TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR CONDUCTING FEASIBILITY STUDY ON SOLAR POWERED AND PIPE IRRIGATION STSTEM IN BELEDWEYNE, SOMALIA

• Bachelor degree in Civil and Mechanical Engineering/land and water resource management, electrical or electro-mechanical or mechatronic engineer
• Minimum of 6 years ‘of professional experience in planning, recommendation, construction and installation of irrigation system with solar water pump through pipe and conducting performance study.
• Environmental specialist (not necessarily master degree required)
• Experience in working with/contracted by international development organization for similar assignment is strong advantage.
• Solid experience in community and stakeholder consultation is an asset.
• The firm/consultancy should show proof experience in designing solar energy systems.
• Experience in construction of irrigation infrastructure in Somalia
• Experience in conducting technical assessment on irrigation infrastructure

Only shortlisted Candidates will be contacted.

For over 90 years, Save the Children has been making a difference in children’s lives in more than 120 countries. We are the world’s largest independent child rights organization, underpinned by a vision in a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. Our mission to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

Save the Children is an organization for talented people with different backgrounds and perspectives. We are proud that our people are representative of the children we work with and we thrive on our diversity. We are an equal opportunity organization dedicated to our core values of Accountability, Ambition, and Collaboration. Our culture is embedded in these values, along with a strong commitment to our Child Safeguarding Protocol, ensuring that all representatives of Save the Children demonstrate the highest standards of behavior towards children both in their private and professional lives.

SCI is a member of Building Resilient Communities in Somalia (BRCiS). a Consortium of national and international organizations whose objective is to support and guide vulnerable communities in Somalia in building their resilience capacities in their own way. The Consortium was created in 2013 and is now implementing projects in all Federal Member States of Somalia. BRCiS is committed to adaptive management of its programmes, guided by a strong learning strategy. enforces systematic decentralization of decision making to the field level and the communities, fostering innovation and self-reliance.

Beledweyne is one of the main agricultural production zone and broad supplier of fruits, vegetables as well as cereals that cater on Somaliland, Puntland, Galmudud and Djabuti. it’s the primary source of income on agriculture among many farmers in the district. Over past decades, significant part of the land is not currently cultivating due to combination of several factors including poor irrigation infrastructure, lack of farming inputs and extension services. Extensive irrigation infrastructure has been constructed including privately and public owned but weakened due to recurrent flooding, river bank erosion, in adequate maintenance operations and large backlog of needed repairs. Furthermore, dynamics in rainfall patterns are posing a threat to crop production in the region. Through community action plans, solar powered and pipe irrigation system seen a significant opportunity to facilitate irrigation access to ensure constant production, improve yields and reduce vulnerability to changing rainfall patterns and enable multiple cropping practices were proposed by the community. However, the motorized powered irrigation and earthen based irrigation methods are quite costly to run in addition to being environmentally unsustainable and it’s among the top challenge community facing. There is thus need for alternative irrigation methods, renewable energy sources which are readily available can be used to power irrigation systems. This study hence sought to design an appropriate solar powered and pipe irrigation system and investigate the key risks and challenges affecting finance of solar pumps in Bacad community.

OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY.

The main objective of this consultancy service is to carry out feasibility study for the proposed project intervention that will inform development of solar powered irrigation system and pipe structure envisioned by the community and highlight the development limiting factors as well as plan, prepare all documents including the detailed specification, BoQs, drawings and estimated cost. Design sustainable environmentally friendly technology driven irrigation system of Bacad community in Beledweyne that had been practicing expensive diesel fuel and earthen based irrigation canals. The consultant will conduct technical /topographic assessment of the existing traditional earth-based irrigation scheme being used by the target farmers. Assess current role of actors involved in the irrigation, analyze resource use utilization (land/water) in the area intended for intervention and calculate crop water requirement and irrigation water requirement as well as water resource to sustain irrigation demands for the project area and delineate the current size of farmland (in hectares) under water related infrastructure. Identify the irrigation needs of the target farmers against production and identify attitude towards adoption of environmentally sustainable and climate-smart and resilient technologies practices. The system aimed to improve and enhance the utilization of Shabelle river water resource to increase agricultural productivity for cost effectiveness, reliability, affordable energy, potential reducing energy costs for irrigation and increase the availability of water for irrigation. Adopting climate friendly alternative energy source and making the use of water for irrigation more efficient and sustainable for both large and small-scale farmers.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

The consultant will be hired to provide engineering/technical expertise and advisory services as following:

·      Conduct topographic assessment/surveys on irrigation pattern, landscape and capacity both farms and solar required.

