RFP - WaterAid India Baseline Survey on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in select slums of Bangalore, Karnataka via DevNetJobsIndia

Terms of Reference  

WaterAid India Baseline Survey on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in select slums of Bangalore, Karnataka

1.0 Background and Rationale:

WaterAid, established in 1981, operates globally in 38 countries, annually transforming countless lives through the provision of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene solutions. Its presence in India dates back to 1986, and since 2010, WaterAid India (WAI) has been formally registered as the Jal Seva Charitable Foundation (JSCF), operating as a not-for-profit entity under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. As an associate member of WaterAid International, JSCF extends its reach across 13 states in India, encompassing 47 districts.

WAI’s overarching objective is to achieve universal access to WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) services. Its efforts are strategically directed towards addressing the needs of marginalized and excluded communities. WAI engages in a wide array of thematic areas, including drinking water security, sanitation, WASH in health and nutrition, WASH in schools, and Menstrual Hygiene Management. These interventions are carried out in diverse settings, spanning rural and urban areas, including census towns, small towns, and medium-sized municipalities. Additionally, WAI actively engages in WASH policy formulation and advocacy at both the national and state levels, complementing its programmatic activities.

2.0 Baseline on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene:

The Census of 2011 revealed that 31.16% of India’s population resides in urban areas, with over half of them, precisely 18%, living in slums. Although there has been some advancement in providing essential services to these areas, numerous challenges persist. These challenges stem from the inadequate capacity of city governments to address the needs of the poor residing in urban slum settlements and their access to essential services. The rapid growth of urban slums has further strained existing facilities, particularly in informal settlements, where ensuring access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation remains complex due to the involvement of multiple institutions with overlapping responsibilities. Additionally, many slum dwellers are migrants from rural areas, where access to health information, healthcare services, water, and sanitation is already limited, making them more susceptible to WASH-related diseases.

Bengaluru, as the third most populous city in India, has witnessed a 150% increase in population over the last decade. The estimated slum population in Karnataka stands at about 40.5 lakhs, constituting 22.56% of the state’s urban population.  As per the seven-year landmark study^[1] of Bengaluru mentioned that out of 2000 slums, only 597 slums had got some form of recognition. The poor in the urban slums, the migrants, and waste pickers are often neither acknowledged nor included in any plans of the urban governments. With 88% level of urbanization in Bengaluru city, the highest in Karnataka, the slum-dwellers are faced with a lack of basic amenities – safe drinking water, toilets for defecation, proper solid waste management system and limited access to information regarding health and hygiene and therefore left in the lurch suffering from innumerable water-borne diseases. Safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are still not a priority in a large section of the slums.

Among the communities inhabiting urban slums in Bangalore, waste pickers are an estimated 15000 who pick up, clean, sort and segregate recyclable waste and sell it further up the value chain (to scrap dealers) in order to make a living. They are amongst the most marginalised and impoverished subpopulations of the urban poor – illiterate, unskilled, lowest in the caste hierarchy and the poorest of the poor. They choose to be in this profession only because there are no options left for them to eke out a livelihood. Most of the waste pickers live in a temporary settlement, while some live on the pavements. Compromised access to safe drinking water, decent toilets and a clean environment makes them further vulnerable to morbidity and mortality and a denial of their basic right to live. Poor awareness on the link between WASH and health have in turn aggravated the situation in the slums Therefore, it is imperative to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the WASH situation in selected slums, especially those where waste picker families reside, to identify gaps and enhance access to basic WASH facilities through leveraging and demonstrating successful models for replication in other slum areas.

To gain a deeper understanding of the current WASH landscape in the communities and institutions within 15 selected slums in Bangalore, where WaterAid is implementing its program, WaterAid is seeking proposals/quotations to conduct a baseline survey. This survey will cover 15 slums spread across different regions/zones in Bangalore, Karnataka, facilitating a holistic assessment of the WASH conditions and paving the way for targeted interventions and improvements.

2.0 Objective and Purpose

• To establish a baseline for the project (in 15 slums of Bangalore) on the key change indicators, which will include, the following as examples

1. Household infrastructure mapping: Household general profile, access to water, piped water supply or other means, quantity, quality and availability, toilet usage and access to essential services (schools, anganwadi and healthcare centres)
2. Sanitation: access to individual HH toilets /shared/community /public toilets, toilet technology, distance, usage and expenditure. Awareness of hygiene and menstrual hygiene management
3. WASH infrastructure assessment in the slums: current situation, functionality, technology, location, accessibility, water quality, quantity, availability and O&M.

• FGD: Challenges faced by the target community in accessing water and sanitation services, and hygiene, including menstrual hygiene.

For detailed information, please check the complete version of the RFP attached below.

[1] http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/why-ragpickers-unrecognised-and-unpaid-are-critical-for-waste-management-in-india-43164