Social Behavior Change Consultant

Background & rational In recognition of scarce water resources and increasing water demands of Lebanese host communities and refugees from Syria, and the need for sustainable management of available water resources in Lebanon, GVC is proposing a strategy to promote water demand management and cost recovery in the water sectorinthe Beqaa valley. GVC started with a piloting project in two municipalities of North Bekaa (Zabboud and Bejjeje), where along with infrastructure project supporting the rehabilitation and the construction of the water network in the two locations, the soft component of social activities, including citizen awareness, collaboration with BWE and Municipality, was strongly promoted. In recognition of the lesson learned from the previous project GVC started with a new project in Qab Elias and Nassyrieh with the beginning of the social activities. The initial steps foreseen are conducting two different types of surveys with the objective to identify the possible subscribers to the water network and to give awareness about the subscription (this is mostly trying to identify the perception of people about the role and the responsibilities of the 3 main actors, citizen water establishment and municipality). Based on previous GVC studies and data collection, there is the evidence that the water sector at local level is not fully managed at its own capability to guarantee a good service to the citizen, to preserve water and to have a functioning and sustainable system for operation and maintenance of the infrastructures. Most of the people interviewed by GVC are not satisfied with the service provided as in most of the cases water is provided only once every 3 days or less and for a maximum of 2 hours per day. In most of the cases the pressure is not even sufficient to reach roof tanks. For the above-mentioned reasons, the problem is not only related to the provision of infrastructure but strongly related to the improvement of the management capacity of the WEs: Often, lack of qualified staff and adequate resources for management, unachieved economic independence of the WEs, incapacity to adapt volumetric tariff and to eliminate illegal connections because of political inferences can be considered as the main problems that should be overcome by the sector. Objective of this consultancy is to support GVC in defining its strategy for implementing awareness activities in 2 Municipalities in central Bekaa (Qab Elias and Nassriyeh). The consultancy should focus in particular in the most efficient communication tools that could be applied by GVC, in parallel with the implementation of infrastructural projects, in order to promote application of public policies in the water sector. Overall objective Behavioral change towards the water governance Active citizenship Strengthen awareness of society Booster local governance Specific objectives Empowerment with INFORMATION => having citizens aware of: The project (GVC, implementing partners, duration, infrastructural activities foreseen…) The institutional Framework (WEs role, Municipalities’ role, etc.) The National Law = rights & obligations (right to water, duty of payment, Water tariff…) Customer satisfaction surveys Tools/devices for water management (HH tank float valve…) Note: No water conservation campaign at this stage and within the scope of this ToR Promotion of OWNERSHIP OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE => having the citizens increasing: Involvement on the public service structure (focus on consultation process and analysis) Active Participation in the events or activities promoted by BWE or GVC with regards of water public service (public meetings etc. Promotion of REQUEST OF ACCOUNTABILITY => having customers requesting: Water quality information (WEs water analysis, sharing of the results with customers) Transparency to the WEs and the project Efficient complaints mechanism from Water Establishments and feedbacks on the complaints raised Competent local operators (capacity building, creating links between local operators and WEs for better management on ground and at office level) Promotion of ACCEPTATION of specific water policies => having citizens more receptive in: acceptance of installation of water meters as method for controlling the service provided acceptance of a volumetric water Tariff (by awareness of the cost of the infrastructure, the cost of O&M -> also from points 1 and 2) The results of these activities should be reflected in an increase in SUBSCRIPTION & PAYMENT RATES from the citizens(in exchange of an improvement through the project of infrastructures and operations that will be achieved with technical part of the project). GVC has previously implemented this same approach in other small Municipalities of Bekaa (North in particular) with high rates of success but with big investments in terms of human resources and door to door communication. The consultant, starting from the analysis of previous GVC experience, should propose most efficient ways to achieve comparable results in other Municipalities of Bekaa (named before but not limited to), characterised by much high number of citizens and different socio-economic conditions. Deliverables To complete this assignment, the consultant is supposed to propose: A. COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS List of possible communication methodologies that could be used, provided with detail of - number/percentage of people reachable by each media/methodology, - age range of the reachable population, - estimated cost of each media/methodology, and provide general recommendations in terms of efficiency and efficacy. Propose a detailed action plan to be applied for one specific communication event (probably the organization of a public meeting in the Municipality of Qab Elias) that should be implemented by GVC probably before the end of the year (this activity will be defined in common agreement with GVC staff); Propose recommendations for long term strategy for GVC communication campaigns by drafting a plan for the following 3 years of implementation of GVC programs Define TOR* for requesting future long term collaborations for the implementation of GVC communication campaigns on national basis for the following 3 years * collaborating in the definition of TOR will not considered cause of exclusion for the same consultant for tendering for the future long term program that will be launched by GVC as all the information that will be collected/produced during the implementation of this contract will be shared with all future interested tenderers. B. MODULE FOR TRAINING INTERNAL STAFF Internal training module for staff implementing surveying activities It is also requested to develop an interactive training module for GVC and partner’s staff of the program with the objective to: homogenize approach in conducting surveys with beneficiaries; properly communicate with final beneficiaries. This training module should be an interactive tool that should be developed in collaboration with GVC management team in order to capitalise GVC previous experience in conducting similar activities (expected number of slides for the training are approximately 50). The module should be developed in order to be easily usable by staff that will not receive proper training directly from GVC personnel. The training should be user friendly and made under form of exchangeable file or as an interactive web-based application. Additional information The consultant can rely for movements and organisation of the events, and for extension workers in case of need, in the full support from GVC staff and logistic means (moving from Zahle office). It is expected that the consultancy should not require more than 20 working days for its completion over a total period of 45 days. A division of working days in the field and working days in remote shall be presented. The consultant is expected to cost separately the two main groups: COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS DELIVERABLES MODULE FOR TRAINING INTERNAL STAFF