Details
Published; 12th October 2021
Submission dateline: 11th November 2021
Terms of Reference
Background
The objective of these consultancies is to carry out the activities of the SWA regional engagement in Africa.
The African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) hosts two SWA Secretariat members through consulting contracts.
The AMCOW was formed in 2002 in Abuja Nigeria, primarily to promote cooperation, security, social, economic development, and poverty eradication among member states through the effective management of the continent’s water resources and provision of water supply services. In 2008, at the 11th ordinary session of the African Union (AU) Assembly in Sharm el-Sheikh, Heads of State and Government of the AU agreed on commitments to accelerate the achievement of water and sanitation goals in Africa and mandated AMCOW to develop and follow up an implementation strategy for these commitments. AMCOW has also being accorded the status of a Specialised Committee for Water and Sanitation in the African Union.
AMCOW’s Vision is “An Africa where there is an equitable and sustainable use and management of water resources for poverty alleviation, socio-economic development, regional co-operation and the environment” and its mission is to provide political leadership, policy direction and advocacy in the provision, use and management of water resources for sustainable social and economic development and maintenance of African ecosystems.
Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) is the UN-hosted global partnership of governments, civil society, bilateral and multilateral donors, international finance institutions and philanthropic foundations, private sector, utilities, regulators, and research and learning agencies. SWA partners are united in their commitment to achieve universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Established in 2010, the SWA partnership works towards this goal by seeking increased political support, strengthening multi-stakeholder collaboration and, ensuring mutual accountability, as well as good governance and increased financing for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The partnership, currently with over 300 partners, is governed by a Steering Committee elected by its members. UNICEF is a founder member of SWA, sits on SWA’s Steering Committee, and has hosted SWA’s Secretariat since 2010.
SWA partners are working to achieve three objectives by 2030:
1. Build and sustain the political will to eliminate inequalities in water, sanitation and hygiene.
2. Champion multi-stakeholder approaches towards achieving universal access to services.
3. Rally stakeholders to strengthen system performance and attract new investments.
The SWA partnership promotes and supports ongoing, multi-stakeholder dialogue at national, regional and global level. As part of this process, SWA has held regular, global, High-level meetings (HLMs) involving ministers of finance (2010, 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2020) and ministers responsible for sanitation, water and hygiene (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019). Each of these meetings has been preceded by a preparatory process, coordinated by the SWA Secretariat, and follow-up has involved ongoing reporting on progress towards commitments made at the meetings. SWA is now planning for the next cycle of the high-level political dialogue which will involve the 2022 Sector Ministers’ Meeting in Indonesia in May 2022.
A significant amount of preparation is undertaken in order to run an effective series of meetings, including a comprehensive preparatory process for countries and other SWA constituencies. The Secretariat develops a plan for follow-up to engage countries and other partners.
SWA’s Steering Committee has equally decided to increase the partnership’s engagement at country level. The Steering Committee also supports efforts to further mobilize SWA at country level – this might entail support on the partnership drive, as well as sharing of information on SWA in the region, but equally mobilizing partners to put in place and strengthen multi-stakeholder platforms for water, sanitation and hygiene, promoting Heads of State and Heads of Government national Compacts for water and sanitation, as well as working with Parliaments on these matters. In the coming years, SWA will play a significant role in organising peer-to-peer learning through virtual and face-to-face platforms and by identifying, documenting and sharing lessons. The partnership is also planning and supporting thematic dialogues on sanitation and a regional discussion with partners to strengthen their work on country processes.
The Secretariat is also supporting the roll-out of the Mutual Accountability Mechanism. This will entail multi-stakeholder activities at country level, including in the Africa region.
Purpose
The purpose of these consultancies is to contribute to SWA’s relevance and visibility in the Africa region, in order to achieve the objectives of raising the political priority of sanitation, water and hygiene, promoting multi-stakeholder engagement and accountability at national level and promote good governance and increase financing for the sector. The activities to be undertaken are aimed at supporting the achievement of SWA’s vision of sanitation, water and hygiene for all, always and everywhere.
What you’ll do
Guided by the 2020-2030 SWA Strategy, the Consultants will lead engagement with key decision makers including ministers responsible for finance, water, sanitation, hygiene, health, environment, the economy and development to maximize the impact of WASH plans and programs. The Consultants will be responsible for supporting senior government technocrats and coordinating their governments’ involvement with the SWA and with other partners.
