Background

UNDP plays an important and unique role in supporting high risk countries to achieve their development goals by reducing loss to life and assets, and by strengthening long term resilience. UNDP works with governments at international, national and local levels to ensure that disaster risk reduction (DRR) is a nationally-led and owned agenda, as well as integrated into national development planning. UNDP’s work focuses on resilience building and ensuring development remains risk-informed and sustainable. To do this we assist governments in systematically and comprehensively delivering on risk-informed development through the communication, reduction and management of risk.

UNDP’s country level DRR and recovery efforts have reached expenditures of USD 2.1 billion during the period 2005 – 2016 (more information on UNDP’s DRR portfolio can be accessed here). The Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery for Building Resilience Team (DRT) currently manages a portfolio of global and regional projects amounting to approximately USD 60 million. Through enhanced integration with climate change adaptation and a firm focus on partnerships and mechanisms to deliver on Sendai, UNDP, during this reporting period, has:

• helped 148 countries develop national and local DRR strategies and action plans;
• supported 84 countries to understand and communicate risks through risk assessments;
• worked with 90 countries to strengthen their legal and regulatory frameworks for DRM; and
• supported 110 countries to develop post-disaster recovery capacities.

The DRT leads UNDP’s global practice in this field and provides policy advice and programmatic support to UNDP Regional Hubs and Country Offices in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of disaster risk reduction and recovery programmes. The team collaborates closely with other UNDP Global Policy Network (GPN) practices such as climate change, governance, conflict prevention, sustainable development and poverty eradication, towards a comprehensive and multi-dimensional approach to resilience building.

Duties and Responsibilities

This position is specifically intended to support UNDP’s work on disaster early warning and preparedness as one of the key strategic work streams of DRT. The consultant will support the team with research and outreach to inform the UNDP programmatic portfolio review, analysis to inform policy direction, and online dialogue facilitation on UNDP’s external and internal engagement platforms. The consultancy will include research and advice on innovation in disaster early warning and preparedness building on good practice across the UN System and other organizations globally, regionally and at country level.

The consultant's role consists of the following duties and responsibilities:

1. Undertake research of policy and practice documents in the area of disaster and climate change-related early warning and preparedness

• Review resources produced by a selected number of international organizations (guides, policy papers, tools, methodologies, results reports, lessons learned reports, country analyses);
• Categorize materials in an e-catalogue set up on UNDP’s online platform in collaboration with other members of the team.

2. Undertake research on innovation, including on technology and digitalization, in the practice of disaster and climate change-related early warning and preparedness

• Research good practice examples of technology-based early warning and preparedness at country level including available lessons learned on successful implementation and challenges if available;
• Research other types of innovative approaches of national/ local/ community early warning and preparedness and map organizations and resource partners that invest in innovation for early warning and preparedness;
• Liaise with other members of the team to categorize and upload resources in the e-catalogue as per above;
• Produce an analytical report and/ or various analytical and/ or communications products based on the results in collaboration with other members of the team.

3. Develop analytical report on disaster and climate change-related early warning and preparedness to inform policy position

• Undertake a literature review of definitions of early warning and preparedness across various thematic areas and sectors considering determinants including disaster (rapid onset), climate change impact (slow-onset), conflict and fragility risk, gender and diversity aspects, human-rights based approaches, humanitarian-development-peace-security nexus, etc.;
• Capture and synthesize key definitions of early warning and preparedness drawn from the UNDP programmatic review and compare to existing literature review;
• Develop analytical report to highlight interactions, overlaps, multiple benefits of multi-risk early warning and preparedness;
• Support the development of think-pieces on early warning and preparedness, as well as disaster and climate risk, resilience and recovery more broadly, for use in UNDP’s external and internal consultations and dialogues in the context of the new Strategic Plan consultation.

4. Support the DRT with any other portfolio related tasks that include research, analysis, and communication

• Support research on other thematic areas related to early warning and preparedness in the context of the new team strategy and UNDP Strategic Plan consultation;
• Develop briefs, talking points, slide decks, etc.

Deliverables and Timeline

• Research of policy and practice documents in the area of disaster and climate change-related early warning and preparedness: 20 days;
• Research on innovation, including on technology and digitalization, in the practice of disaster and climate change-related early warning and preparedness: 30 days;
• Literature review of definitions of early warning and preparedness across various thematic areas: 5 days;
• Develop analytical report to highlight interactions, overlaps, multiple benefits of multi-risk early warning and preparedness: 10 days;
• Think-pieces on early warning and preparedness for internal/ external communication, as requested: 10 days;
• Other research, analysis, and communication on early warning and preparedness and DRR more broadly, as requested: 5 days.

