United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
WASH in Disaster Prone Communities in Northern Ghana: Fast Track Activities
Call for Expressions of Interest from Non-Profit Organizations for a Project on:
Providing Water Supplies, Sensitisation on Sanitation and Hygiene, and Support for Livelihood Activities in 3 Disaster Prone Communities in Northern Ghana
Date first published: 1st September 2016
Deadline for submissions of EoIs: 15th September, 2016
1. Introduction
UN-Habitat is working jointly with UNICEF, UNDP and WHO to implement a Programme on “Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Disaster Prone Communities in Ghana”. The programme focuses on providing resilient WASH facilities and improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene for around 200,000 people living in 265 communities dispersed amongst 24 districts of the 3 Northern Regions in Ghana – Upper West, Upper East and Northern regions.
In the communities where interventions have been completed, preliminary surveys have confirmed significant positive impacts on the lives of the people. However, there are about 200 other communities (outside the current 265 beneficiary communities) that are also flood prone and could benefit from similar resilient solutions for their water supply. It is planned to continue providing resilient water supply to some or all of these other 200 communities that are not beneficiaries of the ongoing programme of interventions in a new phase, and efforts are being made to mobilise further resources for this purpose.
The overarching objective is to provide services that will lead to a reduced burden of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) related diseases among women, men, girls and boys in these disaster-prone communities in Northern Ghana.
UN-Habitat is currently in the process of conceptualizing a subsequent phase of the WASH in DPC Programme. Initially three flood prone communities out of the estimated 200 will be selected as pilots to benefit from flood resilient water supply facilities, to include livelihood components for small scale gardening activities. The selection will target communities with very high risk of recurrent flooding. This will be complemented with software aspects on sanitation and hygiene with links to the ongoing WASH in DPC programme.
The specific objectives are to:
a. Implement resilient water supply solutions in select communities and reduce the number of people in the flood prone areas without access to safe water supply, sanitation and hygiene services through a participatory process
b. Promote education programmes and awareness of hygiene practices to improve the sanitation and health conditions in the beneficiary communities and schools
c. Enhance the local capacity in the three beneficiary communities to sustainably manage the water supply facility and related services to be put in place.
d. Contribute to measures to enhance the preparedness to disasters and minimize future risks in the communities
This initial intervention in the 3 selected communities will include the following:
1. Organise startup activities with full participation of the communities to facilitate a clear understanding of the project and its delivery mechanism
2. Elicit suggestions from the community for the implementation of the project and draw up a more
specific work programme.
3. Identify locations for boreholes and install resilient but cost effective solar mechanized water supply systems in the selected disaster prone communities.
4. Mobilize and train the communities to have in place arrangements to manage the facilities including:
- Establishing community water management teams in each beneficiary community to oversee the water supply for domestic and small scale gardening purposes;
- Establishing a programme to sensitise community members on awareness of hygiene practices to improve the - Sanitation and health conditions in the beneficiary communities and schools;
- Preparing operations and maintenance plans for the community facilities; and
- Establishing modalities to mobilise internal community resources towards the operations and maintenance activities.
5. Work closely with the community to determine and implement appropriate measures to enhance their preparedness to disasters, in close collaboration with NADMO.
In all cases the Implementation Partner is expected to work closely with the communities to ensure the sustainability of the solar mechanized WASH systems to be provided.
It is expected that the selected communities will benefit from solar powered mechanized “water points” to a standard design and retrofitted to ensure resilience to disaster occurrences (especially flooding events). The improved water sources will be tested for yield and water quality and required to conform to the National Community Water and Sanitation (NCWSP) guidelines.
UN-Habitat wishes to invite Expressions of Interest from Non-Profit Organizations, including International NGOs and Governmental Organisations to enter into an Agreement of Cooperation for a partnership to implement this initial pilot on “Water Supplies, Sensitisation on Sanitation and Hygiene and Support for Livelihood Activities in 3 Disaster Prone Communities in Northern Ghana” through collaborative work.
The results of the pilot would lead to a scaled up project to cover the remaining communities out of the estimated 200. The technical expertise from both organizations, which shall be used in this collaboration, would allow a more effective and efficient utilization of resources made available to both UN-Habitat and the selected Partner.
Interested Organizations should also provide a statement of their experience and capability, including a proposed work-plan, and an indicative budget for installing and operationalising solar powered mechanized borehole water systems and the identified key interventions to achieve the stated objectives in accordance with the guidelines below.
The statement of experience and capability and the indicative budgets should contain, but need not be limited to the following:
A. Institutional and Technical Information
i.) Experience of the organization in the area of community-based water supply and sanitation initiatives and in particular expertise in installing solar powered mechanized borehole water systems. In this regard, a list of recently completed WASH Projects completed is requested;
ii.) A description of the methodology, addressing social, technical and sustainability aspects;
iii.) A proposed work plan to cover the initial pilot activities;
iv.) Resumes of the proposed personnel that will be assigned to work on the programme;
v.) The support/ contribution the organization is willing to make including, cash and in kind; (contribution in terms of staff time, office space and equipment and other support in cash and in-kind should be expressed in monetary terms)
vi.) Copies of statements of annual budget and annual reports of the previous 5 years;
vii.) Copy of two latest audited reports, and
viii.) Governance and organizational structure of the Organization
2. UN-Habitat Support
UN-Habitat will contribute financial resources to the tune of about $ 145,000 towards this Agreement of Cooperation. It should be noted that UN-Habitat’s financial contribution cannot exceed 90% of the overall budget for the Project. Accordingly, the Partner’s contribution which should be detailed as per Section A (v) above, should be at least 10% of the overall Project Budget.
3. Overall Timeframe
The work outlined in this EOI is scheduled to commence by 16th January 2017 and completed within eight (8) months.
4. Submission Requirements and Guidelines
Expressions of Interest must be delivered in electronic format no later than 15th September 2016 to the following e-mail addresses: Eric.moukoro@unhabitat.org and kennedy.kamau@unhabitat.org
EOIs received on or before the 15th September 2016 shall be evaluated and Implementing Partners who are deemed qualified for similar work, will be shortlisted. The shortlisted implementing partners shall subsequently receive the final solicitation document for the submission of full proposals for the Agreement of Cooperation.
5. Contact Information
Eric Moukoro, Regional Technical Adviser,
UN-Habitat, Ghana
Phone +233 544 7918 62
Email: eric.moukoro@unhabitat.org
Kennedy Kamau, IT Officer, UN-Habitat
P.O. Box 30030-00100, Nairobi – Kenya
Phone: Mob. +254734892438; Off. +254207625064
Email: kennedy.kamau@unhabitat.org
Web: www.unhabitat.org
6. Other
Please note that this EOI notice does not constitute a solicitation. UN-Habitat reserves the right to change or cancel this requirement at any time in the Expressions of Interest/or solicitation process.
Submitting a reply to an EOI does not guarantee that a Cooperation Partner will be considered for receipt of the solicitation when issued and only Implementing Partners who are deemed qualified by UN-Habitat upon completion of evaluation of submission, will receive the final solicitation document.