• Purpose: The primary purpose of the consultancy is to conduct a technical assessment of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene in low-income communities in Narayanganj, aiming to identify the most cost-effective, sustainable, and climate-smart improvements. This includes assessing options for enhancing drinking water quality, water supply systems, sanitation solutions (at the household, community, and school levels), and promoting hygiene behavioural change within these communities.
• Timeframe: October- December 2023 (30 days)
• Locations: Bangladesh – Dhaka and Narayanganj (Sumil Para & Rishi Para),

Background

British Red Cross (BRC)

The British Red Cross (BRC), in collaboration with the Bangladesh Red Crescent (BDRCS), is actively implementing nationwide resilience-building programmes spanning urban and rural settings. In 2022, a new programme was designed to address one of Bangladesh’s most pressing challenges, both in the present and future – climate change adaptation. This initiative was developed through extensive consultations with city corporations, local communities, and various stakeholders.

As part of this project, the need for WASH improvements in urban slum communities has been identified. BDRCS, with the support of BRC, is planning to conduct a WASH Assessment to identify the specific needs of the population living in the identified communities in Narayanganj, including the needs of women, girls, and persons with disabilities.

An initial assessment found that the slum communities living in Narayanganj are affected by poor sanitation and hygiene, especially during floods and waterlogging, with inadequate sanitation infrastructure (e.g., lack of or inadequate septic tanks or sewerage lines) causes toilets’ pits to overflow and human waste to float as a result. In addition, the communities are affected by poor water quality and quantity, with tube wells contaminated with E. coli bacteria and insufficient supply. During heavy rain and waterlogging, the water supply facilities (Refer to the Narayanganj project – design document for full details).

Flooding and waterlogging lead to numerous health issues among the community members, including cholera and malaria. The main contributing factors are poor drinking water quality, sanitation, and inadequate hygiene.

Purpose and scope of the consultancy

The primary objective of this consultancy is to conduct a comprehensive technical assessment of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services with the following key objectives:

• Identify Optimal Solutions: Our main goal is to identify the most cost-effective, sustainable, and climate-smart improvements for water supply, sanitation, and hygiene. This includes enhancing drinking water quality and exploring various water supply options. Additionally, this component emphasises promoting hygiene behavioural changes within Low-Income Communities.
• Enhancing Sanitation: identify the most cost-effective, sustainable, and climate-smart sanitation improvements for households, communities, and schools. This also involves advocating for hygiene behavioural change within Low-Income Communities.

The identified water supply and sanitation options will be designed to tackle public health risks. These solutions will be designed considering the local context and cultural and social norms, with particular attention to the specific requirements of women, girls, and persons with disabilities. the solutions will be developed in collaboration with slum communities and in consultation with BDRCS and local water and sanitation authorities. Moreover, the solutions should consider the potential impact of climate change on local communities over the medium and long term. This assessment will extend to understanding how climate change could affect existing and future water supply and sanitation infrastructure, ensuring our solutions are resilient and adaptable to evolving environmental conditions.

This technical assessment of the water supply and sanitation exercise will :

• Provide a better understating and detailed information on the needed water and sanitation facilities in Narayanganj in Low-Income Communities by verifying the initial data collected during the project design exercise.
• Provide evidence to design the Climate Smart and cost-effective, sustainable water supply and sanitation options tailored to the needs of the low-income community population, considering their cultural and social contexts, including the needs of women, girls, and persons with disabilities.

Users and uses of study

• The information gathered and the outcomes of this technical assessment will be used to shape the design of cost-effective, sustainable, and climate-resilient improvements in water supply, sanitation, and hygiene across households, communities, and schools. This also encompasses the sustainable management of WASH facilities, aimed at mitigating public health risks and enhancing the overall quality of life for the local population.
• The study findings will be shared with local stakeholders, including affected communities, development partners, Red Cross and Red Crescent partners and the City Corporation.

