Scoping and Concept Development, Regional CWIS Summit 2027

Terms of Reference

Scoping and Concept Development, Regional CWIS Summit 2027

Reference: PN171/2026/WASH-SDO-01

1. Assignment at a glance

2. Background

WASH skills Development Organization (WASH-SDO) implements the BMZ-financed project “Decentralised Water and Sanitation Solutions for Small Towns in Cambodia and Laos”, together with its partner office Environmental Sanitation Cambodia (ESC). Output 4 of the project requires that the approaches developed are used for national dialogue and for exchange of experience in the Mekong region, including through regional workshops with participants from Cambodia, Laos and, where relevant, other countries of the region.

WASH-SDO, together with its partner network, is planning a regional Summit on City-Wide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) for the Mekong region, provisionally scheduled for 2027. The Summit is intended to bring together practitioners, government counterparts, and development partners from Cambodia, Laos, and other countries in the region to exchange experience on decentralised sanitation, wastewater and faecal sludge management, and inclusive urban service delivery.

The Summit builds on a growing body of practical work across the region — including CWIS planning in Cambodia, CWIS adaptation and national guideline development in Laos, and a regional DEWATS training package — which is expected to be ready for wider dissemination by 2027. A regional platform is considered a more effective way to share this material and connect it to ongoing regional dialogue than a series of separate national events.

An indicative budget of approximately EUR 12,000 has been earmarked for delivery of the Summit in 2027, intended to cover an online or hybrid format. A fully in-person regional event would require additional co-funding beyond this envelope, and identifying such co-funding is part of what this assignment is meant to establish.

Two things are not yet established. First, whether a new standalone summit is the right format at all, or whether the objective is better served by co-hosting with an established institution or attaching to an existing regional convening. Second, what the available envelope should actually buy — an online event has a very different cost structure from an in-person one, and the risk shifts from cost to attendance, engagement and whether anything durable remains afterwards.

Scope of this assignment

This assignment is limited to the preparation phase: scoping the regional landscape, developing a concept and costed business case, and securing documented partner or co-funding commitments. It does not include organising, managing, or moderating the Summit itself — delivery will be a separate, subsequently financed activity once the concept from this assignment is approved.

3. Objective

The objective is to establish whether, in what format and with whom a regional CWIS Summit should be held in 2027; to produce a concept and a costed business case for it within the available envelope of approximately EUR 12,000; and to secure documented commitments from co-hosts and partners — in cash or in kind — so that WASH-SDO and its partners can take a well-founded decision and proceed on a realistic basis.

4. Scope of services

Work Package 1 — Regional actor and initiative scan

Establish who already convenes what on city-wide inclusive sanitation, decentralised wastewater and faecal sludge management in the Mekong region, and where a further event would add value rather than duplicate. Coverage:

• Countries: Laos, Vietnam and Thailand as a minimum, with Cambodia covered only by reference (see the boundary note below).
• Regional and multilateral institutions: Asian Development Bank, World Bank, GGGI, UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office, SNV, WaterAid, GRET, the Asian Institute of Technology, the Mekong River Commission, relevant ASEAN sectoral working groups, and the SuSanA regional network and its working groups.
• Existing convenings: the recurring regional and international events at which this subject matter is already discussed, with their cycle, host, typical audience and cost of participation.

Boundary. The mapping of actors and initiatives within Cambodia is covered by a separate assignment (reference 2026/ESC-02) and must not be duplicated. The output of that assignment will be provided to the consultant as an input. This assignment covers the regional level and the other Mekong countries.

Output: a matrix of actors and existing convenings, and a short synthesis identifying the gap a regional CWIS Summit would fill, the audiences not currently reached, and the risk of duplication.

Work Package 2 — Summit concept

Develop the concept for the Summit, covering:

1. Objectives and the specific decisions or outcomes the Summit is intended to produce, distinguished from the general aim of exchanging experience.
2. Thematic structure and an outline two-day programme, indicating which sessions WASH-SDO and its partners lead and what is contributed by others.
3. Target participants by named institution, with indicative numbers, seniority and country, and an assessment of who would realistically attend and at whose cost.
4. Format, language and — where relevant — location options. The working assumption is an online or hybrid event; the consultant is to test that assumption rather than accept it, and to specify the interpretation requirement (English, Khmer and Lao at a minimum) and how it is delivered.
5. An explicit assessment of three delivery routes: a standalone WASH-SDO-hosted summit; a summit co-hosted with an established institution; and a session or side event attached to an existing regional convening. Each route is to be assessed for cost, reach, the visibility and positioning it gives WASH-SDO and its partners, and the risk carried by WASH-SDO. A clear recommendation with reasons is required.
6. For an online or hybrid format specifically: how senior participation and active engagement are secured. The known weaknesses of online regional events — registration without attendance, passive presence, and little institutional trace afterwards — are to be addressed with concrete measures, not noted as caveats.

