Background

Uganda has in the recent past experienced a number of disasters; most significantly floods and drought, and also landslides, human and livestock epidemics, pests, forest fires and conflicts, which in most instances have resulted in deaths, property damage and loss of livelihoods. With the increasing manifestation of negative effects related to disasters, building public awareness about disaster risks with proactive engagement of the various stakeholders is becoming critical. The government is refocusing disaster management attention away from reactive response to proactive preparedness and prevention. 

The hazards listed in the previous paragraph are all predictable, some more precisely than others. Indicators of an imminent threat can be observed, analysed and reported. Hazard early warning is an element of the GoU’s proactive preparedness initiative in Disaster Risk Management (DRM): a mechanism which raises public awareness of immediate threats of predictable hazards.  Early warning systems (EWS) generate information products that reflect the capacities of their diverse audiences to understand them, and disseminate them through media commonly available to the recipients.  The messages identify the hazard, its geographic scope; start time and severity, and possibly its duration and actions by recipients.  Key message attributes are timeliness, accuracy and respected authority. 

UNDP has supported the establishment and Operationalization of the National Emergency Coordination and Operations Centre (NECOC).  The third facility of its kind and capacity in Africa, one of its primary functions is the generation of early warning information products and their dissemination by appropriate media to members of the National Platform for Disaster Risk Management, District Disaster Management Committees, and communities. 

The Department of Meteorology  in the Ministry of Water and Environment is the best-known, established institution for early warning in Uganda.  Its daily weather predictions prepare the country with knowledge of imminent meteorological hazards, through communications about heavy rain, electrical storms, high winds, hail storms and extreme temperatures.  The Ministry of Agriculture analyses recent trends of these data and others to predict and warn against conditions that prejudice cultivation, such as drought, plant and animal diseases and pests.   These agencies are actively involved in the preparation of early warning information products in the NECOC.

International agencies publish early warnings and analysis relevant to Uganda.  USAID funds the Famine Early Warning System  which reports on climate, livelihood and food security conditions in regions that include East Africa and specifically in countries including Uganda.  International NGOs have EWS projects in Uganda, such as ACTED’s Drought Early Warning System in the Karamoja region.

Current gaps in DRM:

In response to the frequent disasters which Uganda faces, the government of Uganda put in place measures to address the effect of emergencies and disasters on the population. These measures include the launch of the National Policy for Disaster Preparedness and Management, training of staff on DRM and a system of District Disaster Management committees. Despite this, a number of issues still challenge DRM in Uganda; among these is an ineffective hazard early warning infrastructure and system.

Different hazards require different early warning systems.  Links between analysis and action may be weak, particularly between technical capacity to issue the warning and the public capacity to respond effectively. Accuracy and reliability of information are difficult to maintain but essential for public confidence.  Achieving timely coverage of the stakeholders in the scope of the warnings is an ambitious but necessary goal. Effective communication with all communities is problematic in Uganda with developing infrastructure and diversity of cultures, development stages and geographies.  Devolution of localization and dissemination of early warnings to local authorities is a solution but with 112 districts in Uganda this would be a large capacity development programme.  Once early warning systems are operational, information fatigue may set in. 

Need to harmonize approaches to DRM:

This study will provide a basis for bringing efficiency, coherence and synergy to the diversity of early warning systems and warnings in the country.  It will promote the extension of NECOC capacity to provide early warnings with greater hazard coverage and better focused warnings in terms of stakeholder needs and locations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work:

OPM and UNDP through the Programme, Strengthening Capacities for DRM and Resilience Building, expects the consultant with requisite expertise and experience to study and analyze early warning systems in Uganda, and relevant external systems. The consultant’s scope of work will consist of the following tasks:
 
Review and catalogue existing early warning systems in, and available to, Uganda, and for each provide or assess the following minimum set of attributes (Consultant is encourage to include other relevant attributes);

• Institution name and location;
• Funding source(s) and sustainability;
• Years of operation;
• Hazards predicted;
• Evidence bases of prediction (e.g., sources of information, kinds of instruments);
• Characterization of alert recipients, in terms of their capacity to receive and understand alerts;
• Geographic scope of warnings;
• Range of warning lead times;
• Information sharing, dissemination and recipient feedback protocols .
  

Assess existing institutional arrangements for information sharing, early warning dissemination and recipient feedback:

• How do the EWS institutions assure the quality (accuracy, timeliness, completeness) of the data they acquire to make the predictions on which they base their early warnings?
• What measures do the institutions take to deliver early warning messages to people with no communication media access, e.g., in remote communities?
• How do they maintain and improve their dissemination capacity in terms of transmission media and distribution lists of recipients?
• How do they follow up on early warning dissemination to verify that their messages are received, understood, taken seriously and acted upon?
• How compatible is their EWS with the capacity and scope of the NECOC, in terms of the attributes listed in section i) above and their strengths and weaknesses as sources of NECOC early warning information?
  

