UNDP Jobs - 49103- National Consultant - Risk Modelling Consultant wi

National Consultant - Risk Modelling Consultant with Experience in GIS\Mapping to Prepare a National Risk Profile - (This Position is Open to Sierra Leonean Nationals Only)

Location :

Freetown, SIERRA LEONE

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

02-Sep-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

5 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

5 months

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Reducing the risks associated with climate-related and other physical hazards is increasingly being seen by governments as key to development, sustainability and competitiveness. Loss and damage to public and private assets is rapidly increasing, as economic growth translates into growing exposure to hazards. At the same time, countries have been challenged to reduce their associated vulnerabilities and strengthen resilience.

Traditionally, disaster risks have been addressed by governments through improvements in disaster preparedness and emergency response. However, as losses soar to record amounts, governments are now exploring new strategies and approaches to ensure the sustainability of public investment and the protection and stability of budgets.

One of the main reasons why countries find it hard to justify increasing investment in disaster risk management is the fact that they have difficulties in assessing not just current risks and actual losses, but also in specifying the types and amounts of resources required to strengthen risk governance capacities.

In order to contribute to an increased level of social, economic and environmental development, UNDP and UN-ISDR, in partnership with the European Commission DEVCO, look for strengthen national capacities in the recording of disaster loss and damages as well as in the conduct of probabilistic risk assessments in 5 countries in West Africa region. The objective is to strengthen capacities of countries to systematically account for disaster losses and develop probabilistic estimation of future risks that will contribute to promote the integration of Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction into national development planning systems.

UNDP and UN-ISDR will provide technical support in two areas: i) the setup of a national disaster loss database to properly account, valuate and analyse disaster losses; Ii) the strengthening of capacities to build and understand analytical (i.e. modelled) risk profiles linked to natural hazards (flood, cyclone, landslide, drought and other climate-related hazards, as well as geological hazards such as earthquake and volcanoes).

The aim of this capacity building programme is to:

enhance the understanding of the data requirements and methodological processes required for assessing risk from natural hazards in a probabilistic way;
familiarize with risk information and data formats and their use, while building national risk profiles for the countries
enable the discussion with modelers, in terms of understanding the technical requirements in terms of information and preparation/pre-processing of data;
facilitate the identification and consolidation of a focal point for disaster risk information in each country
These objectives will be achieved through a series of workshops and activities between the workshops that will be supported by a Risk Modelling consultant in each selected country.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective

The objective of the consultancy is to support the government to build the national risk profile including: understanding the fundaments of risk modelling; surveying the data available in the country, including identifying data/expertise gaps and institutional collaboration streams; processing data to build the input for the probabilistic risk model that will be used to build the national risk profile; report to the final seminar on achievements and meaning of the process.

Key Results Expected

The key expected result of this consultancy is to national disaster risk profile for Sierra Leone including risk modelling.

Deliverables

Upon signing the contract, the Risk Modelling consultant will submit a work plan with indicating timelines for completion of various activities as per the present TORs;
Initial survey results to be produced by the second workshop;
Data to be collected and processed as required by the third workshop;
Brief documentation of, and comments on, the source of data collected, gaps in data and expertise encountered issues in the calculation of the national risk profiles (1 page).

Competencies

Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing in English in order to communicate complex, technical information to technical and general audiences;
Skill in negotiating effectively in sensitive situations;
Skill in achieving results through persuading, influencing and working with others;
Skill in facilitating meetings effectively and efficiently and to resolve conflicts as they arise;
Fair understanding of gender mainstreaming ;
Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior and high-ranking members of national institutions;
Display cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Good oral communication skills and conflict resolution competency to manage inter-group dynamics and mediate conflicting interests of varied actors;
Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of quality project reports;
Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Good team players, have ability to work under minimum supervision and maintain good relationships.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in geography, environmental sciences, civil or environmental engineering, urban planning, statistics, or mathematics.

Experience

A minimum of two years of progressively responsible professional experience in disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, hydraulic, hydrology, meteorology, geology, statistics or related fields;
Experience with a local government institution (such as agriculture, environment, infrastructures etc.) using risk information required. Being affiliated with a government institution (such as agriculture, environment, statistics, land use, etc.) a strong advantage;
Experience in GIS/mapping required;
Excellent level of English (writing, speaking and listening) required;
Experience with computer modelling an advantage;
Experience in the areas of hydraulic, hydrology, meteorology, geology an advantage;
Experience in quantifying flood and drought hazards an advantage.

Language Requirements

Fluency in written and spoken English.

Evaluation criteria

The application will be evaluated against a combination of technical and financial criteria. Maximum score is 100% out of a total score for technical criteria equals 70% and 30% for financial criteria. The technical evaluation will take into account the following as per the weightings provided:

Educational Background: 10%;
Methodology of approach in accomplishing the consultancy: 60% ;
Professional Experience with respect to TOR: (a) A good understanding of the process of disaster database management, (b) Strong analytical skills: 20%;
Substantial professional knowledge and experience in Sierra Leone: 10%.

Duration

It is expected that the completion of the deliverables will take 5 months ( 8 September 2014 – 6 February 2015).

Payment Modalities

The payment of professional fee will be made as follows:

A monthly instalment at the end of each month of activities, upon submittal of report of activities;
The last instalment, the reminder of the value of the contract at the end of the last month contract upon delivery of the updated database and presentation of final report.

Application Procedure

Qualified and interested candidates are hereby requested to apply. The application must contain the following:

Cover letter ;
Completed P11 form;
Detailed achievement based CV;
Brief technical proposal on how the consultant plans to conduct the work;
Financial proposal.

NB:

Applications will only be considered if they include all the above mentioned documents.