Uganda: Terms of Reference for Sanitation Study

Terms of Reference for Sanitation study in Imvepi Refugee Settlement

Arua, Uganda

INTRODUCTION

Action Against Hunger (ACF) is one of the leading humanitarian organizations working in over 40 countries in the world. The areas of interventions include health and nutrition, water and sanitation, food security and livelihoods, working in an integrated manner to fight hunger and malnutrition among vulnerable populations. Action Against Hunger globally and within the national programmes acknowledges that it’s pertinent to address the underlying drivers and determinants of malnutrition through nutrition-sensitive interventions in water, sanitation, hygiene, agriculture, health, social safety nets, early child development, and education. As other Action Against Hunger interventions address the direct impacts of malnutrition, the Water and Sanitation department addresses the underlying causes such as unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene practices, laying sustainable (lasting) solutions. Action Against Hunger currently operates in eight districts in Northern, Karamoja and West Nile regions of Uganda targeting the southern Sudanese refugees and host communities.

BACKGROUND

ACF and other WASH partners currently implement WASH projects in Imvepi Refugee settlement that hosts southern Sudanese refugees. Sanitation coverage in the settlement is recorded at 65% and open defecation is rampant in the absence of sanitation facilities. Action Against Hunger has focussed on improving access to and use of sanitation facilities and hygiene behaviour change to mitigate the risks of and hazards of unsafe sanitation that may be microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Action Against Hunger sensitizes communities on safe waste disposal and proper excreta management and subsidizes construction of HH sanitation facilities like latrines, shelters, rubbish pits by providing construction material to the beneficiaries. Sanitation coverage is steadily improving as HHs construct simple traditional shallow latrines on their small allocated pieces of land that they cover when they fill up to excavate another one. For institutions, Action Against Hunger and other partners construct lined latrines. A number of communal unlined pits have also been provided and there is need to explore a more sustainable option.

Communities and institutions are mobilised and facilitated on SWM. The settlement has no organised mechanism for solid waste management and therefore institutional, household and medical waste is either burnt incinerated or buried onsite. There is also indiscriminate dumping of garbage especially in public places that needs to be addressed to curb disasters that will not only damage the soils but also lead to detrimental health effects

Providing sustainable sanitation especially in refugee settlements is still a huge challenge and Action Against Hunger acknowledges that to sustain these sanitation gains and even achieve more it will necessitate establishment of feasible and sustainable options for faecal and solid waste management with specific focus on the entirety of the “sanitation chain”.

The main objective of the study is therefore to explore the settlement sanitation needs and design feasible approaches and options that are technological, institutional and social in nature in order to maintain and sustain sanitation. The study will also look into opportunities to incorporate ‘**Sanitation Waste to Value’** concept. Solid wastes and faecal sludge management yielding to biogas, briquettes and soil conditioning. The overall result will be protection and promotion of human health by providing a clean environment that will break the cycle of disease. Current initiative conducted by implementing partner in the settlement will be taken into consideration.

SCOPE OF WORK

The study will be conducted in Imvepi Refugee settlement in Arua District. The study will be a field based research backed with secondary data of sanitation including fecal and solid waste management in the settlement and the merging settlement sanitation, institutional and programmatic challenges.

The following key research questions should be investigated.

1.What is the current status of sanitation, solid waste water management in Imvepi Refugee settlement? - The status should be presented in terms of quantitative and qualitative assessment of fecal and solid waste management in the settlement.
2.What FSM and SWM technologies/systems and management practice are in use currently or being proposed? 3.**What are the capacities of the existing system vs. capacity currently required?**
4.How sustainable and equitable are the existing and proposed sanitation, systems. Kindly review the financial and institutional arrangements.
5.What is the contribution if any of unsafe disposal and treatment, contributing to the contamination of ground water and surface water? 6.**What are the possible improvements that can be brought about in FSM & SWM in terms of provisioning and governance the refugee settlement?**
7.Which model could be proposed to organize and structure the sanitation chain, involving private actors in the model especially on the turning waste into value? 8.What would be the cost of this model and how actors should organize themselves to cover those costs?** - The model should estimate the unit cost of providing sanitation services.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology for the study will be developed by the selected consultant at the onset of the work and will be presented in detail in the inception report. However, it is anticipated that the study will include a range of methods highlighted below;

a. Review of relevant documents to understand background and context of assignment and to arrive at possible remedial measures.

