Consultant (#VN041) (WHO)

Job title: A national Short-term Consultant to provide technical support in updating and revising the draft National Guideline on Urban Water Safety Plan for finalization.
Start date: 15 August 2023 (subject to confirmation)
End date: 30 September 2023
Number of working days as a consultant: 10 non-consecutive working days
Place of assignment: The Consultant is required to work closely with ATI focal points in ATI offices and report to WHO Technical Officer the progress of his or her activity.
Medical clearance: The selected Consultant will be expected to provide a medical certificate of fitness for work.
Travel: The Consultant is not expected to travel.
Budget: The contractor will be responsible for paying taxes, if any.

Background

The National Program for Water Safety for the period of 2016-2025 was approved by the Prime Minister of Viet Nam in August 2016, and multiple activities have been implemented by Administration of Technical Infrastructure (ATI) under the Ministry of Construction in cooperation with other ministries, agencies and local governments.

So far, 36 provinces have committed and been implementing their water safety plans in compliance with the National Program for Water Safety during the 2016-2025 period. According to the results of auditing 10 urban water suppliers, though those water suppliers were trained by Viet Nam Water and Sewerage Association (VWSA), ATI and WHO, their WSPs have not been developed based on a common guideline, leading to a difficulty in auditing. In addition, by 2020, 23 Provincial Steering Committees (PSCs) for water safety have been established and put into operation. According to the result of assessment missions, many PSCs have been established but have not held any meeting to start their activities because they fail to understand WSP and their own role in its implementation at the provincial level and in the National Program for Water Safety. ATI’s assessment missions in 2016 also proved that every PSC plays a critical role in providing support to water utilities in WSP implementation. Therefore, both water utilities and PSCs that are key actors in implementation of the National Program for Water Safety should be guided by a common national urban WSP guideline. For this reason, ATI developed a draft National Urban Water Safety Plan Guideline under WHO support in 2020. However, due to Covid-19, so far the draft guideline has not been finalized for printing out and disseminating nationwide yet.

Lessons learnt from the established PSCs and the implementation of water safety plans at the water utilities have shown that there is a great need in having an official national guideline on urban Water Safety Plan in place; therefore, it’s necessary for ATI to update and revise the draft guideline to include the risk of Covid-19 and take into account updates on any new policy and regulation in water supply and climate change impacts to water supply sector for finalization.

ATI is now looking for supports from WHO to hire 01 national consultant to help updating and revising the existing draft National Guideline on Urban Water Safety Plan for finalization to be ready for printing out and dissemination.

Work to be performed

Purpose of the consultancy

To provide technical support in updating and revising the draft National Guideline on Urban Water Safety Plan for finalization.

Method(s) to carry out the activity

The National Consultant’s task and responsibilities will include the following:

a) Updating new policies and regulations in water supply sector and revising the existing draft National Guideline on Water Safety Plan for urban water suppliers

b) Facilitating stakeholders’ discussion on the draft revising version of the guideline

c) Improving the draft version based on comments from ATI, TWG members

Outputs

Deliverable 1: Updated and revised Draft National Guidelines on urban Water Safety Plan;
Deliverable 2: Final draft National Guidelines on Urban Water Safety Plan ready for submitting to ATI of MoC for consideration of printing and distribution throughout 63 provinces

Specific requirements

Educational Qualifications required: A Master or PhD degree from a recognized university in a relevant area including water supply and sanitation, civil engineering, environmental engineering or public health.

Experience required: At least 7 years’ experience in water safety plan (WSP) development and implementation, WSP training, WSP auditing.

Skills / Technical skills and knowledge:

Proficiency in MS Word and MS Excel is essential, in addition to good report writing skills.
Experience in development of guidelines and training materials.

Language requirements: