Request for Information - County Sanitation.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Subject: Request for Information Number 720669-21-RFI-00002-W

Reference: County Sanitation

Issuance date: March 16, 2021

Responses due: April 6, 2021

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the Government. All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary, and the Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the Government.

The U.S Agency for International Development in Liberia (USAID/Liberia) is planning to increase access to basic sanitation and eliminate open defecation in five counties of Liberia (Montserrado, Nimba, Lofa, Bong, and Grand Bassa).

Background:

Liberians have especially poor access to clean water and sanitation compared to other countries in the region, contributing to poor child health outcomes. In Liberia, one out of every eleven children dies before reaching his or her fifth birthday, with water-borne diseases such as diarrhea being one of the leading causes of mortality. Diarrhea and malnutrition also form a vicious cycle, with diarrhea making children more susceptible to malnutrition and malnutrition making children more susceptible to diarrhea. In Liberia, 30% of children under five are stunted (low height for age). Child malnutrition is also a major contributor to under-five mortality due to malnourished children’s greater susceptibility to infections and slower recoveries from illness.

The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) “service ladders” for WASH are conceptual frameworks developed by the WHO and UNICEF that are used as a standardized way of measuring WASH service levels across countries. The five rungs on the ladder measuring access to sanitation services are shown below. To ensure improved health outcomes, the goal is to move people from the lowest rungs to at least the fourth rung: basic sanitation services.

Lack of sanitation in Liberia is an even bigger problem than lack of clean drinking water, and the national data is significantly more discouraging. As of 2020, only about 23.8% of Liberians had access to basic sanitation services, including 35.0% of residents in urban areas and just 8.7% of residents in rural areas. Almost no one in Liberia receives what would qualify as a “safely managed” service.

An estimated 34.8% of the population practices open defecation, including 15.6% of urban populations and 60.7% of rural populations. Prevalence of open defecation in Liberia is extremely high—over twice the regional average. As of 2017, Liberia was the country with the 11th highest rate of open defecation in the world. Although open defecation is most prevalent in rural areas, about 25% of the total number of people who practice open defecation in Liberia live in urban or peri-urban areas. As population density continues to increase in both urban and rural settings, the health impact of open defecation or unimproved sanitation facilities will continue to worsen.

Although in the past USAID/Liberia’s water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) investments have focused largely on water, a new strategy has been developed to increase investments in sanitation. Past sanitation activities include a small investment of $4.5 million over five years in community-led total sanitation (CLTS) activities in 1,361 rural communities in three counties (Bong, Lofa, and Nimba), resulting in 1,061 communities being certified as open defecation free (ODF). The activity also trained some community entrepreneurs on handpump, well, and latrine maintenance and repair.

While CLTS activities have been successful and triggering construction of sanitation facilities and achieving initial ODF status, the sustainability of these achievements is a challenge, and regression to old behaviors of open defecation is common. The National Public Health Institute of Liberia estimates that of the 2,350 communities that were declared ODF between 2009 and 2019, 43% later reverted to open defecation, often due to an inability to maintain and repair their latrines. A more sustainable, comprehensive approach to sanitation is therefore needed.

Development Problem Statement:

In addition to the lack of sanitation products and construction materials and the inability to repair latrines that often prevent sanitation activities from being sustainable, there are a number of other challenges. Local government officials are not sufficiently involved in the effort to eliminate open defecation; there is not enough follow-up and support to communities that have attained ODF status; and monitoring of progress towards eliminating open defecation is not rigorous enough. There are also significant financial challenges: people who practice open defecation are often unable to afford sanitation products and services; relatively few sanitation products are commercially available; and most households in Liberia generate income from seasonally-variable agriculture, which limits their ability to make upfront investments. Many of the latrines that were constructed under the recent USAID activity are made from very cheap materials that are not able to withstand the environmental challenges such as termites and rain, leading to rapid deterioration.

To address these challenges and support the Government of Liberia, USAID/Liberia has outlined an approach based on the USAID Rural Sanitation Technical Brief (see annex 1), which includes the four key components of governance, behaviors, markets, and financing. Of the four components, only one (behaviors) has seen substantial investment from USAID/Liberia in the past. Sanitation markets remain largely unexamined and unsupported in Liberia, but their development is critical to the long-term sustainability of sanitation programming.

Activity Concept

The proposed new activity will implement a comprehensive county-wide approach for sustainably moving people from open defecation to basic sanitation, as outlined in the framework above. (The draft results framework is issued for information and planning purposes, and may be revised.)

The activity will invest in county-wide approaches to support impact and sustainability, rather than focusing only on the household and community levels, as USAID/Liberia has done in the past, and will aim to completely eliminate open defecation in the counties of Montserrado, Margibi, Lofa, Nimba and Grand Bassa.

Since about 25% of the people who practice open defecation live in urban areas, specific sanitation strategies will be needed for both rural and urban populations. Studies have found that CLTS works best in smaller villages with lower literacy rates and higher prevalence of diarrhea cases that are further from surface water bodies and have less access to drinking water sources.

Separate strategies must be developed for areas that do not meet this description.

In this regard, USAID Liberia seeks information on prospective bidders who have relevant experience with comprehensive sanitation approaches and with the activities described in the results framework. The following questions can be used to guide feedback:

1. Does the draft results framework provide potential implementers with sufficient information and guidance about USAID’s overall objectives and expectations? What additional information is necessary?

2. What additional or modified approaches should USAID and the Government of Liberia consider to support the achievement of the results described above?

3. How can USAID and partners work more effectively with local actors and institutions to achieve the objectives of this activity?

4. What innovative approaches can you suggest for improving sanitation financing options for households?

5. How can existing county- and local-level health and governance systems in Liberia be leveraged to improve sanitation results?

6. What approaches should be used to eliminate open defecation in urban or peri-urban areas?

Responding to this RFI is voluntary. It should be noted that providing comment will not give any advantage to any organization in any subsequent procurement. USAID will not provide answers to any questions submitted in response to this request. Responses to this RFI may be incorporated into subsequent procurement documents should the Mission decide to go forward with the Activity.

Please provide your responses no later than April 6, 2021 by 1:00 pm, via email to Claudia Molina at cmolina@usaid.gov and Andrea M. Plucknett at aplucknett@usaid.gov. Submissions are limited to three pages total, and no pages beyond this limit (including Annexes) will be reviewed.

A Notice of Funding Opportunity or Solicitation for this activity will be issued at a later date and will be announced via Grants.gov or beta.SAM.gov as applicable. It will describe the application or proposal process in full.

All interested parties must respond to that notice of funding opportunity or solicitation separately from any response to this Request for Information. Issuance of this pre-notice of a funding opportunity or solicitation for comments does not constitute an award commitment on the part of the Government, nor does it commit the Government to pay for any costs incurred in order to prepare a response to this Pre-Notice.