Result of Service

The consultant will contribute to reinforcing the capacity of the City of Astana to strengthen its disaster resilience agenda, while enhancing the attention to the relevance of the inclusiveness agenda for disaster risk reduction, in line with the priorities of the Sendai Framework reaffirmed in its Midterm Review. The service will also allow further piloting of the Disaster Resilience Scorecard annex for the inclusion of persons with disabilities, as one of the flagship products of the MCR2030 initiative.

Work Location

Astana, Kazakhstan

Expected duration

Sept to Dec 2023

Duties and Responsibilities

Background information
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is the designated focal point in the United Nations system for the coordination of efforts to reduce disasters and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the United Nations and regional. Specifically, UNDRR guides, monitors, analyses, and reports on progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, supports regional and national implementation of the Framework and catalyzes action and increases global awareness to reduce disaster risk.
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction stresses the need for better governance of risk, in which the State has the primary role in reducing disaster risk. Building resilience to disasters also brings together the responsibilities of many sectors, stakeholders, and levels of governance. By ensuring effective coordination of disaster risk reduction at national level, National Platforms play an instrumental role in ensuring an all-of-government and all-of-society approach to reducing risk and building resilience. These efforts are intimately tied to the coordination efforts at local level (ex. Local platforms), as well as supranational level (ex. European Forum for DRR). Through the drive and coordination of National Sendai Focal Points, the platforms have a crucial role in coordinating strategies, policies, actions, reporting etc. to ensure a more coherent implementation of risk reduction priorities, critical to the implementation and monitoring of the Sendai Framework.
Across the Europe and Central Asia region, a number of national coordination mechanisms is in place, with different structures, legal status, budgets, scope and levels of activity. Nevertheless, all aim to ensure multi-stakeholder engagement in building resilience at national level, by implementing DRR measures and mainstreaming risk reduction dimensions across relevant sectorial policies, programs and instruments.
At an EU level, the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU, running from July to December 2023, has put emphasis on risk governance and DRR coordination mechanisms in the context of the work of its Civil Protection Working Party. This builds on the recognition, at EU level, of a need to enhance coherence, integration and multistakeholder engagement when building resilience and strengthening disaster prevention and risk reduction.
In 2020, UNDRR released a regional overview of National Platforms in the Europe and Central Asia region, gathering information on 37 National Platforms and related coordination mechanisms.

Mission and objectives:

As member of the Making Cities Resilient 2030 global network and a resilience champion in the Central Asia region, the City of Astana is strengthening its engagement on Disaster Risk Reduction. In line with the priorities of the Sendai Framework, reaffirmed through its Midterm Review, UNDRR is working with the city of Astana on strengthening DRR and inclusiveness, by supporting a resilience assessment using UNDRR’s “Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities: Annex for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities” instrument, presently undergoing a pilot phase in a select cohort of cities on a global scale.

This project aims to facilitate the piloting of the Scorecard assessment through the running of an assessment workshop, the development and running of a consultation of the City of Astana’s Technical Working Group and relevant stakeholders and generating a set of recommendations for disability inclusion in the local resilience strategy and to reinforce the inclusiveness agenda in the City of Astana’s engagement on DRR and resilience building. The consultant will report to the Project Manager in charge of this project.

The consultant will perform the following tasks:

Output 1: Workshop and Training
• Facilitate preparation and a one-day workshop, including city authorities, representatives of organizations for persons with disabilities, UN Disability Inclusion group representatives, and UNDRR experts.
• Provide an overview of disaster risk reduction and inclusivity.
• Introduce and guide participants through the Scorecard Disability Annex methodology and tool.
• Coordinate group discussions to assess the Scorecard dimensions and provide recommendations.
• Summarize workshop findings in a brief workshop report.

Output 2: Consultation Process
• Based on workshop findings, define a follow up questionnaire in collaboration with Astana City Hall and the Technical Working Group (TWG) for DRR.
• Conduct online/phone consultations with relevant stakeholders to refine initial assessment inputs and finalize disability inclusion recommendations for the local resilience strategy.
• Produce a brief report of the findings of the consultation process.

Output 3: Final Recommendations Report
• Develop a list of recommendations for disability inclusion in the local DRR strategy based on workshop outcomes and consultation inputs.
• Collaborate with UNDRR and Astana City Hall to compile recommendations into a comprehensive final report.
• Submit the final report by the end of December 2023.

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in social sciences, or related area is required. A first-level university degree in combination with at least two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
A minimum of five years of relevant working experience is required, with experience in at least one of the following fields: disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, climate change adaptation, land use planning and management, urban and local authority engagement, community engagement, disability inclusion and relevant areas. Experience in public administration, communications, research, and academia is desirable.

Languages

Fluency in English is required (both spoken and written). Fluency in Russian is desirable (both spoken and written).

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.