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the UNDP Disaster Preparedness Global Lead.

The consultancy is home-based and does not require any travel.

Competencies

Communication

• Excellent communication and presentation skills;
• Excellent drafting skills in English;
• Strong analytical skills, and a proven ability to process large amount of information.

Teamwork

• Strong interpersonal skills demonstrated by the ability to work in teams;
• Initiative taking and ability to work with minimum supervision;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment.

Technical Competencies

• Sound computer skills;
• Proficient knowledge of MS Office applications such as Word and Excel.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic background

• Master’s degree or equivalent in development studies, international development, DRR, disaster management, geography, climate change, environment;
• Proven expertise in DRR/ DRM, preparedness for emergency response, early warning systems, climate change adaptation.

Experience

• Minimum of 3 years of professional experience in developing research and analytical reports on DRR/ DRM, preparedness for emergency response, early warning systems, climate change adaptation, development and/ or humanitarian affairs with a solid methodological approach;
• Experience in conveying complex concepts in easy-to-understand language for instance by developing written communications products such as reports, blog posts, social media posts on the above-mentioned thematic areas;
• Experience with international organizations, bilateral aid agencies, international NGOs, (international) research institutions at global and country levels in policy or operational roles in the above-mentioned thematic areas.

Languages

• Proficiency in English, both written and oral, is required;
• Knowledge of another UN official language (French, Spanish, Arabic) is desired.

Recommended Presentation of Offer

The following documents should be submitted:

1. Duly filled in "Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability" using the template provided by UNDP: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=45780*;
2. Personal CV or P11 http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc, indicating all your past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) and at least three (3) references;
3. Brief description of why you consider yourself as the most suitable for the assignment;

* This template includes a section for a Financial Proposal to indicate the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs. The term ‘all-inclusive fee’ implies that all costs (professional fees, transport related expenses, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) are included as applicable. If you are employed by an organization/company/institution, and you expect your employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing you to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), you must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP. The interested candidates should provide their financial proposal on all-inclusive total lump sum for requested services with detailed breakdown. Payment will be done in three installments to the consultant against the submitted final deliverables and a fully completed and duly authorized Certification of Payment Form.

IMPORTANT: The application is a separate two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualifying the applicants.

Step 1: Interested candidates must include the following documents when submitting their applications in the UNDPJob Site (Please note that only 1 (one) file can be uploaded therefore please include all documents in one file.

• Personal CV or History Form (P11), indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references (the template can be downloaded from this link:?www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc);?
• Brief description of why the?applicant considers him/herself as the most suitable candidate for the assignment. Indicate available start date.

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposal. Applicants are requested to submit their financial proposals in US Dollars?via email to Mahmood Zahir: mahmood.zahir@undp.org, using the financial proposal template available here:?http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=45780. The proposals should be sent via an email with the following subject heading: “Financial Proposal - 94826- Climate and Disaster Early Warning and Preparedness Consultant” by the deadline of this vacancy.

NOTE: Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Candidates will be evaluated using a combined scoring method with the qualifications and methodology weighted at 70% and the price offer weighted at 30%.? Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49% (out of 70%) points on the technical qualifications part will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

1. Criteria for evaluation of qualifications (40 points maximum):

• Proven expertise in DRR/ DRM, preparedness for emergency response, early warning systems, climate change adaptation through Master’s degree or equivalent (5 points maximum);
• Minimum of 3 years of professional experience in developing research and analytical reports on DRR/ DRM, preparedness for emergency response, early warning systems, climate change adaptation, development and/ or humanitarian affairs with a solid methodological approach (20 points maximum);
• Experience in conveying complex concepts in easy-to-understand language for instance by developing written communications products such as reports, blog posts, social media posts on the above-mentioned thematic areas (10 points maximum);
• Experience with international organizations, bilateral aid agencies, international NGOs, (international) research institutions at global and country levels in policy or operational roles in the above-mentioned thematic areas (5 points maximum).

2. Criteria for evaluation of methodology for research through written test (30 points maximum)

Applicants with 70% or more score in the qualifications will be invited for a two-hour written test to evaluate the capacity of the candidate to collect and consolidate information, develop research methodology/ approach for a given topic and develop an external communication piece.

3. Criteria for financial evaluation (30 points maximum):

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: p = y (µ/z)

• Where p=points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
• y=maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
• µ=price of the lowest priced proposal;
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

Annexes to the TOR

UNDP’s Individual Consultant’s General Terms and Conditions are provided here: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf;

Letter of Confirmation of Interest http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=45780?