Conduct desk review of best practices on early warning systems in other countries and distill learning’s that are applicable to Uganda:

• What are the characteristics of effective and efficient early warning systems?
• What makes these systems work? What are those innovative and cutting edge approach used?
• What was the process used in establishing these systems?  
• What characteristics, components, etc. of those systems are applicable in Uganda?  
• How should those characteristics, components, etc. be applied into the Uganda early warning system?
  

Propose modalities and tools with which these system can be integrated/linked and how the NECOC can receive, integrate and disseminate early warning messages from the diversity of sources available, within Uganda and externally.

• Focus on those source institutions which can productively and reliably interface with the NECOC;
• Detail at least one feasible protocol for the NECOC to receive early warning information from each source.   Assess issues related to implementing the Common Alerting Protocol ;
• What incentives has, or could have, each source to provide its early warning information to the NECOC?
• What capacities in the EW source agencies need to be strengthened to enable effective information sharing?
• What changes to NECOC resources may be required to accommodate information exchange?

Methodology:

The Consultant is expected to undertake a comprehensive desk review of proven effective and efficient early warning systems globally and those that are existing in Uganda. This will be complemented by a close examination of the operation of each of the information sources in the scope of the study.  Some travel may be required, depending on their locations.  The Acting Commissioner, DDPM/OPM, will provide letters of introduction to facilitate their cooperation. The Consultant is also expected to present the draft report to stakeholders, particularly the National Platform on Disaster Preparedness and Management.

Deliverables / Outputs:

• An Inception Report with a detailed work plan for the assignment within one week of engagement;
• Draft technical report covering the scope of study as indicated in this ToR, within three weeks of engagement;
• Presentation of initial findings to the National Platform and other stakeholders;
• Final technical report covering the scope of study as indicated in this ToR.

Working Arrangements:

Institutional Arrangement:

The National Consultant will be supervised by the Acting Commissioner, Disaster Preparedness and Management in the Office of the Prime Minister and the UNDP/OPM DRM Advisor. Introductory letters will be issued by the OPM to facilitate the consultation process to be undertaken by the National Consultant. The outputs/deliverables will be presented by the Consultant in a consultative process involving DRM stakeholders. UNDP will cover the cost for the conduct of the exercise.

Duration of the Work:

The assignment is for a period of 20 working days in accordance with the scope of work and the above schedule of deliverables.

Duty Station:

The National Consultant will be based in Kampala and will be undertaking work specifically in the said area.

Competencies

Functional competencies:

• Excellent analytical skills and strong commitment to sharing expertise and experience;
• Strong communication skills; able to communicate effectively with people and able to write concisely and make presentations in a simple non-technical manner; and
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills.
  

Personal Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work;
• Ability to act professionally and flexibility.
• Excellent spoken and written English language and interpersonal communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• A degree in DRM, emergency/humanitarian response or related qualification from a recognized university.
• Master’s and Doctorate qualification will be an advantage.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years work experience in DRM and early warning systems development;
• Experience working with government, multilateral and bilateral development agencies and civil society organizations in developing information sharing arrangements.
  

Language Requirement:

• Fluency in English is required.

Price Proposal:

The consultants/firm will be paid an “all-inclusive” lump sum amount that is considered fixed regardless of changes in the cost components.

Notes: 

• The term “All inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal.
• Individuals on IC are not UN staff are therefore not entitled to DSAs.  All living allowances required to perform the demands of the TOR must be incorporated in the financial proposal.
  

Payment Modalities:

• An Inception Report with a detailed work plan for the assignment; Draft technical report covering the scope of study as indicated in this ToR 20%
• Presentation of initial findings to the National Platform and other stakeholders 60%
• Final technical report covering the scope of study as indicated in this ToR 20%

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the firm whose offer has been evaluated and determined as

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre- determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
  

Technical Criteria 70%;
 Financial Criteria 30%;

Only firms obtaining a minimum of 70% of the total technical points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria – Maximum 70 points

• Criteria A - Qualification and competence of Consultant– Max 25 points;
• Criteria B - Track record in conducting similar studies - Max 25 Points;
• Criteria C - Approach/Methodology   – Max 20 Points.

Documents to be included when submitting proposals

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II).
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and, telephone number) of the Candidates and at least three (3) professional references.
•  Technical proposal:
•  Description of similar assignments undertaken by firm in the past;
• Methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment. 
• Financial proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (Annex II).
  

Annexes

• Annex I- Individual Contractor General Terms and Conditions
•  Annex II –Offerors Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual Contractor Assignment
  

Annexes (to be downloaded from UNDP Uganda website, procurement notices section:http://www.ug.undp.org).