Consultant - Tactical Political Economy Analysis Assignment for Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States at WaterAid

Background

• The Small-Town Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (STWASH) program is a five-year, initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), covering the states of Adamawa, Yobe, and Borno (BAY) in North East Nigeria. Our team, led by Mercy Corps in partnership with WaterAid, is well placed to support the sustainable improvements in access to basic water and sanitation that are necessary to facilitate ongoing recovery, peacebuilding, and economic development across the region.
• The goal of the program is to facilitate the economic recovery of some crisis-affected communities and bolster the capacity of the state governments in providing essential WASH services and creating and sustaining enabling environments for Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Agencies (STWSSAs) and Water Consumers Associations (WCAs) to operate.
• The theory of change postulate that, if local institutions provide people safe, reliable, affordable, equitable, and appropriate WASH infrastructure and services; and political will and capacity of WASH governance institutions and delivery is increased; and people's awareness of their rights to WASH and the benefits of improved access, and capacity to hold duty bearers and service providers accountable is increased; then access to sustainable WASH services will be increased, which will, in turn, contribute to reduced tensions between crisis-affected communities, improved health and security, particularly for women, girls, the most vulnerable and inhabitants of small towns.
• The program has two broad components; expanded access to water and for sanitation facilities and strengthening capacity for small town water governance.
• WaterAid is directly responsible for the delivery of component 2- strengthening capacity for small town water governance. In order to deliver on this component, tactical political economy analysis is necessary and will be conducted in the BAY states. Although there is a report of PEA conducted in 2015 for Adamawa state under the EU-Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme (WSSSRP) III Programme, the team will review the report and update through validating current context and changes that must have occurred since 2015.

Justification:

• All water sector reforms are politically challenging, and establishing autonomous, effective economic regulators is particularly difficult with competing stakeholder interests. The PEA will highlight the politics and relationships that governs the BAY states WASH sector and will further sharpen tactics to be used in our engagements that will enhance how we will work closely with Ministry of Water Resources (MOWRs), Small Town Water Supply and Sanitation Agencies (STWSSAs), and State Water Boards (SWBs), as well as new and existing platforms, to coordinate and operationalize sector reforms.
• The PEA will help us to analyze and apply feasible management models and facilitate cost recovery, given the specific community and scheme context, priorities, needs, and income levels. Also, we will identify best approaches and platforms to engage active civil society and community groups with resources, tools, and coordination to enhance ongoing efforts to increase demand for improved WASH provision and participation in service monitoring.
• This analysis will include identifying formal and informal institutions and players of the sector and adjoining sectors (health, education, environment, investment and trade, budget and planning), how their interests of the different groups impact on our project success, possible incentives for these groups and a critical analysis of relationships and linkages that influences WASH provision.
• This PEA will not only be throwing light on the root causes of the challenges faced that will hinder our work in the states; it would also identify pathways to change.  In addition, the PEA will enable the ST WASH activity gain detailed understanding of how to engage with stakeholders to improve WASH governance and achieve the outcomes on component 2 of the activity (i.e. strengthen capacity for small town water governance and management).

Objectives
The key objectives of the Tactical PEA are as follows:

• Provide better understanding of the actors and factors that govern the WASH, education and health sectors in the states, including the socio-cultural features, informal and formal ways of working/thinking and leverages to improve political prioritization of WASH in BAY states
• Analyze factors that affect the effective implementation of the STWASH program in the BAY states including feasibility and sustainability.
• Identify key relationships, incentives, drivers and blockages that can influence improved and sustainable WASH services in communities, and institutions,
• Identify key players and factors in enhancing WASH governance in small towns.
• Develop a pathway and feasible management models that will facilitate cost recovery and improve WASH governance.

Approach:

• The PEA will be conducted through a consultancy, using Tactical PEA Tool for a statewide analysis of the political economy environment in the BAY states. This approach focuses on the specific issues and changes, the factors driving these issues thus inhibiting change and the specific tactics that can be used to achieve the expected change.

