural water supply systems in Afghanistan

3)Evaluate the performance of MRRD NTA staff paid by UNUCEF and facilitate the transition of MRRD staff paid by UNICEF against the NTA salary scale to the CBR scale

ACTIVITIES, TASKS, DELIVERABLES AND TIMELINES, PLUS BUDGET PER DELIVERABLE

Major Tasks:

*1.Develop a recommendation for the introduction of community-based Water Safety Planning (WSP) under UNICEF’s supported water supply program*

• Review and summarize selected international experiences with community-based WSP and extract the most useful and relevant experiences for the Afghanistan context


• Review and assess the Afghanistan experiences with respect to community management of rural water supply programs – through interviews with key stakeholders (MRRD, DACAAR, Unicef zonal engineers, selected sector group members) using a structured interview process, and through the review of key documents provided by UNICEF Afghanistan


• Prepare a recommendation on how best to introduce a minimal community-based WSP component to the UNICEF supported water supply programme

2. Develop a recommendation for increasing private sector engagement in operation and maintenance of rural water supply systems in Afghanistan

• Review and summarize selected international experiences with the private sector engagement in rural water supply relevant to the Afghanistan context of limited centralized management by government and small scale rural water supply systems consisting largely of boreholes with hand pumps and small gravity-fed piped schemes. In particular drawing on the World Bank experiences in rural Pakistan with private sector involvement in O&M of rural water supply programs.


• Review and assess experiences with private sector management of O&M of rural water supply programs in Afghanistan through interviews with key stakeholders (MRRD, DACAAR, World Bank, UNICEF zonal engineers, selected Water sector Group members, and private sector operators) using a structured interview process


• Prepare a recommendation on how best to engage the private sector actors in the O&M of rural water supply systems in Afghanistan.

3. Evaluate the performance of MRRD NTA staff paid by UNUCEF and facilitate the transition of MRRD staff paid by UNICEF against the NTA salary scale to the CBR scale

• Through desk research reclassify staff posts/ToRs of current MRRD, MoE and MoPH NTA staff funded by UNICEF WASH, to the CBR scale


• Verify the CVs of incumbents


• Prepare a presentation for senior UNICEF and MRRD management on the proposed reclassification


• Prepare a protocol based on actual deliverables in 2015 for a performance assessment of all MRRD staff currently paid by UNCEF against an NTA contract


• Take part in the actual evaluation of +/- 25 MRRD staff member’s performance for 2015

Deliverables:

1. A paper (15-25 pages) summarizing relevant global experiences with community-based Water Safety Planning (WSP) in rural areas and with a recommendation for the introduction of community-based Water Safety Planning under UNICEF’s supported rural water supply program


2. A paper (15 – 25 pages) summarizing relevant global experiences relevant to the Afghanistan context for increasing private sector engagement in operation and maintenance of rural water supply systems in Afghanistan and recommendations for increasing private sector engagement in operation and maintenance of rural water supply systems in Afghanistan


3. Facilitation of the NTA-CBR transition process of MRRD incl. a) the reclassification of the ToRs of MRRD NTA staff to the CBR pay-scale, b) the assessment of the individual qualifications of incumbents against the ToR under which they are currently employed and, c) support the 2015 performance evaluation for MRRD NTA staff paid by UNICEF.

Payments:

1. Total payment including travel costs, upon submission of the three deliverables.

QUALIFICATIONS, SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE AND ADDITIONAL COMPETENCIES– Advanced university degree or equivalent experience in environmental or Public Health, Civil Engineering, Programme Communication, Mechanical engineering, Geology, Hydrogeology, or sanitation engineering, or other related field

• Experience working with government agencies, local authorities, international organizations, NGOs and communities in the field of water, sanitation and participatory approaches in health and hygiene promotion


• A minimum of 10 years of experience with either the UN and/or NGO bilateral governmental development agency


• Fluency in English (verbal and written)

CONDITIONS OF WORK:For the work in Kabul, the consultant should have access to a desk and internet, preferably in the Program Building. The Consultant will reside in one of the container rooms. Transport from and to the airport and from and to the different ministries is to be included. DSA is payable for the travel days and days in Kabul, based on the UNICEF regulations, but R&R arrangements are not part of this assignment.