Terms of Reference for Strengthening Water Access for Climate Resilience in Phongsaly Project Baseline Survey Overview
| Application deadline | 28th May 2025 |
| Contract start | June to Aug 2025 |
| Duration | 30 Days |
| Program sector(s) | Right to Health |
| Project/Program name | Strengthening Water Access for Climate Resilience in Phongsaly (SWACR) |
| Type of consultancy | External Project Baseline Survey |
| Project/Program location | Phongsaly Province |
| Consultant location | In-country would be preferred |
| Funded by | Botstiber Foundation |
Organizational Overview
CARE International is a global NGO working to end poverty and achieve social-justice. We rebuild and improve the lives of the most vulnerable groups, especially women and girls who are often the most marginalised individuals in their communities and face unequal access to social and economic rights. In 2024, CARE worked in more than 100 countries around the world, supporting 200 million people from vulnerable communities to fight poverty and social injustice. To date, CARE supported over 52 million participants to promote lasting change in their lives, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
CARE International in Lao PDR began its operations in 1992 and has worked since then to improve the lives of vulnerable groups in both rural and urban areas, particularly the ethnic minority communities. CARE works in partnership with community members, the government, local civil society organisations, and the private sector. CARE currently implements projects in seven provinces: Vientiane Capital, Phongsaly, Luang Namtha, Luangprabang, Salavan, Champasack and Sekong.
CARE’s “Marginalized Women and Girls” program in Laos empowers women and girls through integrated initiatives focusing on women’s health, economic empowerment, and climate resilience, utilizing evidence-based practices to drive sustainable socio-economic justice. This is achieved by strengthening health systems, combating gender-based violence, improving food access, fostering resilient livelihoods and inclusive value chains, and enhancing climate adaptation through community-driven action plans that combine scientific and traditional knowledge, ultimately contributing to poverty reduction and a more equitable society. CARE Laos commits to women and girl empowerment, locally led and globally scaled through a comprehensive approach to long-term commitment to building local capacity as central to our mission.
Project Overview
The Strengthening Water Access for Climate Resilience in Phongsaly project, funded by the Botstiber Foundation, aims to strengthen access to safe water among 15 communities in Samphan and Mai districts. The project will focus on strengthening access and quality through exploring more sustainable approaches to water infrastructure and community behavioral practices. The project will also partner with communities to ensure that adequate investment will be made, ensuring awareness and capacity-building are key priorities as these are strong foundations that contribute to long-term sustainability. Throughout the project period, CARE will also explore climate-resilient livelihood options that will contribute to long-term sustainable use and consumption of water and protection of water sources in communities.
The project is mainly implemented through CARE International in Laos (CARE Laos) and with the Ministry of Health together with technical support by Ministry of Health including Nam Saat and works closely with Provincial Health Office, Provincial Lao Women Union, District Health Office, District Lao Women Union Offices, and the Provincial and District Agriculture and Forestry offices to ensure local ownership and alignment of national objective subsequently from the central level down to district level.
The global objective is “To contribute to improved health through increasing long term year-round access to sufficient water to meet families consumption, hygiene and sanitation needs”. The specific objective is to “Demonstrate effective climate change-resilient, gender-sensitive approaches to meeting families’ long-term, year-round water needs in upland communities”.
The following activities and their expected outputs will contribute to achieve the project goal and objectives.
Output 1: All families in 15 target communities have year-round access to adequate volumes of safe water at the household level. Organize planning meetings with project staff, district office staff and community authorities in reviewing water strengthening plans.
A1.1 Feasibility Study
A1.2 Undertake community planning processes with Naam Saat to establish water committee and plan water supply systems in each village location.
A1.3 Develop detailed costed technical plans for water system construction or repair in each location with emphasis placed on key construction quality standards to ensure longevity.
A1.4 Undertake construction and/or renovation of water systems in each village location.
