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, analyzed 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[1] 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[2] 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
ObjectivesThe main objective of the consultancy services is to map existing early warning systems in Uganda to specific hazards, economic and social sectors, and geographic locations and areas, and to propose how the NECOC could integrate or redistribute these EWS channels.
Specific objectives
- Catalogue existing sources of hazard early warnings in Uganda, and regional and global sources with relevance to Uganda;
- Characterize the early warning sources in terms of usefulness to the NECOC, considering their hazard scope, geographic range, kinds of recipients, frequency, credibility, lead times and sustainability, etc;
- Gather global best practices on early warning systems and distill learnings that are applicable to Uganda;
- Propose modalities and tools with which these system can be integrated/linked and how the NECOC can receive, integrate and disseminate the sources’ early warning information.
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 encouraged 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
- 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?
- 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?
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 have, 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?
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.
Duration
- 1st week - consultation with relevant agencies, review documents, policies and strategies and submit inception report;
- 2nd week - conduct detailed assessments of the NECOC’s and other agencies’ EWS, conduct comprehensive desk review of global early warning systems;
- 3rd week – analyze the findings, prepare the draft report and submit it for comments;
- 4th week – share and incorporate feedback/comments, finalize and submit report to OPM and UNDP.
- An Inception Report with a detailed work plan for the assignment;
- Draft Technical Report covering the scope of study as indicated in Section IV of this ToR;
- Presentation of initial findings to the National Platform on Disaster Preparedness and Management and other stakeholders;
- A final technical report/study as per the scope of study indicated in Section IV of this ToR.
Consultancy Implementation Arrangements
- The contract will be performance-based, for 4 weeks spread over a period of 2 months. Terms and conditions of service linked to the type of proposed contract will apply with overall reporting to the Acting Commissioner for Disaster Preparedness and Management and the DRM Advisor;
- The consultant will have all technical obligations and guidance on a day-to-day basis from the Acting Commissioner for Disaster Preparedness and Management and the DRM Advisor and will report to UNDP on all contractual obligations or as shall be advised by UNDP;
- It is expected that this contract will require the consultant to closely work with the Department for Disaster Preparedness and Management of the OPM and the UNDP DRM Team based in the OPM.
Competencies
- Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
- Mature judgment and initiative;
- Ability to present complex issues in a simple and clear manner;
- Ability to work under pressure;
- Initiative and independence.
Core skills:
- Analytical capacity and demonstrated ability to process, analyze and synthesize complex, technical information from different disciplines;
- Ability to innovate, combining methodological approaches and data from various levels and disciplines and report writing;
- Excellent 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.
- 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.
- Excellent spoken and written English language.
- Payment shall be by the lump sum modality in the following 3 installments. These shall be all inclusive and the contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components
- An Inception Report with a detailed work plan for the assignment;
- Draft Technical Report covering the scope of study as indicated in this ToR;
- Presentation of initial findings to the National Platform on Disaster Preparedness and Management and other stakeholders;
- A final technical report/study as per the scope of study indicated in this ToR.
Cumulative analysis
The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant 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.
Financial Criteria weight; - 30%
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation
Technical Criteria: Maximum 70 points
Criteria: Points
- Education and Language skills:10;
- Knowledge of early warning systems:15;
- Relevant experience in conducting similar assignments: 25;
- Description of approach/methodology to assignment:20.
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 Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
- Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
- A 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)