POSITION: – State Consultant: Climate Resilient WASH Programming, Maharashtra (2026 and 2027)
LOCATION: Mumbai
DURATION: 23 months
CLOSING DATE: 15th January 2026
Background & Purpose of Assignment:
Purpose of Activity/Assignment:
Purpose of Activity/Assignment: The purpose of this ToR is to hire a Technical Expert working with UNICEF Mumbai WASH-CCES section, Water Supply and Sanitation Department (WSSD), GoM, Ground Water Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA), MEETRA (Maharashtra Environmental Engineering Research and Training Academy, Nashik), Education Department as part of system strengthening. The consultant will play a key role in system strengthening at the state level across critical domains, including capacity building, operations and maintenance, climate-resilient water, safely managed sanitation, WASH in Institutions and water quality monitoring and surveillance, to ensure sustainable, safely managed water and sanitation service delivery. Working closely with WSSD, the assignment aims to institutionalize robust governance mechanisms, enhance technical capacities, promote community-led and climate-smart approaches, and improve data-driven monitoring systems, in convergence with the Rural Development Department (RDD), MSRLM (Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission), MITRA (Maharashtra Institute for Transformation) YASHADA (Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration), MSCERT, MPSP and State Climate Cell and Majhi Vasundhara of DoECC (Department of Environment and Climate Change). The consultant will provide strategic support for cross-learning within the WASH space in Maharashtra and for policy advocacy with the State on emerging issues and cutting-edge technologies with following focus areas.
I. Support State Water and Sanitation Mission (SWSM), to develop an annual training calendar on JJM, SBM, and WASH in Institutions. This is aimed at the capacity building of partners including government departments on the use of data and potential innovative solutions to make WASH infrastructure and services climate and energy efficient.
II. Provide support in organizing state workshops, planning sessions, and training events, aimed at building capacities of stakeholders and partner institutions under the Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin, working closely with MEETRA, MSCERT, MPSP, AIILSG Mumbai, SWSM and RDD.
III. Support UNICEF Mumbai in developing water quality improvement plans and capacity strengthening of the state in achieving NABL accreditation for water testing laboratories, particularly for microbiological testing.
IV. Advocate for the scaling up of the school safety and security and MHM in the state through evidence generation, capacity building and documentation.
V. Assist UNICEF Mumbai, WSSD and relevant line departments to scale up a standardized performance-based incentivized service level benchmarking and village-level self-assessment scoring with O&M framework under JJM and SBM Gramin for WASH, with a progress analysis reporting system by closely working with AIILSG and partners.
VI. Assist UNICEF Mumbai in the data collection and reporting mechanism for different indicators under JJM and SBM every quarter to track progress, assess outcomes, and provide recommendations for improvements.
Support the documentation of best practices, innovative technologies, case studies, and policy advocacy efforts in collaboration with states and partner organisations, other line departments like RDD, MITRA, MSRLM, YASHDA, DoECC, Maharashtra Water Alliance, to enable cross-learning and wider dissemination
Scope of Work (Include Background/Rationale/Key Objectives of the Assignment):
The last decade witnessed a watershed moment for public investment in water supply, sanitation and waste management in India, with the government launching different flagship initiatives like Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM-Rural and Urban), Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), AMRUT 2.0, and Atal Bhujal Yojana (AbHY), to name a few. Local bodies are entrusted with the construction of assets and schemes advancing safe, managed water supply and sanitation. This is also well complemented by increased private-sector investment. Of the 17 SDGs, 12 are driven by investments in WASH and climate. Maharashtra, along with other states, saw increased public investment in infrastructure development. Under JJM, Maharashtra has invested in augmenting or constructing more than 51,000 rural water supply schemes, setting up more than 130 water quality laboratories at the District and sub-divisional levels, and procuring and supplying more than 29,000 Drinking Water Field Testing Kits. Comparable large-scale investments in sanitation and waste management infrastructure have been made, or are currently underway, under both phases of SBM. At the same time, the state has witnessed extreme climate events like floods, droughts, cyclones, heatwaves, etc., which have increased by 3 to 5 times in the last 10-15 years. Maharashtra, given its large population of 11.2 crores, socio-economic and cultural diversity, 720 km long coastline and seven agro-climatic zones, coupled with rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, is acutely vulnerable to the triple burden of planetary crisis, i.e., Climate Change, Environmental Pollution and Loss of Bio-cultural Diversity and Natural Resources.
Thus, sustained investments are needed to ensure that community and institutional-level assets remain functional, operational, and performing at optimal capacity at all times (including during climate extremes). At the same time, it is crucial to ensure that these systems are easy to manage and operate at the local level – through skilling, capacity building, technology upgrades, nature-based solutions, and behaviour change interventions that generate demand for safely managed water, sanitation, and waste management services. This leads to the development of a proof of concept to sustain public investment gains and foster system and community resilience through active involvement of different stakeholders from the State to local bodies, with active participation of children and young people. The overall deliveries for the State Consultants are as follows:
- Strengthen state-level WASH systems by providing technical expertise to WSSD, GSDA, MEETRA, and allied institutions to ensure climate-resilient, safely managed rural water supply and sanitation. This includes support for establishing robust O&M protocols, and learning from other states and the field, as well as water quality monitoring and surveillance mechanisms, etc.
