INTRODUCTION TO GGGI

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. To learn more please visit about GGGI web page.

In the Dominican Republic, GGGI is working with the Emergency Operations Center (COE, by its Spanish acronym), the National Council for Climate Change and Clean Development Mechanisms (CNCCMDL, by its Spanish acronym) and the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD, by its Spanish acronym) in strengthening the countries Early Warning Systems. This consultancy is embedded in a wider project that includes: 1) the design of a framework for a Multi-Hazard Early Warning System; 2) the development of the Risk and Vulnerability towards Emergencies Atlas and; 3) the strengthening of Alerta-COE smartphone app.

The objective of the assignment is to assist in the design of a framework to effectively transitioning from the existing Early Warning Systems to a Multi Hazard Early Warning System based on Geographical Information System technology. The prioritised risks include but are not limited to: flooding due to hydrometeorological events, seismic, tsunamis, fire (structural and wildfire), heat waves, and health vectors.

ACTIVITIES

The consultancy must carry out at least the following activities:

1. Review international and regional EWS focusing on their scopes, limitations, advantages, lessons learned, and best practices. The review should be focused on the selected hazards.
2. Identify past and current EWS, EWS frameworks, and related efforts in the Dominican Republic. The review should be focused on the selected hazards.
3. Characterize existing EWSs of prioritized risks in the Dominican Republic and conduct a detailed analysis of their capacities. The characterization should cover all components of MH-EWS (Disaster Risk Knowledge; Detection, Monitoring and Forecasting; Warning Dissemination and Communication; and Preparedness to Respond). In all components, the characterization should include the regulatory, institutional and governance framework and the existing data or technologies.
4. Diagnose Dominican Republic’s EWSs and frameworks based on international and regional best practices. Particularly, the diagnosis should focus on the assessment of the Forces, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats of transitioning from the existing EWS towards an GIS-based MH-EWS at a national level.
5. Propose recommendations and a roadmap for the transition towards a national GIS-based MH-EWS. The roadmap should contain information for the implementation in the short, medium and long-term detailing key stakeholders, responsible parties, activities, timeline and high-level cost estimations.

DELIVERABLES

Under direct supervision of the Risk and Vulnerability Officer, and in close collaboration with the GGGI country team, the consultant will develop the following deliverables by the end of the consultancy:

1. Deliverable 1: Detailed workplan. It should contain a detailed description of activities to be conducted during the consultancy, indicating data sources and needs, milestones and identified barriers.
2. Deliverable 2: EWS best practices and lessons learned report. The report will indicate the selection of international and regional cases relevant to Dominican Republic circumstances and focusing on multi-hazard EWS, and will conduct a deep dive on their scopes, limitations, advantages, technological and technical needs, cost, lessons learned, and best practices.
3. Deliverable 3: Dominican Republic EWS Diagnosis Report. The report will deliver a state-of-the-art review of Dominican Republic’s EWS capacities, conduct a comparative analysis between the Dominican Republic (DR) and international and regional best practices, and identify areas of opportunity and key activities to improve DR EWS capabilities. The report should also consider the efforts under development by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD). Additionally, the consultancy should diagnose for each prioritized threat, data sources, information flows, processing and response times. The consultant will interview key stakeholders and government agencies regarding EWS in Dominican Republic to deliver the report. The report should reflect the content outlined which includes the characterization of all components of MH-EWS (Disaster Risk Knowledge; Detection, Monitoring and Forecasting; Warning Dissemination and Communication; and Preparedness to Respond). In all components, the characterization should include the regulatory, institutional and governance framework and the existing data or technologies. Additionally, all components should be assessed independently regarding their forces, opportunities, weaknesses and threats.
4. Deliverable 4: EWS improvement roadmap report. Based on the findings from previous deliverables, the consultant will propose an EWS improvement roadmap and deliver recommendations towards the development of a Multi-Threat EWS framework and on the interoperability of existing EWS.

All deliverables will be delivered in Microsoft Word. Featured diagrams should be editable in MS Office. All project reports will be delivered in Spanish and will be accompanied by executive summaries of all deliverables in English. Furthermore, all reports must comply with GGGI formatting guidelines. Draft reports will be submitted for a two-week review period on behalf of GGGI team and counterparts. Feedback must be integrated into the final reports.

REQUIREMENTS

The consultant should meet the following requirements:

• Professional with a postgraduate degree in risks and vulnerability management, natural sciences, engineering (e.g. climate change, environmental), biology, geology, geography, environmental science or related.
• At least five (5) years of relevant professional experience in the field of risk and vulnerability management.
• At least two (2) years of professional experience related to early warning systems.
• Experience working with LAC countries’ public sector institutions or international organisations.
• Experience designing and conducting stakeholders’ consultation processes is an advantage.
• Experience developing Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems for flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, structural and wildfire, heat waves or health vectors is highly desirable.
• Fluency in English and Spanish.
• Strong skills in assertive communication.
• Ability to produce deliverables with minimal supervision.
• Strong understanding of the concepts of climate change (adaptation), green growth and/or sustainable development in the context of developing countries, sectoral issues and policy and regulatory approaches in developing and emerging countries, and recent developments and global trends in the area of expertise.
• Exceptional analytical and quantitative skills, along with strong synthesis and strategic thinking skills.