Expertise: training
Expertise Group: Education
Consultant Source: International
TOR Keywords: technical education, training, workforce, skills gap assessment, staff development plan
Objective and Purpose of the Assignment
The Water Authority of Fiji (WAF) is seeking financing from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fund
priority water supply and wastewater investments in the Greater Suva Area. It is anticipated that the
project will be approved in 2025. Access to piped water supply in Fiji’s urban areas is high at around
98%. However, aging infrastructure and a lack of maintenance has contributed to high levels of non-
revenue water estimated at around 48% in 2023. In line with WAF’s Water Sector Strategy 2050, ADB is
currently supporting WAF to design a five-year performance based NRW management contract. The tender is
expected to be launched in October 2023, with an award of contract by April 2024. The contract will
initially be financed under the ongoing Tranche 1 of the Urban Water Supply and Wastewater Management
Investment Program, until the new project becomes effective.
WAF identified the lack of qualified technical staff and low retention rate as a critical bottleneck for
effective operations and maintenance. For example, Kinoya Wastewater Treatment Plant does not have a
dedicated wastewater engineer onsite. In 2023, it was reported that around 100 WAF staff had left the
organization to take up opportunities overseas. This follows a mass lay-off of staff in 2019 which saw
the loss of 100 employees out of 2400. WAF’s proportion of female staff at around 15% of the workforce
is slightly below the global average for utilities of 18%. Only 2 out of 12 executives which form WAF’s
management team are female. One of the 6 appointed board members to WAF is female.
As a result, the prospective Water Investment for Sustainability and Resilience (WISER) project will
include a component on water workforce development (see output 3 in preliminary project concept note).
It will support the design of a water operators qualification program in Fiji, which will be open to
students and professional utility staff from around the Pacific. The objective of the assignment is to
develop a qualification concept for water operators that can be feasibly and sustainably implemented in
Fiji and as a regional qualification across the Pacific. This assignment focuses on conducting needs and
capacity assessments and exploring WAF’s requirements to develop a qualification concept and action
plan. The consultant is responsible for designing a qualification concept and action plan in line with
WAF’s workforce needs and the sustainable delivery of the qualification program.
Background and Rationale
In recent years, water stakeholders and donors in the Pacific have already explored the issue of water
workforce development, developing key inputs that must be considered as part of the assignment. The
Pacific Regional Infrastructure Facility (PRIF) has carried out an assessment, and consequently proposed
measures to establish water operators training programs in the Pacific developing member countries
(DMC). In addition, SUEZ has also conducted assessments and developed curricula that could be used for
the (to-be-developed) water operator qualification. Finally, the meeting minutes of the PRIF working
group meeting for water and sanitation in the Pacific in June 2023 provides an overview of stakeholders’
perspectives and past activities. The assignment must take these assessments and previous discussions
into consideration before conducting assessments and developing the qualification concept. Notably, the
exact requirements of the qualification and stakeholders’ expectations have not been finalized yet.
Therefore, eliciting requirements and creating stakeholder consensus and buy-in is a key part of the
assignment.
Scope of Work
The consultant will undertake the following tasks:
 Scope assignment and develop inception report;
 Conduct workforce and skill gap assessment;
 Develop staff development plan for WAF;
 Assess education sector, existing training supply in water qualifications, and elicit qualification
requirements of stakeholders;
 Develop recommendations for qualification designs in line with stakeholder requirements;
 Develop a comprehensive and detailed qualification program design and action plan;
 Develop ToRs and provide inputs to project documents.
Detailed Tasks and/or Expected Output
A. Scope of assignment and prepare inception report
The consultant will,
(i) Review the findings and recommendations of the (i) PRIF report on water operators’ skills
development in the Pacific; (ii) existing training modules, (iii) capacity building strategy, and (iv)
360-assessment developed by SUEZ; (v) PRIF WATSAN working group meeting minutes of 09 June 2023;
(ii) Outline problem statement(s) to summarize the current situation;
(iii) Define (pre-liminary) requirements of the water operator qualification program;
(iv) Provide a concise stakeholder analysis and outline coordination approach with WAF, education
authorities, water sector councils and other stakeholders during the assignment;
(v) Map the skills development needs at WAF including those resulting from the investment project;
(vi) Outline action plan;
(vii) Proposed modifications to consultant terms of reference;
(viii) Flag of any issues impacting implementation of the assignment;
B. Conduct workforce and skill gap assessment and develop workforce development plan
The consultant will develop a WAF workforce skills development report
(i) Consult existing reports and assessments to avoid duplications.
(ii) Conduct workforce needs assessment at WAF. The assessment shall be in line with WAF operations
(including the anticipated infrastructure and equipment investments) AND considering climate change and
resilience competencies that are increasingly in demand in the water sector. It shall name occupations,
skill levels, and emerging skills that will be in demand. Information must be presented in a codified
manner, e.g., using national occupational classifications to refer to jobs, the operational structure of
WAF to outline workforce demand, national qualification framework to refer to skill levels.
