GBLCAREERS

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection and development. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Background

The successful implementation of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education initiated by the Government in 1995 has seen significant increase in number of children enrolled in primary schools in the last 20 years, however this has also placed enormous pressure on the school infrastructures, including WASH facilities. Latest data from the EMIS indicated that only 56% of all basic schools have access to a water supply source and only 38% of schools have toilets (Source: EMIS 2014 – 2015). This data however only reflects the availability of facilities, not their functionality, therefore the number of children that actually have access to water and toilets in school maybe significantly less since not all of the facilities available are functional.

UNICEF Ghana implements a substantial WASH in Schools (WinS) programme across six regions of the country. This involves the construction of a range of infrastructure and implementation of a range of health and hygiene related software interventions. UNICEF works closely with the Government of Ghana, particularly the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) of the Ghana Education Service (GES), and the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA), in the implementation of this programme.

A series of interventions have been completed within the Ghana WinS sector, including the development of minimum standards and technical guidelines. Currently, SHEP (with financial and technical support from UNICEF) is developing a National Costed Strategy, which will provide Government’s strategic guidance and commitment to ensure all schools will meet the established national minimum standards by 2030. There are also a series of on-going research and studies, such as: Tippy Tap study, Cost Study, Health and Hygiene Education Through Play and Sport to support the development of the National Costed Strategy.

Justification

In order to ensure all school toilets are constructed in compliance with the national standards of 50 pupils per toilet drop hole, the Government stipulates that all schools must have, as a minimum; two blocks of toilets (one for boys and one for girls) with 4 cubicles in each block, and at least one toilet must be accessible to children with disabilities. The cost to construct these two toilet blocks in each school can cost up to USD 17,000.

According to the EMIS data, by the end of the school year 2013 – 2014, there are a total of 37,097 public basic schools and only 22,184 schools have some sort of toilets. With large number of toilet blocks to be constructed and replaced in the coming years and limited resources available, the high cost of the standard toilet blocks will be a major barrier for the country to achieve the established targets to meet universal access for WinS by 2030.

Purpose of the Assignment

To identify ways to reduce the cost and to develop alternative toilet designs that are suitable for schools in low costs setting. Outputs from this consultancy will be used to:

• advocate for the adoption of lower cost toilet designs for schools
• develop the national costed strategy for WASH in Schools
• guide school level stakeholders to make informed decisions on suitable toilet technology choice for planning and budgeting for WASH in Schools

Assignment Tasks

The consultant is required to explore and identify different ways or a combination of approaches to successfully complete the assignment. Detailed methodologies and work plan to carry out the assignment should be proposed by the consultant, the main tasks will include but not necessarily limited to the following:

• Provide a synopsis of current designs and cost.
• Work in collaboration with UNICEF and other stakeholders working on urban and rural sanitation to review existing toilet designs that are being promoted to households and to explore the possibilities to adapt or modify these designs for school setting
• Propose new conceptual design and subsequently develop new toilet design (once the conceptual designs are accepted to be promoted in schools that are acceptable, affordable and scalable.

Expected Deliverables

The consultant is required to provide an input of 3 months spread over a 5 months period (April – August 2017). This is to allow time for reviewing of the deliverables and/or any unexpected delay/event that may occur.

The consultant final output should cover the following:

• Inception report covering review of the situation based on literature and limited field studies on existing field designs (One month after signing contract),
• Initial document of conceptual design options (if any original designs are proposed), the concept must be discussed and accepted by UNICEF prior to developing detailed technical designs (Two month after signing of contract).
• A range of low cost toilet designs, BoQ and estimated costs (capital, operation and maintenance) for each type of toilet for schools in different settings and conditions (three months after signing of contract).
• A draft manual with illustration (pictures/drawing/sketches) of the toilet options, with information on: advantage/disadvantage of each type of toilet, in which condition they are most suitable, with instructions for Operation and Maintenance (O&M), as well as, capital and estimated annual O&M cost (Four months after signing)
• Finalised Manual with illustrations (ref. above) with input from key stakeholders (Five months after signing of contract).
• The final document produced should be suitable and easy to interpret and implement by staff at the district level, especially to non-technical stakeholders (who have little to no engineering background).

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

Education

• First degree in Civil Engineering/Building Technology/Construction Management or related courses

Years of relevant experience

• At least 8 – 10 years of experience working on similar assignments in the Water and sanitation sector in Ghana. Candidates with international experience are desirable.

Competencies of Successful Candidate

• Must be able to demonstrate relevant experience to the assignment: evaluating, designing and costing of toilets in low cost settings
• Have good knowledge and understanding of the Sanitation sub-sector in Ghana.
• Must be proficient in English (writing and verbal communication)

To view our competency framework, please click here.

Interested candidates are please required to submit current CV, together with a technical proposal not exceeding 5 pages (outlining how the assignment will be undertaken within the allocated timeframe). Please indicate your ability, availability and daily rate in GHCedis to undertake the terms of reference above.Applications submitted without a daily rate will not be considered.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.