Background

The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is a partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and knowledge institutions that aims to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development. CDRI promotes rapid development of resilient infrastructure through three strategic priorities, including technical support and capacity building, research and knowledge management, and advocacy and partnerships. As of September 2022, 31 countries, six international organisations, and two private sector organisations are members of the coalition.

CDRI’s Biennial Report on Global Infrastructure Resilience will focus global attention on the critical and multi-faceted challenges posed to disaster and climate resilient infrastructure, with a thematic focus on nature-based solutions.

The Report will be launched at the G20 Summit in 2023 during India’s presidency. A core initiative within the Report is the first ever fully probabilistic risk assessment covering global infrastructure sectors — that is expected to inform planning, decision making and investment in disaster and climate resilient infrastructure by providing credible and fully comparable probabilistic risk metrics that cover every country and territory in the world. In addition, the Report comprises thematic chapters on nature-based solutions, financing for resilient infrastructure, and monitoring the progress of global commitments on infrastructure resilience.

UNDP’s Synergy with Infrastructure Resilience and CDRI

UNDP has been a key partner to the CDRI right since its inception. UNDP supported the CDRI in its two International Conferences in 2018 and 2019 which paved the way for its formal launch. Globally, UNDP’s role in infrastructure resilience has been in the following ways:

• UNDP works to promote resilience at the level of communities and governments through several interventions and considers these resilience measures essential to building infrastructure resilience. For example, UNDP has promoted building codes and regulations in several countries, which contribute to improving the standards and capacities for improving regulations and building resilience.   
• UNDP helps countries conduct risk assessment which addresses infrastructure planning. UNDP also supports assessment of infrastructure damage and loss after major disasters. These assessments contribute to development planning as well as recovery and reconstruction of infrastructure.    
• UNDP helps countries adopt policies and implement programmes to build more resilient community infrastructure to protect the lives and livelihoods of people who depend upon small-scale infrastructure, such as roads, draining, irrigation, and electricity and water conduits.

UNDP is supporting the CDRI in the coordination, drafting, editing and production of the report.

The Report is spearheaded by the Coordinating Lead Author and the Project Management Office and entails a hierarchy of authors contributing across the six pillars in varied capacities. 

Pillar 1: Global Infrastructure Risk Model

The Model is the first ever fully probabilistic risk assessment covering global infrastructure sectors. It is expected that it will inform planning, decision making and investment in disaster and climate resilient infrastructure by providing credible and fully comparable probabilistic risk metrics that cover every country and territory in the world.

Pillar 2: Global Infrastructure Resilience Index

The Index will highlight the progress of various countries in developing disaster and climate resilient infrastructure by combining metrics from the global risk and resilience assessment done in Pillar 1 with the metrics of infrastructure investment and quality of infrastructure governance. These will be derived from the Global Infrastructure Resilience Survey (GIRS) - a global survey that will collect and analyse infrastructure management and decision-making data to develop a novel global database on global infrastructure resilience.

Pillar 3: Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for Disaster and Climate Resilient Infrastructure

Pillar 3 will discuss the common economic, social, political, institutional issues that need to be addressed at the global, national, and sub-national levels to unlock and realize the potential of nature-based solutions in disaster and climate resilient infrastructure. The Pillar will advocate for mainstreaming and greater uptake of nature-based solutions for resilient infrastructure.

Pillar 4: Progress Monitoring

This pillar will include reviewing the progress towards achieving the goals and targets of the Sendai Framework and other associated international commitments on disaster and climate risk reduction and assessing countries’ progress in achieving them

Pillar 5: Financing for Disaster and Climate Resilient Infrastructure

This pillar of will discuss the financial models and mechanisms, as well as opportunities that can be leveraged to support the development of disaster and climate resilient infrastructure. It will elaborate the economic and financial case for resilience and identify innovative approaches to mobilize finance

Duties and Responsibilities

Infrastructure is central to every country’s pursuit of economic growth, wellbeing, and sustainable development. It supports key policy priorities, for instance increasing access to jobs and markets, reducing poverty, closing income inequality gaps, addressing regional disparities, and overall improving of quality of life. Infrastructure development and service delivery is a critical public policy and investment area in many developing countries. It is estimated that $97 trillion in global infrastructure investment is required by 2040 to support sustainable development;two thirds of which is required in developing countries.Considering the long operational life of infrastructure, failing to mainstream gender in the infrastructure life cycle can reinforce gender inequalities for decades, wasting limited financial resources and negatively affecting essential services and livelihoods The commitments that states make to gender equality reinforce their obligation to eradicate inequalities and to ensure that this massive investment includes a gender mainstreaming approach to infrastructure planning, delivery, and management to achieve sustainability, equality, and economic and social benefits for all.

