Government of the People’s
Republic of
Local Government Engineering
Department
Participatory
Small Scale Water Resources Sector project
LGED HQ, RDEC Bhaban (Level-5), Agargaon
Sher-E-Bangla Nagar,
Dhaka-1207
Memo No.
LGED/PSSW/PD/C-10/2011/1870 Date:
21-11-2011
Invitation
for Applications for Individual Consultant (2nd Call)
Invitation for submission of
applications for Consultancy Services
for Water Cell in the Department of
Cooperatives
Participatory Small Scale Water Resources Sector
Project (PSSWRSP): Loan No-2542-BAN(SF) (Package/Contract No.
LGED/PSSW/PD/Individual-DOC/04)
1. The Government of the People’s Republic
of
2. The
Government of Bangladesh through Local Government Engineering Department
(herein referred to as “the Employer”) intends to engage one Legal (Cooperative
law) Expert, National Consultant Man-month-3 for DOC Water Cell to assist in
implementation of PSSWRSP. The detailed TOR can be downloaded from the LGED
website www.lged.gov.bd
3. The
engagement of Consultants is tentatively scheduled from 01 January 2012 to 30
March 2012. About 3 person-months for the position will be required to conduct
the services.
4. The Employer reserves the right
to select or not to select any or all of the applicant(s) or to cancel the
entire process without assigning any reason. No liability will be accepted for
loss or late submission.
5. The Consultant shall be selected and engaged in accordance
with the Guidelines on the Use of Consultant by ADB and Its Borrowers
(February, 2007 or as amended from time to time). The candidates for the
individual consultant positions, mentioned above, may apply directly or through
an organization such as consulting firm / academic institution or a government
/ international agency.
6. The LGED now invites
eligible consultant to submit applications
for providing the required services not later than 26 December 2011 up-to 12:30
PM local time in sealed envelope to the address of the undersigned.
(Md. Shahidul
Haque)
Project Director
Fax : 880-2-9123169
CC:
1.
Chief Engineer, LGED, Agargaon,
2.
Additional Chief Engineer
(Implementation/IWRMU), LGED, Agargaon,
3.
Country Director, Asian Development Bank,
4.
Executive Engineer, GIS Unit, LGED,
Agargaon, Dhaka.
Terms of Reference (TOR) for Consultants for DOC Water Cell
1. Background
Based on the successful outcome of ADB
supported sector projects SSW-1 and the SSW-2 and the Government request for
further investment support, the Project Participatory Small Scale Water
Resources Sector Project (PSSWRSP) has been included in the ADB Country
Strategy and Program for Bangladesh. Both SSW-1 and SSW-2 have enhanced rural incomes
by developing community based water management associations and community
managed small scale infrastructure and this approach has proved effective in
the drive to reduce rural poverty.
The Project will work with a well
established institutional and policy framework, the integrated Water Resources
Management Unit (IWRMU), a unit within the Project’s Executive Agency, LGED was
established in 2004 and is strategically placed to support the Project. Partner
agencies including DOC at district and Upazila levels provided support their
services in order to make the water management organizations sustainable as
well as to increase agricultural production to reduce the poverty at micro
level.
The Project will enhance the
effectiveness and increase sustainability in agriculture and fisheries
production along with poverty reduction through small scale water resources
development. The Project will continue to institutionalize and internalize the
beneficiary driven approach for sustainable small scale water resources
management. At the same time, the Project will give particular attention to
poorer sections of the community by targeting locations having more than 40% of
the subproject benefit area owned by landless sharecroppers, marginal or small
farmers.
Project activities will comprise:
-
Institutional strengthening of the IWRMU in planning,
design, operations and maintenance (O&M) and benefit monitoring and
evaluation (BME) functions in order to internalize and institutionalize the
SSWR development process, as well as supporting partner agencies involved in
the SSWR development process;
-
Develop the capacity of Department of Cooperatives (DOC) and
establish links with other line departments;
-
Beneficiary participation and WMCA strengthening through
further refinement of critical aspects of the participatory project process and
value addition to WMCAs through structural and non-structural interventions and
-
Implementation of sub-projects involving the development of
SSWR management systems with appropriate and coordinated agricultural extension
and fisheries development activities.