Where a co-hosted route is recommended, the consultant is to set out the implications for naming, branding and programme control, and what WASH-SDO would need to retain — for example the secretariat function and the programme committee — in order to remain the substantive convener.

Work Package 3 — Business case and budget within the available envelope

Produce a costed business case for three scenarios, calibrated against the indicative available envelope of approximately EUR 12,000. For each scenario, provide an itemised budget and state what the scenario delivers and what it does not.

The business case must in addition state:

• A clear recommendation between the three scenarios, with reasons.
• What the envelope should not be spent on — items that would consume budget without improving reach, participation or the durability of the result.
• An allocation within the recommended scenario for post-event knowledge products — a published summary, a record hosted on the SuSanA platform, and short audiovisual material. An online event leaves less institutional trace than an in-person one, so what remains afterwards has to be budgeted deliberately rather than left to residual funds.
• The minimum funding at which the recommended scenario should still proceed, and the point at which it should not.
• A recommended date and expenditure schedule. The full envelope sits in the 2027 annual budget, so the constraint is the calendar of the institutions to be engaged rather than an internal deadline. The consultant is to recommend a month, with reasons drawn from the regional event calendar mapped under Work Package 1, and a corresponding expenditure schedule.

Note. The SuSanA network is to be engaged as a knowledge and dissemination partner. It is not a source of funding and should not appear in the co-funding plan as one.

Work Package 4 — Exploratory engagement with co-hosts and partners

Conduct between five and eight documented exploratory conversations with potential co-hosts and partners. These must include, as a minimum, the Asian Development Bank and GGGI, and at least one of the World Bank, UNICEF, SNV or a major regional consultancy active in the sector.

What is being sought. Because the recommended format is expected to be affordable from the available envelope, the primary ask is not cash. It is co-branding and institutional endorsement, named senior speakers, mobilisation of the institution’s own invitation lists and networks, use of its communication channels, and — where an institution has convening infrastructure — the platform itself. Cash contributions are to be pursued where they would raise the ceiling, for example by funding interpretation, participant travel for government delegates, or professional production. The record of each conversation must distinguish clearly between cash and in-kind offers.

• Each conversation is prepared with a short briefing note agreed with WASH-SDO in advance, and recorded afterwards in writing.
• The record of each conversation must state the institution’s level of interest, what it would require in order to participate or contribute, what it would not do, the next step, and the named contact person with their position.
• Where a written expression of interest or soft commitment can be obtained, it is to be obtained and attached.
• Capacity transfer. Designated WASH-SDO staff participate in these conversations. The consultant briefs them beforehand and debriefs afterwards, so that the relationships and the method remain with the partner organisation after the assignment ends.

Work Package 5 — Handover package

Produce a short pitch deck of six to eight slides that WASH-SDO can use with prospective co-hosts, co-funders and ministries, together with a one-page concept note. Both are to be usable without further editing.

5. Deliverables and payment schedule

The maximum budget for this assignment is USD 4,000 with fallen in two installments as following;

Two instalments shall be made. The inception report is a quality milestone and is fallen into the first payment of this assignment. The contract deliberately ends on 18 December so that acceptance and final payment fall inside the financial year. Please note that, in accordance with the laws of the Kingdom of Cambodia, withholding tax may applied appending on the bidder’s tax registration status.

Public holidays. Bidders must account for Cambodian public holidays in their work plans. Several fall in October 2026, and the Water Festival in November 2026 is a multi-day national holiday during which government offices and partner staff are largely unavailable. Work plans that assume continuous availability through October and November will be treated as unrealistic at evaluation.

All deliverables must be accepted and invoiced before 31 December 2026. The contract deliberately ends on 18 December to allow acceptance and payment within the financial year without any deliverable being dated retroactively.

6. Required qualifications

Essential

• At least seven years of professional experience in the water, sanitation or urban development sector in Asia.
• Demonstrated experience designing or organising a regional conference, summit or comparable multi-institution convening, evidenced by at least one completed event in which the applicant held a substantive design or partnership role.
• Existing working relationships with regional development institutions and financiers, and the demonstrated ability to reach the Asian Development Bank and GGGI at programme officer level or above. Evidence must be provided in the offer.
• Ability to produce a costed event budget and a realistic partnership plan.
• Demonstrated experience designing online or hybrid convenings that achieved senior participation across more than one country, including the interpretation and engagement arrangements.