Infrastructure systems are resilient when they can withstand shocks and stresses from the environmental, economic, and societal context and do not contribute to generating and accumulating additional risks Infrastructure resilience has a gender dimension in that any infrastructure investment has the potential to reduce or to exacerbate gender inequality in access to the essential services that support social and economic development.   Different infrastructure systems such as energy, transportation, water and sanitation, waste, and digital communications as well as building types including hospitals, schools, housing, and commercial facilities present a wide range of challenges and opportunities to the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Since infrastructure is central to every country’s pursuit of economic growth, wellbeing, and sustainable development, if gender is not considered, it can limit access to economic opportunities and social welfare and increase risk for certain social groups from an intersectional perspective.

By incorporating gender analysis into strategic planning and capital investment processes, setting objectives and measures, governments can identify the gender implications of infrastructure decisions in budgets and prevent one group from disproportionally benefitting at the expense of disadvantaging others.

The Biennial Report on Global Infrastructure Resilience will emphasize the importance of equitable and informed investments in infrastructure, driven by a nuanced understanding of gender impacts of infrastructure decisions. The report will shed light on how governments can ensure that public investments are efficient and effective in progressing gender equality from an intersectional perspective.

UNDP seeks to hire a technical expert to lead the development of a Study on Mainstreaming Gender for Climate and Disaster Resilient Infrastructure for the Biennial Report on Global Infrastructure Resilience.

Responsibilities and Deliverables

The Technical Expert will have overall responsibility for the development of the Study on Mainstreaming Gender for Climate and Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

Specific responsibilities:

Develop a cross-cutting narrative on mainstreaming gender for climate and disaster-resilient infrastructure across the five Pillars of the Biennial Report, covering but not limited to the following:

1. Pillar 1:
   1. Review existing knowledge by providing an up-to-date, in-depth, and comprehensive analysis of gender dynamics in disasters and extreme climate events, their impacts, and consequences. The review may cover almost all types of natural disasters with a focus on direct and indirect impacts as well as on resilience, including both preparedness and coping capacity.
   2. Suggest ways in which the gender impacts of infrastructure should be considered in rigorous project appraisal and risk assessment processes to account for gender-differentiated uses and needs such as access to services, safety, and affordability.
2. Pillar 2:
   1. Highlight the progress of various countries in developing disaster and climate resilient infrastructure through the lens of gender and focusing on specific risk and resilience measure undertaken. The narrative developed for Pillar 2 may be supported with examples and cross-sectoral case studies from around the world.
3. Pillar 3:
   1. Highlight innovative and gender-responsive pathways to address critical environmental and social issues, including climate change adaption and mitigation, ecosystem degradation, and biodiversity loss.
   2. Discuss key building blocks for effective and gender-just nature-based solutions and include on-the-ground examples of them being put into practice.
4. Pillar 4:
   1. Review a consolidated list of gender-based indicators from SFDRR and SDG monitoring processes and support it with data sourced from global monitoring resources.
   2. Case studies discussing the status of gender equality relating to the SDGs, the Paris Agreement, and the Sendai Framework.
   3. Prepare a consolidated document of statistical tables, infographics, and other data that can be included in Chapter 4.
5. Pillar 5:
   1. Assess challenges and opportunities in closing gender-related project gaps in infrastructure and aligning investment decision-making around gender inclusion.
   2. Source information/insights on level of gender awareness of investors and lenders; and gender considerations during investment decision making processes across different stakeholders participating in the infrastructure projects such as governments, multilateral development banks/development finance institutions (MDBs/DFIs), and private investors and lenders.
   3. Case studies on policy and governance, legislation, partnerships, corporate strategies that can support the narrative above.
6. Integrating research done as part of the above exercise into different chapters of the Report.
7. Preparing a summary document of key insights, findings, and recommendations that can inform the Introductory Chapter (Pillar Zero of the Report).

Competencies

Functional Competencies   

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

• Good knowledge on academic writing, research practices and journal referencing
• Ability to work with minimal supervision.

Communication skills

• Good communication, interpersonal skills, with an ability to work in a multi-cultural environment.

Core Competencies

• Demonstrates/safeguards ethics and integrity
• Works as a team member

Required Skills and Experience