UNDP Jobs - 87350- BBRSO80369: Disaster Preparedness Modeling Consult

BBRSO80369: Disaster Preparedness Modeling Consultant

Location :

Barbados, BARBADOS

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

23-Sep-2019

Application Deadline :

18-Sep-19 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

2.5 Months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

ADMINISTRATION

To apply, interested persons should upload the combined* Technical Proposal/Methodology (if applicable), CV and Offeror’s Letter to “UNDP Jobs” by navigating to the link below and clicking “APPLY NOW”, no later than the date indicated on the “UNDP Jobs” website. Applications submitted via email will not be accepted**: -

UNDP Job Site – https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=87350 (cut and paste into browser address bar if the link does not work)

* PLEASE NOTE: The system allows the upload of one (1) document ONLY – if you are required to submit a Technical Proposal/Methodology, this document along with your CV/P11 and Offeror’s Letter, MUST be combined and uploaded as one.

NOTE: The Financial Proposal should not be uploaded to “UNDP Jobs”**.

<IMPORTANT>

**Please email the password-protected Financial Proposal to procurement.bb@undp.org. The subject line of your email must contain the following: “BBRSO80369 Financial Proposal – Your Name”

If the password for your Financial Proposal is required, it will be requested by the Procurement Unit.

Any request for clarification must be sent in writing to procurement.bb@undp.org within three (3) days of the publication of this notice, ensuring that the reference number above is included in the subject line. The UNDP Barbados & the OECS Procurement Unit will post the responses*** two (2) days later, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to: -

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=58985 (cut and paste into browser address bar if the link does not work)

A detailed Procurement Notice, TOR, and all annexes can be found by clicking the above link.

*** UNDP shall endeavour to provide such responses to clarifications in an expeditious manner, but any delay in such response shall not cause an obligation on the part of UNDP to extend the submission date of the Proposals, unless UNDP deems that such an extension is justified and necessary

BACKGROUND

The 2017 Hurricanes season in the Caribbean was particularly active. Hurricanes Irma and Maria impacted multiple islands within a week causing massive devastation and triggering a crisis that almost two years later is still affecting many communities impacted.

In this context, the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) Barbados & the OECS sub-regional office and the UNDP Crisis Bureau in HQ designed a tool to rapidly assess damage to buildings in post-disaster contexts (immediately after natural disasters). The Building Damage Assessment (BDA) Toolkit is designed to support national and local authorities in crisis-affected countries around the world to assess residential and non-residential infrastructures and collect timely data to make informed decisions and prioritization for risk-informed rehabilitation and rebuilding.

The BDA Toolkit is operated using a flexible online questionnaire that gathers information about buildings, including damage to the structure, vulnerability of the occupants, etc. The information is collected on the field through smartphones using KoboToolbox (an opensource data collection platform that allows rapid information gathering and facilitates the post-collection data analysis). After the data is collected in the field and uploaded to KoboToolbox, it is cleaned and visualized into Microsoft Power BI (an intelligence platform for the analysis and real-time visualization of data and interactive maps). Once this process is completed, the information is handed over from UNDP to the government of the affected area. Governments can use this powerful data for rapid reconstruction, policy-making and preparedness for future disasters. The BDA maps and associated dataset represent a critical baseline against which national and local authorities can track risk-informed reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts for an effective recovery.

The first BDA was conducted in Dominica and Barbuda (In Dominica alone, almost 29,500 buildings were assessed by over 150 surveyors in three months). Most recently, on December 2018, a pilot exercise was conducted over 200 structures in Roseau, the capital of Dominica, to test the practicability of a new tool (BDA 2.0) incorporating lessons learnt from the first BDA.

The BDA 2.0 includes a more comprehensive and flexible questionnaire, a wider set of data fields, higher GPS accuracy and the possibility to use any smartphone for data gathering. The new questionnaire of approximately 190 questions follows a holistic and multidisciplinary approach that includes inputs from different UN agencies such as WFP and UNICEF. The BDA 2.0 not only aims to assess building damage but more multidimensional data gathering, including demographic and vulnerability information about households as well as damage to public facilities such as education or health facilities.

After the success of both the BDA 1.0 (Dominica and Barbuda in early 2018) and the BDA 2.0 pilot in Roseau (Dominica, December 2018), UNDP is aiming to incorporate the BDA Toolkit as a corporate tool. In that context, a partnership with Impact, a Swiss NGO that provides technical and operational support to strengthen systems and tools related to rapid assessment and analysis, has been established.

In sum; UNDP BDA team in Barbados, UNDP Crisis Bureau team in HQ and Impact are working together aiming to boost and standardize the BDA Toolkit for corporate use.

In this regard, the UNDP BDA team in Barbados is seeking to engage an IC to support in technical aspects of this process.

Please note that there is a related assignment at the below link for a Data Visualization Consultant. Consulants are encouraged to apply for both assignments if they meet the requirements.

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=58983

Duties and Responsibilities

The IC will report directly to the Technical Coordinator in close collaboration with the Resilience and Innovation Specialist consultant and the ICT Support. Under the guidance of their team, the IC will provide support in the following area:

Building Damage Assessment 2.0: Data Visualization and Preparedness Phase

The IC will:

Provide technical assistance to the Impact team in their partnership with the BDA team (both in Barbados office and the Crisis Bureau team in HQ) to boost the BDA Toolkit.
Support the BDA ICT team on developing the preparedness section of the data visualization; which includes:

Developing a preparedness forecast formula using the data available from the pilot exercise to predict the damage caused to structures by a variety of natural hazards, including hurricanes, tsunamis, flooding and earthquakes to complement the BDA visualization.
Design a model for best evacuation routes and shelter locations to complement the BDA visualization.
Adding different layers of hazard maps to the existing visualization report.

Collaborate with the UNDP Philippines DevLive+ project in relevant tasks (DevLive+ is a similar project developed by UNDP colleagues in Philippines and it is expected to share technical knowledge with them).
Liaise with other UNDP teams that support the BDA Toolkit, including the Bureau for Management Services (BMS) and the Office of Information Management and Technology (OIMT), as well as with external partners such as academia and private sector.

Any other technical requirement that may arise during the process of boosting the BDA.

Competencies

Solid IT background is an asset;
Experience working with large datasets in Excel, or similar, is an asset;
Background in disaster recovery and preparedness is an asset;
Experience with early warning systems is an asset;
Background in statistics or statistical analysis (focus on regression analysis, principal component analysis and/or geospatial analysis) is an asset;
Interest in recovery work;
Language: English at a working level.

Core Behavioral Competencies include:

Effective interactive communication;
Client service and people-oriented;
Initiative taking;
Creative thinking;
Relationship/network building;
Teamwork and cooperation;
Adaptability;
Effective time management and ability to work within tight deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

Minimum of 1-2 years of experience in working on structural engineering, statistical model building, GIS mapping or similar field complemented with an academic background in the relevant field also acceptable
Education and experience: BA or equivalent in engineering, data science, statistics, computer/information technology programming or related field;