Result 1: Organize the information/visibility events

SPECIFIC TERMS OF REFERENCE

Environmental Awareness under EU projects in Gaza Strip (Southern Governorates)

FWC BENEFICIARIES 2013 - LOT 6: Environment

EuropeAid/132633/C/SER/multi

1. BACKGROUND

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has a land surface area of 5,640 km2 and 220 km² water, the northwest quarter of the Dead Sea. It has an estimated population of 2,676,740 (July 2013). More than 80 percent, about 2,100,000 are Palestinian Arabs, and approximately 500,000 are Jewish Israelis living in the West Bank, including about 192,000 in East Jerusalem, in Israeli settlements. The Gaza Strip has an estimated population of 1.8million habitants living in a narrow coastal stretch of land totalling an area of 365 square kilometre (45km long and 8km wide) divided into five administrative governorates — North, Gaza, Middle, Khan Youths and Rafah.

The strains on the Palestinian economy have intensified since 2012. GDP growth slowed to 6 % in 2012 and further to 1.5 % in 2013 down from double digit growth in the previous two years, while unemployment soared to 27 %. Structural constraints on economic development have worsened due to the prolonged Israeli restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people and goods, the expansion of settlements, the growing inability of Palestinian producers to access their productive resources, the decline in aid flows and pervasive and economic uncertainty. The deepening fiscal crisis triggered political unrest in the Palestine, and hopes for a political settlement dimmed further. Economic growth is projected to decline further in the short and medium term.

In an effort to stop the ongoing economic deterioration the Palestinian Authority (PA) has launched the National Development Plan 2014-2016. The strategies and priority policies of the plan are focusing on the restoring of Palestinian control over natural resources in Palestine, on boosting the economy and on further strengthening the institutions of the future state to ensure financial stability whilst delivering quality services to the population. Investments in the water and wastewater sector remain a high priority of the PA, also including as a subcomponent the Solid Waste Management sector. In the current National Development Plan 2014-2016 the improvement of sewerage networks and wastewater treatment plants, the reuse of treated wastewater in the agriculture and industry sectors, the reduction of pollution - and the protection of water sources are all priority policies, also through an increased control on the generation and managed disposal of solid waste.

Current situation in the sector

Water sector

The improvement of water supply requires improving the efficiency of the only Gaza water utility (Coastal Municipalities Water Utility – CMWU), reduction of water losses, managing efficiently the available resources by upgrading and rehabilitation of water networks and reconfiguration of the distribution system. These improvements along with incorporation of the new water resource from the proposed sea water desalination plant – phase one- will enhance the strategic plans of the PWA/CMWU aiming to achieve sustainable water supply system.

Drinking water supply is among the most pressing needs to be addressed in the Gaza Strip for political, social, and environmental and health considerations.

The Gaza Strip has an estimated population of 1.8million habitants living in a narrow coastal stretch of land totalling an area of 365 square kilometre (45km long and 8km wide) divided into five administrative governorates — North, Gaza, Middle, Khan Youths and Rafah. Due to the ongoing constraints, both political and environmental, water supply is intermittent and the availability of water is limited to 60-80 litres per person per day for domestic purposes. Two third of this water is considered of bad quality (WASH, Nov. 2010). Sea water intrusion, sewage and agricultural water infiltration and the natural soil conditions have had an adverse effect on ground water quality. Over 90 percent of Gaza water has high level chemical contamination that does not meet WHO standards.

In order to provide safe drinking and domestic water, the European Union has supported the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) and the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) in the development of desalination plants. Funded by EU funds and implemented by UNICEF, the Short-Term Low Volume (STLV) sea water desalination plant is the first step of the rolling program of interventions for solving the problems of the water sector. The first phase will produce (6000m³/ day) to be integrated in the existing water distribution system in an efficient manner in the targeted areas in Rafah and Khan Younis.

Solid Waste Sector

The improvement of the generation and managed disposal of solid waste in Palestine is a well-recognized development concern given the volume of waste generated which is estimated at about 80,000 tons in the period 2010-14, and to about 2,8 kg per person per day in the Gaza Strip in the same period. The West Bank is currently provided of two sanitary landfills, one in Jenin and operational since 2007, and one in the southern region active since 2014 (Al-Mynia).

