Scoping study for development of a sanitation investment planning tool (Bangladesh)

Budget: Up to £80,000 including costs and all taxes inclusive of VAT
Release date: 18 November 2016
Deadline for bids: Sunday 11 December 2016 at UK 2400 hours

WSUP seeks a research institution or other research partner to carry out an urgent piece of research in Bangladesh. We are looking for a research team who can carry out high-quality work that is rooted in and useful to the local policy context, but that also leads to publication of findings in a respected peer-reviewed journal. Lead bidders may be based in Bangladesh or outside Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: This Call forms part of the first set of Calls released under WSUP’s Urban Sanitation Research Programme 2016-2020, core-funded by UKaid from the Department for International Development (Research & Evidence Division, RED). This first set of Calls is for three small pieces of start-up research; further Calls are anticipated in 2017, following more extensive processes of in-country consultation. Since this is urgent start-up research, we note that the basic design is relatively constrained at the Call stage; future Calls may be more open in scope. Further, the research topics in this first Call are not necessarily indicative of focus topics in subsequent Calls.

AIMS: This research project will be a preliminary study to assess what type of sanitation investment planning tool might be of value to support sanitation improvements for low-income urban communities. The research will be carried out in the example context of Rangpur, a city of about 0.7m people in northern Bangladesh.

TIMELINES: This is urgent in view of WSUP’s desire to start up three small pieces of research immediately within the wider programme. Final deliverables are due 31 August 2017, but an inception report and a preliminary report are due 30 January 2017, and an interim report is due 15 April 2017. Thus this work will require rapid start-up.

DEADLINE: Bids are due before midnight (UK 2400 hours) of Sunday 11 December 2016.

Please send bids (as per format indicated in Call) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Sunday, 11 December 2016 at UK 2400 hours. We are aware that this is a tight timeline, but we note that bid format is simple and non-onerous. We are happy to respond to clarification queries before bid submission: for more details and the full Research Call, see the WSUP website .