Broad Tasks:

• Hold sessions to define changes we want to see and brainstorm PEA questions
• Conduct a desk review of available resources to fill knowledge gap on agreed issues
• Conduct fieldwork to generate data
• Analyze data generated
• Post-PEA Validation Meeting with Stakeholders
• Documenting- At the end of the PEA, the consultant will prepare a report, which would include recommendations on next steps.

Political Economy/Gender, Equity & Social Inclusion and Conflict Sensitivity:

• The political economy analysis will be structured to capture power dynamics that may have an influence on WASH reforms in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, as well as on the effective involvement of other Ministries, Departments and Institutions in the implementation of the reforms.
• In addition, as these reforms will seek to address, to some extent, gender and social inclusion issues around rights of the poorest and least power people, the barriers and opportunities in these areas will be assessed.
• It is incumbent on the consultant to exercise due diligence in conducting the PEA activities and adopt a Do NO Harm approach to ensure that the actions and activities carried out in the course of implementing this PEA does not exacerbate and further endanger people to the risk of Covid-19

Qualifications
Team:

The selected consultant should have the following qualification and work experience:

• M.Sc. in any field of social science, including, Development Studies and International Relations.
• At least five (5) years experience conducting Political Economic Analysis or similar exercise in any socio-economic sector, with particular reference to the WASH sector for states in Nigeria.
• Ability to speak Hausa or Fulfulde is added advantage
• Must be computer literate with the ability to use MS Word (office, excel and power point)

Duration of Assignment:

• The assignment will run for a period of thirty (30) days including weekends. The activity is expected to commence on 17th September 2020 and end by 16th October 2020.
• This will entail average of 5 days per state, 5 days for travels/logistics and 10days to write and submit final report which will include review periods and presentation of draft final report to the ST WASH Project Team.

Deliverables:

• Submit an inception report detailing methodology for data collection, quality assurance review and analysis; and detailed action plan with timelines for delivery including clear steps and measures that will be taken in adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.
• A powerpoint presentation summarizing outcome of the PEA to be used for debriefing session to STW Project Team members
• Submission of Draft report to for review and ratification by the ST WASH team
• By the end of the consultancy, the consultant is expected to submit the comprehensive final report of PEA detailing key findings, pathway of change mapping, recommendations and suggestions for project implementation and sustainability. This should include all annexes such as list and contact details of stakeholders engaged with photos

Budget:

• The fixed cost of Two million seven hundred thousand naira (N2,700,000) is budgeted for this consultancy. This is an all-inclusive fee which will cover consultancy fee, travel and accommodation requirements. This cost will be covered by WaterAid Nigeria ST-WASH Project.

The payment plan will include:

• 20% payment upon acceptance and signing of contract;
• 40% upon submission of inception report after 10 days of signing; and
• 40% upon submission of an approved final report after 30 days. Â

Tentative list of stakeholders to be interviewed in each state:
This is a tentative list and will be updated over the course of this assignment to adapt to any ongoing political transition. Where there are no commissioners, the PEA team will engage the most senior career civil servant in the relevant ministry, in this case, Permanent secretaries for each state:

• Ministry of Water Resources
• Ministry of Justice
• Ministry of Environment
• Ministry of Agriculture
• Ministry of Finance
• Ministry of Local Government
• Ministry of Health
• Ministry of Women Affairs
• State Planning Commissions
• Chairman, Water Consumer Associations
• River Basin Development Authority operating in the State
• SDG Project Office
• State Water Board
• Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Agency
• Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency
• The Media (new and traditional)
• Traditional leaders,
• Private sector and civil society organizations working on WASH.
• WASH Departments of Local Government Areas of all selected project location

Report format:

• All report will be in English using Microsoft Word (office, excel and PowerPoint). Text should be Gill San MT size 12.