Consultancy Terms of Reference for the Development of Todee District WASH Costed Plan

1. Introduction

WaterAid Liberia is an international non-governmental organization focused on improving people’s access to safe water, improved hygiene, and decent sanitation. It works on the basis that water and sanitation are human rights, and are essential services vital for health, education, and livelihoods.

WaterAid Liberia is supporting the Todee District Authority and the National Water Sanitation and Hygiene Commission (NWASHC) in developing a WASH Costed Plan for the District by recruiting a consultant to lead the development.

Background

Between 2011 to 2019, the Government of Liberia developed four strategic WASH documents intended to improve access to Water Sanitation and Hygiene for its citizens including the WASH Compact, WASH Sector strategic plan, WASH Sector investment plan, and the ODF Road Map (To be review) are all concerted effort made by stakeholders to improve the situation in the WASH sector in Liberia. Although 76% of people in Liberia are reported to have access to basic water services, only 23% have access to basic sanitation and 3% to improved hygiene services. A sustainable WASH sector is needed, with all actors playing their respective roles in constructing, monitoring, maintaining, and regulating WASH services in a decentralized manner. All technical, advocacy and planning skills need to be brought together undergirded by the Government, private sector, and donors to provide a whole system approach to WASH.

In other for the Government to succeed in improving access to improved WASH services, new and creative thinking is needed. Thinking which goes beyond the centralization of WASH in all forms (financing, monitoring, coordination, regulation) to empowering local authorities with technical expertise in planning and addressing the WASH needs in a specific geographical area.

Todee District Authority with support from the National Water Sanitation and Hygiene Commission, WaterAid Liberia and other partners will develop a District WASH costed plan, use for modelling a District Wide approach to delivering universal access to WASH in a specific geographic area.

Rationale

Achieving universal coverage of WASH services in any given area, no matter how small, requires not only sufficient financing, but different partners working in a coordinated manner for complementary impact. Todee District is divided into 2 chiefdoms, 3 townships, and 7 clans, hence the largest in land size and the most rural district in Montserrado county. It has almost 500 communities and villages with an estimated population of 49,361 (LISGIS 2022 population and housing census). Access to clean, safe, and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene is still a challenge despite intervention by international NGOs and philanthropist.

The development of a costed plan will improve planning and budgeting for WASH services, taking into consideration all the key costs needed for delivery of sustainable WASH services that includes costs for operation and maintenance of existing WASH facilities, rehabilitation and expansion of existing WASH facilities, Construction of new WASH facilities, WASH behaviour change programmes among others. The plan will also create room for a harmonized implementation of WASH interventions among development partners and Government institutions and ultimately contribute to sustainable access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene services within the district.

Description of Objective/Purpose

The purpose of the district costed WASH Plan is to guide the implementation of WASH services within the district (2025 – 2029). The Todee District costed WASH plan will provide a long-term strategic plan and investments required to achieve sustainable WASH by identifying funding gaps and potential fund sources.

The specific objectives are to;

• Create an understanding of what is available regarding WASH services and what is needed to achieve universal coverage of WASH in the district.
• Develop design of WASH service delivery models and cost the implementation of universal sustainable WASH services in the district.
• Develop strategies that will address the different building blocks to strengthen the WASH system which will then accelerate universal sustainable access.

Scope of the Assignment

The Consultant will lead/facilitate the development of the District Costed WASH plan. They will work closely with the Todee District Authority, National Water Sanitation and Hygiene Commission and the WaterAid Liberia and other INGOs, NGOs and CSOs in the execution of the below tasks.

1. The start-up phase

• The Consultant will work along with WaterAid to facilitate scoping meetings with the planning team.
• Support Information dissemination and launch process for the development of the costed WASH plan.

2.The baseline assessment phase

• The consultant/team will review and familiarize themselves with findings from the WASH service levels assessment and Building block assessment conducted by WaterAid, and support validation workshop with national and district stakeholders.
• Additional data on the service level/ WASH building blocks will be collected by the consultant if necessary.

3. Planning/Development of the costed plan

• Defining priorities and service levels for water supply, sanitation and hygiene.
• Defining the management models and tariffs
• Institutional arrangement and governance
• Human resourcing plan
• Do a lifecycle cost of all WASH facilities and proposed facilities/models defined.
• Financial cost of the plan: for each scenario capital investment and operation cost
• Determining strategies for implementing phasing of investments

4. The Validation and Reporting phase

• Drafting the Plan
• Submission of the draft report to steering committee

• Final draft report

• Technically Validate and finalize Plan
• Approval of the Plan by District

Methodology

The Consultant will work alongside the District Authorities to conduct series of consultative meetings with different stakeholder operating in the district and local authorities ensuring equal representation of all actors are considered. Workshops and validation meetings will be conducted to consolidate/analyze information provided from the different consultation meetings in the district.

Responsibilities of Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) – Todee District Authority and WASH Commission

• The District Authority (MIA) with support from the National WASH Commission will lead on the mobilization of national stakeholders and district authorities to actively participate in the development of the costed plan.
• Key stakeholders anticipated are the; the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Health, Education, National Public Health Institute of Liberia, WaterAid, Action Against Hunger, PSI, Winrock international, Clan and Paramount Chiefs, representation of Women, men, youth etc.

Responsibilities of Consultant

• Reviews of all relevant documents.
• Finalize methodology and detailed workplan in consultation with WaterAid, NWASHC and Todee District Authority.
• Prepare and submit inception Report.
• Lead/manage/facilitate field assessment, consultation meetings, community consultations, and stakeholders’ workshops.
• Prepare draft plan and share with WaterAid, WASH Commission and MIA.
• Validate and finalize costed plan and share with WAL, WASH Commission and MIA.

Responsibility of WaterAid Liberia

• WAL will technically support the Consultant on the finalization of the methodology, and facilitation of task and assignments relating to the development of the costed plan.
• Will provide timely inputs and comments on the reports.
• Will support necessary coordination of relevant stakeholders.

Key Deliverables and Timeframe

Table 1: Key Deliverables and Consultancy Period

Expected competency

Interested consultant is expected to have the following competencies and experience:

• Master’s degree in social sciences, Public Health, International Development, or related fields
  • Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, Public Health, International Development, or related fields.
  • Expertise in public sector finance/budgeting, local governance, sector performance monitoring, and strategic planning
  • Expertise in Facilitating district or national level development planning process.
  • Experience and ability in applying participatory methods to support local governments to develop costed WASH plans.
  • Expertise in the Liberian WASH sector or a similar context.
  • Analytical skills. High skill on data visualization and presentation techniques.
  • Competency and track record of facilitating
  • Competent team for data collection and analysis
  • Competency in writing good quality reports in English

Submitting an expression of interest

Individuals or firms interested in executing this assignment should submit a proposal demonstrating an understanding of the TOR, methodology, and detailed budget for review. The proposal should also highlight the technical capacity of the Consultant by submitting a CV of the principal Consultant not more than 5 pages.

Expressions of interest will be reviewed based on competencies, a record of previous work, the quality of the proposal, and a demonstration of understanding of the task.

Applicants should submit a concise letter of interest and detailed proposal to this email: recruitmentwli@wateraid.org. The subject line of your email should read “TODEE DISTRICT WASH COSTED PLAN DEVELOPMENT”

The deadline for application is February 7, 2025

Please note: Applications will be reviewed on rolling bases till deadline date.

WaterAid believes in a fair and transparent recruitment process. It however reserves the right to accept or reject any application.

Please note: to apply for this role you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in Liberia.