The Joint Service Council (JSC) was established in West Bank to managing the Jenin landfill and a lot has been achieved since then, with important progress also in the recycling which started in Jenin in 2011, through the JSC partnering with the private sector to implement a fee-based disposal services for those municipalities which were not yet part of the JSC. Solid Waste collection and managed disposal is in fact the largest cost item in municipal budgets, which typically relies on the PA and donor subsidies.

Gaza Strip faces greater technical, environmental, social, institutional and financial challenges than the West Bank also with regard to the primary collection of solid waste, its disposal and management. 25 municipalities are responsible for the primary collection of waste in Gaza Strip, in coordination with coordinators of refugee camps. Collection practices vary: daily house-to-house collection occurs in densely populated areas, while twice daily in the busy commercial areas. Waste is collected from street containers in the less populated areas several times along the week.

The Gaza Solid Waste Management Project is financed by the EU (5MEur), Sweden (0,64M$), with the French Development Agency (AFD) (10MEur) and the World bank (WB) (15M$), the PA (2M$), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (1,6M$) and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) via United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) (2M$). The project aims at providing support to the Gaza JSC and municipalities of Khan Younis, Rafah and Deir Al-Balah in order to improve collection and sanitary disposal capacity and performance, as well as the cost recovery providing for the services of collection and disposal, overall contributing to job increase particularly among those segments of the population the most marginal and excluded (waste pickers and their families). The project beneficiaries of this project implying the construction of a sanitary landfill, transfer stations and accompanying measures, are estimated at 886,000 residents of the Middle and Southern Gaza Strip. The project end is expected for 2018.

As with previous national development plans, the European Union (EU) is supporting the NDP 2014-2016 in the framework of its European Neighbourhood Policy. Water and Land Development is one of the 3 focal sectors of interventions of the EU in Palestine.

EU interventions

Water is a focal sector of EU support to the Palestinians with a total budget of 91, 4 M EURO invested by the EU from 2006 to 2014. The EU cooperation in this sector has also been increasing in quality and quantity over the past 2 years, with EUR 58 million committed in 2012 and 2014 alone, including EUR 25 million for Gaza (out of which EUR 10 million for the STLV-Phase I).

The EU interventions cover the building of desalination plants, wastewater Treatment plants, water and sewage networks construction and rehabilitation and some punctual support to the Reform of the water sector.

Several EU member states have also programmes supporting the sector:

In the West Bank:

· Germany is funding the construction of several large wastewater treatment facilities.

· France, Spain and Austria are also contributing funds to the construction or rehabilitation of sewerage systems.

· France and Germany also provide support to the reform of the sector.

In Gaza:

Other donors are also involved in the sector in Gaza:

  • Rehabilitation of the 600 m³/d desalination plant in Deir Al Balah with Italian financing. The cost of the plant was approx. EUR 2.2 million in 2003 and of the recent improvements approx. EUR 0.2 million.
  • Water Supply Rehabilitation and Expansion (under implementation): The World Bank (USD 6.4 million) and the IDB (USD 10 million) are providing support to Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) for asset maintenance, procurement of water meters, water supply network rehabilitation and expansion, rehabilitation of wells, construction of reservoirs and upgrading and maintenance of wastewater pumping stations.
  • EUR 6 million Wastewater: (2005) co-financing (with EU donors and the WB - Total cost USD 72 million) the "NGEST wastewater treatment plant" that shall be the first treatment plant of such size and scope in Gaza.
  • Expansion of the Deir Al Balah SWRO plant by 2000 m³/d (proposal stage): The IDB is financing the construction of a SWRO plant of 0.73 MCM capacities next to the existing plant. An agreement has been signed with the PWA and tendering is on-going. The project cost is USD 2 million.

1.5.2 Solid Waste sector:

A number of EU member states have been supporting the sector:

In the West Bank:

· Sweden has allocated overall 4 M$ for activities towards Solid Waste Management in the West Bank.

 

· A multi-donor project including several EU MSs and the EU have co-financed the construction of Bethlehem and Hebron JSC for Solid Waste Management and the sanitary landfill, which is operational as of 2014.

In Gaza:

· Germany through GIZ has funded the Deir Al Balah JSC for Solid Waste Management and sanitary landfill, to date the first and only sanitary landfill in Gaza Strip.

