UNDP Jobs - 60604- Consultant - Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Financ

Consultant - Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Financing Mechanism

Location :

Dili, Timor Leste

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

12-Oct-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

35 Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

35 Days

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

This activity is part of the “Strengthening Disaster Risk Management in Timor-Leste – Phase II” (DRM-II) project (2014-2018). The project is geared towards helping the Government of Timor-Leste to strengthen its Disaster Risk Management (DRM) capacity, enhance preparedness and reduce disaster risks. The DRM-II project supports the establishment of institutional, policy and legal systems for DRM in Timor-Leste. It supports interventions at the national, district and sub-district levels to reduce community vulnerabilities and increase household resilience. Increasing community capacities for disaster preparedness and effective response is also an important component of the project.

The DRM-II project is being implemented in partnership with a range of stakeholders with the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MSS) - National Disaster Management Directorate (NDMD) playing an effective coordination role and pursuing the objectives of social inclusion and equality, women empowerment and dissemination of knowledge and skills. The national counterpart, NDMD, is the lead agency for DRM in Timor-Leste. A key institutional weakness of the DRM system in Timor-Leste is the lack of an appropriate public finance mechanism for DRM and disaster risk reduction (DRR). It needs to be addressed through an analysis of current budgetary allocations for DRM and introducing an appropriate public finance mechanism for DRM/DRR, which addresses emergency needs as well as risk reduction and capacity-building needs. It is necessary that budget and administrative procedures for supporting the funding of emergency response and recovery be simplified as much as possible to allow for the speedy allocation of funds to meet relief and recovery needs. UNDP works with the government of Timor-Leste to put in place an appropriate public finance mechanism for DRM/DRR including the advocacy for establishing an emergency reserve fund, available on short notice for acute crisis. With this in mind, the UNDP-TL and the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MSS) are seeking to recruit a consultant who will assist in analysing budgets and expenditures of line ministries related to disaster management, response and relief and in developing recommendations to improve DRM related financing practices and design a public finance mechanism.

The Objective of this assignment is two-fold:

To get a better understanding of the government’s real cost for managing and responding to natural disasters each year through an analysis of line ministries’ annual budgets and quantifying disaster-related expenditures from past years; and
To provide options and design a mechanism to improve the government’s capacity to respond to natural disasters without challenging other responsibilities and line ministries’ budgets.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will guide MSS staff with collection of all available budget and expenditure reports from relevant line ministries from the past five years. These line ministries include minimum Ministries of: Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communication; Ministry of State Administration; Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries; Ministry of Trade, Industry and Environment; Ministry of Education; Ministry of Internal Affairs; Ministry of Defence; and Ministry of Health;
Budget and expenditure reports will be analysed to identify all expenditures related to the management of natural disasters as well as response and relief activities related to natural disasters;
The Consultant will prepare a draft report about the findings and prepare for a workshop to discuss findings and collect further input from ministries and civil society to refine the findings;
Based on the above report and findings, the consultant will develop a set of recommendations for more efficient and effective management of public finances with regards to DRM/DRR and design a public finance mechanism for DRM/DRR, most likely a fund. This new mechanism will aim to stop the use of regular line ministry budgets for disaster response and relief and provide for more effective ways for disaster response and relief as well as for disaster risk reduction;
The Consultant will again present recommendations in a workshop with all relevant ministries and civil society; and
Finally, the consultant will assist MSS-NDMD in the development of a strategy and a set of materials to lobby government for the establishment of the new public finance mechanism.

Competencies

Excellent public speaking and presentation skills involving various audience;
Ability to work under pressure without compromising the quality of work or outputs; and
Ability to work with diverse background of people.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master Degree in Economic, Finance/Audit and other relevant field.

Experience:

Minimum 5 years of work experience in the areas of economics, finance and/or auditing and demonstrated experience and expertise in economic analysis, in particular budget and expenditure analysis;
Proven knowledge in contemporary approaches for financing of disaster risk management and disaster risk reduction and demonstrated expertise in the preparation of high-quality reports, policy and scientific papers;
Ideally, this consultant will also have experience in the development of financial mechanisms, especially funds management; and
Familiar with government processes and procedures, especially related to finance and budget management demonstrated through minimum 3 assignments undertaken in the past.

Language:

Fluency in English (both written and spoken) is required;
Knowledge of Portuguese and/or Bahasa Indonesia or Tetun is an added advantage.

TOR and application documents are accessible via this link http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=25711