Knowledge management and Community of Practice consultant

Result of Service

To support GWOPA in the overall coordination of 3 WOP projects in Ukraine, with a specific focus on knowledge management deliverables and moderation of the Ukrainian utilities’ group within the global online GWOPA Community of Practice. The consultant will work closely with the UN-Habitat Ukraine country office to ensure synergies, complementarities and visibility as one.

Work Location

HYBRID (home-based and Kyiv, Ukraine country office)

Expected duration

16 months (6 days per month)

Duties and Responsibilities

BACKGROUND The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the agency for human settlements mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. Together with governments, the agency is responsible for promoting and consolidating collaboration with all partners, including local authorities, private and non-governmental organizations in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA) helps water and sanitation operators help one another. Led by UN-Habitat, it is an international network created in 2009 to support operators through Water Operator’s Partnerships (WOPs) – not-for-profit peer support partnerships between water and sanitation operators aimed at enhancing their capacity and performance to provide a better service to more people in support of the SDGs. The GWOPA Secretariat translates GWOPA’s mandate into strategies and programs. It implements, through collaboration with a range of partners, annual alliance work plans to help ensure WOPs are scaled up and are contributing to water and sanitation service providers’ improved capacity and performance. The GWOPA Secretariat is currently hosted by the Government of Germany. BACKGROUND OF THE WATER OPERATORS’ PARTNERSHIPS PROJECTS IN UKRAINE UN-Habitat in Ukraine UN-Habitat has started supporting recovery efforts in Ukraine after the full-scale invasion of February 2022, upon request of its Executive Board in March 2022 and the Government of Ukraine in July 2022. Since then, UN-Habitat has been supporting national and subnational governments in their recovery efforts, linking short term reconstruction needs to longer term resilience solutions. At national level, UN-Habitat provides support to the government of Ukraine on the development of national policies and instruments, including digital instruments, that guide regional and local governments’ recovery. The programme also strives to increasing Ukrainian urban planning and design capacities, through support to academia, think tanks and practitioners among others. At local level, UN-Habitat provides support to recovery planning efforts of local governments, through its Urban Lab established in Kyiv. Recovery planning efforts, at all levels, are supported by the development of digital solutions through the UN Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC Hamburg), a partnership between UN-Habitat, the Hafen City University of Hamburg and the UN Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT). UN-Habitat is currently scaling up its presence in Ukraine, increasing the capacities of its office in Kyiv and building partnerships with local and international actors engaged in urban recovery efforts. The WOP projects: Mobilizing peer support for Ukrainian operators Access to sustainable water and sanitation services is a growing problem in rapidly de-urbanizing countries, and armed conflicts aggravate the situation in contexts where utilities are already lagging behind. Most of the responsibility for providing access to water supply relies on operators, however this is often not backed up by financial and human resources capacity to reach those unserved. The main purpose of this project is to address the current lack of progress on improving sustainable access to water supply and sanitation in three Ukrainian settlements, the City of Kriv Rih (Krivbassvodokanal – Municipal Water Utility), and the region and City of Zaporizhzhia (Zaporizhzhia City Municipal Water Utility, Regional Zaporizhzhia Water Utility), using the WOPs approach, in the context of the war the country is going through. The project also aims at building capacity for replication of this approach to other service areas nationally and regionally through partnership with UNICEF Ukraine Country Office (UCO). Overall, the water and sanitation systems in Ukraine are extremely fragile bringing significant risks of sudden deteriorations and interruptions considering compounding pre-existing vulnerabilities and deteriorating water and sanitation infrastructure. Children and communities are depending on drinking water supply through relatively degraded infrastructure – approximately 40 percent of Ukraine’s existing water supply networks are assessed as being in a critical condition. Similarly, almost 35 percent of the water treatment facilities need rehabilitation or further upgrade due to decades of wear and tear and a fragmented mode of operation. Water security is further threatened due to climate related risks including droughts and floods – climate change is making natural catastrophes in Ukraine more likely and more severe by increasing temperature, altering rainfall patterns, extending heat waves, and reducing water availability, with major impacts on the agricultural and human health sectors, particularly for children. Since the escalation of the conflict in February 2022, the Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) sector has experienced significant damage and losses and has struggled to provide essential services in extremely difficult circumstances. The estimated aggregate physical damage for the WSS sector is estimated at US$2.2 billion. Most of the damage has been observed in larger physical infrastructure like wastewater treatment plants, water