REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

 

Disaster Risk Assessment (DRA) Specialist- Individual consultancy assignment                  (Ref. No. ICPAC/18/ICS/04)

 

Organization: IGAD Climate Predictions and Applications Center

Name of the Project: Building Resilience through Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation                        

Project ID: P154403

Grant No.: TF0A1090

 

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR DISASTER RISK ASSESSMENT (DRA) SPECIALIST 

1. Background

 IGAD is one of the building blocks of Regional Economic Communities (RECs) of the African Union. IGAD was initially established in 1986 as the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD) to coordinate the efforts of the Member States in combating desertification and promoting efforts to mitigate the effects of drought. The IGAD region has been facing recurrent disasters emanating from human-made and natural hazards. Key among the hazards that evolve into disasters include drought, floods, conflicts, epidemics and fire. Other threatening hazards include: industrial/transport accidents, environmental pollution, crop and livestock pests, earthquakes and land slide. These hazards have caused disasters of varying magnitudes in the past.

Actual and potential disaster risks still remain a serious development challenge for the region in the foreseeable future. Disasters destroy years of development efforts, squander vast resource investments, and perpetuate poverty, damage infrastructure and the natural environment, impoverish communities, and divert national priorities and development resources to emergency management operations. Over the years, the IGAD Secretariat with the participation and involvement of the member states, relevant regional and international organizations and agencies elaborated a disaster management strategy and compiled a comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Programme. The IGAD Council of Ministers endorsed the Disaster Risk Management Programme for the IGAD Region in 2004 and entrusted the Secretariat with its implementation.

IGAD Secretariat has responded to these challenges by implementing the Regional Disaster Risk Management Programme (DRM) starting from 2004. The involvement and cooperation of partners in DRM has been steadily increasing since the adoption of the DRM programme by the Policy Organs of IGAD in 2004. In May2005 the European Commission and the Secretariat of the Africa, Caribbean & Pacific (ACP) Group of States jointly decided to establish an “ACP-EU Facility for Natural Disaster Prevention”. Parallel to this project implementation, the EU funded a Regional Food Security and Risk Management (REFORM) programme. The purpose of these two projects was to adopt a coherent approach to assist ACP states to effectively build their resilience to the long-term impact of natural disasters through the development and strengthening of national and regional disaster risk reduction and disaster management activities and contribute to capacity-building in sub-regional institutions entrusted with disaster risk management as well as in the beneficiary states.

The Member States with the support from the Secretariat and partners have made encouraging progress towards the implementation of the DRM programme by putting in place appropriate policies, plans, institutional frameworks and capacities among other mechanisms. Despite such progress there still remain many gaps and challenges impeding the realization of effective DRM. Experiences have shown that past strategies and response mechanisms have never been adequate. In this regard, there is need for a comprehensive policy on disaster risk management that is proactive, harmonies policies and activities as well as opens initiatives for regional collaboration, aligns the DRM and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) framework/strategy to the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015-2030 and with the Africa Programme of Action for the Implementation of the Africa Regional Strategy on Disaster Risk Reduction (now aligned to Sendai Framework), integrating DRM and Climate Change adaptation measures and strengthens institutional capacities. As climate change, will add new threats to sustainable development efforts of all member states, and intensify climate related disasters, CCA and Disaster Risk Management thus have much in common. IGAD member states have, in their limited capacities, followed separate strategies to respond to these disasters

2.   Building Disaster Resilience to Natural Hazards Programme and the Core Result Areas

 

As part of the partnership between the European Union and the Secretariat of the ACP Group of States a programme on “Building Disaster Resilience to Natural Hazards in the Sub-Saharan African Regions, Countries and Communities”, has been approved to be financed from 10th European Development Fund (10th EDF). IGAD/ICPAC is responsible for implementing this Programme in the IGAD region. The other three (3) African Regional Economic Communities that receiving funding to implement the above programme are: ECAS, ECOWAS, and SADC. The purpose of the programme is to continue supporting the ACP group of States in addressing the challenges of disasters emanating from the natural hazards in their respective regions. This undertaking under the current initiative will have to build on what has been achieved in the past financed from 9th EDF. The fund is channeled and coordinated through the WB/GFDRR which will have an oversight in the project implementation of the respective RECs. 

3.   Overall objective of the project

 

The overall development objective of the project is contributing “to reduce& manage the impacts of future disaster risks emanating from natural and human made hazards and enhance resilience of vulnerable communities by developing disaster resilience capacities in the IGAD region”.

 

The specific objectives of the project are to:

 

1. Sustain political commitments in order to operationalize policies, strategies and legal frameworks on DRM,
2. Enhance the prevention and reduce the impacts of disasters emanating from natural and human made hazards in the IGAD region, and
3. Strengthen capacities of IGAD and DRM institutions of the member

 

4.       Core Result Area of the Project:

 

The core result area of this project is:

 

“African Regional Communities (RECs) have DRR coordination, planning and policy advisory capacities operational so to support their respective member states and regional and sub-regional programmes.”

Under the Core Result Area, the following are the specific results to be realized during the programme implementation from 2015-2018. 

1. RECs’ DRR strategies are operational according to their respective action plans, building on the achievements of previous DRM
2. Regional knowledge and understanding of DRM are enhanced with a particular focus on strengthening national decision-making
3. Cooperation and networking are improved between the RECS and global, regional, and national research institutions and technical centers to strengthen and integrate disaster risk management into sustainable
4. Advice and technical assistance is provided to member states (MS) in developing national DRM policies, strategies and risk reduction
5. Regional capacities are improved to support post-disaster needs assessments and recovery/reconstruction

 

5.       Stakeholders and Beneficiaries

 

The project is designed to improve the capacities of the IGAD/ICPAC and the national DRM institutions to address issues of Disaster Risk Management. These stakeholders include IGAD/ICPAC-Secretariat, the national disaster risk management institutions, sectoral relevant line ministries, national, sub-national and local government agencies, and international organizations dealing with disaster risks.

