REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
(CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRMS)
ESWATINI
ESWATINI WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION ACCESS PROJECT (P166697): DRAFTING OF THE ESWATINI NATIONAL DROUGHT POLICY (NDP).
Assignment Title: Consultancy Services for the Development of the Kingdom of Eswatini National Drought Policy (NDP).
Reference No: SZ-EWSC-390852-CS-INDV (EWSC 91 of 2022/23)
The Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini has received financing from the World Bank towards the cost of the Eswatini Water Supply and Sanitation Access Project, and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consultancy services. The services comprise of developing Eswatini National Drought Policy (NDP) which will provide a framework for embedding drought risk management within appropriate structures of development and strengthen national capacities to effectively prepare, prevent, respond, mitigate, and recover from droughts. The country drought response interventions remain reactive even with extensive experience from past droughts and their devastating effects mainly due to lack of a sound drought policy to guide systematic drought management. The lack of a drought policy makes it difficult to ensure adequate drought preparedness and planning for effective drought response, early warning and monitoring as well as risk assessment and reduction techniques.
The implementing agency for this project is the Eswatini Water Service Corporation (EWSC) and sub-coordinated by the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).
Objectives;
To engage the Consultancy Services to develop the Kingdom of Eswatini National Drought Policy (NDP) which will provide a framework for embedding drought risk management within appropriate structures of the development and strengthen national capacities to effectively prepare, prevent, respond, mitigate, and recover from droughts, and protect lives and livelihoods, environment and the economy cognizant of;
- The long-term socio-economic benefits of “risk-based” and “proactive” approaches to drought risk management, and associated water scarcity problems and avoiding the crisis management approach by the different sectors.
- The need for enhanced coordination and collaboration across and among all stakeholders to ensure more effective and efficient drought risk management and local coping capacities.
- The need of availability and widely accessible early warning systems for all for early action and impacts mitigation.
- The complexity of droughts and the cascading and systemic nature of its impacts which require sustainable management approaches and practices to ensure reducing vulnerabilities and increasing community resilience.
Scope of Work
The consultant must ensure that the underlisted activities are met during the course of the consulting services;
- Thorough diagnosis, review, assessment, and analysis of the current state of drought and related drought management policies, frameworks, and regulations in the country as well as other relevant regulatory frameworks that the drought policy need to be aligned and consistent with for effective drought management. This should not be limited to formal institutions, but should also explore roles played by community structures, and other local structures, e.g., community water schemes, community cooperatives and households in drought risk management.
- Analyzing major constraints, gaps, or roadblocks for effective and sustainable drought risk management, present and discuss the findings, conclusions and recommendations with key stakeholders and obtain feed-back for actioning.
- Benchmarking best practices and policies from other countries regarding effective drought management for options to enhance and inform robust drought management policy, which is cognizant of regional, continental, and international instruments.
- Mapping, identification and consulting the relevant stakeholders that will be included in the policy including those to be impacted by the policy and to identify needs, requirements, and concerns.
- Guiding, and clearly identifying, and outlining roles and responsibilities of various agencies, service providers, communities, and the public in various aspects of drought management at all levels of government; The Consultant should propose policy improvements or institutional reforms needed to address policy or regulatory gaps and roadblocks identified through the stakeholder engagement and benchmarking processes and consistent with relevant policies and regulations. The procedures should be aligned or integrated with existing national and local procedures and should clarify the sequence and level of response required based on the severity and duration of drought.
- Providing guidelines for coordination and management of drought in the country to facilitate drought risk management into planning and delivery processes.
- Developing the NDP encompassing the key aspects of drought risk management:
- Monitoring and early warning for early action including awareness raising and communication.
- Vulnerability and Impact Assessment to guide the identification and assessment of the impacts of drought on various sectors, such as agriculture, water resources, and health, and of the vulnerabilities of the affected communities and ecosystems.
- Mitigation actions, preparedness planning and drought risk response measures to enhance the resilience of both the communities and the ecosystems.
- Effective governance and institutional arrangements and defining the involvement of local communities and gender perspectives.
- Developing a comprehensive framework to facilitate the implementation of the drought management policy, inclusive of capacity building initiatives of relevant stakeholders and leveraging existing processes and arrangements and the drought management policy monitoring and evaluation system with tangible implementation milestones and progress verifiable indicators to enable monitoring.
Consultant Qualification and Experience
The assignment is suitable for individual national and international consultants. The EWSC now invites and eligible consultants to indicate their interest in providing services on drafting the Kingdom of Eswatini National Draft Policy (NDP). The Expression of Interest shall include information about consultants’ qualifications and capability to perform the consulting services including description of experiences with similar assignments, experience in similar conditions.
The shortlisting criteria are:
- Minimum MSc Degree or PhD in Disaster Management, Climate Change, Environmental Studies or Law, Natural Resource Management, Development equivalent qualification.
- A minimum of 12 years’ proven record and experience in developing policies and guidelines related to drought management and water and ecological resources management.
- Demonstrated knowledge of drought management, monitoring, including methodologies on monitoring and assessing drought, early warning systems, risk mitigation measures.
- Demonstrated good understanding of the Kingdom of Eswatini’s environment, policies, strategies and development issues as well as the Sendai Framework and regional drought risk management landscape.
- Demonstrated ability to work independently, handle multiple tasks, work under pressure, and deliver assignments on time.
- Excellent communication skills, both writing, verbal, and analytical skills.
- Demonstrated understanding of environmental changes and climate changes, disability, gender, equality, and women’s empowerment and development.
The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraphs 3.14 to 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers of July 2016, revised in November 2017 and August 2018 setting forth the World Bank’s Policy on Conflict of Interest.
A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the QCBS (Quality and Cost Based Selection) method set out in the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers dated July 2016, revised in November 2017 and August 2018.
Interested consultant(s) may request and obtain further information and detailed terms of reference by email to procurement@ewsc.co.sz and copy patricia.magutshwa@ewsc.co.sz, on or before 22 December 2023.
Expressions of Interest, clearly labelled ‘’[Name of Consultant] EWSSAP: “Consultancy Services for the Development of the Kingdom of Eswatini National Drought Policy (NDP)”, should be submitted by 29 December 2023 at 12:00hrs local time through:
an email to: procurement@ewsc.co.sz for files less than 6MB (or send a link for files larger than 6MB),
or hand submitted (1 original and 4 copies) to the physical address as indicated below:
Attention: The Managing Director
Eswatini Water Services Corporation Headquarters, Emtfonjeni Building.
Corner MR 103 and Cultural Village Drive, Ezulwini
Country: Eswatini
Telephone: +268-2416-9000
Facsimile number: +268-2416-3616