The Consultants will support governments to marshal political will and action; mobilize multi-stakeholder collaboration; strengthen systems and promote good governance; mobilize and effectively use finance; and champion mutual accountability among partners.
Operationally, the Consultants will develop relevant work plans, provide regular information to governments, summon the resources of the partnership at a political level to support the achievement of governments’ goals, and provide technical and logistical oversight on the delivery of the partnership’s strategy in the region.
The Consultants will be part of the SWA Secretariat with accountability to the Sanitation and Water for All’s Chief Executive Officer. Within the AMCOW, the Consultants will be under the office of the Executive Secretary for all substantive, functional and delivery of tasks.
The geographical scope of these consultancies includes all the Africa Region and will therefore require a combination of language skills either English with Arabic or French with Arabic, and/or English and French.
The SWA Secretariat is looking for two skilled professionals to help boost its capacity in the Africa Region to support the 1) preparation and follow-up process to the High-level meetings including the 2022 Sector Ministers’ Meeting; 2) implementation of the SWA Mutual Accountability Mechanism; 3) support and mobilization of national multi-stakeholder platforms on WASH; 4) peer-to-peer learning; 5) preparations and follow-up to the regional and other global meetings; 6) participation in the partnership or other related SWA events; 7) mobilization of the partnership at country level; 8) partnership drive in Africa, in particular in the MENA region; 9) promote good governance and systems change in the sector; and 10) increase finance available for water, sanitation and hygiene.
The Consultants will:
Mobilise political leaders and facilitate high level political dialogue and action to achieve water, sanitation and hygiene as well as related targets of the SDGs at country and regional level
· Identify opportunities in the region for mobilising and engaging political leaders – including Heads of State, Heads of Government, Ministers and Parliamentarians – to improve political will and action in support of water, sanitation and hygiene targets.
· Provide high-level political strategic engagement to leaders in the region including by responding to their needs through organising regional level inter-country processes to improve action and learning.
· Gather information and provide concise advice on political trends, their impact on water, sanitation and hygiene, and recommend appropriate engagement strategies for the partnership.
· Help SWA partners to engage effectively with political leaders and processes in the region to ensure adequate support and coordination across technical and political approaches.
· Prepare and support SWA leadership visits to specific countries based on demand.
Support in-country present and future SWA government partners in the preparations for regional and global meetings aimed at raising political will and action towards the achievement of the water, sanitation and hygiene related targets of the SDGs including climate change
· Support the partnership drive in Africa, with a view to increasing the number of partners from the region including in the private sector, research and learning, utilities and regulators, civil society and external support agencies constituencies.
· Ensure SWA governments in the region are well informed about objectives, timing and logistics of SWA’s High-level Meetings (HLMs) including the Sector Ministers’ Meetings and Finance Ministers’ Meetings.
· Support SWA partners to participate and contribute to the HLMs preparatory process, including by identifying relevant regional case-studies to be shared.
· Ensure that background briefing materials are provided to ministers, and their teams.
· Follow-up and track actions that ministers and their governments commit to undertake.
· Support documentation of the preparatory processes and capture key lessons learned.
Identify needs and propose options for increasing government and multi-stakeholder action to achieve the SWA strategic objectives
· Promote and support the development and/or strengthening of in-country, government-led, multi-stakeholder platforms to improve planning, resourcing, delivery, review of sector progress and accountability.
· Identity countries without multi-stakeholder platforms or those with platforms which are weak and require strengthening
· Prepare annual work plans reflecting the needs of governments and partners in the region and in accordance with the SWA overall strategy.
· In coordination with other members of the SWA secretariat, ensure that representative(s) of each constituency become SWA partners in a given country in the region.
· Identify specific needs of government partners and draw on the resources of the partnership and the secretariat to effectively respond and follow up.
· Prepare and oversee the implementation of regional focal points meetings on specific aspects of the SWA strategy and in accordance with needs and context of the region.
· Assess and identify strategic opportunities and develop plans for improving engagement with SWA constituencies at country and regional levels.
· Develop mechanisms to ensure regular bilateral follow-up with existing and potential government partners.
Support the implementation of the Mutual Accountability Mechanism among SWA partner countries, including in some potential partner countries
· Work with countries which have already tabled commitments to report and provide updated information on their commitments.
· Engage government partners which have not yet tabled commitments to find the appropriate time and opportunity at national level for them to table commitments.
· In countries where the government has tabled commitments, and together with other members of the SWA secretariat, work with other partners to submit supportive commitments.