The direct beneficiaries will be IGAD/ICPAC staff, disaster risk management agency staff and other officials at national level with disaster risk management responsibilities. The ultimate beneficiaries are people at risks from various hazards prevailing in their respective geographical areas.

 

International Organizations such as AUC, UN-ISDR, UN-OCHA, the World Bank/GFDRR, national institutions (e.g. universities working on DRM aspects), AfDB, UNDP, other donors and NGOs active in the field of DRM may contribute to the project by making available data, information and best practices on DRM issues as well as benefit from the results of the project.

 

6.       Institutional Implementation Arrangements

 

The DRM Unit under the guidance of ICPAC Director will play the coordination role during the implementation period. The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is the mechanism established by the IGAD member states to provide technical guidance and support to the DRM section, monitor the progress of DRM, and prioritize hazards to address in member states and in the region. The same TAC members will play a crucial role during the project implementation period. Appropriate technical staff: DRM coordinator, Procurement Officer, Accountant and an Administrative Assistant will be recruited to assist in the implementation of the project activities. Across all the activities the recruitment of Information Technology (IT) specialist is crucial to initiate and support DRM related IT infrastructure. In addition, short term consultants and specialized technical experts will have to be recruited to undertake specific project activities assignments during the project implementation period.

  

7.       Objective of the missions of the Disaster Risk Assessment Specialist

 

The Disaster Risk Assessment specialist will work closely with the project coordinator and the senior DRM expert to undertake all the project activities related to regional hazard and risk assessment and mapping. The DRA specialist will also play a role in undertaking regional and national capacity development trainings for Member States to develop spatial and non-spatial baseline data for disaster risk assessment, hazard monitoring and early warning system. The DRA Specialist will liaise with UNISDR to support the regional implementation of the Sendai Framework Monitor (SFM) in close consultation with the DRM focal institutions of Member States.

  

8.       Duties and Responsibilities

 

8.1.  Hazard Assessment and Risk Information

1. Support IGAD/ICPAC and more specifically the DRM program in the development of hazard and risk assessment products at regional level.
2. Coordinate and lead trainings for member states on the use of Earth Observation(EO) and geospatial technologies to develop/strengthen baseline data for hazard assessment

• Work closely with DRM focal institutions of member states in seasonal and monthly hazards and risk information identification, monitoring and early warning

1. Undertake a baseline survey of the status of hazard monitoring and multi-hazard early warning systems in member states and provide technical support towards the achievement of target G of the Sendai Framework.
2. Contribute to the generation and dissemination of the regional hazard early warning information through, inter alia, Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forums, existing products and portals/tools at ICPAC.

 

8.2. Policy and Coordination

1. Support the activities of the IGAD DRM program and focal institutions of the member states in coordination and harmonization of the Disaster Risk Assessment methods and tools to strengthen understanding risk and put in place hazard monitoring and reporting systems.
2. Contribute to the overall achievements of the project objectives and provide support across the components and activities as per the project work plan.

• Support the regional efforts for successful reporting of the progress made in Member States on the targets and indicators of the Sendai Framework Monitor and Programme of Action (PoA) of Africa Union Commission.

 

8.3. Advocacy and reporting

1. Produce and disseminate communication materials on hazard and risk assessment in the IGAD region to enhance DRR awareness
2. Promote the activities of the DRM project and the DRM activities in the region through appropriate social media platforms

 

9.       Profile of Senior DRA Specialist

 

9.1. Educational Qualifications

The DRA specialist will possess Advanced University degree (Preferably PHD) or higher in areas relevant to Disaster Risk Assessment, Spatial Science or Environment with training on current disaster risk management approaches.

 

9.2. Experience

• He/she will have more than 7 years of experiences in the areas of disaster risk assessment, hazard mapping and spatial analysis,
• He/she will have a proven track record of hazard assessment and mapping in the areas of drought, floods etc. and experience in hazard atlas preparation.
• He/She should have extensive experience in preparing training modules, planning and conducting software based trainings on hazard and risk assessment
• He/she will have excellent command of English and working knowledge of French language will have an added advantage

 

10.    Duration and location of the mission

 

The Disaster Risk Assessment Specialist will be based at the ICPAC in Nairobi, Kenya for a maximum of 12 months. The assignment will include travelling within and outside the region o DRM related DRM activities.

 

11.    Reporting

 

The DRA specialist will regularly report to the ICPAC/ Project Coordinator

• A detailed account of the quarterly progress during the implementation period by referring to the activities of the current project. Constraints in implementing the project on schedule have to be explained and solutions offered on how to overcome them.
• An account of the progress achieved in the implementation of the programme with respect to the duties and responsibilities of the DRA specialist.
• Contribute to midterm and final reports of the project implementation with regards to the key achievements and progress made.

 

How to Apply

Interested Consultants must submit their expression of interest (updated CV and non-returnable educational and work experience credentials with a cover letter) to the address below in person, or by mail no later than 5:00 PM on October 26, 2018.

IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC)

Kenya Meteorological Department Compound

Ngong Road, Dagoretti Corner

Nairobi, Kenya

P.O. Box 10304 GPO 100, Tel (+254) 20-3514426,

Email: director@icpac.net; C.C., jkubo@icpac.net and ahussein@icpac.net