A1.5 Monitor construction processes with emphasis on key quality standards to ensure system longevity and sign off on final construction once completed.
A1.6 Undertake water quality and yield testing of systems constructed.
Output 2: Models for the sustainable supply of clean drinking water for all households developed and implemented
A 2.1. Undertake a series of community meetings to review different technical models, make decisions over which one to be utilized and plan ongoing operation and maintenance as required.
A 2.2 Implement potable water supply systems/treatment plans in at least two target communities.
A 2.3 Undertake ongoing monitoring of potable water supply system operations and provide mentoring support to water committee in ensuring sustainability.
Output 3: Capacities built at village and district levels ensure technical, social and environmental sustainability of water supply systems established.
A 3.1 Transform community gender attitudes and support women to assume community leadership positions through gender equality sensitization, analysis of social norms and capacity building.
A 3.2 Support communities on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) education with Ministry of Health.
A 3.3 Support communities on WASH social and behavioral change communications (SBCC).
A 3.4 Develop capacity and improve functioning of Water Management Committee to ensure safety and sustainability of water supply.
A 3.5 Support the communities with the knowledge on how to construct latrines
Output 4: Climate-resilient adaptation options that enhance community incentives for watershed forest protection / expansion and thus contribute to sustainable water access are piloted and assessed.
A 4.1 Organize planning meetings with project staff, district office staff and community authorities in reviewing water strengthening plans and project activities.
A 4.2 Conduct Gender Climate Vulnerability Capacity Assessment (GCVCA) and the Community Adaptation Action Plan (CAAP) focused on water supply watershed protection.
A 4.3 Support implementation of CAAP through village-level investment grants.
Purpose of the baseline survey
The baseline survey’s main goal is to establish a database that will be used to track and evaluate the impact(goal) and outcome(objective) indicators included in the project Logical Framework (LogFrame), as well as the efficacy of the planned actions both during and after the project’s completion.
The consultant(s) will be expected to measure these following indicators during the baseline study.
| Objectives | Indicator |
| Goal:
To contribute to improved health through increasing long term year-round access to sufficient water to meet families consumption, hygiene and sanitation needs. |
Percentage of population living in households who have access to an improved water source always/year-round, intermittently (predictable), or intermittently (unpredictable). |
| Percentage of households with soap and water at a handwashing facility within or immediately near sanitation facilities. | |
| Percentage of households in which open defecation is practiced by any household member. | |
| Purpose:
Demonstrate effective climate change-resilient, gender-sensitive approaches to meeting families’ long-term, year-round water needs in upland communities.
|
Indicator 1: Number of water systems established/repaired supplying at least 55-75 liters per person per day year-round by end of project.
|
| Indicator 2: Number of village water committees taking independent actions in ensuring sustainability of water supply. | |
| Indicator 3: Number and % of households with potable water supply in at least two communities by end of project. | |
| Output 1:
All families in 15 target communities have year-round access to adequate volumes of safe water at the household level. |
1.1 Indicator 1: Number and % of families with household level water connections for all target villages. |
| 1.2
Indicator 1: Number of days per year there is inadequate or no water supply per target community. Indicator 2: Water supply capable of supplying 55-75 liters of water per person as per Naam Saat guideline |
|
| 1.3 Indicator 1: Water quality needs to meet minimum standards based on Naam Saat and WHO testing guidelines. | |
| Output 2:
Models for the sustainable supply of clean drinking water for all households developed and implemented in at least two communities. |
2.1 Indicator 1: Number and % of households with potable water supply in at least two communities by end of project. |
| 2.2 Indicator 1: Potable systems water quality assured safe for consumption through water quality testing. | |
| 2.3 Indicator 1: Systems to meet recurrent costs of potable water supply established and operating for all households by end of project. | |
| Output 3:
Capacities built at village and district levels ensure technical, social and environmental sustainability of water supply systems established. |
3.1
Indicator 1: % of members of village water committees in all target villages that are women Indicator 2: % of women and girls who report confidence in their own negotiation and communication skills Indicator 3: % of people supported by CARE who report gender equitable attitudes towards social norms |
| 3.2
Indicator 1: # and % of MWG that have used their increased capacities for resilience and adaptation to the effects of climate change. Indicator 2: Soap or ash for hand washing is available in all households Indicator 3: % of communities that are practicing open defecation free |
|
| 3.3
Indicator 1: Percentage of population living in households reporting a place to wash hands. The proportion of households reporting a dedicated handwashing station are further classified by the presence or absence of soap and running water based on direct observation |
|
| 3.4
Indicator 1: Number of monitoring tools developed Indicator 2: Number of monitoring visits conducted Indicator 3: Water committee is functioning based on predetermined criteria e.g. monthly water payments are collected, number of meetings attended, etc. Indicator 4: % of MWG that have Water safety plan that is developed and used |
|
| Output 4:
Climate resilient livelihood options that enhance community incentives for watershed forest protection / expansion and thus contribute to sustainable water access are piloted and assessed.
