Job Title

Consultant to review and Develop Policy and strategy of Sanitation & Hygiene

Reporting To

Ministry of Health Development

Work Location

MOHD Office Hargeisa

Background

The challenges related to sanitation and hygiene in Somaliland involve various issues, from the low level of access to facilities and services, as well as the low service coverage with poor quality of sanitation and hygiene services to the lack of a legislative and institutional framework[1]. There are many management structures with marginal responsibility for sanitation and without clear roles and responsibilities. Sanitation is generally considered as personal or community function. Hygiene and sanitation promotion and prevention education programmes in Somaliland have tended to be ad hoc, uncoordinated and isolated. The approaches used have been using cascade trainings and an emphasis on educating the Somali populations as opposed to participatory approaches building on local knowledge promoting existing positive traditional practices. The predominant form of sanitation investment of all types of aid in Somaliland has been through programmes subsidizing the construction of latrines. Despite this investment there is very little evidence of impact on the increased use of latrines or improved sanitation and hygiene[2]. The current situation is also characterized by a high degree of unsustainability and little sustained behaviour change. New community-based approaches, such as Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) have shown great promise since its piloting started in 2012 in Somaliland. However, because of weak government engagement, regular displacement due to conflict and emergencies, scaling up of the CLTS remains a challenge. [3]

The Sanitation and Hygiene Section is well structured into the Department of Public Health under Ministry of Health Development (MoHD). Despite being the responsible authority for supporting and coordinating sanitation and hygiene activities, the institutional set up of the sanitation and hygiene sector largely remains under-resourced in terms of human, financial and logistics. There are serious capacity gaps in available human resources, management systems and accountability. There is no harmonized and coordinated legal, regulatory and policy frameworks in place, and the policies and acts in place remain draft form and are inconsistent with implementation, monitoring and evaluation frameworks. Between 2011 and 2024, Somaliland has seen notable improvements in water supply coverage, rising from 52% to 68%, largely due to effective interventions, infrastructure development, and sustained donor support. However, progress in sanitation and hygiene has been less encouraging. Basic sanitation coverage has declined from 38% to 30%, despite increased investment and institutional capacity. Furthermore, the proportion of the population practicing open defecation has only slightly decreased from 28% to 25%, indicating persistent challenges in behavioral change and access to improved sanitation facilities. These trends highlight the need for targeted policy reforms and renewed focus on sanitation and hygiene programming.[4] The reduction and/or stagnation in provision of sanitation and hygiene services and facilities can be partly attributed to lack of policy and strategic plan for implementation of programs. The national sanitation and hygiene policy in Somaliland is overdue and has to be reviewed to come up with a new policy document to support implementation of activities.

Purpose of the Consultancy

This consultant will support MoHD to strengthen the sanitation 7 Hygiene enabling environment with a focus on policy, sector strategy and costed action plan to deliver the policy objectives

Responsibilities

(Duties and Outputs)

The consultant is expected to carry out the following key main activities under this assignment:

Formative Analysis:

a)      Inception and planning: The consultant will be expected to start the assignment with an inception meeting at the Ministry of Health Development (MoHD) gathering all the key stakeholders. In this inception meeting, the consultant is expected to spell out the overall process, methodology, detailed outlines of the framework including sub-sections, work plan and strategy of rolling out this proposed assignment.

b)      Desk review: The consultant is expected to carry out a desk review followed by interviews and field visits. The consultant will review Somaliland existing legal frameworks/legislation, policies related to sanitation & hygiene in other sectors/ ministries/authorities, guidelines, strategies, and plans related to Sanitation & Hygiene to evaluate how adequately the policies facilitate the provision of Sanitation & hygiene services and address global and regional goals and country level sanitation & hygiene targets. In addition, the consultant is expected to review international best practices on Sanitation & Hygiene related policies. This desk review should reveal the status of  Health promotion in communities, schools and healthcare facilities, identify gaps and highlight international best practices.

c)       Interviews: With support and guidance from both the designated MoHD officials & UNICEF WASH Team, the consultant is expected to hold key informant interviews with relevant stakeholders at national level (a list inclusive of key Ministries, Sanitation & Hygiene  Service providers non-Governmental organizations, development partners and donors) will be provided for the consultant to understand the current and planned activities being undertaken and map the needs from the different stakeholders on this policy. It is important that the consultant consults with key informants who are knowledgeable about the existing policies and legal frameworks related to Sanitation & Hygiene. This will ensure that this initial rapid assessment review is as comprehensive as possible.

d)      Field visit: The consultant will visit the six regions and two schools, two healthcare facilities and two communities in each of the six regions to verify and enrich information from the desk review through individual interviews, focus group discussions, and meetings. This also helps to identify the gaps in existing WASH policies and assess their effectiveness. It is also important to ensure that different groups of the country’s population who are disproportionately affected by inadequate sanitation & hygiene services are consulted. These include women and girls, people living with disabilities, and those affected by other humanitarian situations like Internally displaced populations including pastoralists.