· Provide information to potential partners and new focal points on the mutual accountability mechanism.
· Mobilise partners to support, participate in, and document the implementation of the Mutual Accountability Mechanism.
· Support documentation and research efforts of the SWA to better understand how the Mutual Accountability Mechanism is being implemented and adapted.
Provide support to implement the Africa Regional Roadmap, partner mapping and utilise the updated results framework
· Develop a plan of action detailing the implementation of the regional roadmap.
· Provide secretariat support to the countries during the implementation of the roadmap.
· Develop the 2022 partner mapping survey and provide partners with relevant information for them to effectively use the results.
· Work with the M&E specialist to implement the new results framework in the region, providing bi-annual reports and supporting governments to provide timely annual input.
Country engagement, and related activities are well-documented and communicated
· Identify, document and disseminate partner experiences of the implementation of the SWA strategy in the African region.
· Contribute to preparation and identification of stories for the website and other communications outlets.
· Organize dedicated induction sessions for new government focal points in countries.
· Provide regular updates to all focal points and connect new focal points to their peers.
· Regularly update the list of national focal points and their contact details.
· Identify potential new government partners and support them to join SWA.
Identify and establish horizontal intersections/relationships with other sectors
· Identify the key players in the African ecosystem that are an active voice in health, gender, climate, finance and other relevant sectors.
· Establish and cultivate relationships with audiences from a variety of sectors that may play a pivotal role in influencing political will.
· Carry intelligence work on behalf of the partnership in the region to further understand, and therefore influence, the different audiences.
· Bring on board organizations from outside the sector as SWA partners.
· Develop a targeted plan of action to identify and establish horizontal intersections/relationships with other sectors.
What you’ll need
Education: Advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in development studies, public policy/administration, law, economy or in another relevant area.
Experience:
· A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in the region in sustainable development in general or in finance for sustainable development.
· Some knowledge in water, sanitation and hygiene might be an asset but is not required.
· An understanding of, social and institutional issues relating to global development, inequalities, development effectiveness in low and middle-income countries, both in rural, peri-urban and urban areas.
· A successful track record of influencing key-decision makers including government leaders at a political level.
· Knowledge of how regional agencies and key stakeholders operate in the region.
· A good knowledge of the social, political, policy and institutional environments of countries and the region.
· An excellent approach to partnering and leveraging unique skills and resources of multiple partners.
Languages: Fluent in English, or French and/or Arabic. Desirable to speak and/or write fluently Portuguese.
Core and technical competencies
A team player, self-starter, able to work in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-country team. Ability to communicate clearly and persuasively to high level target audiences – both professional/specialist and lay audiences. Ability to write formal documents, including memos, emails, reports and briefs for high-level political leaders and decision makers. Experience in establishing contacts at the political level in the region. Experience in convening and organizing multistakeholder meetings and consultations.
Opportunity summary
· Type of contract: Consultant, monthly
· Length of contract: twelve (12) months with an option to renew depending on performance
· Starting date: December 1, 2021
· Location: remote or in AMCOW’s office in Nigeria
· Requirements: You must be a citizen of one of the AMCOW’s 54 AU member countries and have no family members currently working at the AMCOW.
About us: The African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) was formed in 2002 in Abuja Nigeria, primarily to promote cooperation, security, social, economic development and poverty eradication among member states through the effective management of the continent’s water resources and provision of water supply services. In 2008, at the 11th ordinary session of the African Union (AU) Assembly in Sharm el-Sheikh, Heads of State and Government of the AU agreed on commitments to accelerate the achievement of water and sanitation goals in Africa and mandated AMCOW to develop and follow up an implementation strategy for these commitments. AMCOW has also being accorded the status of a Specialised Committee for Water and Sanitation in the African Union.
Our mission: Provide political leadership, policy direction and advocacy in the provision, use and management of water resources for sustainable social and economic development and maintenance of African ecosystems.
Our vision: An Africa where there is an equitable and sustainable use and management of water resources for poverty alleviation, socio-economic development, regional co-operation and the environment.
Our team in Human Resources carefully reviews all applications.
How to Apply:
Interested candidates should submit their resume by email to the address below with a motivation letter stating why they are suitable for the position along with certified copies of degrees, diplomas, and certificates not later than 11th November 2021. Female candidates are encouraged to apply.
The Executive Secretariat
African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW)
No. 11, T.Y. Danjuma Street, Asokoro District
Abuja, Nigeria.
Email: [email protected]
Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