 

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE ASSIGNMENT

 

1. Global objective

The overall objective of the project of which this contract will be a part is as follows:

To raise awareness among the general Palestinian public (with a specific focus on pupils) of the European Union's work in the water and solid waste sectors in Gaza.

2. Specific objective(s)

The specific objectives of this contract are as follows:

  • To organise visibility events of the contracts undertaken under the projects:
    • Water project:The construction of two water tank with carrier water lines and the upgrade of the network
    • Solid Waste Management project: Gaza Solid Waste Management Project at the premises of the Sanitary Landfill site in Al-Fukhari (Sofa)

· To organise school activities to raise environmental awareness with the pupils of the Southern Governorates schools.

· To document the visibility events and school activities to disseminate the information through different media channel (Newspaper, radio, TV …).

3. Requested services

§ Result 1: Organize the information/visibility events

Theevents should take place in the Gaza Strip and have the following specifications:

- Include a minimum of invitees (75)

- Identified through:

1) For the water project, EUREP, the Palestinian Water Authority in Gaza (PWA-Gaza), the Coastal water Municipality Utility (CMWU) and the Municipalities of Rafah and Khan Younis.

2) For the solid waste management project, EUREP the MDLF in Gaza, the MDLF-PDSU, the JSC-KRM, the Municipalities of Khan Younis, Rafah and Deir Al-Balah and the AFD

- Provide a catering (lunch and soft drinks) to the invitees

- All logistical arrangements should be covered by the contractor including: booking venue, tables, chairs, lighting, cutlery, tablecloths etc.

- Contractor should arrange and cover transportation of invitees to the venue (if needed).

- Secure EU visibility of the hall (banners, roll ups and flags, …)

 

§ Result 2: School/Educational activities

- To identify in collaboration with EUREP and the Ministry of Education/UNRWA 8 schools to be selected.

- To organise environmental awareness activities through a movie play.

- To develop a concept of drawing competition.

-To invite representatives of CMWU/PWA to come to the class for a presentation and discussion on their water business.

§ Result 3: Media coverage

- Arrange for the media coverage of the signature event. The media coverage should be maximizing through use of press, TV, radio and social media outlets.

§ Result 4: Visibility/Educational items

-to produce the visibility / educational items to be disseminated (to the invitees during the events, to the pupils during the school activities)

4. Required outputs

The contractor is required to organise activities in 8 selected schools (target: 500 pupils per schools) and taking place in the Gaza strip (in the Southern Governorates: Rafah and Khan Younis).

 

The action should be closely coordinated with: The Coastal Water Municipality Utility (CMWU), Palestinian Water Authority in Gaza (PWA), the Minister of Education/UNRWA, UNICEF and EUREP

Result 1: Organize the information/visibility events

The two events – the one for the water project and the one for the solid waste management project, will be held at two different dates with at least two (2) weeks in between the first event and the second event.

· Participants at the water project event: Participants at the events should be representatives of Medias, the Governmental officials, the Municipalities of Rafah and Khan Younis, Civil Society Organisations. A minimum of 75 persons will be invited.

· Participants at the solid waste management project event: Participants at the events should be representatives of Medias, the Governmental officials, the Municipalities of Rafah and Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah, Civil Society Organisations. A minimum of 75 persons will be invited.

· Venue for the water project event: In full coordination with the Coast Water Municipality Utility and Palestinian Water Authority, the contractor should identify and book a venue with a minimum of 100 capacity or higher (as per number of participants invited). The venue must include appropriate decoration such as flowers, flags etc.

· Venue for the solid waste management event: In full coordination with the MDLF-PDSU and the JSC-KRM, the contractor should identify and book a venue with a minimum of 100 capacity or higher (as per number of participants invited). The venue must include appropriate decoration such as flowers, flags etc.

· Transportation: The contractor should provide transportation to and from the venue of each event for all participants. The transportation should be organized through determined meeting points.

· Meal: The meal should be either meat, chicken, and/or fish. The meal should include salads and at least one soft drink and should be served by waiters.

· EU Visual Identity: visibility items (banners, posters) should be produced and placed at each venue to secure EU image of the event. All donors' logos will be included, according to EU Guidelines.