1.

The project proposes to enlist the services of SOs towards providing community development technical and financial support services to the benefiting communities and GPs. SOs would be one of four key actors (the other three being KRWSA, GP, Beneficiary Committee) as they will be have to work throughout the scheme cycle. The designated functions of Sos indude : creating awareness among, and mobilizing benefiting communities for group action, enabling beneficiary groups, the preparation and implementation of community empowerment plans. CEP comprises nine modules that involve: community plan; women's development initiatives; SHP; coastal fishers' plan (where appropriate); take-over rehabilitating and O&M of existing KWA schemes capacity building plans; implementation schedule, community monitoring; mutual obligations and responsibilities, conducting and / or facilitating in building capacity, and the liaison activities between the GP and other agencies.

2.

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria for SOs to participate in the project are:

• A Legal entity: registered body under applicable state law; registration must have made atleast three years prior to the date of enlistment for each batch. Should have an organisational mandate to participate in water supply and sanitation project.

• A secular organisation with no affiliation to political parties.

• An independent governing body with no political / government representation. An organisation becomes eligible so long as it has no representation from project administering department (IWD)

• Non-Govemment entity: Sources income should be either owned funds or fees related to specific activity or services and devoid of government grants. No organisation that receives ( or has received in the past three years ) government grants for meeting nonproject tied recurring expenses will be eligible for inclusion. Similarly, staff should have been hired exclusively from the on-government sector. No organisation which has employees seconded by the government will be eligible for inclusion.

• Functioning for a period of minimum of three years, at least in the state, if not in the project districts, as evident by on-going activities.

• A successful / proven record of intermediation services mobilizing rural communities for group action; working with women, the landless, SCs tribals, or other less endowed groups; and engaging in RWSS is desirable.

• Staff composition should be either already endowed or be in a position to deploy appropriate staff ( at least a third of should be women). Staff must know the local language.

• A good record of bookkeeping as evident by audited statement of accounts at least for the last three years.

• Free from litigation.

3.

Review and short-listing procedures

• KRWSA will place an advertisement in the local daily newspapers ( at least five months prior to the start each batch), advertising the project, and seeking an expression of interest from the willing SOs. Simultaneously efforts will be made to widely publicize this through direct communications with research / consulting agencies, government organisation, GPs, Block panchayats, etc.

• KRWSA will verify the credibility of SOs, responding to the advertisement in two stages. First, feedback will be sought from :

  1. the local district / block administration; and
     

  2. blacklisted, if any, from government agencies, and national and international donor agencies.

  Based on the feed back, a screening will be done a first stage list will
  be prepared

• The first-state list SOs will be asked to submit: (i) detailed information related to the eligibility criteria on a prescribed format; and (ii) an assessment note on two successful projects that the organisation has completed within the last three years. Subsequently, the KRWSA will visit the field and verify the track record. During the field visit, the KRWSA will conduct a review which would include a manpower assessment, the type and availability of existing staff to work on the project and assessment of other resources which the organisation could bring into the project. The review will also include aspects related to finance viz., annual budget, sources of financing, extent of establishment costs etc. Specifically, technical works, if any, carried out by the organisation, will also be assessed. The extent of commitment will have to be assessed in order to determine the impact and scale of operation the organisation would be capable of undertaking.

• Based on the filed-tevel feedback, the suitability organisations to participate in the project will be assessed adopting a qualitative scale assigning points on the following basis:

• Organisations with a minimum of 50 points will be empanelled. This will be reviewed and finalized by a committee headed by the executive director, directors, of operation, HRD, and Finance. This empanelled list, and the details pertaining to each organisation will be made available to the GPs for the final selection.

4.

The empanelled list will be updated before the start of every batch. Newspaper advertisements will be placed seeking expressions of interest. KRWSA may also invite applications from organizations other than those that have responded to the advertisement.

5.

Each GP will constitute a committee with its president as the chairperson and comprising vice president, standing committee chairperson and an external expert as members. This committee will choose a SO from the empanelled list. Once the GP selects a SO, it will be contracted out by KRWSA. No SO will work for more than two GPs in any batch. Participation of a SO in any batch will be subject to satisfactory performance (as assessed by KRWSA) during the previous batches.