NB. The findings of this desk review, interviews and the field visit are to be documented in a report and presented to the MOHD policy drafting committee and the Sanitation & Hygiene Technical working group members.

e)       Policy discussion paper: The situation assessment report will have identified gaps in the existing policies that the new Sanitation & Hygiene policy needs to address. Based on the findings, the consultant will prepare a short policy discussion paper and implementation strategy, discuss, and agree with the policy drafting committee before sharing with senior government officials in the relevant ministries. The discussion paper should address:

                    i.            The key policy gaps and issues identified

                  ii.            The direction to be taken in the new Sanitation & Hygiene Policy, including its proposed vision, principles, and objectives.

                iii.            The context (national, sub-national, regional, and global) within which the proposed policies are placed.

                 iv.            The proposed institutional structure and coordination mechanism

                   v.            A consideration of basic needs, environmental and public health requirements, international obligations, etc. and

                 vi.            The proposed implementation strategy and costed workplan.

f)       Draft Policy & Strategy: Based on the findings and feedback received, the consultant will then draft the sanitation & hygiene policy and the policy implementation strategy with a costed workplan. The consultant will support and facilitate the drafting process of all aspects of the policy, implementation strategy and costed workplan development, but not lead. He/she will work closely with the policy drafting committee, which consents to approaches used and approves outputs. This is important to ensure that the drafting committee (ministry representatives) are involved and lead the policy development process, as they help to disseminate the policy and encourage uptake.

g)      Stakeholder consultation stage 1: The consultant will carry out stakeholder consultation workshops which will provide the opportunity for the policy drafting committee to present the findings from the situation assessment and the draft policy discussion paper. The stakeholders to consult should include inter-ministerial personnel with links to the Sanitation & Hygiene and the wider stakeholder groups including NGOs, CSOs, and development partners.

h)      Sanitation & Hygiene policy and implementation strategy with the costed workplan: The consultant in collaboration with the policy drafting committee will draft the policy and the implementation strategy with the costed workplan. The draft policy should:

·         Incorporate the outcomes from the Stage 1 stakeholder consultation on the discussion paper.

·         Contain draft policy statements for each of the core elements

·         Be clear, coherent, and easy to read

·         Be discussed and agreed with the inter-ministerial committee and then prepared for the Stage 2  stakeholder consultations.

·         The outline of the structure and contents of Sanitation & Hygiene Policy will be as follows:

§  Cover page (Title and relevant photo, Issuing authority, Place, and date)

§  Preface

§  Foreword

§  Table of contents

§  Acronyms

§  Introduction

§  Situation analysis

§  Policy vision, objectives, and principles

§  Policy elements or pillars

§  References

§  Glossary

·         Appendices:  The draft strategy & costed implementation plan should include:

§  Clear and simple workplan with timeframe

§  Outline of proposed roles and responsibilities of different ministries

§  Outline of proposed roles and responsibilities at national and subnational level

§  Roles and responsibilities of non-governmental stakeholders, private sector, service providers, etc.

·         A costed plan for implementations with evidenced estimates for:

§  Costs of different program components

§  Allocations to different stakeholders

§  Allocations to different regions

§  Sensitivity analysis of the costed plan to understand potential risks and variations

§  Overview of anticipated financing mechanisms

i)        Stakeholder consultation Stage 2: The consultant will conduct the second stage of the stakeholder consultation which will involve inter-ministerial personnel and wider stakeholder groups. This consultation provides further opportunities to receive feedback, solicit support and increase ownership by key government departments/ministries/agencies, making it more likely for the Sanitation & hygiene policy to be approved and implemented. Sufficient time must be allowed for stakeholders to review the draft policy prior to the consultation (one or two is recommended).

j)       Finalizing the Sanitation & Hygiene policy: The consultant will discuss with the policy drafting committee the inputs from the wider stakeholder consultation, agreeing on what should be incorporated into the Sanitation & Hygiene policy before it is presented again to the inter-ministerial stakeholder group and then finalized. The final document will need to be signed off by the government’s legal department before it can be presented to the appropriate government authority for official approval. A timeline should be agreed with the relevant government stakeholders to ensure that all necessary additional documentation can be presented together with the Sanitation & Hygiene policy for government approval.

k)      Finalizing the implementation strategy with the costed workplan: The consultant will finalize the implementation strategy and costed workplan with MOHD. This document can remain a live working document to be updated regularly based upon evolving context and availability of financing against the planned targets.

Deliverables

The consultancy will be expected to the following deliverables:

1.       Inception and planning

2.       Desk Review

3.       Interviews

4.       Field Visits

5.       Policy Discussion paper

6.       Draft policy and strategy Documents

7.       Stakeholders Consultation stage 1

8.       Sanitation and hygiene policy and implementation stratyegy with cost plan

9.       Stakeholder consultation stage 2

10.   Finalizing the sanitation and hygiene policy

11.   Finalizing the implementation strategy with costed work plan

Qualifications

§  Masters’ degree in public health, Environmental Health Engineer, Health policy specialist, 

Work Experience

·          At least 5 years of work experience with government in the field of WASH, public health, and education sector in this context, preferably in sanitation and hygiene-related field.

·         Experience in developing, reviewing and documenting policy and strategic documents at national level is required.

·         Proven experience in developing policy and strategy documents for national governments, preferably in the domain of WASH, Health.

·         Experience in developing national level costed workplans

Competency skills

·         Proven writing skills and publications made in the field of WASH, public health, and education sector.

·         Excellent communication and facilitation skills, including organizing high-level events and meetings, are essential.

·         English is a must, ability to speak the local language is an added value.

·         Experience working in a complex international or national level organization.

·         Strong ability to coordinate across diverse teams and to respond effectively to technical queries to encourage WASH technical guidance.

·         Familiarity with sanitation, hygiene and/or development.

·         Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with multi-level national teams.

·         Demonstrated ability to rapidly integrate technical information.

·         Excellent organizational, team and interpersonal/communication skills.

Language Level Required

·         Expert knowledge of English.

·         Knowledge of Somali language is desirable

How to apply

1.       Detailed curriculum Vittae of the consultancy with contacts details include at least three traceable references

2.       Cover letter/ application letter , Copy of Academic Certificates

3.       Detailed work plan with budget

4.       Shared a sample of previous contracts and report indicating the successful completion of similar assignment.

Application should be submitted through email [email protected] Cc: [email protected]

Later than 7th march, 2026. Late or incomplete application will not be considered. Only short-listed candidate will be contacted for further assessment