Request for Expressions of Interest for Monitoring and Evaluation Systems Strengthening for State Water Resources and Supervising Ministries at RTI International

Background
The USAID Effective Water Sanitation and Hygiene (E-WASH) is a 4-year program with the main objective of strengthening the governance, financial and technical viability of five (5) State Water Boards (SWBs) in Nigeria. The five SWBs are as follows: Imo State Water and Sewerage Corporation, Taraba State Water and Sewerage Corporation, Abia State Water and Sewerage Corporation, Niger State Water and Sewage Corporation, and Delta State Urban Water Corporation.
The project is working towards achieving the following four objectives:
Create professionally managed and commercially oriented SWBs
Improve the financial and operational viability of SWBs
Strengthen policy, institutional, and regulatory frameworks for improved WASH services
Build national and state WASH advocacy, coordination, and communications for reform.
The project is being implemented by RTI International (www.rti.org), which is an independent organization dedicated to conducting innovative, multi-disciplinary research that improves the human conditions. USAID Effective Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (E-WASH) program, to this effect is seeking a qualified firm to strengthen the monitoring and evaluation systems for State
Water Boards (SWB) in five States Water Boards – IMO State Water and Sewerage Corporation (ISWSC), TARABA State Water and Sewerage Corporation (TAWASCO), ABIA State Water and Sewerage Corporation (ASWSC), NIGER State Water and Sewage Corporation (NSWSC) and DELTA State Urban Water Corporation (DESUWACO).
Specific tasks include:
Preparation and inception: Hold preparatory meeting to agree on protocols for the exercise;
Provide technical assistance on M&E systems strengthening through the implementation of activities outlined in the capacity building plan developed by the E-WASH program for
implementation. The following activities are illustrated. The consultant will propose and agree with E-WASH Program additional activities relevant to building a strong M&E system for the benefiting institutions:

• Develop Monitoring and Evaluation Plan with tools, templates and protocols for tracking performance;
• Establish of Baseline Data for key performance indicators States Ministry responsible for water service and the state water boards and use data generated from this exercise to establish targets to be used for assessing performance of the supported agencies;
• Adapt and deploy/install appropriate systems for data gathering, processing, reporting, storage and retrieval for the supported states agencies; deployed tools can be Microsoft excel or Microsoft Access based or ODK tools.
• Provide capacity building for the staff on effective M&E/MIS, to be able to manage and utilize the M&E system deployed.
• Adapt and integrate existing national M&E framework to institutionalize mechanisms, tools and protocols for carrying out supportive supervision, conduct training of relevant staff on supportive supervision;
• Develop costed capacity building plan for continuous capacity improvement on M&E and supportive supervision for the M&E Unit and relevant members of staff;
• Support the development of database that integrates different aspect of data generated by the supported agencies and build the capacity of the PRS staffs to manage the built database;
• Support the development of a supervision guideline for routine collection, data quality audit and ensure that report is use for program improvement;
• Support the PR & S department to develop evaluation and research agenda with guidance on the methodologies used, develop protocols for disseminating research findings;
• Support capacity building of relevant staffs on data gathering, processing and use.

This shall be implemented within 55 days, tentatively starting, 16 th November, 2020.
Eligibility/Criteria for Selection
Interested Consultants/firms should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform this short technical assistance. The
short-listing criteria will include:

• Have a minimum of 3 staff/experts with at least 15 years' experience, establishing Monitoring and Evaluation systems for organizations, MEL capacity building, knowledge on urban water, sanitation, and hygiene service delivery in Nigeria. Water utility management experience is highly required.
• Have a minimum of 3 staff/experts with at least 7 years’ experience in establishing Management Information System for Organization’s operational monitoring, which includes system for KPIs data collection, data analysis and data representation/visualization tools.
• Experience in the use of GIS in data analysis and representation would be an advantage. WASH sector experience is highly required.
• Submit a detailed Expression of interest wit acceptable methodology for carrying out the assignment as defined in the statement of work. The EoI should contain details of similar assignment performed;
• The firm must have proven ability to render services of high quality in due time;
• Proven practical experience with all stages of developing M&E systems and MIS system with GIS functionality would be an advantage; and, Proven Practical experience of developing M&E systems and MIS systems for Water Utilities or WASH projects will be a highly considered advantage
• Track record of good communication, facilitation, presentation and coordination skills.

Only shortlisted Consultants/firm shall be given a Request for Proposal that contains the detailed Statement of Work.