National WASH Consultant – Planning, Monitoring and Knowledge management

National WASH Consultant – Planning, Monitoring and Knowledge management (NOB)

Duty Station:  UNICEF-Dhaka

Contract Duration:  242 days (spread over 11 months)

Number of Vacancies: 01

Contract Type: Contract with E-Zone.          

Contract Start Date:  01 May 2024

Reporting to: Chief of WASH, UNICEF Bangladesh     

A.    Objectives

The objectives of this assignment are to support the WASH Section and the WASH Sector actors on Planning Monitoring and Reporting, Knowledge management, and the rollout of the National Planning Monitoring and Reporting System at the National and Sub-national levels towards data management and evidence generation for investment mobilization and equitable allocation of resources for accelerated access to quality, climate-resilient, and sustainable WASH services in Bangladesh.

B.    Background

Bangladesh has made significant strides in enhancing access to WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) services, focusing on scaling up water supply and sanitation infrastructure. By 2022, while most households had access to improved water sources, only 59% had access to safely managed water services, a slight increase from 56% in 2015. This incremental progress, averaging less than 0.5% annually, mirrors the similarly slow advancement in safely managed sanitation services, which have only seen an average yearly improvement of 1%. The modest pace of development is largely due to systemic inefficiencies in converting infrastructure investments into sustainable, safely managed WASH services. Challenges such as demographic shifts, urbanization, climate change, and the establishment of local markets for WASH services hinder progress.

The Government of Bangladesh's 8th Five-Year Plan (FYP) introduces strategies to overcome these obstacles, including the creation of a comprehensive information management system. This system aims to underpin evidence-based planning, budgeting, and outcome management, setting a path to achieve equitable and accelerated access to safely managed WASH services by 2030.

In alignment with these goals, the Government of Bangladesh and UNICEF signed a Development Project Proposal in 2023, emphasizing the need for enhancing the capacities of officials from the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), Water Supply and Sewerage Authorities (WASAs), and City Corporations. Specifically, the proposal calls for improved abilities in evidence generation for policy development, planning, coordination, and budgeting, necessitating the kick-starting of evidence generation and data management efforts, including the establishment of a National Planning, Monitoring, and Reporting System (NPMRS).

Planning, monitoring, data management, and reporting within the UNICEF WASH section have equally received a boost with the standardization of WASH indicators for reporting, streamlining the planning processes, and developing a monitoring matrix for tracking progress against the Rolling plan. Beyond reporting on the rolling work plan targets, this system is expected to extend to streamlining and centralizing results tracking and reporting against major grants within the section. These efforts will culminate into the quarterly results tracking process that will ensure quarterly updates on key targets across the various grants and the overall section's rolling work plan. These will, in turn, feed into the RAM, CSIs, donor reporting and section's annual report.

To provide the needed technical support to the section and the government in driving these processes, the WASH Section proposes to hire the services of a National WASH Consultant on planning, monitoring, and knowledge management. 

C.    Purpose of Activity/ Assignment of work

The main purpose of this consultancy is to support the WASH section in all internal processes of planning monitoring and reporting and support to the government partners on evidence generation and knowledge management, particularly on the rollout of the National Planning Monitoring and Reporting system at the national and sub-national levels. The specific objectives for this assignment are to:

·         Support the development of the 2024 results monitoring matrix in line with the Rolling Work Plan and support quarterly progress updates.

·         Support the section and the government in conducting programme planning and review meetings in line with project documents and work plans.

·         Support the collation of results and numbers for drafting donor reports and annual reports as required (including completion of RAM and CSIs)

·         Support the section in documenting key outputs of high-level events and activities towards compiling narratives for annual reports and other section reporting responsibilities.

·         Support the MoLGRD&C and DPHE in rolling out and institutionalizing the national planning, monitoring, and reporting system (NPMRS) to drive evidence generation for decision-making in the sector.

·         Support the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics in the development of tools, training, and monitoring of the conduct of the National Survey on the status of WASH services in Schools and Healthcare Facilities.

·         Support the identification and documentation of good practices in the sector and promote sharing and learning with at least three learning products developed within the contract period

·         Support the MoLGRD&C and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) in developing methodology, tools, and templates to strengthen and expand the use of digital platforms for data collection at the national and sub-national levels and promote routine sector data updates.

·         Support in the WASH sector coordination platform to finalize and roll out national monitoring and reporting protocol for the sector with clear roles and responsibilities defined for the respective actors

·         Support DPHE in implementing and monitoring water supply facilities tracking in at least 100 communities, including orientation of water user groups to identify and undertake remedial action to keep their water systems functioning and preserve their water quality from source to the point of consumption.

·         Conduct periodic field visits, at least twice per quarter, as part of assurance activities to verify field results and track compliance with implementation procedures and guidelines.

·         Support DPHE and ITN-BUET to conduct a national survey on the status of WASH services in Cyclone Shelters across the country as part of cyclone preparedness and readiness actions.

·         Support the WASH team in Cox's Bazar in developing and piloting the initiative on bridging the gender digital divide by enabling 1,000 adolescent girls to use digital tools to assess and report on the availability, access, safety, and sustainability of WASH services in their localities.

·         Support for the rollout of national humanitarian supply inventory management systems for preparedness and response with a real-time dynamic digital dashboard for managing emergency supplies.

D.     Tasks 

The Consultant will support the following priority activities:

E.    Deliverables with time schedule

F.    Profile Requirements Qualification Skills

Qualifications:

·         Bachelor's degree in Statistics, Social Sciences, Computer Sciences, Water and Sanitation Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Hydrogeology, or other related fields

·         Master's degree in a relevant field is preferred but not mandatory

Experience:

·         At least five years of relevant experience in programme management, particularly in planning, monitoring, data management and reporting

·         A minimum of two years of professional experience in the development of ICT-based solutions for development programming with good work experience in the areas of systems application management

·         Strong field implementation experience in rural and peri-urban areas, particularly in Bangladesh, with at least one year experience working in the water and sanitation sector

·         Expertise in the design and management of surveys, including the development of tools and templates for data collection and overall data management

·         Familiar with deploying real-time data collection solutions like Kobo-Collect, ONA, etc.

·         Good expertise in designing and developing interactive dashboards using tools like Power BI, Tableau, Google Data Studio, etc.

Skills:

·         Excellent knowledge of spreadsheets, graphics, and data analysis

·         Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills

·         Excellent presentation and communication skills, both written and oral

·         Ability to travel to rural and semi-urban areas of Bangladesh

·         Experience in coordinating with different stakeholders

·         Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment

·         Passion and commitment to UNICEF's mission and values

G.    Administrative Issues

1.      Consultants will be located at UNICEF BCO and conduct required field travel and report to WASH Section, BCO

2.      The Consultant will get BDT 225,000 per month.

3.      Payment will be made monthly upon submission of the monthly progress report and all associated deliverables for the period.

This position is open for Bangladeshi Nationals only. All candidates, irrespective of gender, religious and ethnic backgrounds can apply for the vacancies. 

The UN Agency prides itself as fostering a multicultural and harmonious work environment, guaranteed by a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, and on any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment and discrimination. All selected consultants will undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 

Candidates with the required profile and proven experience, who meet these qualifications, are invited to submit their application in English clearly mentioning the Job Title along with a meaningful cover letter, updated CV, recent PP size photographby email to: 

https://forms.gle/LF2vBGXrKdS47E6S7 

Last Date of Application:  April 24 , 2024

No phone calls please. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. All applications will be treated according to the merit and with strict confidentiality.