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Consultancy, Enhancing Transparency, Openness and Accountability of Sanitation Related Issues in Ga West and Kumasi

JOB SUMMARY

Company Water and San...
Industry NGO/IGO/INGO
Category Policy
Location Ga West / Kum...
Job Status Fixed Term
Salary GH¢ 
Education Master’...
Experience 5 years
Job Expires Feb 22, 2017
Contact ...
 

Company Profile

Today, around one billion city-dwellers lack access to safe drinking water, a number the UN estimates will nearly double by 2050 as more and more people are moving to cities for work and other opportunities, most of them ending up living in informal settlements without basic services. Meanwhile the changing climate is making water even more precious. Against this backdrop, our work has never been more vital.

WSUP is a not-for-profit company, expert at improving water and sanitation services for low-income, urban communities. We work alongside utilities, entrepreneurs, and communities to develop and deliver solutions which are affordable for the poor, financially viable for suppliers, and sustainable for the environment.

We were founded in 2005 in the UK, and currently work in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia (Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Madagascar, Ghana, Zambia, Bangladesh), supported by a global Secretariat. We are a small organisation, but we have a big impact; since inception we have helped over 40 million people with improved water, sanitation, and hygiene services. And we have ambitions to reach many more www.wsup.com

WSUP’s innovative approach to creating impact is guided by our values, which are the common fundamental beliefs and principles that guide us. All our staff are expected to embody these values in their day-to-day work and interactions. To learn more about our values, please see www.wsup.com/about/work-with-us/.

Job Description

TERMS OF REFERENCE, Enhancing Transparency, Openness and Accountability of Sanitation Related Issues in Ga West and Kumasi

1. Background: the global problem of inadequate access to water and sanitation for the urban poor

Over the past two decades most developing countries have experienced rapid urbanisation as part of a global trend that has brought millions out of poverty, and helped to bridge the gap between the developed and the developing world. However, many of the people migrating to urban environments are concentrated in low-income informal settlements (commonly referred to as ‘slums’), either within the central city or in peri-urban districts at the city’s ever-growing periphery. Africa’s urban population is predicted to triple between 2009 and 2050 to 1.23 billion people.

Faced with this trend of population growth and mass urban migration, governments and utilities are proving unable to expand their water and sanitation systems at sufficient pace to respond to the increasing consumer need and many of them are in fact struggling to meet the demands of the current population. This is due to a complex web of constraints including limited finances, lack of property rights for people living in low-income settlements, outdated laws and inadequate enforcement, and lack of the required technical expertise to serve low-income areas effectively. Without new models for the water and sanitation sector that can deliver at scale, huge numbers of people living in slums will continue to remain without access to the most basic water and sanitation for health (WASH) services. Diseases related to inadequate WASH remain among the world’s most serious public health problems, and the associated impacts on economic productivity and children’s cognitive development are likely to have profoundly negative impacts on national development.

2. Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP)

WSUP is a tri-sector partnership between the private sector, civil society and academia, focused on addressing the increasing global problem of inadequate access to water and sanitation for the urban poor. WSUP believes that access to safe and affordable water, improved sanitation and improved hygiene practices underpin poverty reduction through impacts on health, education and livelihoods. This is supported by the belief that sustainable and viable improvements can only be made by strengthening the technical capacity and financial viability of local service providers.

WSUP has a strategic portfolio of six countries in Africa and South Asia where it works in close partnership with local service providers and national government. WSUP’s approach in each city begins with the identification of approaches to improve the direct delivery of service improvements at a representative scale, in order to A) enable the practical application of capacity development of the local service provider, and B) remove a key barrier to a better functioning market for pro-poor service delivery by using grant funding to overcome risk aversion to failure. Through the delivery of financially viable and effective service provision at a representative scale in each city, and by strengthening the capacity of local partners to provide pro-poor services under viable business models, WSUP aims to trigger investments for the scale-up of service delivery at the city and ultimately the national level. WSUP is committed to sharing the learning from its work with the wider sector to inspire replication and ensure maximum global impact. For a summary version of WSUP’s Theory of Change 2012-2015, see Figure 1.

Figure 1: simplified WSUP theory of change

WSUP has been established as a not-for-profit company for over 10 years and in that time has grown its programme of work from zero during that period. Over that period, the company has also progressed from having no position of influence within the international WASH development community to being well recognised widely by organisations such as the World Bank, UNICEF, Stone Family Foundation and others as providing a unique and successful approach to help overcome the challenges faced in providing sustainable WASH services to low income communities in urban areas.

Building on the back of the above recognition, WSUP has established WSUP Advisory CIC, a wholly owned subsidiary incorporated as a Community Interest Company (CIC), to operate as a consultancy to extend WSUPs reach into countries outside of our 6 core countries. Profits generated will be returned into the not-for-profit entity as a source of unrestricted funding. WSUP Advisory has already secured very significant contracts in India, Ethiopia, Pakistan and elsewhere funded by USAID, UNICEF and others. 

3. Programme overview

The current WSUP business plan runs from December 2012 – March 2016. The business plan programme targets the adoption and replication of effective urban water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) models by WASH service providers, national governments and international financing institutions across the six countries where WSUP has an established presence. It is further characterised by a comprehensive programme of research, publications and communications aimed at informing and influencing the international WASH sector.

Box 1: current business plan programme key characteristics

A new 2016-2020 WSUP business plan has been prepared and has already attracted significant support from funders. It is envisaged that annual spend over the 4 year period will average GBP 15 million.

