Background

The earthquake of 12 January 2010, which dramatically affected the Port-au-Prince/Leogane areas, was a brutal reminder of the vulnerability of buildings and Infrastructures in Haiti, as well as of the low level of capacity to properly design and build to mitigate against earthquake hazard. The 35 seconds of the 12 January 2010 earthquake have cost the country 100% of its GDP, proving that the strategy of sitting idle against a known natural threat is not acceptable. Haitian development goals cannot be achieved without developing the country’s resilience to the natural hazards that affect it. Haiti’s exposure to earthquakes, including in the northern departments, demands instead a proactive approach to limit human and economic losses during future earthquake events.

The densely populated coastal towns of northern Haiti are located along the well-known, active “Septentrional” fault line. As a result, all scientific information indicates that the region is facing a high level of earthquake hazard, similar to or greater than the one posed in the southern part of the country by the “Enriquillo” fault line. The “Septentrional” fault line is responsible for the magnitude 8 earthquake of 1842, estimated to have killed 50% of the population of Cap Haitien at the time and known to have devastated the cities of Port-de-Paix and Fort Liberté. That earthquake was accompanied by a tsunami, which would be devastating today given the poorly prepared population density at sea level in major cities of northern Haiti. Despite this, the rarity of significant earthquakes in Haiti since 1842 had contributed to a lack of interest by the population and decision makers, who have not developed the knowledge or tools necessary to adapt to this threat. As a result, urban and economic development in the northern cities of the country has been carried out with no consideration for earthquake or tsunami hazard.

To reverse this trend and to protect northern Haiti from human and economic losses during earthquakes to come before they strike, the Government of Haiti has decided to initiate a “seismic risk reduction plan” – the Plan Nord programme, for the north of the country (departments of Northwest, North, and Northeast).

Although much remains to be done to fully quantify earthquake risk in Haiti, there is enough understanding to act, by adapting and implementing well-known risk reduction measures that are widely endorsed. These measures are diverse and will involve many stakeholders, both public and private. Acting now to reduce the risk and developing local capacity to confront it will greatly reduce the human and economic loss in the next – and inevitable – earthquake to hit the region.
The general objective of Plan Nord programme as a whole is to reduce the vulnerability of Haiti’s departments of the Northeast, North and Northwest against earthquake risk by strengthening the resilience of the infrastructure and populations in order to mitigate economic and human losses in a future, inexorable, earthquake.

The project is built upon four pillars:

• Improving knowledge and awareness of the earthquake threat;
• Harmonizing, cooperating and communicating about the earthquake risk and on solutions to prepare for it;
• Evaluating the vulnerability of existing buildings and proposing solutions and tools to reduce it; and
• Training and advising on risk and solutions to adapt to it and building local capacity.

The main deliverables of the overall programme are intended to be:

• Hazard assessment of the majors urban centres through seismic micro zonation and implementation in a multihazard database;
• Diagnostic of earthquake risk perception and of the relevant socio-economic environment in northern Haiti;
• Building and infrastructure assessment and proposed retrofitting solutions for main building types;
• Earthquake action plan for the 3 main cities of northern Haiti;
• Training of construction professionals (from masons to engineers, both public and private sector);
• Education and outreach to the general public with an emphasis on schools and hospitals;
• Improvement of the preparedness and response capacity at the local level.

Work began under the program in 2012, focusing on hazard assessment of the majors urban centres through micro zoning studies of the four majors cities and detail assessment of nine majors public buildings. Good progress has also been made on other aspects of the project including public education and outreach. The project is anticipated to be completed in 2015.

It is acknowledged that the programme is a starting point. For this reason a major dimension of the overall approach will be to advocate and form partnerships, for an expansion of the approach, both within the project area and more broadly across Haiti.

It is acknowledged that the programme is a starting point. For this reason a major dimension of the overall approach will be to advocate and form partnerships, for an expansion of the approach, both within the project area and more broadly across Haiti.

