Expertise: Program Coordinator
Expertise Group: Engineering
Consultant Source: International
TOR Keywords:
Objective and Purpose of the Assignment
This assignment aims to ensure continuing and upscaling implementation of ADB’s Water Operators
Partnerships (WOPs) Program for River basin organisations and water authorities to support the capacity
development and performance improvement of water utilities in the Asia-Pacific region.
The objective of ADB’s WOPs Program is to improve the operational and financial performance of
participating water operators, river basin organisations and water authorities. WOPs is intended to
support/complement existing or planned WFPF investments in DMCs by the following:
- Twinning program. This involves twinning partnerships between ecipient or mentee and expert or mentor
water operators to enable the former to improve performance. - Benchmarking program. This program seeks to help wateroperators establish internal processes and
build skilled teams to collect, analyze, and measure their services and then compare their performance
and service practices against those of other utilities. - Technical Training. This component of WOPs is aimed at improving the technical capacity of water
operators on specific aspects of river basin management, watershed management, governance etc. Training
can be both traditional classroom-type or on-the-job or a combination of both, as necessary for best
results. - Establishment of network of water operators. Network of operators may be formal or informal, and may
be formed by ADB as necessary. The aim of this component is to continue engaging partners, specifically
mentors, who will sustain the program.
ADB is currently facilitating and coordinating several water operator partnerships. Only one partnership
between river basin organisations has been set up and more will follow in the future. These partnerships
will benefit water resources management in Developing Members Countries in the five regions.
Scope of Work
The Program Coordinator will lead the technical team in delivering the TA outputs on twinning, technical
training, and knowledge products. He/she will coordinate the twinning programs and ensure that planned
programs will take place.
Detailed Tasks and/or Expected Output
The Consultant will carry out the following detailed tasks:
Twinning between expert and recipient water operators / river basin organisations:
- Update the twinning guidelines, taking into account lessons learned from the WOPs Phase 1;
- Identify and match expert and recipient operators/river basin organisations to establish 4 to 5
twinning arrangements per year; - Develop a plan for upscaling of water operations / river basin twining including the alignment with
the Network of Asia River Basin Organisations (NARBO) - Facilitate, and where required, attend diagnostic visits of recipient expert and recipient utilities;
- Facilitate twinning agreements, including work plans and budgets;
- Review and manage the technical and progress reports prepared by the twinning partners during the
partnerships; - Oversee the overall implementation of twinning agreements to ensure they conform to the agreed
workplans; - Provide coaching and mentoring to twinning partners, as needed; and
- Explore options for domestic twinning programs;
Development of Knowledge Products
- Prepare a knowledge and communications plan and ensure knowledge and information are collated and
shared through various media to be agreed with the ADB project officers; and - Prepare knowledge products on good practices and disseminate them in accordance with the knowledge
exchange and development plan;
Technical Training
- Facilitate workshops and training programs as needed; and
- Liaise with regional water operators network secretariats and NARBO to ensure that technical programs
are aligned with network plans;
Overall Program Management
- Direct the work of other TA facilitators and support personnel and coordinate the overall
implementation of the TA, reporting to the ADB project officer; - Liaise with the team leaders of other ADB TA programs undertaking WOPs and related programs and ensure
good lines of communication are established and maintained for coordinating partnership activities and
knowledge sharing; - Ensure records management is in place to capture data on technical activities and utilities;
- Liaise with and contribute to the further development of regional utilities networks;
- Prepare a brief inception report and workplan for the TA;
- Prepare brief monthly reports on twinning and technical program achievements;
- Prepare semi-annual reports;
- Prepare ad-hoc reports as may reasonably be requested; and
- Prepare draft final and final reports.
Output/Reporting Requirements:
The Program Coordinator will be responsible for all reporting and ensuring the timely submission of the
deliverables listed below.
- Inception report one month after official start-up date
- Brief monthly reports on twinning and technical program achievements;
- Semi annual report with summarized results for each regional department;
- Updated WOPs brochure and other knowledge products;
- Other ad-hoc reports and deliverables as may reasonably be requested which may include but not
necessarily be limited to: (i) presentation materials for various water events within and outside ADB,
(ii) special report on WOPs that may be needed for donors meetings and other related events, (iii)
comments on proposals related to WOPs, etc.
Minimum Qualification Requirements
The Specialist should have at least 3 years international experience and/or 12 years experience in the
water sector, and preferably 8 years experience in working with water utilities or operators. Technical
knowledge of water supply and sanitation operations, or river basin management, is desirable.
Minimum General Experience: 3 Years
Minimum Specific Experience (relevant to assignment): 3 Years
