1. General Background
In Jordan, the limited water and sanitation services offered to vulnerable communities and practices contributing to environmental degradation are the main challenges that affect the socio-economic status of Jordanian populations. The root causes of these challenges are generated from environmental and political factors including the rapid growing population, climate change, and the exacerbating scarce water resources, in addition to other institutional and communal factors the effect the national water demand management.
Jordan is the second most water-scarce country in the world. The available water resources, groundwater, surface water, and treated wastewater, are unable to meet the growing water demand of the country. Jordan’s per capita share of water is one of the lowest ratios in the world; it decreased over the last several years to reach less than 100 m3 per person far below the global threshold of severe water scarcity of 500 m3 per person[1].
The water scarcity is further worsened by the high rate of natural population growth, combined with massive influxes of refugees, which created an imbalance condition between population and water. In addition to the climate change manifested in unreliable rain and high temperature. In the case of unreliable rainfall, the impacts include less water availability, limited groundwater recharge (3.8% out of the total rainfall[2]), inadequate dam water, and sediments control which lead to reduced ground and surface water availability. Jordan consumes around 52% of the piped water for agricultural purposes and higher temperature also causes higher irrigation water demand due to evaporation losses.
Despite the fact that more than 94% of Jordanians have access to safe drinking water and 84% of sanitation systems are described as safely managed. The quality of the water and sanitation services are still an issue as the current level of water supply delivered to the population is still below the global threshold of severe water scarcity and 42% of households do not have a sewer connection; only 6% have a sewer connection in rural areas. This limited access to continuous water supply and safely managed sanitation system is resulting from a high level of non-revenue water, cost of the connection to the public networks services, limited monitoring capacity to support water authorities in prioritizing the improvements needs, and the implementation of the efficient cost recovery system.
The water and sanitation issue in Jordan has also social and behavioral causes. Citizens and the private and public sectors need to be encouraged to share responsibility for water management and protection and work together to improve conditions within their local watersheds.
2. Purpose of the Assessment:
In line with the WaSH Sectoral Strategy 2020-2025 to enhance the evidence-based approach for quality future interventions, Action Against Hunger will conduct a WaSH need assessment aiming at identifying potential solutions to mitigate the effects of water scarcity in Jordan. Assessing the long-term factors that contribute to reducing the impact of water scarcity and provide sustainable solutions to cope with the limited water resources will be the core of the WaSH needs assessment.
Action Against Hunger aims at having a comprehensive WaSH need assessment report focusing on the Northern Governorates of Jordan.
3. Key Deliverables
The WaSH needs assessment will take place in the period of Mid- April – 8 May 2021. The following are the outputs that shall be delivered to Action Against Hunger’s WaSH department:
1- Detailed assessment methodology including questionnaires, targets (role of the individual, sample size, targeted location), and timeline
2- Assessment report responding to the following questions:
a. Behaviour change for water conservation techniques and practices: What are the main barriers at an institutional and individual level that ACF programming need to overcome
b. Water utility services quality: at the water utility level what are the main core problems / what prevent better water service delivery and what can Acf do to facilitate better service delivery
3- Detailed WaSH actors mapping; other INGOs areas of intervention, national and international WaSH stakeholders and their influence in the sectors, and Community based organizations, which have the capacity to implement WaSH interventions.
4- Proposition of four interventions to respond to the identified needs and gaps. This should follow the Action Against Hunger’s Concept Note template and include the proposed budget summary, required HR structure, work plan, and Logical Framework Approach (LFA). One of the four proposed interventions should include the integration of water and agriculture sectors.
4. Work plan
Activities
Number of working days
Working day (cumulative)
Briefing and interview with Jordan coordination office: 1
Present summary of secondary data (ACF Jordan strategy, ACF assessments, WASH reports from the country region)methodology and assessment tools: 5
[1] Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MoWI) (2016) National Water Strategy 2016-2025, Jordan
[2] Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MoWI) (2018) Water Budget 2018, http://www.mwi.gov.jo/sites/ar-jo/Documents/Water%20Budget%202018.pdf
How to apply
To submit your application : [email protected]
