Iraq: Consultant: Market Mapping Analysis for Water and Hygiene Vouchers Intervention

Oct 10, 2018 | Mercy Corps
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Mercy Corps is a global humanitarian organization empowering people to recover from crisis, build better lives and transform their communities for good. This program adheres to the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan's (HRP) for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and WASH non-food items (NFI) to meet immediate humanitarian needs of displaced, returning, and host communities. Building on WASH activities implemented to date, Mercy Corps seeks to expand program activities to include voucher program for provision of WASH services, especially drinking water, hygiene items and bulk water.

Purpose / Project Description:

Mercy Corps Iraq seeks a consultant to conduct an in-depth marketplace assessment and mapping to support the anticipated transition from in-kind distribution of key WASH items (Hygiene kit related NFIs and WASH services including water provision), to voucher programming in areas where markets allow for this. This market mapping exercise seeks to identify:

  • Areas where the supply of WASH items and services is sufficient to meet WASH needs through voucher distributions
  • Specific market actors with the capacity to serve as vendors in a voucher scheme

The assessment information will inform the development of a voucher strategy for Iraq (with strong consultation of WASH cluster, SAG members, CASH working group. CCI/ cash consortium of Iraq, hygiene technical working group, WASH SAG members and peer organizations (who are having experience of vouchers in Iraq or interested to start voucher programing) and Mercy Corps HQ and other countries where voucher program is implemented.

Consultant Objectives:

The objective of this consultancy is to conduct in depth market mapping analysis and develop strategy for water and hygiene vouchers.

  • Conduct feasibility study about appropriateness, relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of voucher program,
  • Conduct market mapping analysis (for water services and hygiene items, supply, availability) to map out service providers, rates/ cost per unit/ item, recommend areas/ markets, which are suitable/have capacity for voucher program etc.
  • Develop voucher strategy for Mercy Corps Iraq program with straight forward and achievable action points.
  • Identify modality of voucher program or by electronic cards or what already exist in Iraq,
  • Develop monitoring mechanism of voucher program and monitoring tools,
  • Provide data base of potential service providers in each governorates and prioritized districts (with GPS),
  • Work closely with all identified stake holders,
  • Conduct workshop/ meeting to present findings and strategy to Mercy Corps, WASH cluster and stake holders (with consultation of Mercy Corps),

Consultant Activities:

The market mapping assessment / (MMA) will be conducted in all four program areas/governorates where activities will be implemented. The following key tasks are to be performed by the consultant(s):

  • Desk Review: a thorough and comprehensive literature review of internal and external documents available on voucher programs in Iraq and out of Iraq. Review all program documents (proposals, PMP and others) to understand commitments with donor, including previously conducted market and price analysis to use as a baseline (liaise with other stake holders for more information).
  • Design and Develop Tools: the consultant will, in coordination with Mercy Corps’ WASH/NFI and M&E team, design and develop data collection tools including translation to the local Arabic/Kurdish languages, where appropriate.
  • Data Collection: the consultant will hire and lead data collection, transportation, entry and analysis. This will include, but is not limited to key informant interviews with key stakeholders. KII with stakeholders (Cluster, SAG members, INGOs, beneficiaries, market/ business owners). Mercy Corps will involve 2-4 staff/ governorate for data collection to build capacity of mercy Corps staff on market based interventions.  
  • Field Visits: Physical field visits will be conducted in proposed locations/ potential markets (for data collection/ market assessment and mapping of nearest markets to residence). Conduct interviews with shop owners to determine how voucher program can be established, interact with beneficiaries to understand how to improve voucher programing. Develop list of priority WASH/ hygiene items identified by vulnerable host community. Interact with females to understand how to ensure feminine hygiene items are not neglected in voucher programing.
  • Debrief: CD, MEL Manager, HRD, HOP (WASH) and other relevant staff,
  • Methodology: The consultant will, in consultation with Mercy Corps, design an appropriate and comprehensive methodology to conduct the market mapping assessment. Mercy Corps staff will be included in design of tools and data collection tool to build capacity of team in market mapping assessments. The methodology should ensure an area-wide analysis and comparison (where possible). Study must include involvement of all stakeholders including community, market, government, NGOs, cluster, SAG members, UN agencies and others. MMA must include data collection (KII of small scale business owners), mapping of all locations, price monitoring of last at least last 6-12 months and analysis of changes.

Consultant Deliverables:

Market and community Assessment for Voucher Programming Report (40 pages maximum (can be increased, if needed) – including maps, charts etc – Report format must be like booklet): including details of markets in four governorates (Anbar, Ninewa, Salah-al-din, Kirkuk) and analysis at district and sub district level. The report should clearly describe:

  • Contextual analysis of the impact of the conflict on local markets and market actors’ capacity to maintain or increase supply
  • Direct effect on cost of living and commodity availability and price comparison (pre and post crisis and last 6 months/ monthly analysis for water services, hygiene items and sanitation items/services – per location),
  • Beneficiary preferences for water provision and hygiene items- analysis per location and comparative analysis amongst governorates,
  • Determine quantity of water required per person per day for drinking, personal use and bulk water usage (Summer and winter)- Month wise analysis (factoring weather conditions),
  • Barriers to implementation of voucher programming with specific recommendations for increasing reach and inclusion of both vendors and beneficiaries
  • Type and level of inputs may be required at beneficiaries’ household or communal level (if any)
  • Viability of alternatives to paper vouchers (e-vouchers, mobile, charge cards, etc)
  • Systems available in Iraq (existing systems and how they work i..e, E-cards, vouchers etc) and what are benefits and limitation of systems available in Iraq (if any),
  • findings, qualitative findings, insights (if any), quotes, findings from KIIs, over all limitations in study etc)
  • Database of Local Vendors: including the contact details for local vendors amenable to accepting vouchers, their geo-coordinates, and a map of site locations (Returnees locations and population in catchment to be included as well)
  • Manual - Standard Operating Procedures Manual for Voucher Programming (5-10 pages): including sections on site selection, vendor selection, beneficiary criteria including selection and scoring, and specific recommendations for best practices including use of monitoring and evaluation tools, voucher quantities and overall value per household.
  • Standard Operating Procedures Manual for Fraud Prevention (5-10 pages): As a separate annex to the abovementioned manual, the consultant will design an SOP for Fraud Prevention including the procedures for program staff to evaluate the authenticity of vouchers and recommendations for the physical elements of vouchers necessary to reduce reproduction or fraud (watermarks, etc), algorithms to produce serial numbers, and editable templates for voucher design.
  • Two Digital Presentations: Power point presentations (or equivalent) designed for external audiences using Mercy Corps standard formats on the following subjects:
    • Market Assessment Findings
    • Voucher Methodology (based on the SOP manuals)