TA 55220-001 CAM: Rural Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene Improvement Sector Development Program - 1 TA Implementation Support and Capacity Development

TA 55220-001 CAM: Rural Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene Improvement Sector Development Program - 1 TA Implementation Support and Capacity Development

Date Published: 10-May-2024

Deadline of Submitting EOI: 08-Jun-2024 11:59 PM Manila local time

SELECTION PROFILE

Consultant Type: Firm

Selection Method: Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS)

Selection Title: Rural Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene Improvement Sector Development Program

Package Number: 1

Package Name: TA Implementation Support and Capacity Development

Engagement Period: 32MONTH

Consulting Services Budget: USD 600,000

Source: International

Technical Proposal: Simplified Technical Proposal (STP)

Estimated Commencement Date: 01-Nov-2024

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country of assignment: Cambodia

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Primary Expertise: rural WASH

TOR Keywords: TA implementation, rural WASH, climate- resiliency

Objective and Purpose of the Assignment

A. Background

1. The Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Sector Development Program (the program) will support the efforts of the Government of Cambodia to provide universal access to improved water supply and sanitation services and achieve safe hygiene behavior in rural areas by 2025 and that at least 50% of rural population have access to safely managed water supply and sanitation facilities by 2030. The program comprises (i) a project, financed by a loan and grant, to expand rural water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in at least 400 villages across 9 provinces; and (ii) a single tranche policy-based loan to support reform and improvement in the governance, institutional and regulatory framework and better integrate climate change considerations during WASH planning, designing and implementation; improving the sustainability of facilities; strengthening private sector involvement and ensuring affordable and inclusive WASH delivery.2. The Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) will be the executing agency of the proposed program and responsible for the overall implementation, coordination and supervision of the program. MRD and the Provincial Department of Rural Development (PDRD) of the nine program provinces with be the implementing agencies. A project coordinating unit (PCU) has been established at MRD for the day-to- day project implementation. At the PDRD, a provincial project team (PPT) has been established within each PDRD. 3. The responsibility for WASH provision lies primarily with three ministries. The Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation (MISTI) is responsible for the service delivery of water supply including those provided by commercial private water operators (PWOs) and public water utilities; the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) for urban drainage, sewerage and operation of treatment plants; and the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) for small community- managed piped or non-piped water supply schemes and on-site sanitation. Provincial departments of these ministries undertake related functions at the sub-national level. This complex institutional setup poses challenges for coordination. The capacity challenges due to lacking skills and competence to deliver the mandates further complicate this already complex institutional landscape. These result in overlaps and gaps, which can lead to unclear accountabilities.4. Given the complex and fragmented WASH institutional setup for WASH services, one of the reforms under the proposed program is to establish WASH technical working groups (TWGs) at the subnational levels following the successful similar body at the national level (MRD, MISTI, MPWT are among the members of the national TWG). The TWGs are expected to help coordinate sector efforts going forward, including assisting the development and, subsequently, conception, integration and institutionalization of response measures and actions. Moreover, the TWGs are expected to create space for coordination among critical ministries dealing with rural WASH in particular, and push for a clear prioritization of the WASH sector in climate policy. As these will be new units, support and guidance to ensure that they will be able to deliver their new roles and mandates will be needed. The proposed TA will support the capacity strengthening of the newly-formed TWGs.5. The government has set the goal to provide universal access to improved water supply and sanitation services and achieve safe hygiene behavior in rural areas by 2025 and that at least 50% of rural population have access to safely managed water supply and sanitation facilities by 2030. While the National Strategy and Plan for Rural WASH (footnote 1) include the estimated required costs were prepared, the recommended financing plan was not always implemented due to insufficient budget. The provision of rural WASH for example, continues to depend heavily on external financing with only about 3% financing from the government and the remaining from external sources. The government has also identified that reducing disparities and increasing the efficiency of service delivery will require decentralizing public service activities to subnational administrations (SNA) in the delivery of services. However, SNAs still lack capacity to execute the new roles and mandates, and they require further support and guidance to ensure that they are sufficiently equipped to implement their expanded roles and mandates. Existing capacity development initiatives have been mostly ad hoc with lack of coordination.6. In Cambodia, piped-water supply services are provided through a combination of public utilities, private water operators (PWOs) and community-managed water supply systems. Currently, there is no official data on the number of the systems and their service coverage. The systems serve a small number of households and usually operate in areas not served by PWOs as these areas are considered not commercially attractive. Even though their service coverage is small, the community-managed system will still play a crucial role, especially to serve remote and commercially unattractive areas. The system is usually managed by a water and sanitation user group (WSUG) or water management committee (WMC). Many WSUGs lack technical knowledge and management skills to operate the systems, which could pose risks to sustainability of the facilities. PWOs are generally quite small and might have difficulties in raising funds for expanding their business.7. In 2023, the government approved the Law on Clean Water Management, which calls for the establishment of a water development fund (WDF). The WDF, expected to be launched in 2025, will be designed to support the PWOs in providing and expanding water supply services including in rural areas. As PWOs are targeted to expand their coverage including in rural areas, the government has indicated that MRD should prioritize WASH provision in remote areas, which are commercially unattractive. The current NSP, prepared in 2014, ends in 2025. MRD is now preparing its new strategy and national action plan. Given the newly adopted law and the fact that Cambodia is fast urbanizing, MRD’s next strategy should reflect an effective WASH service delivery to achieve the CSDG targets and within the context of fast urbanizing Cambodia.B. Objective and Purpose of the Assignment 8. To help implement the TA, a consulting firm will be recruited using the quality and cost-based selection (QCBS) procedure (80:20) and simplified technical proposal (STP). The consultant will be assigned to provide support and technical assistance to the MRD and PDRDs in implementing the policy reforms, which are supported under the policy-based loan of the program. The provision of support is expected to further strengthen MRD’s capacity in implementing the rural WASH sector reform and ultimately helping Cambodia to achieve the National Strategy Plan ambitions of providing universal access to WASH facilities (footnote 1) and the Cambodia Sustainable Development Goals (CSDGs) Framework targets (footnote 3).