(iii) Outline water operator job profiles which may be an input for how to structure qualifications (e.
g., modularize) and occupational standards. For specific jobs develop new job descriptions for WAF that
can be used to inform staff about their new role and responsibilities as well as in staff hiring
processes.
(iv) Conduct WAF workforce skill gap analysis. The analysis aims to identify gaps in the existing
workforce and shall include baseline data of WAF (technical) staff, including gender, age, people with
disabilities, current qualifications (etc.).
(v) Based on results, develop a staff development (and recruitment) plan. The plan shall at minimum
outline (anticipated) workforce and skill gaps, the potential for up- and re-skilling of existing staff,
the need for new hires, positions/jobs to be lost (if any), and a staff development plan.
(vi) Determine if occupations identified can be considered green jobs by relating them (and related
duties, economic activities) to the EU taxonomy on sustainable activities or Fiji green taxonomy if
available at the time of the assignment .
C. Conduct education supply assessment, develop recommendation report and lead technical dialog
The consultant will,
(i) Consult existing reports and assessments to avoid duplications; the consultant must take the PRIF
scoping study as a starting point that already holds a substantial amount of information. Only where
information gaps remain additional data may be collected.
(ii) Define/re-confirm requirements of qualification program in consultation with WAF, education
authorities, water sector councils, and other stakeholders;
(iii) Conduct education sector assessment for water qualifications. Including, identify existing formal
and non-formal qualifications (including mode of delivery and assessment, qualification structure and
levels), occupational standards, modules/materials (e.g. see SUEZ), education pathways, water operator
teachers/trainers, teacher professional development, and education providers in Fiji; analyze the extent
to which they cover WAF training needs and requirements and may be leveraged in the prospective
qualification design;
(iv) Given needs, gaps, and client requirements, develop a recommendation report on how the water
operator qualifications should be introduced, further developed, and offered in the education sector in
Fiji. The recommendation report must clearly communicate how key requirements are met by the recommended
qualification design; this must be visually communicated. Requirement may include, (i) ensuring
sustainability of regular delivery of training program/cohorts; (ii) capacity and availability of
teachers and trainers (e.g., for advanced content); (iii) accreditation and acceptability by industry
and potentially across the Pacific; (iv) allowing for diverse education and career pathways i(e.g. via
core qualifications); (v) cost of delivery (e.g., apprenticeship vs classroom only), (vi) gender
inclusion, (vii) training quality etc. The education sector assessment for water qualifications shall be
included in the appendix, the report must focus on recommendations.
(v) Lead technical dialog with WAF, education and other stakeholders e.g., PRIF, water sector councils,
donors and to communicate and adjust recommendations.
(vi) Document outcomes of discussions in project documents and other.
D. Develop detailed qualification design concept and action plan
Based on assessment findings and consultations with stakeholders, the consultant will,
(i) Prepare detailed water operator qualification/ program design(s), including outlining partner
training institutions.
(ii) Collect feedback from key stakeholders and update design accordingly.
(iii) Conduct capacity assessment of training institutes that will deliver the qualification (such as
Fiji National University) to identify capacity development needs;
(iv) Finalize comprehensive qualification program concept, that shall include (i) all qualification
delivery details (e.g., length, accreditation, teacher needs, partners, NQF levels, education pathways,
credits, work-based training arrangements (if applicable) etc.), (ii) gender strategy; as well as, in
support of concept implementation, (iii) a detailed roll-out action plan that includes all actions
needed to develop and implement the qualification design. This must include, but is not limited to,
actions for the capacity development of teachers, and the development of competency-based training and
assessment curricula, course and instructional materials, teaching equipment and other relevant areas;
(iv) cost estimates related to consultancy and procurement in line with the action plan.
(v) The consultant shall note that the action plan and cost estimates will be integrated into the
project administration manual of the given ADB supported project. The qualification program concept will
be a loan document attached to key project documents.
E. Develop Terms of References and other project inputs
The consultant will,
(i) Develop consultant ToR as needed for the implementation of the action plan;
(ii) Coordinate with the procurement specialist that consultant contracts are accurately reflected in
the procurement plan including timeline and disbursement projections;
(iii) Coordinate with the financial specialist that Output 3 cost estimates are captured in the project
cost estimates;
(iv) Work with the gender specialist to ensure that priority gender actions under Output 3 are captured
in the project’s gender action plan;
Minimum Qualification Requirements
The expert requires the following minimum qualifications:
i A graduate degree in engineering, technical education, or related field;
ii At least 14 years’ experience in water industry, of which at least 6 years in water workforce
development and training;
iii Demonstrated knowledge of competency-based training and assessment (CBTA) and work-based training
(WBT);
iv Demonstrated experience working with or in water utilities in the areas of workforce development;
v At least 2 work experiences in developing qualification/training programs for water utilities in
developing countries;
vi Experience in the development of a supra-national water academy is an advantage;
vii Experience working in overseas development assistant with donors and multilateral development banks
is considered an advantage;
viii Work experience in developing countries; experience in the Pacific is an advantage.
ix Very good knowledge of English, writing and speaking.
Minimum General Experience: 14 Years
Minimum Specific Experience (relevant to assignment): 14 Years
