Consultancy - Mapping Of Water Quality and Quantity in Laikipia, Isiolo and Samburu Counties

  • Contract
  • Contract type: Short term consultancy contract

Company Description

SNV is a not-for-profit international development organization that applies practical know-how to make a lasting difference in the lives of people living in poverty. We use our extensive and long-term in-country presence to apply and adapt our top-notch expertise in agriculture, energy and WASH to local contexts. SNV has an annual turnover of €130 million, over 1,250 staff in more than 25 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. We are proud to be a not-for-profit organization that uses project financing to implement our mission. This requires us to work efficiently and to invest in operational excellence.

In agriculture, we work with partners, including private- and public-sector actors, to take up and implement the use of successful processes, technologies, and models. We focus on smallholder farmers willing and able to implement farming-as-a-business, as well as the small and medium agricultural enterprises that are essential to transforming agricultural value chains. We support systems change and develop markets so that they function more effectively, sustainably, and beneficially for people living in poverty, building their capacities to improve their lives. Important elements are a system’s change perspective, a focus on sustainability and a continuation of market services, facilitating changes that improve adaptive intervention and the way markets work.

For more information on our operations in Kenya and SNV generally visit our website: www.snv.org

Project background

The Laikipia, Isiolo, Samburu Transforming the Environment through Nexus (LISTEN) is a 3.6 million Euro project funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and implemented by a consortium of partners comprising Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC), Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and SNV Netherlands Development Organisation with SNV as the lead agency. The 3.5-year project seeks to contribute to enhance resilience by increasing food, nutrition and water security in the three selected Arid and Semi‐Arid Lands (ASAL) counties of Laikipia, Isiolo and Samburu in Kenya. Each consortium partner brings their own specialisation to the table and will combine their capacity to achieve four key outcomes:

Outcome 1: Improved institutional capacities and programming frameworks for inclusive climate resilience at the county level.

Outcome 2: Improved water and livelihood resource management at Landscape level in the Ewaso Nyiro River Basin Ecosystem.

Outcome 3: Increased production and income through adoption of Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), good management and efficient water practices, technologies and innovations in selected crop and livestock value chains, including fodder and forage.

Outcome 4: Use of Knowledge and Innovation management increased in ASALs.

The project is anchored on the centrality of county governments for ownership and scale and will work at the county, landscape, community and farmer levels. It is designed to support the three selected county governments in identifying initiatives and increasing the adoption and upscaling of climate resilient practices and innovations leading to an improved resilience through improving food, nutrition and water security in the counties in spite of climate change. The project will use a Nexus approach to development, recognising and leveraging on ongoing and complementary activities and agencies across the different sectors, drawing in community and ward level initiatives with implementation and service delivery carried out through the private sector where possible. Specifically, the project will:

  1. Capacity build on existing skills and roles in county, including in coordination, and bring in lessons learned and best practices from consortium members and other sources.
  2. Use the Nexus approach to provide a platform and environment for a landscape and ecosystem approach between ministries and counties based on the Ewaso Nyiro watershed, and to advocate for and catalyse action and funding within and between ministries at national and county level, and between counties. The Nexus approach will improve inter‐ministerial collaboration and strengthen coordination.
  3. Support the establishment and management of Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) Funds, plans and strategies at national and county level, which are climate‐proofed and protected from emergency spending. Involvement of local community and private sector in implementation CCAF projects will be encouraged and written into the conditions.
  4. Provide technical support to county governments on water efficiency and balanced plant nutrition; on sustainable rangeland and natural resource management, ensuring private sector involvement in provision of innovative technology, business planning, linking farmers to finance and input and service suppliers, aggregation for offtake and market events.

Prioritising a gender transformative approach, the project aims to reach > 180,000 beneficiaries in the three counties; with 20,000 directly benefiting households, including at least 66% being women and youth. A total of 1,000 participating actors from government agencies and private sector including women/women‐owned companies are envisaged. The project is based on a functional markets approach with increased use of innovative technologies.