b. Study of detailed project reports and performance reports of various projects proposed or undertaken with and other bilateral or donor agencies, as applicable.

c. Conducting a field visit to [area] to gain field-based understanding of context.

d. Participate in a team planning (kick-off) meeting with review study objectives, share results from field visit, agree on modalities of coordination, etc.

e. Develop the study design outlining methods and timeline (design to be included in inception report).

f. Conduct fieldwork/data collection activities. - In-depth interviews with key informants in the Government, settlement authorities (UNHCR, OPM), private sector, CSOs and other key stakeholders.

g. Conduct Focus group discussions with beneficiaries in host and refugee community.

h. Analyze data.

i. Develop a sludge and waste management model explaining role and responsibilities of public, private and non-governmental actors.

j. Elaborate the business plan of the sludge and waste management model.

k. Present top line finding of the diagnostic and mapping and recommendations and present to client and relevant partners and stakeholders (up to 2 presentations).

l. Draft final report and finalize based on client’s comments, meeting international quality standards to enable global distribution.

DELIVERABLES

1. Factsheet / settlement Brief (4 – 5 pages), Sanitation, (FSM, SWM) assessment of the settlement, issues and recommendations. Institutional and programmatic landscape of sanitation in the settlement.

2. Sludge and waste management model.

3. Costing and Business model of the sludge and waste management.

4. Draft Report Structure to be shared for approval within one month.

5. Draft conclusion and recommendation (internal); Present and discuss key findings, conclusions, and recommendations with Action Against Hunger staff.

6. Dissemination workshop; Present the findings and recommendations during a half a day dissemination workshop.

7. Final Report and PP (max 20 pages); Final Report with an Executive Summary (2 pages max), Background, Research Objectives and Questions, Methods, Possible Limitation to Interpretation of Data, Main Results/Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations, References, Appendices and/or Annexes and Public Use Data File. Within two months.

BUDGET

The Service Provider shall be compensated for the services performed and materials delivered according to the agreed activities provided in the Appendix A. The payment will be completed in four installments and after approval of the named deliverable by the Action Against Hunger representative:

• The first instalment of 30% shall be done upon signature of contract;

• The second instalment 20% shall be done upon submission and validation of the delivery 1 and 2

• The third instalment of 30% shall be done upon submission and validation of the delivery 3 and 4.

• The fourth instalment 20% shall be done upon submission and validation of the delivery 5.

The total budget for this consultancy includes all consultant Withholding taxes foxed by the Ugandan Tax authority and training costs.

For information, withholding taxes on international payments is due at 15% unless reduced by specific double tax treaty provisions. VAT on imported services is due at 18%. Those taxes applies to the consultant fees.

Eligible costs are presented in the table below. The total of the consultancy cannot exceed 10,000 EUROs. Applicants are invited to use this table to present the detail of the costs. Applications will not be considered if the budget is not well detailed.

BUDGET TEMPLATE FOR CONSULTANTS (please specify Unit, unit cost, number of days, total)

· HR Cost

· Travel Cost: flight, visa, transfer fee from airport, car rental, per diem, hotel

· Communication costs in country

· Other costs, including Withholding tax, VAT, report printing, dissemination workshop

WHO CAN APPLY AND PROCESS OF SELECTION

· Any individual consultant, gov’t agency or NGO can apply.

· All proposals will be evaluated and shortlisted by the Action Against Hunger.

· Expertise in undertaking research, experience of working in the state where the research is to be done, time commitment and qualification of the principal consultant/cv will be the key considerations for selection.

· The selected consultant will be a consultant firm with a track record of at least five years of sanitation study in Refugee settlements in Uganda or countries with similar parameters of interest. Possible areas of expertise include value WASH.

The study team composition and qualifications should be as follows:

Key personnel may only be replaced over the life of the contract with written permission of client:

I.Principal investigator and research project coordinator who will be the primary person responsible for the technical work and will manage the design and implementation process.

II.Management/WASH advisory specialist.

Additional staffing requirements will be left to the consultant to determine based on the methodology and approach proposed.

Only successful applicants will be informed.

TIMELINE

The study will be conducted in the time frame from 5^th to 31^st August 2018.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

As per Action Against Hunger contracting.

APPLICATION PROCESS

The consultants interested will submit a technical proposal (max four pages), the CV of the consultant, a work plan indicating the delivery date of each product expected, and a detailed budget using the table provided above.

All applications should be sent by COB 15^th July 2018 email to: dcdp@ug-actionagainsthunger.org.