The Sanitation Learning Hub is looking for bilingual (French and English) consultants (or teams of consultants) to conduct a rapid, desk-based scoping study on sub-national systems strengthening for sanitation and hygiene (S&H) programming in West Africa. Our preference is for bilingual (French and English) consultants based in the region.

Deadline for applications: 21/10/2020

The consultants will conduct a rapid scoping across the region to identify sub-national areas where local governments have increased their prioritisation of S&H by allocating increased budget and other resources to S&H. The report from this study will inform the development of a longer-term workstream to draw out learning from successful areas’ experiences. It is hoped that this work will contribute to the growing debate about how systems thinking can be operationalised in the sanitation and hygiene sector at the sub-national level and be used to drive progress towards area-wide coverage.

What we are looking for
We are looking for bilingual (English and French) consultants or consultant teams to conduct a rapid scoping study focusing on:

• Identifying sub-national governments that have:
  • increased their level of prioritisation of and allocation of resources to S&H
  • demonstrated strong leadership in S&H programming
• Why local governments have prioritised S&H and what has driven these changes
• Who the key stakeholders (e.g. development partners, private sector, civil society) supporting these sub-national areas in S&H programming are and what are their roles
• Examples of identified sub-national governments taking steps to leave no-one behind in their S&H programmes and move towards addressing inequalities, including how hard to reach communities are being supported
• The gaps or areas where very limited progress has been made on sub-national government prioritisation of S&H in the region

The scoping study should cover the whole West Africa region, with a particular emphasis on francophone countries.

The consultant(s) will need a high level of spoken and written French and English for this assignment. Documents reviewed and interviews will be in both French and English, with the report to be written up in English.

Roles and responsibilitiesThe consultant(s) will:

• Lead the design of the rapid scoping study methodology (in consultation with SLH)
• Conduct the rapid scoping study in line with the methodology developed. This will involve reviewing documents and conducting interviews and focus group discussions with national and sub-national government and other relevant stakeholders including regional and country level development agency staff.
• Write up the study findings in a report (see outputs below)
• Liaise regularly with the SLH team throughout the contract.

Expected outputs include:

• A report of maximum 20 pages (including executive summary, methodology, findings, conclusions and recommendations for next steps). The case study should be submitted in English

COVID-19 RestrictionsDue to the global pandemic, face to face activities and fieldwork forming part of this contract can only be undertaken following the completion of a risk assessment which must be signed off by IDS before the activity commences. The consultants will update and meet virtually with the IDS project team throughout the contract period and if face to face work is deemed necessary will update on the COVID-19 situation locally and nationally. Any COVID-19 related restrictions imposed by local and national government must be strictly adhered to. By accepting this work, the consultant agrees to this requirement and to avoid putting themselves and anyone else at any risk in the completion of this assignment.

TimelinePlease note that this is rapid scoping study, with data collection taking place in November and submission of the final report at the beginning of December. Due to funding restrictions all work must be completed by December 11th.

21st October: Deadline for submissions
23rd October: Contract Awarded
Week commencing 26th October: Kick-off Call
27th November: Submission of 1st Draft
9th December: Submission of final Draft

Application process
We warmly welcome applications for this assignment. To apply, please send the following information to Felicity Le Prevost (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) 5pm UK time on Wednesday 21st October:

• A cover letter explaining how you envisage carrying out this assignment and your relevant experience (1-2 pages)
• Your CV, daily rate, and anticipated number of days. (If you are applying as a team, please outline how the work will be split between team members)
• Two references

Please note that this work must be completed in 25 days.