Approach and methodology

The specific methodology will be detailed in close consultation between the consultant, management team, commissioner and relevant key stakeholders but will draw upon the following mixed methods or other sampling methods considered applicable to the context (to be identified and presented in the inception report). The methodology must include:

• Field visits and stakeholder interviews to understand local challenges and needs.
• Conduct an infrastructure evaluation to assess water supply, sanitation, and water quality options, considering cost-effectiveness and climate resilience.
• Explore rainwater harvesting and market-based activities to reduce groundwater demand and improve access to water and sanitation.
• Investigate collaboration with local authorities, especially Narayanganj City Corporation, and provide recommendations.
• Identify capacity-building opportunities for BDRCS staff in water quality monitoring and WASH Climate Smart approaches.
• Recommend solutions to enhance drinking water quality, including filtration systems and disinfection devices, and consider community mobilisation and behaviour change.
• Validation workshop to present and validate initial findings with key stakeholders.
• A dissemination meeting will be organised with the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement Partners (BDRCS, BRC, IFRC, ICRC, other partner national societies, RCRC climate centre) as well as external partners (government, UN agencies, academia and other local stakeholders), water authority and the City Corporation to communicate the results of the study and recommendations for implementation.

Deliverables

1. Inception report: an inception report presenting:

1.1 a detailed methodology based on this TOR and initial briefings/desk review, including planned timeframe, list of stakeholders to be consulted, proposed sampling methodology, analytical framework and protocols for data collection and analysis, and ethical procedures to be followed; an evaluability assessment and matrix showing data sources/ methods used to answer each of the review questions

1.2 initial findings based on the review of programme documentation, existing data, prior evaluations/reviews, and secondary data;

1.3 an outline of key knowledge gaps not covered by this ToR, and any suggested additions/alterations to the proposed scope and overall ToR

1.4 Data collection tools

2. Technical report: As part of the technical assessment, the consultant will produce a technical report with recommendations on Climate Smart and cost-effective, sustainable water supply and sanitation, and water quality options that are technically feasible for the local context in Narayanganj.

The technical options for water supply and sanitation water quality will also consider the needs of the local population, considering their cultural and social contexts, including the needs of women, girls, and persons with disabilities.

The most appropriate, cost-efficient, and sustainable technical options identified will be reviewed in consultation with the communities and BDRCS and aligned (as much as possible) with the Narayanganj City Corporation plan. The technical report would include the following:

I. Water Supply, sanitation, and hygiene behaviour change

• The consultant will conduct field visits in which the WASH intervention is to be implemented to validate previous findings, interview key stakeholders as needed, understand the challenges and the general operating environment, and:
• Explore options for rehabilitating existing water infrastructures or constructing new climate-smart infrastructure in low-income Communities, including cost-effectiveness and management systems.
• Explore rehabilitation of existing sanitation infrastructures or construction of new climate-smart infrastructure, including handwashing units at HHs and communal level in Low-Income Communities, including cost-effectiveness and management system.
• Explore water quality improvement options based on the local context, including cost-effectiveness and management systems.
• All infrastructure construction and design will consider current and projected flood levels, as well as other relevant climate-related events.
• Investigate the implementation of rainwater harvesting at various levels, including households, group housing, and institutional settings such as schools and healthcare facilities, to minimise groundwater demand.
• Explore market-based initiatives aimed at enhancing access to water and sanitation, while also providing income generation opportunities through local small business activities. For instance, this could involve activities like local production of handwashing units, passive chlorination, solid waste management, or water kiosks, as determined through a WASH Market Assessment.
• Provide recommendations on the types of community mobilisation activities required and assess their willingness to pay for drinking water.
• Offer recommendations regarding community mobilisation activities and evaluate their willingness to pay for latrine pit desludging and treatment services.
• The consultant will assess the feasibility of establishing local community work contracts, complete with procedural guidelines and template formats, for constructing water points, sanitation facilities, handwashing units, bathing areas, and other relevant infrastructure.
• Liaise with the Narayanganj City Corporation water unit department, understand the potential for collaboration with BDRCS, and know their plans on expanding the municipal water supply system to low-income communities as part of their pro-poor approach.
• The consultant will evaluate the possibility of collaboration between BDRCS and Narayanganj City Corporation. This collaboration may include extending the municipal water supply network to establish communal metered water points within the community, where a subset of households (e.g., 25/30 households) can contribute to monthly water bills.