Tor for Consultants for
DOC water cell
2. Water Management Cooperative and
the Demanding Role of DOC
With increasing investment in the water
sector, there are over 1000 DOC registered water management organizations
(WMOs) including WMCAs of Local Government Engineering Department (LGED)
subprojects and water management cooperative societies (WMCSs) of the
Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) for subprojects in excess of 1000 ha.
The regulatory, statutory and promotional roles of DOC becomes an increasingly
vital requirement for continued strengthening and maximizing economic and
social potential through a jointly owned and democratically controlled
enterprise.
Key constraints in satisfactorily
performing core areas of cooperation and strengthening WMCAs as multi facetted,
self regulating entities capable of maximizing development potential
include i) lack of specialist knowledge
and orientation of DOC headquarter and field personnel on specific support and
strengthening requirements for water management cooperatives as opposed to
conventional cooperative societies ii)
absence of dedicated personnel and institutional arrangements to plan,
supervise and monitor implementation of WMCA-specific statutory, regulatory and
promotional activities iii) WMCA-
specific training materials have not been developed for capacity development of
DOC staff and WMCAs iv) MIS database
sharing v) link between DOC and LGED, knowledge sharing and mutual capacity
building vi) lack of logistical support and limited field mobility. According
to Institutional Studies for Legal Framework of Water Management Organizations
(LGED, 2006), one of the main reasons hampering DOC officials in discharging
their duties more efficiently and at regular intervals is lack of logistics.
The report further comments that, “In neither phase of SSWRDSP, the issue of
project support to the DOC was considered by project authorities. This was a
notable omission and may be rectified for the remaining period of SSWRDSP II by
making suitable provisions for transport, TA/DA and training for the DOC
officials through exchange of letters between the Local Government Division and
the ADB”.
The activities for DOC strengthening
will: (i) undertake organizational and capacity review (including establishment
of water Cell) to ascertain appropriateness to perform core functions for WMOs;
(ii) review content of training program for WMCAs and trainer skills and
training materials; (iii) institutionalizing links with LGED for improved condition
and to increase efficiency in provision of support services; (iv) training and
capacity building of DOC (and appropriate level LGED) staff to meet field
support requirements; and (v) operational support at the district level.
3. General
Objectives of the Consultancy
The general objectives of this
assignment are to institutional strengthening and capacity building of
Department of Cooperatives (DOC), including establishment of a Water Cell, to
improve statutory, developmental and promotional functions for water management
cooperative organizations and to provide operational support for increasing
field staff outreach and mobility.
4.
Methodology to be Followed and Key
Activities to be Performed
The CDTA will: (i) review and assess
legislation pertaining to establishment and registration of WMOs; (ii)
organizational and capacity review (including establishment of Water Cell) to
ascertain appropriateness to perform core (regulatory and statutory) functions
for WMCAs; (iii) review of relevance and content of training program adopted
for WMCAs and assessment of trainer skills and training materials; (iv)
opportunities for forging and institutionalizing links with LGED for improved
coordination and to increase efficiency in provision of support services; (v)
training and capacity building of DOC (and appropriate level Local Government
Engineering Department, LGED) staff to meet field support requirements; and
(vi) operational support at the district level to improve mobility, data
sharing, reporting and communications.
Consultants will fully utilize existing
WMCA related reports, management information systems (MIS) database, and analysis data collected by the Local
Government Engineering Department (LGED) and other relevant agencies and work
closely with the staff of these establishments. The consultants will also
consult participating communities and other stakeholders. Close coordination
will be maintained with implementation staff of the associated Participatory
Small Scale Water Resources Sector Project (PSSWRSP) to ensure uniformity in
approach, proactive development of capacity building plans and coordination in
planning and implementation of activities.
The assignments of the consultants will require substantial experience
in their respective fields. Preference would be given to international
consultants with experience in South Asia and fluency in English will be
essential for all consultants.
The terms of
reference and the person-month requirements of the consulting services are
summarized below:
1.
Legal (Cooperative Law) Expert - 3 person - months
Legal
(Cooperative Law) Expert- (National- 3
Person-Months)
The consultant will be experienced in
cooperatives laws and details task will include but not limited to the
following:
1) Review all
relevant legislation pertaining to Cooperatives Societies Laws particularly in
the context of WMCA and recommend for any further amendments in rules and
regulations as deemed appropriate;
2) Recommend
appropriate legal framework for DOC Water Cell and provide time bound action plan
for legal recognition that may be required, and
3) Facilitate
implementation of key actions in the action plan in coordination with relevant
agencies/ departments.