|
4.1 Indicator 1: Number of families engaged in targeted adaptation meetings options by end of project and growth in numbers. |
| 4.2
Indicator 1: Number of assessments and action plans conducted |
|
| 4.3
Indicator 1: Number of community initiatives supported. Indicator 2: Number and percentage of MWG that have used their increased capacities for resilience and adaptation to the effects of climate change |
Baseline target group
Target of participants that will be involved in the baseline survey are;
- Community Members including women, pregnant and lactating women
- Adolescent girls
- Persons Living with Disabilities, particularly women and girls
- Members of Water Management Committee
- Community leaders including women
- Representative of government partners from Provincial Health Office, Provincial Lao Women Union, District Health Office and District Lao Women Union Offices including technical experts from Nam Saar; also, Provincial and District Agriculture and Forestry offices
Scope of the baseline survey
The baseline survey will cover at least 9 villages or 60% of 15 target villages of the project..
The consultant(s) will act as the lead and do all the processes to conduct the baseline study for the SWACR project, with a focus on:
- Review all document related to this project and selected indicator;
- Develop study design and sampling methodology and inception report;
- Pilot and translating data collection tools;
- Train staff as enumerators of data collection especially government partner who are invited to join the baseline survey efficiently and effectively;
- Lead the implementation of high-quality data collection on all project indicators with adequate field testing and supervision of all data collection;
- Oversee data cleaning and validation for quantitative and qualitative data;
- Conduct all data analysis and tabulation;
- Present the findings to project and government partners;
- Prepare draft baseline study report and take feedback for report finalization
- And any additional task as per mentioned in deliverables.
Approach and Methodology
The baseline survey will use a mixed-method approach and participatory based process.
- A mix of quantitative and qualitative instruments and methods will be used
- A participatory approach should be adopted to capture the perspectives of key stakeholders and project participants/beneficiaries
- The methodology will be gender and target group (ethnicity) sensitive
- The sampling must be purposeful and represent local diversity. The sample sizes should not be less than 20% of the total target populations (villages, schools, healthcare enters) and covers all the target groups listed above.
- Field visits to meet beneficiaries; villagers, district and provincial stakeholders; relevant government staff
- Present findings to relevant partners/stakeholders/CARE Staff
Furthermore, the following documents will be considered for the baseline study:
- Revision of project documents, including proposal, Logframe and project’s related study report
- CARE Vision 2030 (Core Global and supplemental indicators for measuring change)
- CARE Laos’ program strategies (e.g. Gender Strategy, Women’s Health program approach)
Roles and Responsibilities
Team Member and Roles
| Phase | Responsible Person | Primary Tasks |
| Planning | MILKA Advisor, Health team and Phongsaly Provincial Manager | Lead in facilitation baseline survey process and managing the external baseline survey consultant by collaborating with CARE USA, donor, and government partners. |
| External Consultant | – Lead in designing the necessary methodology and tool for conducting the baseline study by collaborating with CARE Laos’ program team and CARE Luxembourg.
