Short Term Consultancy Opportunities on Organizational Development of Participating State Water Board Under the USAID E-WASH Program in Nigeria. at RTI International

OPPORTUNITIES FOR SHORT TERM CONSULTANCIES: Consultancy Services on Organizational Development of Participating State Water Board Under the USAID E-WASH Program in Nigeria. (6 STATES OF IMO, SOKOTO, TARABA, ABIA, NIGER and DELTA)

RTI International in collaboration with Plan International and other partners is implementing a 4-year USAID funded Effective Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (E-WASH) project. E-WASH will provide technical assistance to state governments to improve urban water service delivery by strengthening the governance, financial, and technical viability of six (6) state water boards (SWBs) in Nigeria. This is part of the United States Government’s (USG) efforts working with the Federal Government to address the heart of the challenges faced by the urban water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services. The overall goal is improvement of urban water and sanitation service delivery.

The Effective Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (E-WASH) project, is seeking to identify up to 24 dynamic and technically strong Organizational Development Consultants (six (6Nos) for each specialty) to support the development of utility organizational structure, and human resource management tools in the State Water Boards of Imo, Sokoto, Taraba, Abia, Niger and Delta States. The consultants are expected to spend lengthy periods in the SWB in order to complete the assignment. The assignment is for a range of days depending on the scope of the assignment as indicated below.

THE ASSIGNMENT-This assignment will be implemented by four experts (An Organizational Development Expert/Team Leader; a Human Resources and Performance Management Expert; a Water Utility Change Expert; and a Training and Human Capital Development Expert), collectively working and coordinating to materialize the overall objective of this assignment.  It needs to be clarified that by the time corresponding consultancy agreements for this assignment are issued, the utility would have developed the vision, mission and objectives of the utility. The five technical consultants selected to execute this assignment shall develop a project implementation schedule, alongside other data gathering tools (for both quantitative and qualitative data) and present to the E-WASH Team for clearance. With the direction of the EWASH Team Lead, the consultants shall hold high level stakeholders meeting, several one-on-one interview meetings with key/ principal officers in the Water Utility. The experts are also expected to conduct focus group discussion with members of staff of the utility (where necessary) to gather data that shall be synthesized, analyzed, and presented into a report. Where necessary, administer questionnaires and survey at random on a population of the utility’s customers. The selected experts would carry out workshops to discuss the Organizational reform planning and development with relevant stakeholders. Comprehensive consultations would be considered while developing all necessary plans and strategies and must be validated in workshops. In addition to the reports as described herein, the consultants shall make an oral presentation on the study and its recommendations in a workshop to be attended by stakeholders across policy, SWB and legislators etc.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSINGMENT

The assignment has three cardinal objectives

To develop a robust organizational structure that can fit into and sustain the utility under corporatization arrangements

To develop utility Human Resource management instruments and policies/ guidelines and procedures

To prepare the utility staff and leadership for transition into a corporate organization

The deliverables and level of efforts is as in the table below:

LOE       Deliverables/Outputs

• ALL4    An inception report, describing how the consultant intends to carry out the assignment and an unveiling of key parameters that might not have been obvious at the RFP stage;
• OD Expert/TL     11  An organizational structure accompanied with a suitable organogram and clear roles/responsibilities.
• Job descriptions and work systems that ensures career development is in sync with the developed structure.
•  A medium-term (3 years) strategic corporate and business plan that is built on the Vision, Mission and core values of the utility geared towards achieving corporate goals and objectives developed using a participatory approach.
• Carry out a utility reform key stakeholder mapping and suggest a communication strategy for each.
• Training Expert 8    Conduct workforce capacity assessment, identify competencies within the SWA and recommending staffing requirements based on the proposed structure and agreed job descriptions;
• Training needs assessment and training plan
• Identify competent staff and modalities of staff re-deployment in the SWA.

A staff redeployment plan

• HR & Perf Management 16  Conduct a survey on remuneration and incentive packages offered by other utilities and provide alternatives for consideration towards a competitive remuneration scheme.
• Provide guidelines for the introduction and application of a result-based staff performance evaluation system;
• Performance-based contract templates
• Recommend a clear performance contracts monitoring mechanism for the utility and zonal offices;
• Recommend a strategy for incentives and penalties based on performance.
• Prepare a person specific performance management plans.
• Utility management instruments such as: SOPs, operational manual, hand books, succession plan, staff retention and disengagement plan, compensation plan, staff development policy, person-specific performance management plans for the utility
• Prepare recruitment and selection processes for new personnel.
• Develop a human resources development strategy
• Utility Change Management Expert 9    Utility Reform and Communication Strategy
• Carry out participatory change management training for different levels of staff as key re-organization is being implemented.
• Support top management to design an action plan/road map for implementation of recommendations that will lead to desired performance targets.
• Recommend the composition of a reform implementation team.
• Develop gender orientation and mainstreaming concepts as part of the change management training.
• Prepare detailed transition and implementation program/ plan.

ALL   Final Report 
12    Workshops

Total     60

Qualifications and Experience:

1.1.  Organizational Development Expert/Team Leader

Professional Qualification: The consultant should have at least a master’s degree in administration, Sociology, Engineering, Economics and organizational development studies and related field.

Professional Experience: A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in urban Water Supply and Management with a proven track record in organizational assessment and development; sector re-invigoration and utility reforms. Sector-specific experience on similar assignments and working in a donor-funded environment would be an advantage.

1.2.  Human Resources and Performance Management Expert

Professional Qualification: The consultant should have at least a degree in administration, sociology or relevant fields. A Master’s degree will be an added advantage.

Professional Experience: A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in utility management with a proven track record in Human resources assessment, career development and training, performance management and monitoring. Sector-specific experience on similar assignments and working in a donor-funded environment would be an advantage.

1.3.  Utility Change Management Expert

Professional Qualification: The consultant should have at least a master’s in civil engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Integrated Water Resources Management, Social Science, Management or relevant fields.

Professional Experience: A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in utility management with a proven track record in water utility management, change management, performance improvement programs, and water utility re-engineering. Sector-specific experience on similar assignments and working in a donor-funded environment in the region would be an advantage.

1.4.  Training and Human Capital Development Expert

Professional Qualification: The consultant should have at least a degree in Administration, Philosophy, Sociology, Education or relevant fields. A Master’s degree will be an added advantage.

Professional Experience: A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in training and human capital development with a proven track record in training needs assessment, module design, career development, training and workshop presentation. Sector-specific experience on similar assignments and working in a donor-funded environment would be an advantage.