Date Issued: 24th April, 2017

Request for Proposal: 2017/MnE/9131322

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF) seeks to engage one or more Institutions that would be interested in providing quality WASH Impact Evaluation

Technical and Financial proposals should forwarded to UNICEF Nigeria supply section mail box and hard copies in sealed envelopes and should be dropped in the bid box placed in the reception room at the entrance hall of UNICEF, or be sent through courier service.

Address to: Supply Manger, UNICEF, Old CBN Building, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, Nigeria.

IMPORTANT – ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

The reference RFP - 2017/MnE/9131322must be shown on your offer.

The proposal form must be used when replying to this invitation. Failure to submit your bid in the attached proposal form, or failure to complete the details as requested, will result in invalidation.

Offers MUST be received on or before 14:00hours Nigeria local time on 22nd May, 2017 and will be publicly opened at 14:30hours Nigeria local time same day. Proposals received after the stipulated date and time will be invalidated.

Please visit our website and download our supplier profile form (SPF) and fill same with necessary information to evaluate you

This request for proposal is approved by:

Michael Zanardi

Chief, Supply & Logistics Section

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR WASH IMPACT EVALUATION

INSTITUTIONAL CONSULTANCY

UNICEF NIGERIA

  1. Background

Nigeria is one of the countries in Africa with least access to sanitation and hygiene services. Accessing clean water and adequate sanitation is still a major challenge. According to Multiple indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2011, over 67 million Nigerians still lacked access to improved water supply facilities, while over 110 million people lacked access to basic sanitation facilities (MICS, 2011). This is a far larger number of unserved people than in the majority of countries in the developing world and is a significant portion of the population in Africa. In addition, wide disparities persist across zones and within states, especially those living in the lowest quintiles, which aggravate the situation and leaving more children and women vulnerable to sickness and poverty. Specifically, this contributes to a high prevalence of diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases, which are further driven by poor sanitary health practices. In addition, the lack of access to improved sanitation in schools means a low quality learning environment for millions of children in rural areas.

In order to address the high incidence of diarrhea, the Government of Nigeria and its cooperating partners, with technical support from UNICEF,is implementing the water, sanitation and hygiene programme within the UNICEF Country Programme (2014-2017) that aims to increase access to and use of improved water sources, sanitation facilities and hygiene practices, particularly among vulnerable communities. The programme promotes low-cost community-based approaches including community-led total sanitation (CLTS), climate change adaptation and village-level operation and maintenance of hand pumps, and greater engagement of women. Technologies and social media networks are being harnessed to improve accountability and accelerate coverage. The UNICEF WASH programme also works to foster greater inter - sectoral collaboration including mechanisms to ensure child-friendly and gender-friendly WASH in schools and primary health institutions.

Specifically, the programme aims that by 2017, vulnerable children and their families will have equitable access to and use sustainable improved water sources, improved sanitation facilities and practice safe hygiene. The programme expects to increase -the percentage of people with access to improved sanitation from 3`% based on the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP)2012 estimates to 74% by 2017 as well as increase the percentage % of people (households) with access to improved water supply from 58% (JMP, 2012) to 90% in (2017). The programme works towards ensuring that children in schools are provided with WASH facilities and it is expected that the number of additional children provided with access to WASH in schools would increase by 320,000. The WASH programme also aims at creating an enabling environment for WASH services to be provided and contributes to increasing the number of WASH related polices, plans and frameworks as well as the number of Number of States with WASH services decentralized through functional LGA WASH departments from 6 in 2012 to 13 in 2017.

Theory of Change

The WASH programme has five contributing projects namely the Sanitation and Water in Nigeria project (SHAWN II) funded by the UK Department for International Development, 3 EU funded projects namely the Niger Delta Support Programme (NDSP); the Water Supply Sanitation Sector Reform Programme (WSSSRP II and III) and the Unilever supported project. The SHAWN project focuses on ensuring that people have access to improved sanitation, hygiene and water supply including ensuring that schools and health centres have adequate WASH facilities; while the EU funded NDSP focuses on mitigating the conflict in the Niger Delta by addressing the main causes of the unrest and violence which include poor delivery of basic services including WASH services. The EU funded WSSRP I and II are primarily focused on strengthening the capacity of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) sector institutions in Adamawa, Plateau and Ekiti States to support increased access to improved and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services within rural communities in the 3 States. The Unilever project on the other hand is focused on promotion of household water treatment, safe storage and handwashing including monitoring household practice of newly adopted behaviours.

