Background

India’s geo-climatic conditions as well as its high incidence of poverty and socio-economic vulnerability, make the country highly vulnerable to natural disasters. According to the Working Group Paper on Disaster Management for the 12th five year plan, in the past 30 years, the country has been hit by approximately 25 major disasters apart from heat waves, cold waves and heavy winds affecting some areas of the country. The human and economic losses from disasters are enormously high in India as compared to other developing nations of the world. According to a World Bank, direct losses from natural disasters have been estimated to amount to up to 2 per cent of India’s GDP and up to 12 per cent of central government revenues. Enhancing resilience is one of the underlying message of the recently approved Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030).

Over the last two decades the central and state governments have taken numerous steps to strengthen their disaster management systems. The cumulative impacts of all these initiatives are clearly visible in advanced early warning of hydro-meteorological disasters, coordinated response to actual and impending disasters, drastic reduction in human and animal mortalities in disasters, and general increase in education and awareness about disasters at all levels. The impacts are not so visible in assessing the hazards, vulnerabilities and risks of disasters, preventing the creation of new risks and mitigating the existing risks of disasters. The progress achieved has also not been uniform throughout the country. In this context the Government of India-UNDP initiative to develop benchmarks and indicators for Risk and Resilience Score Card is significant and relevant.

This initiative would help in improving disaster preparedness, directing investments, making financial allocations, etc. It would help in identifying areas where special interventions are needed in order to reduce the annual GDP loss due to disasters and to support risk informed development, prioritize investments besides providing concrete policy options. The scorecard would help private sector, NGOs and financial institutions in customizing their investments and provision of services including risk insurance mechanisms. In the long term this would help in ranking of the states which could serve as criteria to guide allocation of resources (not just limited to funds) for disaster preparedness and risk reduction. Annual or biennial Disaster Risk Reduction Report for the country can also be prepared based on the analysis of the information collected through these benchmarks and indicators. to support the process of developing the benchmarks and indicators as well as the country report, UNDP has appointed a lead consultant who would be supported by three research associates.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Individual Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Emergency Analyst, Energy & Environment Unit, UNDP-India and Lead Consultant (Disaster Score Card). He/she would be responsible for carrying out the following tasks:

  • Identify the current and time series datasets that are available on various natural and manmade hazards;
  • Collect the above mentioned datasets that are available in public domain;
  • Obtain the above mentioned datasets that are not available in public domain by approaching national and state level institutions that are repository of these datasets;
  • Collect such other data/information as may be required through questionnaires, interviews, literature review or such other methods as may be required;
  • Compile, collate and analyze the data in appropriate formats as may be decided by the Expert Working Groups and Lead Consultant;
  • Assist in organizing the meetings of the Expert Working Group and Regional/ state level workshops and support in documenting the proceedings of the meetings;
  • Work under the overall supervision and guidance of the Lead Consultant and assist him in developing the benchmarks and indicators related to Hazards;
  • Any other task related to the assignment.

Deliverables:

  • Review report prepared with list of institution and type of data set available on natural and human induced hazards;
  • Hard/soft copies of the data set on natural and human induced hazards collected and inventoried;
  • Report prepared after compilation, collation and analyses of the data in appropriate formats;
  • Reports/Proceedings prepared for the meetings of the Expert Working Group and Regional/ state level workshops.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

  • Good communications and organizational & interpersonal skills;
  • Ability to coordinate and facilitate consultations;
  • Ability to work independently to fulfill assigned tasks;
  • Excellent analytical and writing skills;
  • Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture;
  • Working knowledge of computers including MS Office package is essential.

Corporate Competencies:

  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards.

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifications:

  • Masters in any of the earth sciences like meteorology, hydrology, geology, geography, seismology or related discipline.

Work Experience:

  • Minimum 5 years’ experience in disaster risk management, emergency/crisis management or related discipline;
  • H/she should be well informed about the scientific and technical institutions of the country that deal with these subjects and the current and time series data available on the hazards in the States/UTs and districts of the country;
  • Should have experience in working with Government/ UN organizations.

Language Requirement:

  • Fluency in oral and written English is required.

Duration of the Work:

  • The contract will be awarded six months.

Payment Schedule:

  • Consultancy fee will be paid monthly for the actual days worked on submission of progress report.

Documents to be submitted:

  • Proposed Work Plan for undertaking the Assignment with approach & methodology;
  • Detailed CV with contact details of three references;
  • Financial Proposal specifying per day consultancy fee. Prior approved travel expenses will be reimbursed as per actuals in line with UNDP rules.

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

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

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

  • Technical Criteria weight - 70%;
  • Financial Criteria weight - 30%.

Technical Criteria

  • Proposed work plan and methodology- 30%;
  • Relevant Experience 40%

Note-

  • CV, Proposed work plan & methodology and Financial proposal can be clubbed in one file for uploading on the website.
  • Consultants working with organization can also apply in individual capacity. Contract will be issued in the name of organization for the specific services of shortlisted individual.
  • No other miscellaneous charges will be paid.

For any clarification please write to prabhakar.singh@undp.org