- Design and deliver at least one capacity-building initiatives for government agencies, civil society organisations, and partners on data use and appropriate technological solutions, such as renewable energy, off-grid systems, groundwater recharge, and demand-side management.
- Collaborate with SJJM and GSDA to enhance the resilience and energy efficiency of water supply infrastructure and services.
- Support SWSM, MEETRA, AIILSG and GSDA to institutionalize structured training systems by developing and implementing an annual training calendar and strategic support for Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) with partners including Government departments.
- Support by enhancing governance, accountability, and service delivery by integrating standardized, performance-based service level benchmarking, village-level self-assessment, and O&M frameworks for WASH under JJM and SBM Gramin through regular progress analysis and reporting systems.
- Advocate for evidence-based decision-making by designing and implementing data collection, reporting, and monitoring frameworks for JJM and SBM indicators. Enable quarterly progress tracking, outcome assessment, and adaptive refinement of capacity-building and institutional engagement strategies.
- Promote cross-learning, innovation, and policy influence by systematically documenting best practices, innovative technologies, case studies, and policy advocacy efforts in collaboration with RDD, MITRA, MSRLM, YASHADA, DoECC (Majhi Vasundhara), Maharashtra Water Alliance, AIILSG and other partners. Facilitate the dissemination of these resources for state-wide and inter-state learning.
- Advocate for the scaling up of the school safety and security, Climate Literacy and MHM in the state through evidence generation, capacity building and documentation.
Note: During any kind of unprecedented extreme climate hazard, disaster the candidate is expected to extend required support to the supervisor and relevant line departments with support in drafting SITREP, coordinating JRNA-PDNA and capacity building.
Duty Station: Mumbai / Navi Mumbai
Official travel: The consultant will need to travel to Districts within Pune, Nagpur, Chatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Palghar, Nashik, and adjoining districts in the respective divisions and in case of requirement to out if state
Qualification
- Minimum 8-10 years of progressive relevant field experience, focusing on WASH (JJM, SBM, MHM, WASH in Institutions), emerging climate issues on WASH and working with the Government, civil society organisations
- Knowledge of sector policy and practice relating to and a broad understanding of the national flagship programs, viz. Jal Jeevan Mission, Atal Bhujal Abhiyan, SBM Gramin, MHM, SHVR, LiFE, Climate Action Plan and its status in the State of Maharashtra
- Previous experience working with UN or bilateral agency will be an advantage, with good verbal and written communication skills (English, Hindi and Marathi), including presentational skills
- Demonstrated excellent motivational and training delivery skills to achieve behaviour change in communities. Ability to use computer software, i.e. MS Office, MS Excel, PowerPoint, KoBO and other related software/ programs.
- Strong skill in communications, coordination and data analytics.
Application Procedures
(1) Qualified female/male candidates are requested to please indicate their ability and availability to undertake the terms of reference above.
(2) We request you to please inform us where you have seen this advertisement.
(3) Your application should be sent to mumbai.consultants@unicef.org by COB 15th January 2026 with subject line “Maharashtra State Consultant: Climate Resilient WASH Programming, Maharashtra (2026 and 2027)” in separate files consisting of:
a. Cover letter
b. CV (clearly mentioning relevant experience and any experience with UN/International/ Bilateral agencies)
c. The General Terms and Conditions of Contract (Consultants) GTC.pdf
d. P11 Form Personal History P11 Form.docx
e. Technical Proposal & sample of previous work
f. A financial proposal in PDF format indicating deliverable based fee as per template attached.
Please mention your name in the file name while saving.
(4) The selection will be based on technical evaluation & financial proposal in the ratio of 75:25. The technical criterion for evaluation is as follows:
- Educational Qualifications (15)
- Technical notes to understand the competencies, relevant work experience, communication skills both written / verbal (20)
- Interview (30)
- Experience in Bilateral/International/UN agencies * (10)
Total Score is 75.
- Minimum overall qualifying score should be 56.
Establish the weight that should be assigned between technical and price proposals in the final evaluation.
(5) The financial proposals of only those candidates, who are found technically responsive, will be opened.
(6) Any attempt to unduly influence UNICEF’s selection process will lead to automatic disqualification of the applicant.
(7) Joint applications of two or more individuals are not accepted.
(8) Please note, UNICEF does not charge any fee during any stage of the process.
For any clarifications, please contact: mumbai.consultants@unicef.org
Download Attachment: Revised CIC ToR-WASH-CCES-26-27.doc
Download Attachment: Fin. Proposal for WASH-CCES CIC.doc