4. Further introductory information about the background for the consultancy

Within all democratic institutions and systems, and a governance structure that is truly transparent, effective and accountable, access to crucial information about how governments or leaderships operate, establish priorities and make decisions is very essential for accountable and equitable systems. In Ghana, the 1992 constitution and several legislations as well as anti-corruption instruments provide for the creation of systems and institutions to ensure transparent and accountable governance. Since the coming into force of the constitution, there have been great advances made by the central government and civil societies in increasing transparency at both local and national levels. In 1997 for instance the government developed the National Governance Programme (NGP) to ensure greater transparency, citizens’ participation in national issues as well as accountability. The country further submitted to the African Peer Review mechanism in 2005 for a review of its general governance performance. Similarly in September, 2011 Ghana signed onto the Open Government Partnership (OGP) which further highlights the country’s resolve to commit to transparency and openness in governance.

Even though these programmes and legal instruments have provided some openness in governance by ensuring transparency, accountability and citizens’ participation in governance issues, their effects have not cascaded down to the local levels to have widespread engagements as would allow for greater service delivery. Concerns still remain as to how transparent resources at the assembly levels are mobilized and distributed, access to information to citizens at local levels on the programmes of the assemblies and how citizens can hold authorities at the assembly accountable for the utilization of the assembly’s resources. This often hampers effective service delivery. It is in dealing with this challenge that the Functional and Organisational Assessment Tool (FOAT) applied by the District Development Facility (DDF) was designed by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) in 2009 to assess general service delivery and accountability of MAs.

At the Kumasi Metropolitan and Ga West Municipal Assemblies, these several legal instruments and policies (including national laws and policies as well as byelaws and statements) exist to ensure transparency, accountability and citizens’ participation in the delivery of services.

With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a review of the existing laws and policies on transparency and accountability at KMA and GWMA has been undertaken, and an implementation plan has been designed for each location, to enhance transparency, accountability and citizen’s participation in service delivery.

The services of a consultant are therefore required to execute the implementation plans.

5. Consultancy support required

The consultant is specifically required to perform the activities detailed under 5.1 below:

5.1       Scope of work and overall approach

5.1.1    Task 1

Undertake activities in the implementation plan (for both Ga West and Kumasi)

The consultant is required to study the initial review report as well as the implementation plans, and carry out the selected activities specified in the plans. Review reports and implementation plan are to be requested via email from wsupghana@wsup.com

5.1.2    Task 2

Track budget and expenditure on sanitation-related services

The consultant is required to track planned/projected expenditure on sanitation related services in Ga West and Kumasi, as against actual spend for the period beginning January 2017 and ending August 2017. In addition to the quantitative results, a qualitative assessment of the variance (explanations) should be provided.

5.1.3    Task 3

Assess past and current levels of property rates collected

The consultant is required to track the monthly performance of property rates collection by Ga West and Kumasi over the period January 2012 to August 2017. The baseline reports of revenue collection systems and practices in both locations will be useful references, and these will be made available by WSUP upon contract award. In addition to the quantitative results, a qualitative assessment of the variance (explanations) should be provided. For all 2017 monthly performance, the consultant is required to recommend actions (in monthly report) to improve on the collection.

5.1.4    Task 4

Track sanitation surcharge

Ga West has adopted a 10% extra levy to be incorporated on all property rates as sanitation surcharge, to be ring-fenced for sanitation related services. The consultant is required to track the assembly’s projected total surcharge to be collected for the period January 2017 to December 2017, and actual surcharge collected as at August 2017.

5.2       Deliverables

  1. Inception report
  2. Monthly reports. Report should provide updates on:
  1. data of expenditure on sanitation related services (Ga West and Kumasi);
  2. data of past and current levels of property rates collected, with recommended actions for improvement (Ga West and Kumasi);
  3. data on sanitation surcharge (Ga West only); and
  4. outcome of activities in the implementation plan.

3. Draft and final completion report.

5.3       Programme

Date

Milestone/deliverable

22-Feb-17

Bid submission

13-Mar-17

Commencement of consultancy

31-Mar-17

Submission of inception report

31-Aug-17

Submission of draft report

14-Sep-17

Submission of final report

 “The Consultant is free to propose alternative achievable timescales that recognise that the available funding stream for this work expires at the end of 7-Nov-17.”

The Consultant should expect to be asked to respond to one round of comments and questions on draft documents before acceptance by WSUP of final versions.

7. Reporting and liaison

The Task Manager for this work will be WSUP’s Accra Project Manager, in close collaboration with WSUP’s Kumasi Project Manager. The consultant will also liaise closely with Ga West and KMA in the performance of the assignment.

8. Contract terms

A standard WSUP consultancy contract format will be used, subject to the Consultant's agreement with the terms.

9. Payments

9.1       Payment schedule

Payment shall be made (according to a schedule based on deliverables or milestones, and) by instalment as follows:

  • 30% on acceptance of inception report
  • 70% on completion of contract

Expenses will be paid only upon submission of full receipts, and must be in accordance with WSUP's Expenses Policy (attached). Payment will be by bank transfer upon receipt of invoice.

Required Skills or Experience

Consultant profile

The consultant should display the following profile:

Essential:

  1. one (1) team leader (a policy & advocacy implementation specialist)
  2. one (1) communications specialist
  3. one  (1) other team member

The team leader should possess at least a Master’s Degree in a relevant field (e.g. law, policy analysis, ect) with at least 5 years’ experience in public sector reforms.

Desirable:

  • some understanding of the urban WASH sector
  • previous experience of working with organisations similar to WSUP or with international NGOs and consultancies      

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