Collectively through implementation of these projects, the WASH programme has supported the existence and roll out of a national plan that provides access to drinking water to unserved populations (PEWASH); Over 1.2 million people have been provided with access to improved sources of drinking water through scaling up efforts; The programme has facilitated the adoption of community approaches for effective water sources (VLOM ) in 19 states; increased the number of additional people living in Open Defecation Free (ODF) certified in 3,198 ODF certified communities. Through the UNICEF WASH programme 191 Schools in UNICEF supported States have been provided with WASH facilities that meet national standards and 67 PHCs in UNICEF assisted States have WASH facilities that meet the national standards

In view of the above scope of the WASH Program, UNICEF has identified the need to conduct an impact evaluation. The purpose of this evaluation is to generate evidence and lessons learned about the ways in which programme strategies and interventions have contributed to sustainable changes in sanitation and hygiene behavior, in disease incidence, and in economic opportunities for and empowerment of households and communities. The impact evaluation will also investigate the extent to which Unicef supporting interventions were effective.

The impact evaluation will measure diarrheal disease amongst children and examine the contribution the program has made in respect to change in sanitation behaviors. The findings of this evaluation will generate a deeper understanding of the ways in which a combination of sanitation and hygiene strategies have contributed to observed changes in disease incidence and hygiene and sanitation outcomes. In that way, the findings of the evaluation will enhance the global evidence base on how Community Approaches to Total Sanitation (CLTS) can contribute to a reduction in the incidence of water and sanitation related disease, and child morbidity and mortality.

The findings of the evaluation will be used by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources (FMWR), Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), Federal Ministry of Education (FMoED), Federal Ministry of Environment (FMEnv), and Ministry of Water (MWRI), State Ministry of Water Resources (SMWR), State Ministry of Health (SMoH), State Ministry of Education (SMoEd), State Ministry of Environment (SMoEnv), UNICEF and respective cooperating partners.

The evaluation findings shall be useful for advocacy activities with the intention of influencing States and federal government to support, scale up and increase budget allocation and expenditure for WASH. The evaluation will provide evidence to fulfil accountability requirements and the findings shall reinforce the implementation of the next country program 2018-21.

  1. Purpose

The purpose of this evaluation is to generate evidence and identify lessons to be learnt about the way in which program strategies and interventions have contributed to sustainable changes in sanitation and hygiene behavior, in disease incidence and in other non-health effects due to water and sanitation interventions. It is also to determine the extent to which UNICEF supporting activities were effective, and inform on the next country program strategy for WASH program component.

Indeed UNICEF Nigeria key strategy is to advocate in favor of children rights using the best available evidences on the effectiveness of high impact intervention and or innovative approach. By building the knowledge based of what works? Where? Why? When? And how? We strive in promoting change with government partners in delivering essential services for children and women. Thus, the impact evaluation study is key in providing this evidences basis for effective advocacy.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are as follows:

  1. To determine the impact of key WASH interventions on the sanitation and hygiene behaviour of targeted clientele, including the consistent use of improved sanitation facilities, hand-washing practices, and the incidence of diarrheal disease amongst children under five;
  2. Analyse the extent to which and how the Program strategies, and Unicef supporting activities in combination, have contributed to the observed changes in sanitation use, hygiene practice and the incidence of diarrheal disease;
  3. Analyse the extent to which the Program has contributed to improved economic opportunities for and empowerment of households and communities, in particular women;
  4. Identify strengths and weaknesses in Program implementation, with a focus on the main programmatic strategies used, partnerships, the use of evidence to improve Program performance and inform policy, and the cross cutting issues of gender and the environment;
  5. Identify lessons that can be learnt for future implementation and scaling up.
  1. Evaluation Scope and focus

The scope of the evaluation covers the period 2013 to 2017 however, the evaluation will include only the Local Government areas (LGAs) in which the programme has been in implementation from 2013 and exclude new LGAs selected in 2016. See annex 1for the States and LGAs for which the evaluation will cover. The evaluation will use the KAP study and the Impact evaluation of the WASH program that was conducted within the UNICEF country program of cooperation of 2009 - 2013 as baseline. Where possible routine baseline information will also be used to measure change.

  1. Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation criteria against which the programme will be assessed will be the OECD DAC criteria covering Impact, Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency and sustainability of the programme. All the elements of this criteria will be in line with the programmes results framework/Log frame indicators from which the evaluation questions will also be drawn.

  1. Evaluation Questions

The impact evaluation will be guided by the following indicative list of evaluation questions:

The Impact evaluation will include an evaluability assessment that will inform the decision of proceeding with an impact evaluation at this time, and inform the evaluation design and focus. According to OECD DAC, an evaluability assessment is: “The extent to which an activity or project can be evaluated in a reliable and credible fashion”. The purpose of the Evaluability Assessment is thus threefold[1]:

