CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR CONSULTING FIRMS at African Water Association (AfWA)

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

CONSULTING FIRM

African Water Association (AfWA)

Cocody, Riviera Palmeraie, Building SODECI 2nd Floor

25 BP 1174 Abidjan 25 – Côte d’Ivoire

The African Water Association (AfWA) has received funding from the African Development Bank and intends to use part of the proceeds of this funding for payments related to the Consultancy services for the development of Performance Improvement Pathways for African Water and Sanitation service providers.

The African Water and Sanitation Association (AfWA) is the premier professional association of water and sanitation utilities in Africa created in 1980. The AfWA covers the whole African Continent and is the unique African Water and Sanitation Organization bringing together water and sanitation operators as well as various sector’s stakeholders. In 2020, the AfWA was composed of around 120 companies members from 45 African countries. The Association main objectives include coordinating the search for appropriate knowledge, experience, and latest developments in the technical, legal, administrative and economic fields for production, distribution and supply of drinking water and sanitation services in the urban areas.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) through its Water Development and Sanitation Department (AHWS) has the primary responsibility for supporting Regional Member Countries, to attain water security through the provision of financial, technical expertise, generation and dissemination of pertinent sector knowledge and fostering strategic partnerships.

Africa is experiencing unprecedented population growth. Its total population is expected to grow from 1 billion in 2010 to 2.5 billion by 2050. Furthermore, urban population is expected to rise by an additional 950 million people by 2050 from 567 million in 2015. Globally, the urban population using piped water supplies increased from 3.5 billion to 4.7 billion between 2000 and 2015. In contrast, the urban population in Africa using piped water supplies dwindled from 43% in 1990 to 33% in 2015. Sanitation is a bigger challenge as less than 9% of the urban population has access to piped sewerage systems, while 41% depend on non-sewer sanitation, with the rest of the population either defaulting to shared facilities or unsafe sanitation facilities or indeed open defecation. On the other hand, performance of service providers responsible for provision of urban water and sanitation services has generally been on the decline and has therefore not been able to meet the growing demand.

The Bank and the AfWA would like to develop tools and strategies/approaches to help on performance improvement of the service providers in Africa based on evidence of those utilities/operators that have been consistently performing better. The consulting firm to be hired will then lead on the development of detailed assessment notes for different categories of service providers in different countries across Africa. The Performance improvement tool will then be based on actual assessment and constatation made in the context of the detailed case studies.

Interested consulting firms may consider to provide information including but not limited to the followings:

• A presentation note clearly indicating the legal and corporate identity (name and legal form, date of establishment, location, contact details, physical address, etc.), the technical means that it intends to implement for carrying out the mission (list of key personnel with their respective functions, training and experience).
• Professional references, areas of expertise, as well as key missions directly related to the subject of the consultation.
• Any other information or documents deemed relevant to demonstrate its ability to perform the service.

Duration of the assignment: 6 calendar months

Tentative Date of commencement: April 1^st, 2022