·      Carry out delineation of irrigable land based on accepted criteria

·      Carry out preparations of layout clearly indicating the canal and drainage networks

·      Design of proper irrigation drainage system compatible with the local management system conditions.

·      Identify canal line requirements using engineering inputs.

·       Carry out detail engineering design of the main irrigation system and drainage system (pumps and associated structures, main, secondary canals and furrow length, slope and related hydraulic structures) considering the size of service unit to be between 15 ha to 20 ha.

·       Preparation profiles of main and secondary canals at a specified scale including the canal and drain sections, sizing, lining type, division structures, and protecting structures, etc.;

·       Determine and estimate water application, conveyance and other losses, irrigation hours per day and irrigation efficiencies and consider those parameters in design steps.

·       Prepare general plans and drawings for the irrigation infrastructure and irrigation system designs to the standard quality.

·       Prepare specifications and priced bill of quantities for the irrigation work.

·      Presentation on the assessment finings/documents and how it works the recommended system to SCI.

·      Provision of advice to SCI on the better selection of Solar water pumping and pipe installation system in Bacad village. The task will be documented in a report to SCI.

Proposed Methodology and Approach

In view of the limited study on the subject, the methodological design of the feasibility study will be proposed by the consultant and must include a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods such as literature review, data collection and analysis, semi-structured interviews, focus groups discussions with the relevant stakeholders, key informant interviews and workshops. This will allow greater flexibility for securing additional and previously unknown information.

Consultant role and expecting deliverables

The deliverables/outputs of this assignment are:

·      Conduct field visits and feasibility study with the community and line authority’s consultation.

·      Prepare plan and recommendation on sustainable irrigation systems in the target location.

·      Provide compilation of BoQ, cost estimation and specification system for the local tender documents for solar water pumping and pipe irrigation procurement and installation in Bacad village.

·      Provision of advice to SCI on the selection of the company for the solar water pumping system installation.

·      Final Report.

 Time Frame

The duration of the assignment will be 30 days.

Terms and Conditions

Consultancy fee: The consultant will come up with his/her own rate which will be subject to negotiation within the bounds of donor requirements and set standards of SC in Somalia, the consultant is expected to estimate all relevant costs for the exercise, including costs for data collectors, vehicle rent, venue, accommodation and travel while undertaking activities related to this assignment.

Code of conduct

Save the Children’s work is based on deeply held values and principles of child safeguarding, and it is essential that our commitment to children’s rights and humanitarian principles is supported and demonstrated by all members of staff and other people working for and with Save the Children. Save the Children’s Code of Conduct sets out the standards which all staff members must adhere to and the consultant is bound to sign and abide to the Save the Children’s Code of Conduct.

A contract will be signed by the consultant before commencement of the action. The contract will detail terms and conditions of service, aspects on inputs and deliverables. The Consultant will be expected to treat as private and confidential any information disclosed to her/him or with which she/he may come into contact during her/his service.   The Consultant will not therefore disclose the same or any particulars thereof to any third party or publish it in any paper without the prior written consent of Save the Children. Any sensitive information (particularly concerning individual children) should be treated as confidential.

An agreement with a consultant will be rendered void if Save the Children discovers any corrupt activities have taken place either during the sourcing, preparation and implementation of the consultancy agreement.

Application Procedure & Requirements

Candidates interested in the position are expected to provide the following documentation:

• Technical proposal with a detailed response to the TOR, with specific focus on the scope of work, methodology to be used and key selection criteria.
• Initial work plan based on the methodology outlined, and indication of availability
• Financial proposal detailing the daily rate expected including accommodation, transportation, enumerators, and all other data collection cost related to this assignment.
• Company profile or CV including a minimum of 3 references
• Proof of experience- attached similar scanned and signed previous experiences
• Detailed budget breakdown based on expected daily rates.

Interested applicants should send the specified documents to the following email CSS.LOGISTICS@savethechildren.org with the subject line of the email body, “TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR CONDUCTING FEASIBILITY STUDY ON SOLAR POWERED AND PIPE IRRIGATION STSTEM IN BELEDWEYNE. Applications will close on 23^rd February 2021.