Result of Service

The consultant will cover the coordination of the overall process related to the integration of disaster risk reduction into UN humanitarian and development programming. To this end, the person will support the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) stakeholders in the inclusion of DRR elements into plans and programmes.

Work Location

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Expected duration

May-December 2023

Duties and Responsibilities

Created in December 1999, 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 organizations and activities in both developed and less developed countries. Led by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG/ASG), UNDRR has over 100 staff located in its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and in regional offices. 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 catalyses action and increases global awareness to reduce disaster risk working with UN Member States and a broad range of partners and stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians and the science and technology community.

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) straddles both development and humanitarian action. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction includes multiple direct linkages to humanitarian action, including links to preparedness, early warning, recovery and ‘build back better’. UNDRR provides policy and normative expertise and plays a convening role scale up risk reduction in humanitarian action, addressing root causes of humanitarian crises and reducing humanitarian needs. This includes engagement in strategic partnerships on displacement, risk financing and social protection, as well as overarching advocacy and knowledge management to strengthen humanitarian-development collaboration. Through its guiding role in Sendai Framework implementation, UNDRR also contributes to enhanced Risk and Vulnerability Information for better humanitarian planning and response. Through the UN Plan of Action on Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience, UNDRR plays a leadership role in integrating DRR across the UN system and contributes to providing a bridge between development and humanitarian communities. Through the UN Plan of Action, the UN System commits to strengthen its joint ability ‘to effectively support national and local communities in early warning, preparedness, response and recovery’ (Result 2.2).

The UN Plan of Action on DRR for Resilience (United Nations, 2016) promotes disaster risk reduction as an “integrating element within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Such integration provides a “practical and tangible bridge” between development and humanitarian communities and serves as a “rallying point” between key stakeholders that share the aim of reducing climate and disaster risk at global to local levels.

UNDRR’s ambition to contribute to scaling up disaster risk reduction in fragile and humanitarian contexts is described under Strategic Objective 1 (Countries use quality risk information and analysis to reduce risk and inform development decisions) and Strategic Objective 3 (Catalyze investment and action in disaster risk reduction through partnership and engagement with stakeholders) of its Strategic Framework. UNDRR amplifies its voice through its convening role, a wide range of partnerships and works on stakeholders’ engagement, including engagement with partners to improve joint risk analysis and develop a shared understanding of risk across humanitarian contexts in consideration of climate change.

UNDRR works on risk knowledge, UNDRR builds partnerships for the development and the use of risk information, focusing on the generation of risk information, as well as on linking risk information producers with user and operational bodies. The risk knowledge programme enhances access to quality risk data, including disaster loss data, it supports the development of disaster risk assessment, including systemic risk assessment and analysis to inform humanitarian and development stakeholders and their respective planning processes. Key partners include the UN system, national ministries and agencies and diverse partners who are providers of risk information.

Building upon the Disaster and Climate Risk Information Platform (DRIP) system in Bangladesh, UNDRR will contribute to aggregate information on hazards, exposure and vulnerability, and structural information like administrative boundaries, topographic maps, satellite data, hydro-met data, macro-economic data, and human development indicators disaggregated sub-nationally if possible – across a broad range of risk areas, from biological, hydrometeorological, environmental to technological, societal and climate change. It makes accessible risk data from government ministries and departments, disaster management and civil protection agencies, sector planners, finance and investment officials, bilateral and multilateral organizations; NGOs and INGOs; researchers; and the private sector.

The consultant will cover the coordination of the overall process related to the integration of disaster risk reduction into UN humanitarian and development programming. To this end, the person will support the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) stakeholders in the inclusion of DRR elements into plans and programmes. The person will work to strengthen the evidence base for and analysis of inter-connected risk, including updating the DRIP with national datasets, conducting workshops on data literacy and ensuring support for the Disaster Loss Database in the country. Additionally, the consultant will support the promotion of the principles and approaches described in the Checklist for scaling up DRR in humanitarian action. This work will be undertaken under the guidance of UNDRR and RCO focal points and can entail, amongst others, review of documents, support to workshop delivery, organisation of meetings and workshops with relevant focal points.

Institutional Arrangements
This position will be based in Dhaka in the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office. The consultant will report remotely to the Associate Programme Management Officer of the UNDRR Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, under the overall supervision of the Deputy Chief of Office. Support and supervision will also be provided by the Risk Knowledge and Partnership Branches of UNDRR, as appropriate. The consultant will further work to ensure close coordination with partners at global, regional, and national level including Humaniatrian Coordination Task Team (HCTT), Inter-Cluster Coordination Group (ICCG), RCO, UNDP, and OCHA, among others. Specific areas of support include the coordination, implementation, and monitoring of ongoing programs in Bangladesh around risk knowledge and the humanitarian-development-peace nexus.

Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Specific areas of support include:

A. Project Coordination
• Facilitating the Information Management Working Group on behalf of the Inter Cluster Coordination Group and RCO and ensure linkages with the Needs Assessment Working Group during preparedness and response
• Facilitating consultations with UN and national authorities.
• Advising on risk data and information collection, application, and governance, including hazard, exposure, vulnerability and climate information and analyses, loss and damage data, and Sendai Framework indicators.
• Supporting decision-making and planning processes are evidence-based and draw on risk information
• Supporting UNCTs, HCTs and UN agencies’ country offices to strengthen coordination to address key capacity gaps, in particular to strengthen joint analysis of risks and vulnerabilities, risk-inform joint planning throughout cluster/sectoral responses, coordinate risk reduction efforts as well as resource mobilization for risk reduction
• Supporting the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Resident Coordinator Office in coordinating the consolidation of risk data and analysis across the nexus (HPC + UNSDCF) through engagement with clusters and sectors and at local, national and regional levels as part of the Bangladesh Disaster and Climate Risk Information Portal (DRIP)
• Providing support to build the capacity of actors involved in humanitarian and humanitarian/development planning to use the Checklist for scaling up DRR in humanitarian action to identify possible gaps and to leverage the DRR/risk analysis tools to fill these gaps;
• Ensuring close coordination with UNDRR’s Interagency Cooperation and other UNDRR Units/Offices, national consultants and partners;
• Supporting gathering and documenting lessons and good practices as a result of applying the Checklist at country-level;
• Promoting learning and exchange on DRR in humanitarian contexts by contributing to knowledge products and capacity-building activities under UNDRR’s ‘Scaling up DRR in Humanitarian Action’ initiative.

B. Risk Information
• Preparing a preliminary list of nationally-generated risk information (on hazards, vulnerability, exposure) – of priority to national stakeholders;
• Conducting an assessment of the legal provisions related to (risk) data management, data collection, access and revision cycles. Recommending steps to improve governance framework and access to risk information;
• Assessing the type of information management systems in use for managing and sharing risk assessment results: data platforms for management and visualization, software systems in use, modules, analytical functionalities, automated linkages, operational architecture, etc.; Collect meta-data about applicable information management systems in the country (software, models, storage, sharing, information management strategies, etc.).
• Coordinating the Information Management Working Group (IMWG) and supporting the build out of the DRIP system in Bangladesh.

Disaster Loss and Damage Database (DLDB)
Support for the development of the national disaster loss database. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the national DRR authority to enhance the collection and management of disaster loss data. The consultant will also support the national authority in reporting on the Sendai Framework Monitor. Strong engagement with other the national DRR stakeholders, particularly members of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief will be required. Upon agreement with the above, the consultant will be responsible for the following task:
• Data management: conducting a data gaps analysis of existing disaster loss data; provide recommendations for the harmonization of data across the DLD and SFM, including the hazard list and data collection tools;
• Collection of loss data: supporting the government in the collection of disaster loss data to enhance the Government’s and partners’ access to risk information and reporting on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. As much as possible, all data should be disaggregated to the maximum degree possible by sex, age, disability status, economic, geographic/administrative area, etc.;
• Governance of loss data: conducting a mapping of institutions and organizations who collect disaster loss data and the tools they employ /produce an overview of other government bodies and organizations who collect data on disaster and climate related losses – describe the data, the sources of this data, the methodologies used;
• Providing recommendations on how to enhance institutional linkages to facilitate the sharing of disaster loss data among sectors and institutions; support the National DRR authorities in developing institutional channels for data sharing with selected sectors; support the national authority in strengthening institutional arrangements (e.g., internal SOPs, MoUs with other organizations) for the collection and use of loss data;
• Supporting the national authority in the process of validating the newly collected loss data;
• Promoting awareness across relevant national institutions of disaster loss data (collected as per the Sendai Framework indicators) and the tools available for the management and analysis of disaster loss data (DesInventar and SFM) to enhance their capacity to collect, monitor and archive disaster data; Consolidate loss databases and facilitate agreement on the use of such information for disaster management purposes – particularly in relation to preparedness.
• Application/use of loss data: undertaking relevant analysis of collected/existing disaster loss data; supporting the National DRR authority in data collection processes; assisting in producing analysis reports, using existing and new disaster loss data from DesInventar and the newly developed disaster loss database; design and roll out a dissemination plan to make the analysis relevant to selected sectors.

Qualifications/special skills

• Advanced university degree in disaster risk, risk analysis and management, risk modelling (including hazard, vulnerability, and exposure) or a related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with a minimum of 2 additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of five (5) years of relevant experience in information management, statistics, risk modelling, development, adaptation and resilience is required.
• Experience in data conversion, management of quantitative and qualitative data systems, integration and projection, mapping/GIS software is required.
• Experience in disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness and/or response and recovery is required.
• Experience in training and building capacity of both government and UN representatives is required.
• Experience in the UN system related to disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, humanitarian-development-peace collaboration, response and recovery is desirable.
• Experience in humanitarian response planning, including supporting the development of Humanitarian Needs Overviews and Humanitarian Response Plans or other humanitarian plans at global and/or country level is desirable.

Languages

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of Bengali is desirable.

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.