The contractor will focus on generating accurate, evidence-based information to support water governance, equitable allocation, and dispute management. The assignment will begin with a comprehensive review of existing hydrological, meteorological, and water use data, including flow records, water abstraction data, infrastructure operations and climate variability patterns. WARMA will supply water flow data. This will be complemented by field data collection and stakeholder consultations to fill information gaps and capture local water-use dynamics across agriculture, hydropower, mining, fisheries, domestic supply, and ecological systems. Besides providing a team of long-term and short-term experts, the Contractor shall facilitate the procurement of services by third parties where necessary. Close coordination and consultation with the GIZ project team in Zambia will be required.
This will contribute to achieving output indicator 3.1 of AWARE 2.0 to carry out Water Deficit and Availability Assessments in the Lower Kafue Sub-catchment, including documentation of the methodology, and stakeholder inclusion used for each of the different assessments, classified into micro/community, meso/Local authority and macro/commercial scale. Based on this classification, the consultant will recommend appropriate and cost-effective approaches for each water dispute area. For instance, at micro/community level transparent visualiation of scientific data, knowledge and experience may be crucial to resolve disputes while at macro scale scientific data is necessary to facilitate dialogue. This means that the consultant will engage different assessment methodologies, based on the above classification, at every water dispute area.
The contractor will further carry out quantitative assessments of water demand versus availability, model scenarios of water deficits under different climatic and usage conditions, and map 10 critical hotspots of water stress. Based on these findings, the contractor will develop decision-support tools and recommendations that strengthen the capacity of existing community-based water resources governance structures to allocate water resources equitably, anticipate shortages, and mediate disputes. The scope also includes the organization of stakeholder workshops to validate results, and capacity-building sessions to ensure uptake by the Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA) and decentralized institutions and organizations.
Specific tasks include:
a) Establishing a concise operational plan and shared understanding of the consultancy"s scope, approach, and expected outcomes for assessing water deficit and availability in 10 critical water dispute selected areas of the Lower Kafue Sub-Catchment.
b) Validating the identified 10 water resources dispute areas in the Lower Kafue Sub Catchment.
c) With active community participation, systematically gather, compile, and validate all relevant hydrological, climatic, socio-economic, ecological, and institutional data necessary for assessing water deficit and availability in the 10 critical water disputes selected areas of the Lower Kafue Sub-Catchment.
d) Conducting a pragmatic and comprehensive evaluation of water resources by quantifying both water availability and demand across competing sectors, and determining the extent, drivers, and patterns of water deficit in 10 critical water dispute selected areas of the Lower Kafue Sub-Catchment.
e) Validating and harmonizing the water allocation framework with the results of the water assessment in task 3 and contribute data in the development of water dispute resolution mechanism that ensures equitable, transparent, and sustainable management of water resources in the 10 critical water dispute selected areas of the Lower Kafue Sub-Catchment.
f) Strengthening capacities for assessing, understanding and solving water dispute at different scales such as Micro/community, Meso/Local authority and Macro/Commercial level for sustainable water resources management in 10 critical water dispute selected areas of the Lower Kafue Sub-Catchment, while ensuring long-term retention and application of the knowledge generated through the consultancy.
g) Synthesizing, packaging, and communicating the key findings of the water deficit and availability assessment in the 10 selected critical water dispute areas of the Lower Kafue Sub-Catchment based on Micro/community, Meso/Local authority and Macro/Commercial level.
The Contractor may be a single firm with local branches or a consortium of various consulting firms. The involvement of local consulting firms from Zambia within subcontracting or joint venture arrangements is permitted and desirable.
The overall duration of the Contract shall be 16 months.