II. Water quality

• The consultant will offer recommendations regarding technical options for enhancing the quality of drinking water at its source, during storage, and at the point of consumption, with consideration given to private water vendors.
• The approach will encompass community mobilisation, hygiene behaviour change, and training. Examples may involve the distribution of water filtration systems or disinfection devices at both household and school levels, guided by water quality testing.
• Explore the potential for installing inline chlorination at communal water points for water disinfection, taking into account cost-effectiveness.
• Investigate the potential for installing ultra-membrane filtration at communal water points, considering cost-effectiveness.
• Provide recommendations to BDRCS staff for capacity building and training in conducting essential water quality monitoring tests at communal water points to detect bacteriological contamination. Conduct a risk assessment to evaluate potential drinking water contamination.
• Identify opportunities for BDRCS staff capacity building on the WASH Climate Smart approach, Market Assessment, Water Quality, Sanitation, and hygiene behaviour as per the National Society requirements.

The technical report should:

• As much as possible, the report should be jargon-free, clear and written.
• Not exceed 30 pages (Word document and PDF format)
• include an Executive Summary not more than 3 pages (containing an overview of the methods and analysis, conclusions, lessons learned, and specific recommendations, which is usable as a free-standing document), brief project background, the outline of the methodology used (including any limitations), findings, learnings and recommendations.
• ensure analysis is always backed up with relevant data, with reference to the data source.
• ensure recommendations made are specific and include relevant details for how they might be implemented;
• contain at least the following annexes: (i) Terms of Reference, (ii) Itinerary for field visit, (iii) List of documents reviewed, meetings attended, persons interviewed/involved in Focus Group Discussions, and (iv) Data collection tools.
• The report must be submitted with one electronic file containing (a clean version of) qualitative and quantitative data collected

3. A validation workshop: should be heldto present and validate initial findings with key stakeholders before the completion of the final report.

4. Presentation of findings: A workshop (face-to-face or virtual) will be held to present the final findings of the study as well as the recommendations. The consultant will prepare a presentation to disseminate the findings and recommendations with slides and other resources.

Timeframe

The expected time frame of the consultancy is 30 days; the expected start date is October 2023, and deliverables are to be finalised by December 2023. Below is a proposed timeline; however, the consultant is expected to submit a revised version as part of the inception report.

• Briefing meeting on the first contracted day: 3rd week of October
• Inception period (including briefings/ meetings, desk review; development of methodology and research tools): 3rd week of October
• The inception draft shared with the steering group : 4th week of October
• Feedback on the inception report shared: End of October
• Final inception report submitted: End of October
• Secondary research/ desk review: By Mid November
• Primary research/ Fieldwork: By Mid November
• Validation workshop: Third week of November
• Draft report submitted to steering group: End of November
• Feedback on the draft report provided to the consultant/ evaluation lead: First week of December
• Final report submitted: The second week of December
• Dissemination of review findings: Second week of December

Budget

An indicative budget for this evaluation is £35,000. This includes all costs related to the field visit (travel, subsistence, accommodation, security, or costs incurred in organising data collection), which will be managed, budgeted and paid for by the consultant. The British Red Cross in Bangladesh can support with logistical arrangements.

Payment will be made as follows:

• 25% upon submission of the inception report
• 25% upon submission of the draft final report
• 50% upon approval of the final report and dissemination of findings