Duties and Responsibilities

Functions / Key Results Expected

Summary of key functions:

Under the overall leadership of the project manager, and in close coordination with the UNDP urban risk reduction expert, the post holder will:

• Support the strategic direction, and provide technical guidance and supervising Earthquake Reduction programming in support of UNDP Haiti, government institutions and other stakeholders.
• Advise and assist the UNDP Project Manager and advisors team on redesigning the seismic risk reduction project for northern Haiti into sub-projects easily to implement within the Haiti context;
• Assist technically on development of RFPs and selection of bidders /individuals consultants for the implementation of sub projects;
• Provide advisory services to UNDP/Government, National and international stakeholders in substantive earthquake and tsunami disaster management policy issues as well as disaster and climate risk reduction initiatives;
• Provide strategic guidance and supervision to the contractors and project implementation team in the four targeted cities;
• Serve as interface between the project team, DRR Unit and the Government of Haiti (including with government technical departments in Port au Prince);
• Assessment of capacity building needs of the government and partner agencies and identifying opportunities for making improvements in current and future programming of UNDP for effective earthquake and tsunami risks reduction programme;
• Creation of strategic partnerships among key stakeholders, including, UN agencies, government keys ministries, donors, international and national NGOs, and other international and regional professionals and institutions involved in earthquake reduction programme with a view to advancing the overall objectives of the Plan Nord;
•  Advocate for and assist the government in implementing disaster risk management strategy and mainstreaming disaster risk reduction approaches in government’s policies plans, and monitoring systems across sectors at central and local levels;
• Support the mobilization of resources to support the continuation of seismic reduction efforts in Haiti.

Specific responsibilities:

• Serve as technical adviser to the project manager;
• Take responsibility to provide technical guidance to project team;
• Review of technical documents, study reports, assessments and evaluations and policy drafts, and provide inputs to ensure quality of these documents;
• Assist with the evaluation of the bids and implementation of subproject as required;
• Collect necessary information from identified people and relevant documents to facilitate and improve the phase II implementation of the project;
• Contribute to the strengthening of capacity for the Plan Nord and DPC staffs involved in the development of action plans for reduction of seismic risks;
• Contributing in the development of the curriculum related to Earthquake and tsunami preparedness;
• Explore opportunities for cross learning with other country’s experiences within the region and outside and support UNDP DRR programme team and partners to be actively engaged in those kinds of learning and experience sharing events;
• Identify key partnerships with stakeholders in the project area, nationally and internationally to help advance to Plan Nord Project and its overall objectives as well as broader seismic risk reduction in Haiti.
  

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates high moral integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional competencies:

• Effective communication skills and ability to establish good working relationships with national and local authorities, and international interlocutors;
• Ability to work and act under pressure
• Excellent computer literacy;
• Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office;
• Capability to mobilise resources, maintain co-ordination with the donors and UN Agencies and formulate programme and projects;
• Excellent networking skills;
• Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, team oriented work style.
  

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Completion of an advanced university degree (Masters or equivalent) in earthquake or structural engineering.
  

Experience

• At least five (5) years of work experience in seismic risk reduction disaster management, vulnerability reduction, capacity buildings, sustainable housing or a related field with in programme development, management and coordination function;
• Proven experience in design of earthquake prevention/emergency plans with visible impacts on enhanced resilience – including in developing country contexts;
• Experience with vulnerability assessment and retrofitting solutions and building code. Excellent IT skills especially MSWord processing, PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel;
• Work experience of French speaking countries and a familiarity with a multi-hazard country will be a strong asset;
• Interest and experience of working in multi-cultural environment;
• Strong project management experience would be an advantage;
• Past experience in working with the UN, and UNDP in particular, would be an advantage;
• Knowledge and experience of the Haitian context would be an advantage.
  

Language:

• Excellent spoken and writing skills in French and English;
• Knowledge of creole would be an advantage.