Consultancy Opportunity : Capacity Building Support to Ghana Urban Water Limited

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Capacity Building Support to GUWL

1.    Preface

WSUP is supporting GUWL in strengthening the organization’s ability to deliver water supply services to low income urban consumers. The benefits to the consumers will be more reliable, more affordable and safer water services. The benefits to GUWL will be increased revenues as well as improved operational performance through the reduction of non-revenue water (NRW).

Specifically, WSUP is supporting GUWL in the establishment of a Low Income Consumer (LIC) unit to be tasked with defining and implementing policy and oversight in relation to water supply provision to low income urban consumers.

2.    Objective of Assignment

This assignment will support GUWL to plan the development of the Low Income Consumer (LIC) Unit. The assignment targets WSUP’s Strategic Objective 2 (SO2), namely to strengthen local and national institutional capacity for improving water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services to the urban poor.

3.    Scope

The work shall be undertaken by a local Organisational Development consultant, who will be supported by periodic review and advice from an international specialist in the same field (to be made available by WSUP under a separate contract).

The work will be executed in close collaboration with GUWL, and shall build upon their document “Strengthening the capacity of GUWL to deliver water services to low income communities” (Faustina Boachie, January 2013).

Specifically, the Consultant shall support GUWL to:

1. Acquaint itself with international good practice, by means of an organised study tour for up to 3 GUWL staff to an established LIC Unit in Kampala, Uganda (to be funded by WSUP).
2. By particular reference to Accra and Kumasi, document a summary appreciation of the market for water services in low income urban areas in Ghana, in terms of present and projected levels of demand, how these are currently met and the costs per litre paid by low income communities in obtaining sufficient water for their needs. The appreciation should include an estimate of the financial impact of ill-health caused when water needs are met from poor quality sources.
3. Identify the key constraints that are preventing full service coverage to LIC and that can be addressed by GUWL
4. Prepare terms of reference for the LIC Unit, including:
1. Purpose and objectives;
2. Key strategies;
3. Alternative organisational structures, including GUWL policy changes required to set up the unit in each case, along with the implications for decision making processes and for working with other departments across the organisation, for consideration and selection by GUWL;
4. Resourcing plan for the preferred structure;
5. Performance assessment criteria;
6. Prepare specific job descriptions for the key LIC posts;
7. Staff/team training and development needs, and how these will be achieved
8. List of the key policies that GUWL needs to develop relating to LIC services, e.g. connection policy and process, customer services, financing of infrastructure, pricing, permitted service models, contracting types and institutional arrangements, service monitoring, LIC mapping and project coordination etc. 
5. Prepare a budget for establishing and running the LIC Unit for one year, and identify possible sources of funding;
6. Build on (i) and (iv) above to present the case for setting up an LIC Unit, that  quantifies its running costs, the increase in business and revenue that will accrue to GUWL, the reduction in unit costs for water paid by low income consumers and the alleviated financial impacts of ill-health caused by bad water;
7. Prepare a communication plan to disseminate the LIC Unit business case, purpose and strategy internally in GUWL and externally in the sector
8. Report

4.    Technical approach and methodology

In addition to collaborating closely with GUWL and taking into account their work to date on strengthening their capacity to deliver water services to low income consumers, information shall be collated from:

·        Document review, including the review of relevant institutional management and financial documents such as administrative manuals, personnel manual, documentation on work processes, financial manuals, budgets and financial statements, the GAMA project situational analysis, international good practice in relation to establishing and maintaining LIC units, and other documents relevant to the assignment.  This will help understand the work context, and prepare questions for the institutional review and financial planning, which will be shared and finalized in the inception meeting.

·        Inception meeting with LIC Manager to finalise the assignment methodology

·        Interviews with central and regional GUWL staff, representatives from consumers, other related government agencies, development agencies and NGOs.

·        Consultation meetings and focus group discussions to supplement the data gathering process.

·        The review findings including the proposed institutional framework for the LIC unit and its key objectives and strategies will be shared with the various levels of GUWL including regional and central staff through holding seminars and workshops.

5.    Deliverables

An interim report shall be produced within 6 weeks of commencement, setting out the results of steps (i), (ii) and (iii) a-c above, to inform discussion of alternative organisational structures and thus aid selection of a preferred model.

A draft final report will be produced 16 weeks after commencement, comprising:

• A description of the work done, key findings and how adduced
• The business case, first year budget and communication plan for the LIC Unit (items iv-vi above)
• Complete terms of reference for the LIC Unit, including all aspects identified in (iii)a-(iii)g above

6.    Work plan and timeline

Date for submitting proposals:                                   24 May 2013

Date for commencement of assignment                 10 June 2013

Date for completion of assignment:                         20 September 2013

7.      Submission of proposals
Proposals for the assignment must be submitted to the contacts below on or before May 24, 2013.

Proposals must comprised of a Technical and Financial proposal, with a detailed workplan defined in the Technical proposal.

