Objective and Purpose of the Assignment

ADB’s Pacific Department has approved a regional knowledge and support technical assistance (TA) which 
aims to strengthen Pacific developing member countries’ (DMCs) capacity to prevent disease transmission 
through enhanced water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practices and the associated enabling environment. 
Interventions will directly address the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic by (i) improving WASH 
practices through behavioral change campaigns; and (ii) strengthening the capacity of WASH service 
providers and other stakeholders so that WASH improvements will be sustained and expanded. This 
assignment for the Team Leader (WASH Advisor) will be until March 2022,  with the potential to extend 
depending on performance.   

The TA is working with governments and stakeholders in Pacific DMCs to identify the most vulnerable 
groups and highest-risk schools, markets, health clinics, or other public places. The WASH and behavior 
change campaign will be designed to meet the needs of women, children, girls, and elderly people. The TA 
will also address the enabling environment of WASH services and bring water utilities and other agencies 
with a hygiene mandate into the WASH clusters. Water utilities are expected to be active players in WASH 
campaigns in urban centers, following their mandate to improve water supply and/or sanitation services 
coverage. They will require support for WASH campaign targets in areas including willingness to pay, 
workplace safety and health, water conservation, and financial sustainability, which will facilitate the 
expansion of their core business, particularly as they face challenges presented by the COVID-19 
pandemic. The TA will ensure the sustainability of the WASH interventions by (i) aligning and 
collaborating with existing WASH-related infrastructure projects by ADB and other donors and development 
partners, (ii) building consensus among decision makers on the need to prioritize WASH interventions and 
support WASH improvements, and (iii) supporting longer-term WASH service investment and financial 
sustainability with support for infrastructure and services planning to expand WASH activities. The 
project team will identify and develop further measures to overcome barriers to improving WASH campaigns 
throughout TA implementation.

Scope of Work

ADB has recruited several consultants under the TA, including an international utility advisor and 
several national WASH consultants who will form the local WASH project implementation unit (PIU) in 
several Pacific DMCs. Counterparts will include government agencies with a mandate related to WASH (e.g. 
Ministries of Health, environment, water and state owned enterprises), water utilities, other WASH 
sector service providers (where applicable) and/or the WASH cluster, which will act as the in-country 
project coordination unit (PCU).

Detailed Tasks and/or Expected Output

As the Team Leader, the WASH advisor will lead and coordinate all national and international consultants 
and TA activities to ensure that project targets are met. The WASH advisor’s role will be to (i) provide 
strategic direction to overall TA activities in close consultation with ADB project officers and ADB 
country focals, (ii) play an advocacy role through targeted campaigns to accelerate Pacific DMC 
government efforts to improve WASH services in light of the current pandemic, and (iii) provide ongoing 
monitoring, support and advice for in-country teams and activities to help ensure quality, impact and 
knowledge generation. The WASH Advisor will use developed systems and templates to manage TA activities 
and carry out the required tasks across the DMCs effectively and systematically, while allowing for 
context specific approaches and plans to be implemented. The Advisor will have the discrepancy to 
introduce new project management tools and systems.

The TA has already supported selected activities in support of the TA objectives. The WASH advisor will 
build upon outputs delivered to-date, including: 

(i) Designing and implementing country-specific WASH plans. ADB has already developed a broad menu of 
options for TA activities across the countries in line with the TA Report targets. A rapid needs 
assessment and other significant work on identifying key activities in each country based on the menu of 
options has been undertaken to determine the priority interventions in each of the 14 Pacific DMC. The 
plans are at different stages of planning or implementation in the different countries. The WASH Advisor 
shall support each plan to advance to the next stage, depending on its status. The plans are meant to 
evolve, and level of engagement shall also vary from country to country depending on need, demand and 
other factors. The WASH Advisor will make his/her recommendations on the proposed interventions, and 
seek consensus from ADB and government counterparts to finalize the WASH activity proposals in each 
country, where not already approved. The advisor will work with the team to recommend the specific 
activities that will form part of each country specific WASH plan. The plans may be developed in a 
phased manner and will include: (a) key objectives and scope, (b) key activities, (c) role of 
stakeholders (including the utility), and (d) estimated costs of the proposed activities, including 
materials. High impact activities with benefits for vulnerable peoples (alone or in combination with 
other activities) and those with high likelihood of success, ownership, demonstration impact and 
sustainability should be prioritized.  Synergies with other projects shall also be identified. The 
campaigns should also include (a) number of estimated beneficiaries at household level and in key public 
areas (schools, markets and health clinics) by activity, (b) terms of reference of national consultants 
required to implement the campaigns as the PIU (sample TOR in the TA Report); (c) list and cost estimate 
of goods and materials (such as hand sanitizer, soap, handwashing facilities, PPEs, water fixtures, etc) 
to be procured and potential local suppliers (inputs will also be provided by the utility advisor and 
integrated into the plan) and (d) procurement and distribution strategy. The Advisor will also identify 
potential candidates to apply for positions as resource persons as required (e.g. to provide short-term 
inputs to support WASH campaigns and other TA activities) and prepare the related TORs.

