Consultants at RTI International

RTI International in collaboration with Plan International and other partners is implementing a 4-year USAID funded Effective Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (E-WASH) project. E-WASH will provide technical assistance to state governments to improve urban water service delivery by strengthening the governance, financial, and technical viability of six (6) state water boards (SWBs) in Nigeria. This is part of the United States Government’s (USG) efforts working with the Federal Government to address the heart of the challenges faced by the urban water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services. The overall goal is improvement of urban water and sanitation service delivery.

The USAID Effective Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (E-WASH) program, is seeking to identify and engage a consultant to conduct an Assessment on the Economic/Health Implications for Accessing WASH Services in the Urban Areas of Taraba and Imo States

Specific tasks include:

• Hold preliminary discussions with Advocacy and Strategic Communications Advisor (ASCA), the Institutional Policy and Development Adviser (IPDA) to discuss the scope of work.
• Conduct a desk review of literature on economic and health implications of accessing WASH services in the urban areas.
• Determine methodologies and techniques i.e. whether FGD or KII or both and develop and or adopt tools for data collection for the assessment.
• Field test tools and revise tools, as needed.
• Conduct the assessment underscoring economic and health implications for the urban poor and vulnerable populations.
• Conduct an analysis and hold one day validation of findings with each of the SWBs and stakeholders
• Develop a detailed assessment report with recommendations and provide guidelines/action plan for addressing gaps.

Key Deliverables:

• An inception including schedule of activities and deliverables
• Documentation of findings and validation
• Final assessment Report with recommendations and provide guidelines/action plan for addressing gaps.

Qualifications and Experience:

• A minimum of master’s degree in a related field
• A minimum of five (5) years of progressive, work experience in research and/or related tasks
• Demonstrated strength and experience providing similar technical assistance with international development project
• Evidence of similar work done for USG-funded or other international development project will be an added advantage

The Level of Effort (LOE) for this assignment is thirty (30) workdays. Contract duration is effective October 10th to December 30th  2019. Note: Engagement days may not run concurrently.

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The overall objective of E-WASH is to assist the Government of Nigeria to expand and improve urban water service delivery by strengthening the governance, financial and technical viability of select State Water Boards (SWBs) in Nigeria.  The E-WASH activity will concentrate on solidifying state, municipal, and utility level governance gains, manifested in improved water supply services, and an improved ability to regulate, manage, and expand sanitation services.

 The Effective Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (E-WASH) project seeks to recruit a corporate lawyer to undertake a desk review of the draft State based water and sanitation bills for Abia, Imo, Niger, Sokoto and Taraba States to ensure the bills are well framed, articulated, polished and meet international best practice standards.

LEGAL REVIEW EXPERT

The Assignment

• Review the draft legislation and advise if they meet the corporatization approach in Nigeria.
• Identify any further gaps and provide solutions to address the loopholes.
• Ensure the bill meets the minimum requirements for the establishment of corporations -owned by Government but operating as if they are private companies.
• Minimize any ambiguity to allow for ease of understanding of the instrument by stakeholders and general public.

Objectives of the Assignment
The specific objectives of this assignment include the following:

• Readjust the structural alignment of the five States draft water bills to meet contextual standards,
• Ensure that the draft bills represent normal corporatization approaches in Nigeria,
• that the bill is in line with good corporate governance,
• Ensure the legal instrument is well articulated and polished to meet international best practices in line with the overall goal of E-WASH and
• Minimize any ambiguity particularly on salient issues on the sector reforms in the five States (i.e. Abia, Imo, Niger, Sokoto and Taraba).

Deliverables

A report for the state utility reviewed comprising:

Final Copies of refined draft water bills for the five States
Consolidated report of refining process of the draft water bills with sections for different States context.

Qualifications and Experience

Qualification:

The Consultant should have at least Masters (M.Sc). in Law, Political Science or Public Policy or related field with 10 years’ experience of drafting legislation for public or private enterprises, or B.Sc. in same education backgrounds with 15 years’ similar experience

Experience:

• Knowledge and experience in corporatizing state owned enterprises
• Experience in privatizing former public owned enterprises
• Experience as a corporate lawyer
• Familiarity with good corporate governance guidelines and drafting of Board of Directors Charters
• Experience in editing of legal framework to conform with international best practice and standards

 Skills and Abilities:

• Ability to use current MS office computer package
• Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English language

Remuneration

We offer a highly competitive remuneration.

Application Closing Date
10th October 2019

Consultancy proposed commencement Date
14th October 2019

Duration
About 2 weeks