8.      Reporting

In Ghana the Consultant shall report to the WSUP Country Programme Manager, ibmusah@wsup.com and Faustina Boachie, faustina.boachie@ghanawater.info.The Consultant will also liaise closely with the appointed person from GUWL. 

Non- Revenue Water programme development - Consultancy Opportunity in the Ghana Water Sector

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Non- Revenue Water programme development

1.     Background

Assisting Ghana Urban Water Limited (GUWL) to improve services to low income urban consumers (LIC) is a key element of the WSUP Ghana programme. WSUP will work under a Professional Services Agreement with GUWL, which includes the demonstration of effective LIC water service models, and development of technical capacity in agreed areas of operations where GUWL identify a need and which impacts positively on LIC services. WSUP is now in the process of working with GUWL to formulate the capacity development programme. Non-revenue water (NRW) reduction is an important component of this capacity development programme.

2.      Aim

The aim of this assignment is to identify the current position of GUWL with respect to NRW, and to support them in the development of a sustainable programme to reduce NRW in their supply network. The assignment targets WSUP’s Strategic Objective 2 (SO2), namely to strengthen local and national institutional capacity for improving water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services to the urban poor.

3.      Outline

The first step in developing an NRW reduction programme is to gain an understanding of the current likely levels of NRW and how they are assessed, and of the capacity within GUWL to develop and implement such a programme. A programme can then be developed in consultation with GUWL that provides for more robust assessment of NRW, identifies appropriate measures to reduce it, and sets out the data gathering/management and institutional strengthening that are required for sustainable implementation of the programme by GUWL. The programme should provide for pilot areas for detailed NRW data collection, and should be phased to provide for reviews and refinement as the work progresses

The work will be led by an international NRW specialist supported by local expertise, both funded by WSUP.

The programme should recognize that support for NRW reduction may also be available from other sources, and consider effective and appropriate ways of integrating such support with WSUP’s own inputs to the process.

4.     Scope

The work comprises three phases as described below.

Phase 1

The Consultant will:

1. Obtain an appreciation of the WSUP Ghana programme and GUWL’s water supply operations;

2. Obtain an understanding of the current issues and levels of NRW and illegal water loss through discussions with GUWL, including their means of measuring water produced, distributed and delivered to customers, billing records, customer databases and other relevant data;

3. Through discussion with GUWL, assess the current technical capacity within the organisation to develop and implement an effective and sustainable NRW reduction strategy;

4. Design and deliver to operational managers a one-week course on assessing and controlling NRW, to include a day on site;

5. Prepare Phase 1 report.

Phase 2

The Consultant will:

1. Consider  options for improving the quality of water flow measurement and other relevant data sufficiently to inform an effective NRW reduction strategy and, in discussion with GUWL, identify those that are likely to be most appropriate, sustainable and cost-effective;

2. In consultation with GUWL, identify and assess alternative selections of short, medium and long-term measures to reduce NRW, and identify a preferred programme;

3. Discuss and agree the institutional arrangements and capacity building support needed by GUWL to implement the identified programme of NRW reduction measures, and sustain effective focus by GUWL on NRW management into the future;

4. In discussion with GUWL, identify other potential sources of external support to the NRW reduction programme and consider how these may be integrated effectively into programme implementation;

5. Discuss recommendations with senior management of GUWL to verify support for the plan;

6. Prepare Phase 2 report.

Phase 3

The Consultant will:

1. With GUWL, identify two pilot areas (one each in Accra and Kumasi) for interventions to improve NRW quantification and reduction to the benefit of water supplies to LICs, and  specify the related programmes of work;

2. Support the procurement and installation of hardware (flowmeters etc) and related infrastructure to implement these pilot interventions;

3. Assist GUWL in the implementation of the pilot interventions, including baseline NRW assessment, monitoring, analysis and interpretation of results, and determination/implementation of follow-up actions where appropriate;

4. Prepare Phase 3 report.

5.     Deliverables

Phase 1

a.      A report that sets out clearly:

·        the current situation in relation to NRW in GUWL, including strengths and weaknesses in flow measurement (water accounting), leakage control, illegal connections, billing, revenue collection and other relevant data;

·        the implications of this situation for GUWL as a business, in terms of volume of water produced but not delivered, lost revenue and improvements to customer service that could be achieved by reducing NRW;

·        an assessment of the institutional and technical capacity of the organization to deliver an effective and sustainable NRW reduction programme, and how this may be improved;

b.      Development and delivery to operational managers of a one-week course on assessing and controlling NRW, to include a day on site and documentation (course content, attendees etc).

Phase 2

a.      An Options Report, that compares alternative data gathering improvement, technical capacity building and institutional enhancement strategies and their implications for GUWL, and how they may be built into short, medium and long-term sustainable NRW reduction programmes, with recommendations;

b.      A Final Report, that sets out the preferred strategy as agreed with and supported by GUWL, including how it will be implemented, sustained and funded.