(ii) Supporting establishment and operations of PIUs. National consultants are already on board in most 
of the Pacific DMCs, while few are in the recruitment process. The advisor will provide guidance to the 
PIUs in terms of their (a) establishment, structure and functions (if not yet established), (b) 
stakeholder engagement strategy, (c) their development of a more detailed implementation plan for the 
country level activities, and (d) advice for resolution of issues or necessary adjustments to the plans 
during implementation. The advisor shall review the documents produced by the PIUs and provide guidance 
on designing effective WASH communications and behavior change campaigns; and ensure submission of 
monthly reports from national consultants. 

(iii) Advocacy and advisory role. The advisor will play a key role in advocating for more accelerated, 
impactful and sustainable WASH interventions in the region, with the aim that DMC decision makers 
prioritize resources for the WASH sector to increase access, particularly for vulnerable and 
marginalized populations, and improve service quality. Depending on demand from the government, together 
with the utility advisor, the WASH advisor will provide support to government to strengthen WASH related 
policy or regulations to build water service provider’s capacity to respond during pandemics and to 
increase its contribution to improved public hygiene and synergies with public health agencies. The WASH 
advisor/Team Leader will work closely with the utility advisor to assess key WASH service providers’ 
capacity and performance, including finding the gaps or weaknesses in their capacity to respond to 
outbreaks of disease and identifying opportunities for future engagement and investment. 

(iv) Knowledge production. Continuously identify areas for knowledge generation and knowledge sharing 
throughout TA implementation according to demand for knowledge and to disseminate the TA’s work, 
including lessons learned or for advocacy.  Facilitate the preparation of these knowledge products on 
topics relevant to the TA and prepare or review knowledge products. These may include webinars, blogs, 
reports and other documents. Prepare a standalone knowledge product covering at least 3-4 DMCs with key 
lessons learned in TA implementation and recommendations. 

(v) Monitoring, evaluation and reporting. The WASH Advisor will use the TA’s design and monitoring 
framework to inform the required data collection and reporting, and ensure that proper records are kept 
to facilitate monitoring and evaluation and drafting of the technical assistance completion report. 
He/she will draft a baseline and endline survey for PIUs to measure results (the practicality of 
conducting surveys will be discussed further with ADB and counterparts during implementation). The 
advisor will prepare monthly reports for ADB which track the progress of all targets under the TA, 
include an action plan for the next 3 months and describe the key challenges faced and solutions 
proposed. The WASH Advisor will manage the inputs of and coordinate regularly with other consultants 
engaged under the TA. 

(vi) Team management. The Team Leader shall provide guidance to all consultants engaged under the TA, 
monitor inputs and outputs of consultants, and ensure high-level of coordination and synergies among the 
team. 

(vii) Other inputs as discussed and agreed with ADB during implementation.

Minimum Qualification Requirements

The WASH advisor will have at least a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline, and at least 10 years’ 
experience in WASH sector assessment and policy support and experience leading hygiene behavior change 
campaigns, preferably with some experience in small island developing states (SIDS). Desirable 
experience includes project management, community engagement (ideally in WASH), improving services for 
the poor, experience on multilateral development bank financed projects with water supply and sanitation 
utilities and strategic advice at a senior management level. The consultant must have a strong knowledge 
of institutional frameworks which guide utility operations. Excellent communication, facilitation, 
writing and leadership skills are essential.