Advantageous

• Familiarity with city-wide inclusive sanitation, decentralised wastewater treatment or faecal sludge management.
• Experience in more than one Mekong country.
• Experience of co-hosted or jointly branded events with a multilateral institution.

7. Content of the offer

Offers must be submitted in English and must contain the following. Incomplete offers may be excluded from evaluation.

• Technical offer (max. 4 pages): understanding of the assignment, proposed methodology, work plan with indicative dates per deliverable, and named team members with their role and days.
• CV(s) (max. 4 pages per expert), highlighting the experience relevant to the qualification requirements in section 6.
• Two reference assignments of comparable nature completed in the last five years, each with client name and a contactable reference person.
• Financial offer in USD, showing the daily fee rate, the number of days per work package, and all reimbursable costs itemised separately. The offer must state the total price inclusive of all taxes, duties and charges.
• Evidence of access: a named list of the institutions the applicant can realistically reach for Work Package 4, indicating the level of contact and the basis of the relationship. This is a scored criterion and a general claim of regional networks will not be credited.
• One reference event: brief description of one regional or multi-institution event the applicant designed or organised, with its scale, budget order of magnitude, partners and outcome.
• For companies and firms: registration and legal documents — certificate of registration or incorporation, tax identification number, and a valid tax patent or equivalent where applicable. These are required with the offer, not after award, so that evaluation is not held up. Individual experts submit a curriculum vitae and do not need company documents.
• Confirmation of availability for the contract period stated in section 1.
• Signed declaration of (i) no conflict of interest in relation to WASH-SDO, the partner organisation, or the institutions covered by the assignment, and (ii) acceptance of WASH-SDO’s child protection and safeguarding policy.

8. Evaluation of offers

Offers are assessed by an evaluation panel of at least three persons from the WASH-SDO. Scoring is 70 points technical and 30 points financial. The lowest compliant financial offer receives the full 30 points; other offers receive points in proportion (lowest price ÷ offer price × 30). The offer with the highest total score is recommended for award.

9. Contractual and administrative conditions

• Contract type: short-term expert consultancy contract with the contracting party named in section 1. The maximum contractual duration for short-term experts is three months; expected date from 24 September 2026 – 18 December 2026; the contract period may not be extended beyond that limit.
• Payment: in instalments against deliverables accepted by WASH-SDO. Payment is made by the contracting party within 30 days of receipt of a correct invoice and written acceptance of the corresponding deliverable. All deliverables must be accepted before 31 December 2026; no deliverable may be dated retroactively.
• Language: all deliverables in English.
• Ownership and publication: all outputs, data and underlying working files are the property of WASH-SDO and the partner organisation named in section 1. The consultant grants the right to publish, adapt and disseminate the outputs, including on the SuSanA knowledge platform, with due attribution of authorship.
• Confidentiality and data protection: the consultant shall treat all information received as confidential and shall handle personal data in accordance with applicable data protection law. Data from focus group discussions and interviews may not be published in a form that identifies individuals.
• Safeguarding: the consultant is bound by WASH-SDO’s child protection and safeguarding policy, which applies to the contracting party through its partner contract with WASH-SDO and forms part of this contract.
• Procurement: this assignment is awarded by the contracting party following an open call for offers under BMZ procurement rules. WASH-SDO reserves the right not to award the assignment, to award part of the scope, or to request clarification of offers. Costs of preparing an offer are not reimbursed. Offers remain valid for 90 days.
• Travel: No international travel is foreseen. Domestic travel within Cambodia for meetings with WASH-SDO and Phnom Penh-based institutions must be included in the all-inclusive price. Regional engagement is conducted online.
• Independence and conflict of interest: the consultant must disclose any financial, employment or advisory relationship with WASH-SDO, the partner organization, or any institution covered by the assignment. Any relationship that could give rise to a conflict of interest must be disclosed before contracting.

10. Submission

The offers are to be submitted by e-mail, in PDF, with the subject line “PN171/2026/WASH-SDO-01 – Offer”, to:     Mr. CHEM Vibol, WASH Advisor – Vibol.Chem@wash-sdo.org  with a copy to: Ms. MEAS Sopheap, Operation Coordinator — sopheap@wash-sdo.org , Ms. EANG Chanthavy, Executive Director — chanthavy@wash-sdo.org

Deadline: 21^st September 2026, 17:00 (Phnom Penh Time). Questions of clarification may be submitted to the same addresses up to four working days before the deadline; answers are shared with all bidders who have registered their interest.

This assignment is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) under the project “Decentralised Water and Sanitation Solutions for Small Towns in Cambodia and Laos” (2026–2028).