Call for EOIS: Access to Essential WASH Services and Emergency Preparedness (Congo DR)

Deadline: 30-Sep-2026

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is inviting national and international NGOs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to submit concept notes for projects that improve access to essential water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, strengthen emergency preparedness, and support the progressive transition of recurrent WASH services to national and local systems. The programme targets displaced and refugee populations affected by the prolonged humanitarian crisis in the DRC. It combines emergency preparedness and response with longer-term efforts to strengthen national, local, and community structures responsible for WASH services. An important focus of the programme is ensuring that forcibly displaced populations can access safe, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable WASH services in both emergency and transition settings.

About the UNHCR DRC WASH Programme

The Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to experience a complex humanitarian crisis driven by armed conflict, forced displacement, natural disasters, climate change impacts, and recurring health emergencies. These challenges place considerable pressure on natural resources and basic social services, particularly safe water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure. Refugees from the Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Burundi, together with returnees and stateless persons, are among the populations affected in targeted provinces.

The programme covers areas including:

- Ex-Équateur. - Bas-Uélé. - Ituri. - Haut-Uélé. - Sud-Kivu. The initiative seeks to combine immediate emergency preparedness and response capacity with a progressive transition of recurrent WASH services to competent national, local, and community authorities and structures. Key Objectives The programme aims to address critical WASH needs while strengthening systems that can provide sustainable services over the longer term.

Key objectives include:

- Improving access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene services. - Strengthening emergency preparedness and rapid response capacity. - Improving the functionality and maintenance of existing WASH infrastructure. - Reducing protection risks and barriers to WASH access. - Ensuring services are accessible to women, children, older persons, and persons with disabilities. - Strengthening national, local, and community WASH systems. - Supporting the progressive transition of recurrent services to competent authorities and structures. - Improving climate resilience and environmental sustainability where directly linked to WASH services. - Strengthening coordination among authorities and WASH actors. - Supporting responsibility-sharing in line with the Global Compact on Refugees. Priority WASH Challenges Projects under the programme are expected to respond to key challenges affecting displaced and refugee populations. These include insufficient or disrupted access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene services, particularly in areas affected by emergencies and displacement. Another concern is the weak functionality and maintenance of existing WASH infrastructure. Improving infrastructure alone is not sufficient if systems cannot be properly maintained and managed. The programme therefore combines infrastructure support with stronger community structures, monitoring, coordination, and institutional capacity. Emergency preparedness is another major priority. Targeted areas may face armed conflict, displacement, natural disasters, climate-related risks, and health emergencies that can disrupt WASH services. Emergency Preparedness and Response A central component of the initiative is strengthening the ability of WASH systems and actors to prepare for and respond to emergencies. Projects should contribute to improved capacity for: - Emergency preparedness. - Rapid WASH response. - Identification of critical service gaps. - Monitoring of infrastructure functionality. - Coordination during emergencies. - Continuity of essential WASH services. - Community-level response mechanisms. The programme is aligned with Strategic Priority 3 of UNHCR’s Multi-Year Strategy 2027–2030 for DRC, which focuses on emergency preparedness and response. Transition to National and Local Systems The programme does not focus solely on short-term humanitarian assistance. It also seeks to progressively transition recurrent WASH service management to competent national, local, and community systems. This approach is consistent with the Global Compact on Refugees and the Humanitarian–Development–Peace Nexus. The transition approach is intended to strengthen ownership and responsibility at national and local levels while supporting the continuity and sustainability of essential services. Applicants should therefore demonstrate how their projects can contribute to stronger institutional and community systems rather than creating parallel structures that cannot be sustained. WASH Infrastructure and Service Improvement Selected projects may support the rehabilitation or targeted development of safe and accessible water and sanitation systems. Infrastructure-related activities should respond to identified needs and contribute directly to safe and sustainable WASH services.

Projects should consider:

- Infrastructure functionality. - Water safety and quality. - Accessibility. - Maintenance requirements. - Community management. - Sustainability of services. - Emergency preparedness. Needs assessments and regular functionality and quality monitoring will be important components of implementation. Inclusive WASH Services The programme emphasizes equitable access to WASH services. Projects should address protection risks and barriers that may prevent vulnerable groups from accessing essential services.

Particular attention should be given to

- Women. - Children. - Older persons. - Persons with disabilities. - Other vulnerable displaced and refugee populations. Accessible feedback and complaint mechanisms shoul