Phase 3

a.      Formal proposal for interventions and work programmes to improve NRW quantification and reduction in two pilot areas (one each in Accra and Kumasi) agreed between WSUP and GUWL;

b.       Support given to GUWL in collection of relevant base data for the pilot areas, and the procurement and installation of infrastructure required to underpin the interventions;

c.      Support given to GUWL with the collection, analysis and interpretation of data collected from the installed NRW infrastructure, and determination/implementation of follow-up actions where appropriate;

d.      A report detailing the scope and effectiveness of the interventions, the lessons learned and implications for scale-up.

The consultant should expect to be asked to respond to one round of comments on the draft report at the end of each phase, before finalization. The approval of the report will be by the WSUP Programme Director following consultation with GUWL.

6.     Work plan and timeline

Proposal submission                                              24 May 2013

Phase 1 commencement                                                     29 May 2013

Phase 1 completion                                                              24 July 2013

Phase 2 commencement                                                     8 August 2013

Phase 2 completion                                                              19 September 2013

Phase 3 commencement                                                     26 August 2013

Phase 3, components (i) & (ii) completion                       22 November 2013

Phase 3, components (iii) & (iv) completion                    30 June 2014

Note the overlap between the completion of a phase and the commencement of its successor; this reflects client review time for reports.

7.      Submission of proposals
Proposals for the assignment must be submitted to the contacts below on or before May 24, 2013.

Proposals must be comprised of a Technical and Financial proposal, with a detailed workplan defined in the Technical proposal.

8.     Reporting

In Ghana the Consultant shall report to the WSUP Country Programme Manager, ibmusah@wsup.com and Faustina Boachie, faustina.boachie@ghanawater.info.  The Consultant will also liaise closely with the appointed person from GUWL. 

VACANCIES IN THE Ghana Water Sector : JOB TITLE: Head of Programmes

JOB TITLE:        Head of Programmes

REPORTING:     Country Representative

LOCATION:       Accra, Ghana

KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS: Country Representative, Senior Management Team, Partners, LGA’s, WA West Africa Regional Team, WA UK and member countries, Government, and Donors, among others

The Head of Programmes (HOP) will strategically manage programmes delivery according to WaterAid’s overall vision and goals

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic planning and management of programme delivery according to WaterAid’s overall vision and goals.

• Spearhead the design, monitoring and implementation of projects, contracts, and manage Partnership relations.

• Ensure effective operational planning and budget setting and efficient use of the Country Programme funds, with close attention to continuously improving return on fundraising investment, full cost recovery, and minimizing risks.

• Management of donor contracts, programme and project activities and reports are delivered on time and of high quality using Performance monitoring & evaluation tools.

• Develop and mentor Programme support staff to deliver high quality programmes and projects.

• Ensure development of systems for planning, implementation and review of  programme operations and efficient operation of programme teams in Accra and Tamale

• Develop and nurture good relations with WAG development partners, government institutions, traditional institutions and the communities that WAG operates

• Establish learning and information flow within WAG to support individual and team learning requirements, especially ensuring policy-practice integration learning.  Ensure knowledge management protocols followed and departmental information is updated and current.

Education

·        Masters Degree civil engineering, mechanical engineering, water supply and sanitation engineering, Programme design, implementation and evaluation, project management, developmental studies, geology/hydrogeology.

Experience

·        Minimum of 8 yrs experience in Programme planning, development and management at a Senior Manager level, preferably in the WASH sector.

·        Senior level experience managing WASH sector programmes in rural, peri-urban and urban environments and inter-sectoral working relationships, including within the environmental sciences, health and education development sector.

·        Hands-on experience working with national/regional/district structures to implement sustainable WASH programmes.

·        Experience in establishing and maintaining effective partnerships and strategic alliances (Bilateral/Multilateral Donors, Local NGOs, Regional Bodies)

·        Substantive experience establishing and managing donor relations and grants from the private sector, Foundations, government sector, bilateral and other donors including USAID, UKAID/DFID, CNHF, GATES Foundation, World Bank, AfD, UN, EU/EC, CIDA, and experience with local Ghana private sector actors (Unilever, Vodafone, etc.)

Knowledge/ Skills

• Exceptional communication skills – both written and verbal. 
• Excellent active listening, coaching and mentoring skills.
• Excellent Problem solving and root cause identification skills
• Ability to multi-task, meet deadlines and manage time of self and others.
• Knowledge of sustainability, rights based, endogenous development, pro-poor, equity & inclusion issues in development.

·        Extensive knowledge and skill in Partner relationship management

·        Excellent People management skill, conflict and performance management skiils, with proven record of developing people with knowledge/familiarity with international NGOs.

·        Expert knowledge of WASH sector service delivery approaches, especially sanitation and behavior change communication, CBWRM, Climate Change

·        General knowledge of GPS mapping,  

Applicants must be able to work in Ghana

Applications and CVs should be forwarded by email to:

The Head of People and Organizational Development (HPOD) at:

GHRecruitment@wateraid.org

Not later than 20^th May 2013

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted

Thank you for your interest in WaterAid!