  1. To ensure that the embedded Theory of Change (ToC) of WASHprogramme is consistent with existing evidences, and is sound;
  2. To explore the availability of existing performance management system and data as they relate to WASH in Nigeria;
  3. Finally to explore conduciveness of the program context as they relate to WASH program, and ensure that stakeholders, are aware and interested in an evaluation of the WASH.
  1. Design of the WASH program
  • Are the WASH program long-term impact and outcomes clearly identified and are the proposed steps towards achieving these are clearly defined and meet standards for Results-Based Management?
  • Is the WASH program theory of change available, sound and consistent with the problem to be addressed?
  • Is the design of WASH program appropriate and based on sound understanding of local context?
  • Are resources and WASH program designed to effectively respond to local conditions (including risks), capacity gaps and related problems that has been identified?
  1. Availability of Data
  • Is a complete set of documents available with respect of the WASH program, resources, and beneficiaries and activities and related objectives?
  • Is data being collected for all the indicators as they relate to the Theory of Change? Is gender disaggregated data available with respect of WASH program?
  1. Conduciveness of the program context
  • Identify their understandings of program purpose, design and implementation, including areas of agreement and disagreement
  • Identify their expectations of an evaluation, it objectives, process and use
  • Clarify and fill in gaps found in document review

The Evaluability assessment[2] observations and conclusions, shall inform the evaluation focus by either suggesting additional sub questions or modifying existing one, should the EA recommend to go forward with an evaluation. Depending on EA recommendations, the following criteria and corresponding Evaluation questions shall focus the Impact Evaluation study of WASH program as follow:

Impact

  1. What is the impact of the WASH program on the greater equity in WASH resources allocation and increased in budget allocations for WASH services in targeted communities?
  2. What is the impact of the WASH program on the use of improved sanitation facilities in schools, health facilities and at household level for targeted communities?
  3. What is the impact of the WASH program on improved hand washing in targeted communities?
  4. What is the impact of the WASH program on the use of safe and improved water sources in targeted communities?
  5. What changes have occurred in the incidence of diarrhoeal diseases among children under five attributable to WASH Program or has contributed to?
  6. To what extent has the Program contributed to the participation of children in school, especially of girls? Which factors explain this contribution?
  7. Is there any unexpected positive or negative impacts cause by the WASH program in targeted communities?

Effectiveness

  1. To what extent did the Program achieve its expected results, in particular at the output level?
  2. Where the assumptions underlying the programme’s intervention strategy correct?
  3. To what extent has the roll out of CLTS been effective in achieving ODF status in villages?
  4. To what extent did the monitoring of the ODF certification processes contribute to effective project implementation?
  5. To what extent were women and girls involved in community processes (such as CLTS)

Efficiency

  1. Where expected results (outputs) delivered within budget? How does the cost-effectiveness of different programme components compare across sites (targeted communities)?
  2. What were the most important cost drivers in the programme and how can costs be contained without compromising results?

Relevance

  1. To what extent did school sanitation improvements and school based hygiene promotion meet the specific needs of children, especially girls, and the most deprived ones in terms of privacy, cleanliness, security, comfort, including menstrual hygiene etc.?
  2. To what extent are the objectives and the approach of the WASH Program responsive to the needs, context and priorities of the targeted population?
  3. To what extent are the objectives of the Program valid in relation to the PEWASH and other overarching plans of the Government of Nigeria?
  4. To what extent do the interventions target the most vulnerable and marginalized groups?

Sustainability

  1. To what extent has the WASH Program contributed to strengthened governance of community structures such WASHCOMS and Federation of WASHCOMS?
  2. To what extent has government capacity, including information management systems, for the delivery of sanitation and hygiene services been strengthened as a result of this Program?
  3. Has there been an increase in budget allocations for sanitation and hygiene for targeted communities?
  1. Methodology and Approach

The evaluation will occur in several phases:

Inception phase:

Inception phase, during which an evaluability assessment will be conducted. The main objective of the evaluability assessment is to determine the best evaluation approach and design for the impact evaluation, considering the constraints of time, data availability, budget and methodological.

As a consequence, the approach and methodology to be employed during the data collection phase will be developed by the team and report into an inception report which will include a data analysis plan. The evaluability assessment findings shall inform the inception. The data analysis plan, will specify which of the proposed procedures related to the data will be utilised and how the data will be analysed in detailed. The data analysis plan is integral part of the inception report which includes the evaluation plan and data analysis plan.

Data collection phase:

The data collection phase, is the implementation of the revised and final approved evaluation plan, as per the inception report. The data collection phase consist of field data collection through several methodology, such as house hold survey, key informant interviews, focus groups, desk review and use of secondary data such as national statistics or administrative data. Aligned with the approved evaluation plan and design and the major analytic work is completed. This shall include sample size and selection; household survey, focus group, data collection at the community level and related field work, as relevant.

Reporting phase:

The reporting phase is comprise of several reports. First, as it will be agreed with project authority, regular ongoing reports (weekly or bi-weekly as agreed) is expected between project authority and contractors. The content of the report will be light and meant to inform on the ongoing progress of the evaluation implementation phases. Progress towards keep milestones of the evaluation plan, emerging challenges, and need for support from project authority.