Background

UNDP Indonesia's mission is to be an agent for change in the human and social development of Indonesia. We aim to be a bridge between Indonesia and all donors as well as a trusted partner to all stakeholders. We work in four key areas of development: Governance Reforms, Pro-Poor Policy Reforms, Conflict Prevention and Recovery, and Environment Management, with the overarching aim of reducing poverty in Indonesia. Besides the four priority areas, UNDP Indonesia is also engaged in a variety of crosscutting initiatives focused on HIV/AIDS, gender equality, and information and technology for development.

I. Organizational Context

The Indian Ocean Tsunami disaster of 26 December 2004 was one of the most devastating natural disasters in recent history. Within minutes, almost 200,000 lives were lost, populations were displaced, livelihoods, homes, infrastructure were destroyed, setting back hard-earned development gains for decades. Four months after the tsunami event, the humanitarian assistance has moved to addressing medium recovery needs, thus preparing the grounds for long-term reconstruction and development.  UNDP through its country offices and disaster reduction and recovery experts has provided swift assistance addressing - in support of national and local authorities - the humanitarian and recovery needs of the affected population. In addition to such in-country recovery programming, UNDP has received funds over USD 3.1 Mio under the Indian Ocean Flash Appeal for the Regional Programme on Capacity Building for Sustainable Recovery and Risk Reduction (CBSRR). This regional programme will be carried out under Direct Execution by the UNDP Regional Centre Bangkok with technical and advisory support from BCPR’s out-posted advisors and the Disaster Reduction Unit in Geneva. In light of UNDP’s sustained presence at the country level and good knowledge of the development and disaster risk context of affected countries, it has a clear comparative advantage to contribute to the harmonization of the efforts of other actors at the national, regional and international levels in the areas of information management, training and learning for recovery and risk reduction, and early warning systems at the local level.

Information Management under the Regional Programme
The unprecedented response to the tsunami disaster has resulted in an equally unprecedented need for information to assist recovery efforts and thereby meet the needs of affected populations. Awareness of the need to reduce future disaster risk during recovery is high, yet the decision-making tools needed to facilitate the application of disaster information to guide recovery are often not available to the many actors involved in recovery programming.  Activities under this objective will assist the harmonization, development (where necessary), and application of appropriate information management tools to assist beneficiary tracking, multi-sector recovery coordination and risk information application efforts at the national level, and thereby facilitate information coordination for the tsunami recovery regionally.  An essential aspect of these information management efforts will be to build the capacity of the UNDP Country Offices to manage information related to the exceptional volume of recovery activities taking place in their respective countries.

Building Disaster Inventories at National and Regional Level
Lack of data and regular reports on existing and emerging patterns of disaster risk, has been a major constraint for effective recovery management, policy and programme decisions in the aftermath of the tsunami. UNDP with the support of LARED (Network for Social Studies on Disaster Prevention in Latin America) has adapted and implemented an existing methodology called DesInventar, to help build systematic disaster inventories in Asia. These inventories capture time-series, local-level impacts of disaster events and help map trends in emerging disaster risks and in making policy, program design and resource allocation decisions to manage those risks. This methodology adopts a user friendly and economically viable disaster inventory software to both capture disaster loss data and analyze it through visual tools like maps and graphs. Through the Regional Programme on Capacity Building for Sustainable Recovery and Risk Reduction implemented by UNDP Regional Centre Bangkok, UNDP/BCPR has been implementing disaster inventories in the tsunami affected countries. 

Reporting
Under the auspices of the Regional Centre in Bangkok (RCB), the Programme Assistant - DesInventar will report to Programme Associate – Information Management and will work under the technical guidance of the Regional Information Systems Specialist.
 

Duties and Responsibilities

II. Functions / Key Results Expected

Adapt, as part of the ‘Information Management’ team at SC-DRR the DesInventar (disaster inventories) methodology to the specific national context taking into account the specific institutional and methodological concerns

• Participate in regional workshops to technically develop/upgrade the DesInventar methodology
• Support the adaptation of the DesInventar methodology into country specific contexts
• Develop a core group of DesInventar practitioners and trainers amongst partner agencies and organizations

Develop disaster inventories in the national context

• Participate in national DesInventar training workshops
• Support/oversee the collection of past disaster impact data from a range of information sources for the past 20 years
• Develop national disaster inventories using the DesInventar methodology for the past 20 years
• Continually evaluate and further develop disaster databases developed using the DesInventar methodology

Develop online version of the ‘Disaster Inventories Mapping’ tool – DesInventar

• Support the development of a web based system of the DesInventar mechanism to capture historical data and ongoing events both from the online and stand-alone systems
• Assist the establishment of a website which allows for a consolidated view on DesInventar in the country.

Establish national linkages of the ‘Disaster Inventories Mapping’ tool – DesInventar with other similar methodologies, government institutions/counterparts and other relevant organizations

• Analyze disaster trends via the DesInventar methodology and subsequently share them with policy and decision makers, under the guidance of Regional  Information Systems Specialist
• Brief policy and decision makers on the possible applications of the disasters inventory
• Explore the potential for the technical expansion of DesInventar to be used as a tool for national ‘post – disaster’ assessments
• Institutionalize DesInventar (country specific applications) within partner government agencies

III. Impact of Results

Under the direct supervision of the Programme Associate – Information Management, the Programme Assistant - DesInventar will assist in the development and implementation of the DesInventar.

Competencies

IV. Competencies

• Proficient in HTML, ASP, ADO, VBScript, JavaScript, SQL-Server, Photoshop, CGI
• Working knowledge and experience of Adobe Photoshop, MS Access, and Oracle
• Proficient in Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4.0 and RedHat Linux operating systems
• Working knowledge of Active Server Pages, Java, Java Server Pages (JSP), SQL and OQL, Syndeo API, XML/XSL preffered
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, team oriented work style, interest and experience of working in multi-cultural environment.
  

Required Skills and Experience

 V. Recruitment Qualifications

Education: 

University degree or equivalent experience in a discipline relevant to Information Technology, with formal education in international development and/or disaster management

Experience: 

• 4 years experience in the design of information systems and database development in support of disaster risk management functions and/or development initiatives
• Experience of working within the UN System preferred though not mandatory.
• Experience of working closely with government counterparts
• Experience in designing Internet-based distribution networks;
• Experience of designing and developing web sites

Language Requirements: 

Good communications skills in English. Language skills in Asia regional languages preferred but not mandatory.

“Female candidates are encouraged to apply”