supply and wastewater collection networks, and drinking water treatment plants and facilities. Losses have been estimated at approximately US$7.5 billion. More than 40 percent of the total losses are from the lost revenues of WSS services provision. There are additional costs for WSS service provision due to increased energy costs, and the remaining economic losses are associated with increased fuel consumption, increased prices of materials and equipment, lack of required repairs, tariff deficits, water losses, increased costs for chemical reagents, and required demolition and debris management. The restoration of water, sanitation, solid waste management and energy services is critical to the start of resilient, inclusive reconstruction during the early recovery stage. Reduced access to safe clean water and WASH services is also expected to delay the achievement of universal access to WSS by 2030. The Global Water Operators´ Partnerships Alliance, GWOPA, proposes to support capacity development of these three operators by applying the Water Operators’ Partnerships (WOPs) approach: a mentor (champion utility) helps a mentee to build its capacity to be better equipped and skilled to provide sustainable services. “Not-for-profit, peer to peer capacity building arrangements”. The WOPs model for capacity building has a track record of success and effectiveness, and the practice is growing. A number of support services are necessary to increase the quality of WOPs and their efficiency: UN-Habitat assists the WOP teams to set up solid and healthy basis for the partnerships, to structure them adequately from the beginning, through training and other types of guidance and tested methodology on partnering processes. Propose The WOP approach During the 16 month partnerships between the 3 pairs of utilities, “mentor” operators will support “mentees” with capacity development and change implementation in high-priority areas, ranging from improving billing and collection to energy efficiency1, assembled in Short Term Action Plans (STAPs). The STAPs will include a small investment component, such as a pilot project, to ignite long term changes towards sustainability. Towards the end of the STAP implementation, the WOP partners will be supported to conduct a more thorough joint analysis of the causes and potential solutions to their performance shortcomings, and to develop Medium Term Performance Improvement and Investment Plans (MTIPs) which would lay out a suite of longer-term improvement steps, combined with an investment component, to be implemented during a subsequent phase of improvement (lasting 5 years). All interventions will benefit from GWOPA’s leading role and extensive experience in coordinating WOPs worldwide, its wide network of operators and development partners in regions around the world, as well as a near decade of learnings from its global comparative research on WOPs and the resulting set of best practice guidance materials. Throughout the process, the WOPs partners will be supported by GWOPA which coordinates the partnering processes, on WOPs approaches and best WOPs practice and will be introduced to the PIIP Planning process; with relevant technical training on themes requiring deeper learning. UNICEF UCO will organize a launching workshop, where mentors and mentees will be introduced to the WOP approach and will be training on WOP tools (diagnosis, development of Short-Term Action Plan (STAPS), monitoring tool, reporting, and development of PIIPs). Key staff from participating operators will also share their learning and showcase their experience through a dedicated online Community of Practice (CoP) with focus on various relevant technical issues and partnering issues as well. The mentees will also have an opportunity to establish bridges and fostering cross-fertilization with other WOPs practitioners in Ukraine and even with WOP practitioners from other regions. GWOPA will also avail its WOP monitoring/benchmarking system for the WOP Programme based on the information collected through the M&E tasks which allows 1) comparative analysis of various projects of the Programme and 2) visualization of parameters of each of the monitoring dimensions (impact and partnering practices). Finally, GWOPA will help amplify the benefits of the project by documenting and widely showcasing the project lessons and results. GWOPA will organize a closing workshop, aiming at drawing the lessons learned both for the mentors and mentees (outcomes, objectives etc…) and the UNICEF UCO team, including recommendations on how to improve the practice and to replicate and upscale the WOP mechanism at country level. Through GWOPA’s main channels of communications, including its Global WOPs Observatory, and with the bi-annual Global WOPs Congress in 2025, these UNICEF UCO projects enhance their visibility internationally and gain momentum for replication. The Consultant reports to GWOPA’s Ukraine WOP project officer, within the Urban Basic Services Section/Urban Practices Branch/Global Division, and to the head of UN Habitat Office in Ukraine (UN-H UCO) as second reporting officer. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES The objective of this consultancy is to support GWOPA in the overall coordination of 3 WOP projects in Ukraine, with a specific focus on knowledge management deliverables and moderation of the Ukrainian utilities’ group within the global online GWOPA Community of Practice. The consultant will work closely with the UN Habitat Ukraine country office to ensure synergies, complementarities and visibility as one. MAIN ACTIVITIES 1. Moderation of the Ukraine online Community of Practice The consultant will be the moderator of the Ukrainian COP with support from GWOPA global COP Community Manager and the UN-H UCO. GWOPA will provide training and guidelines for the COP moderator. The CoP moderator will develop the Terms of Reference of the group, will establish the group and manage the accounts for the 3 Ukrainian utilities, CoP contributors, and their mentors of the WOP projects; The consultant will reach out to other utilities and relevant stakeholders in Ukraine with the support of GWOPA and UN-H UCO, to promote the group, will create new users accounts accordingly and encourage their contribution to the CoP. The consultant will engage with the users to populate the CoP (posting contents, contributing to the knowledge repository with learning materials collected from the WOP practitioners; prompting users to post contents); The consultant will develop the programmes for 2 learning events (webinar format) with the support of GWOPA, UH-CO and group users. 2. Support to overall coordination of the 3 WOP projects The consultant will assist the Ukrainian WOPs project manager in the coordination of the 3 WOP projects, including reaching out to the Ukrainian utilities involved to collect information upon request, facilitate online meetings, facilitate communications between the mentors and mentees utilities, and other tasks of facilitation upon request. The consultant will assist the implementing team for the preparations of the launching workshop of the WOP projects in Ukraine and will participate in-person in the 2-day workshop (to be held tentatively in Dnipro – the location may be subject to change depending on the evolving situation on the ground). The consultant will contribute to the contents of the workshop on the basis of the existing guiding material provided by GWOPA The consultant will assist the implementing team on the preparations of the closing workshop, including on the lessons learned during the project (on the basis of the case-studies developed). 3. Case-studies of the 3 Ukrainian WOPs Towards the end of the project in January 2026, the consultant will develop 3 case studies on the WOP project, on the basis of the guidelines provided by GWOPA. The consultant will start collecting the necessary data during the project implementation, complemented by interviews of the WOP practitioners and a field visit if allowed by the situation. The case-studies will notably include a description of the mentee utilities at the beginning of the project with the main challenges highlighted; the objectives of the short-term action plans; a timeline of the activities implemented including the modalities of the capacity-building activities led by the mentors; the progress made on the selected priorities and the main results achieved; and the main lessons learned. 4. General reporting to UN Habitat country office and commenting notes of water recovery plans The consultant will contribute to the general reporting of the UN-Habitat Country Office in respect to the GWOPA’s component, communication and visibility materials being developed by the Country Office, review of eight recovery plans being developed in relation to water management, and develop a concept note for upscaling the GWOPA initiative in Ukraine. DELIVERABLES 1. Moderation of the Ukraine online Community of Practice Deliverable 1.1: ToRs of the Ukrainian COP including timeline of activities and list of accounts created for Ukrainian WOP practitioners Deliverable 1.2: list of other stakeholders contacted, and accounts established Deliverables 1.3 (a,b,c,d,e,f): bi-monthly short reports (2 pagers) on the activities of the CoP (including posts, material uploaded in Knowledge repository) Deliverable 1.4 (a,b): Programmes of the 2 learning events (webinar), attendance lists and outcome notes 2. Support to overall coordination of the 3 WOP projects Deliverable 2.1 (a,b,c,d): Quarterly WOPs coordination reports (activities, progress, challenges) Deliverable 2.2: Launching workshop outcome report Deliverable 2.3: Final workshop report (summary, outcomes, feedback) 3. Case-studies of the 3 Ukrainian WOPs Deliverable 3.1: inception report including methodology for data collection and outlines of the case-studies Deliverable 3.2: 3 drafts of the case-studies for inputs from partners, 3 finalized case-studies reflecting inputs from partners and 3 Powerpoint presentations presenting the projects on the basis of the case studies 4. Contribution to UN-H Ukraine Country Office reporting Deliverable 4.1: commenting note on four recover plans from the water management perspective; inputs for annual reporting and communication materials Deliverable 4.2: commenting note on four recover plans from the water management perspective Deliverable 4.3: concept note for upscaling the GWOPA initiative in Ukraine.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent degree) is required, in Water Services or a related field. • At least 5 years of experience working in the field of urban water and sanitation services, environmental project management or similar in Ukraine. (required) • Strong experience in monitoring, reporting and evaluation of development, especially capacity-related projects. (required) • Strong recent experience in working with water utilities and capacity development projects. (required) • Previous experience related to digital facilitation of knowledge exchanges an asset, working with CoPs. (desirable) • Excellent writing skills and knowledge management – drafting reports, concepts or guidance material. (desirable) • Experience with peer partnership, knowledge management, partnerships, utilities. (desirable) • Previous experience working with the UN or other international/multilateral organizations. (desirable)

Languages

Fluency in spoken and written English and Ukrainian are required; knowledge of other UN languages will be considered an asset.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

Read Full Description