Job Description

Objective: The general objective of this assignment is to establish and map water quality and quantity baseline values in selected locations in Laikipia, Samburu and Isiolo Counties within the Ewaso Ng’iro basin

The specific objectives of this assignment are:

  1. Identify hotspot areas within the Ewaso Ngíro basin within the three selected counties for water quality and quantity mapping.
  2. In collaboration with relevant actors, establish the water quality and quantity baseline values for the selected hotspot locations in the project’s area of focus. The consultant will be required to use data available at WRA but complement it with actual measurements where necessary to fill gaps
  3. Model water quality and quantity and through this, generate high quality maps
  4. Identify and describe existing economic activities upstream of selected locations and relate these to the baseline values acquired.
  5. Recommend potential water and livelihood resources management activities in line with project objectives to improve water quality and quantity within the areas of focus.
  6. Identify potential actors in the selected location who will be engaged in water quality and management. These should be matched to (5) above.

Scope of Work:

Based on the project goals and objectives, the consultant will be required to work with the project team to identify hotspot areas within the Ewaso Nyiro Catchment in the project focus areas. He/she will then, in collaboration with relevant players, establish water quality and quantity baseline values in the selected locations. The values acquired will be used in development of water quality maps to help visualize the water quality and quantity status in the areas of interest. The consultant will also generate the relationship between the values acquired and the economic activities in the upstream of the selected points. This will form a basis for identifying potential water and livelihood resources management interventions in line with the LISTEN project goals and objectives. 

Deliverables/specific outputs

The expected outputs of this assignment will comprise the following

  • An inception report which will include a situational analysis and methodology
  • Point water quality and quantity baseline values
  • High quality water quality and quantity maps
  • Final report
  • A PowerPoint presentation

Support to be provided by LISTEN

  • Provide all information and documents relating to the assignment
  • Facilitate for linkages and introduction to potential actors in the sector of interest.
  • Provide guidance on reporting formats
  • Coordinate and supervise the entire assignment
  • Approval and payment for consultancy services provided based on performance
  • In some instances, and when necessary, the consultant will be accompanied by LISTEN staff during the assignment
  • Offer overall guidance specially to support the consultant to understand the project goals and objectives

Location and Duration of Assignment

The assignment is expected to be completed within a period of not more than 15 working days after contract effectiveness. The project will require meaningful interaction with the Water Resources Authority (ENNBA) and the LISTEN project team.

Reporting Requirements and Documentation

The consultant shall submit the achievement report of the deliverables within 5 days of completion of the mapping exercise. The workshops should be accompanied by the activity plans and presented in PowerPoint format to the project staff.

Review and Monitoring of Work

The project designate will be responsible for the review and monitoring of the progress of the assignment. He/she will monitor the progress and interact with the consultant and may also seek comments and inputs on the consultants work as found appropriate. The effectiveness of the tasks will be evaluated on regular bases and upon completion. Any reports/ process documents produced as a part of this assignment shall be deemed to be the property of SNV/LISTEN and the consultant will not have any claims and will not use or reproduce the contents of the above documents what so ever without the permission of SNV/LISTEN.

Qualifications

LISTEN would like to procure services of an individual consultant or a consulting firm with the following skill sets and experience:

  • Bachelor’s degree in Hydrology, Geoinformatics, Water Resources Management or related field and 5 years’ experience.
  • Proven practical experience in carrying out water quality and quantity assessments and associated analysis.
  • In depth knowledge on Integrated Water Management.
  • Experience in water resources mapping 
  • Experience working with diverse cultural and skills background
  • Good interpersonal skills
  • Ability to follow strict time frames
  • Experience working in the Ewaso Nyiro river Basin and the ASAL regions will be an added advantage

Additional Information

Proposals for the Assignment

For firms or individual consultants interested to bid for the assignment, they are required to submit two proposals as follows:

Technical Proposal: This should clearly indicate the proposed approach and methodology for the assignment. It should include a work plan and Gantt chart. It should also be indicated in the proposal if a component of the assignment will be sub-contracted. This should also be accompanied by CVs of individuals who will carry out the assignment and a list of similar assignments carried out in the past.

Financial Proposal: This should outline the total cost of the assignment, as well as the breakdown of the cost, including any costs of sub-contracting components of the assignment.

Please apply by clicking on the I’m Interested button and complete your application in our in-house recruitment system, attaching the required documents in English before 12th April 2021

NB: While making the application as a consulting firm, note that the system is customised to receive applications from individuals - please use the firm name instead of individual name and attach your company's profile in place of CV. The proposals and other documents can then be attached separately.

Applications submitted without the required attachments will be disqualified.

NB:

Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

We do not appreciate third-party mediation based on this advertisement.

SNV Kenya does not require you to undergo any medical test prior to employment

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