– Lead in providing the training to the data collection team on methodology and tools to be used in the baseline study. – Ensure the appropriate team composition by collaborating with CARE team regarding ethnic groups. – Lead in writing the inception report. |
|
| Data Collection | MILKA Advisor, Phongsaly Provincial Manager | – Lead in facilitating the logistics and making an appointment with the selected target groups mentioned above.
– Provide relevant information and data as requested. |
| External Consultant | – Lead in collecting the data following the data collection plan.
– Lead in cleaning the data and data processing/translation if required. |
|
| Data Analysis | External Consultant | – Lead in analysing the day following the objective and requirement from the baseline study ToR.
– Cross check all data to ensure that collected data meets the needs of the baseline study objectives and requirements. |
| Reporting | External Consultant | – Debriefing for the community representative and government partners at the district level.
– Debriefing for the program team from CARE Laos, CARE Lux and relevant Partners. |
Deliverables
Below are summaries of key deliverables:
| Deliverable | Description | By when |
| Inception report | Including the methodology, sampling, tools and the guiding principles of the baseline study and data analysis plan. | W 2 Jun 2025 |
| Draft baseline report (max 30 pages, annexes excluded) | Included:
I. Cover Page II. Table of Contents III. Acknowledgements IV. Abbreviations V. Executive Summary VI. Brief Project Overview VII. Methodology – Brief Baseline Design – Sampling strategy – Data analysis plan VIII. Key limitation and ethical considerations to baseline study IX. Results, analysis and discussion (for baseline specifically including a log frame showing baseline status for selected indicators). X. Conclusion and recommendations XI. References noting anonymity of primary sources where required. XII. Appendices XIII. Photos are CARE property and will be annexed to the final report together with consent forms. (Please refer to CARE Evaluation template) |
W1-4 July 2025 |
| Indicator summary table | Update the indicator in logframe | |
| Power point presentation (debriefing) | Includes the methodology, sampling, tools, key findings, imitations and recommendation of the from the baseline study | |
| Cleaned qualitative and quantitative data sets. | The external consultant should deliver, at minimum, all files including quantitative data sets (raw and refined products), transcripts of qualitative data and others in an easy to read format, and maintain naming conventions and labelling for the use of the project/program/initiative and key stakeholders.
All documents should be compliant with the following conditions: · CARE is compliant with necessary data ownership and data user regulation as well as with any donor requirements. · Data must be disaggregated by gender, age, disability and other relevant diversity, in line with the project’s/CARE’s Theory of Change. · Datasets must be anonymized with all identifying information removed. Each individual or household should be assigned a unique identifier. Datasets which have been anonymized will be accompanied by a password protected identifier key document to ensure that we are able to return to households or individuals for follow up. Stakeholders with access to this document will be limited and defined in collaboration with CARE during baseline study inception. · In the case of textual variables, textual datasets or transcripts please ensure that the data is suitable for dissemination with no de-anonymizing information UNLESS these are case studies designed for external communication and suitable permission has been granted from the person who provided the data. In these circumstances, please submit, with the case study, a record of the permission granted, for example a release form. · Where there are multiple datasets (ex.: both tabular and textual datasets) identifiers must be consistent to ensure that cases can be traced across data lines and forms. · A final template of any surveys, interview guides, or other materials used during data collection must be attached as annex. Questions within surveys should be assigned numbers and these should be consistent with variable labelling within final datasets. · Formats for transcripts (ex. summary; notes and quotes; or full transcript) should be defined · In the case of tabular datasets variable names and variable labels should be clear and indicative of the data that sits under them. Additionally, the labelling convention must be internally consistent and a full codebook/data dictionary must be provided. All temporary or dummy variables created for the purposes of analysis must be removed from the dataset before submission. All output files including calculations, and formulae used in analysis will be provided along with any Syntax developed for the purposes of cleaning. |
|
| Completion of the approved final report | Following the feedback on the draft report | W2 Aug 2025 |
Timeframe
Fieldwork for the baseline survey is expected to start by week 3 of June 2025. The final report is due by W2 of August 2025.
