UNICEF Consultancy Services Opportunity-Zimbabwe
The UNICEF Zimbabwe Country Office is seeking Expression of Interest (EOI) to pre-qualify suitable academic or research institutions, engineering firms and/or consortium of individuals who will be invited to submit proposals to enter into a contract for undertaking a consultancy on ‘Assessment of alternative sanitation options to expand coverage in urban / periurban areas of Zimbabwe’.
The specific Terms of Reference will be described in detail in the relevant RFP(s) when issued.
Background:**
There has been a growing recognition of the need to come up with evidenced based options aimed at reaching those who are not covered by existing sanitation systems in urban and/or peri urban areas in Zimbabwe.
The proposed options must fulfil the need to provide a suitable solution to the unserved residents in the shortest term and at the same time consider long-term / development related issues to avoid interim solutions do not become permanent and become a hindrance to the longer term sanitation vision.
Though some experiences have been progressively been incorporated in some of the sanitation projects in Zimbabwe by various partners, the successes and challenges of these pilots and their scalability have not yet been analysed, nor necessarily considered for incorporation within the sector guidelines and standards.
UNICEF as part of its WASH programme in Zimbabwe and in partnership with relevant line ministries now intend to provide technical assistance through a consultancy agreement for the Assessment of alternative sanitation technologies for urban and peri urban areas in Zimbabwe.
Scope and Objectives:
The general objective of the consultancy is to identify, analyse and recommend alternative sanitation options for the expansion of sanitation / sewage systems in low cost urban / peri-urban settings in Zimbabwe (including review of existing sanitation technologies and policy environment in Zimbabwe) to provide evidenced based information for sanitation practice and policy.
Specific objectives are:
Review of alternative and low-cost sanitation options for similar contexts in other countries and regions, including and analysis of their potential applicability to the Zimbabwean contexts focusing on social, health, environment, financial, technical and institutional aspects;
Review of existing policies, standards, guidelines on sanitation in Zimbabwe and assessment of the various sanitation types in urban and peri urban areas in Zimbabwe and their compliance with policy;
SWOT analysis of the urban sanitation subsector, including barriers to access to urban sanitation, processes and adequacy of processes/mechanisms for sanitation planning, financing, tariff, issues around equity and operation and maintenance;
Costed Road map for piloting selected alternative sanitation options, including recommendations for potential use of lessons learnt for expanding sanitation options in urban settings in Zimbabwe
Qualifications:
The requirements indicated below are regarded as the minimum for Institutions / Consultant teams to apply for this assignment. Consultants / Institutions not based in Zimbabwe are required to include a Zimbabwe based support consultant(s) / partner organization with the required qualifications as indicated below:
The consultancy will be carried out by an institution or consortium of institutions or individuals.
For institutional bidders, various institutional arrangements are encouraged to apply: proposers might be academic institutions, research centres, consultancy firms, or a consortium uniting several institutions. In the case of an institutional consortium, the lead bidding institution whom UNICEF will deal with must be clearly indicated.
Similarly, for consortium of individuals, UNICEF will only communicate with one consortium member who must be clearly identified as the team leader
The consulting team—which must have a designated leader–should include the following competencies (experts with multi-skill sets can fill more than one competency):
Lead Consultant
Advanced university degree (Masters or PhD) in Sanitary, Public Health, Civil engineering and/or or related fields
Demonstrated experience in engaging and working with high level officials at national and subnational level and should possess excellent verbal and written communication skills
At least ten years’ international experience in the implementation of WASH programmes in developing countries. At least five years’ experience related to urban / peri-urban settings including service delivery models.
Demonstrated experience on the implementation /analysis of the use and effectiveness of alternative sanitation options in urban/peri-urban areas in developing countries. .
Strong expertise and experience in designing and implementing low cost and appropriate sanitation programmes in urban and peri urban areas in low and lower middle income countries; specific experience in other Southern African countries and South America will be considered an added advantage
Proven analytical skills, including analysis of legal /regulatory frameworks and policy advocacy.
Strong interpersonal and networking skills
Fluency in English
Support Consultants- The team must include at least one support consultant, with the following qualifications and competencies:
University degree in sanitary and/or civil engineering, social sciences or related field with a minimum of five years of experience in their proposed area of assignment
At least five years of work experience in the implementation of WASH programmes in Zimbabwe, including experience in urban / peri-urban settings.
Familiarity of the Zimbabwe urban WASH sector including institutional arrangements and a working knowledge of Local government arrangements
Familiarity with equity and gender issues.
Fluency in English and local languages, including excellent communication skills Experience in working with UN or similar agencies
HOW TO APPLY:
Response requirements: At this stage, UNICEF is requesting Expression of Interest (EOI) from interested institutions. Institutions should submit detailed and complete institutional profile information, together with a written “Expression of Interest” by either email or mail no later than 12:00 noon Harare local time on Thursday, 2 June 2016. EOI should contain the following reference:
Interested institutional bidders should submit detailed and complete institutional profile information and documents, together with a written “Expression of Interest” in response to this advertisement. The documents should include:
Description of the lead bidding entity
Detailed profile of members of the consortium, including CVs with name, date of birth educational/other trainings, professional experience and names and contact of professional referees
Description of similar projects in which team members worked before including the location of the project, name and contact details (e-mail and telephone) of the client, implementation period, cost of the project, and scope of services
Interested consortium of individuals should submit the following:
Detailed profile of members of the consortium, including CVs with name, date of birth educational/other trainings, professional experience and names and contact of professional referees
Description of similar projects in which team members worked before including the location of the project, name and contact details (e-mail and telephone) of the client, implementation period, cost of the project, and scope of services
Information provided will be reviewed to assess each consortium or institutions’ suitability to be included in the upcoming competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) process.
Emailed responses should be addressed to nsafure@unicef.org and serviceszim@unicef.org.
Mailed responses can be sent to:
The Supply Section
UNICEF Harare Office
Fairbridge Avenue
P.O. Box 1250
Belgravia, Harare, Zimbabwe