The following table shows the anticipated work schedule:
| Item | Specific Task | Days | Tentative dates | |
| 1 | Pre-field activities | Project literature review – CARE to support with documents. | 1 | W1-2 June 2025 |
| Inception report: Design methodology, research tools and plan data collection. | 2 | |||
| Training on data collection and prepare the document | 1 | |||
| Sub-total | 4 | |||
| 2 | Field activities | Travel to Phongsaly Province | – | W3-4 June 2025 |
| Interview key project and program staffs / relevant stakeholders at the field level | 1 | |||
| Field data collection in 15 target villages | 15 | |||
| Reflection and feedback sessions (Debriefing) with Project and program teams (day workshop) (Field level)
(1 days for summary result and 0.5 days for preparing initial finding per province) |
1 | |||
| Travel to Vientiane. | – | |||
| Sub-total | 17 | |||
| 3 | Report writing | Prepare the draft Report (1st draft) | 5 | W1-4 July 2025 |
| Finalize first draft of report (2nd draft)
Two weeks for back-and-forth comment and feedback |
2 | |||
| Present the key findings to CARE Senior Program Team and relevant partners in Vientiane Office for feedback | 1 | |||
| Finalize report (taking into account comments from CARE) and submit the finalized report to CARE. | 1 | W2 Aug 2025 | ||
| Sub-total | 9 | |||
| Grant Total | 30 |
NOTE: Where more than 5 days are necessary for data collection, the consultant should not expect that supporting CARE or partner staff will work without break for this entire period and respect that they are entitled to weekends as per the CARE HR policy. The consultant therefore accepts that they may be located outside of their usual place of residence at weekends and that it cannot be assumed that this is working time for field staff (accommodation will be covered).
Selection Criteria
| 1 | Experience | § At least 5 years’ experiences in the fields of WASH, health, agriculture, climate change programming in Lao PDR or South East Asia.
§ Demonstrated strong social research and reporting skills, including experience conducting quantitative and qualitative research. § Demonstrated successful experience in conducting project baseline study especially development projects. § Demonstrated good understanding of gender issues, women’s empowerment in Laos § Relevant technical experience (e.g. food security, gender mainstreaming, ethnicity, Social Behavioral Change and Communication, rural livelihoods, institutional development, etc.) is preferred. |
| 2 | Qualification | § Relevant post graduate qualifications. |
| 3 | Technical skills | § Research, survey (e.g. PRA/PLA), stakeholder interviews (ranging from field level to national level stakeholders), report writing, presentation.
§ Ability to work autonomously and demonstrated skills in leading baseline study projects. |
| 4 | Language | § Excellent command of English (writing and speaking).
§ Experience in Lao PDR and Lao language skills are desirable. |
| 5 | References | § A minimum of two referee contacts who have managed the proposed consultant previously. |
As a matter of course, all consultants are subject to the following policies:
- CARE Lao Child Protection Policy.
- Terrorist Check Safety and Security Management Plan.
- CARE Code of Conduct.
How to apply
If you are interested in this role, please submit your (1) CV, (2) cover letter, (3) two references, (4) proposed baseline study plan, and (5) cost quotation (daily rate) to: Lao.contracts@care.org by 28th May 2025, please include the text: “Application for SWACR Baseline Study Consultancy” in the subject of your email.
Note that the cost quotation should include the consultant’s daily rate as well as any materials and travel costs required for the consultant to complete the baseline study outlined above.
For specific technical and more information, please contact Ms. Nouandam Kommana at Nouandam.kommana@care.org
