Duties and Responsibilities
1. Background Created in December 1999, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is the designated focal point in the United Nations system for the coordination of disaster reduction and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the United Nations and regional organizations and activities in socio-economic and humanitarian fields. Led by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR has around 140 staff located in its HQ in Geneva, Switzerland, and 5 regional offices and other field presences. Specifically, UNDRR coordinates international efforts in disaster risk reduction, and guides, monitors and reports on the progress of the implementation of the international strategy for disaster reduction, now the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2015-2030; campaigns to create global awareness of disaster risk reduction benefits and empower people to reduce their vulnerability to hazards; advocates for greater investments in disaster risk reduction to protect people’s lives and assets, and for increased and informed participation of men and women of all stakeholder groups in reducing disaster risk; and informs and connects people by providing practical services and tools such as PreventionWeb, publications on good practices, and by leading the preparation of the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction and the organisation of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. The International Recovery Platform (IRP) is a global partnership working to strengthen the capacities of countries and communities to build back better in recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction. Its Secretariat is coordinated by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). It is a joint initiative of United Nations organizations, international financial institutions, national and local governments, and non-governmental organizations engaged in disaster recovery. It seeks to transform disasters into opportunities for sustainable development. IRP supports progress against Priority 4 of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SF), Enhancing Disaster Preparedness for Effective Response and to “Build Back Better (BBB)” in Recovery, Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction. As we enter into the second half of SF implementation, the balance of progress and persistent challenges has been mapped by the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework (MTR SF). While many countries have made notable strides in implementation, the MTR SF found the Sendai Framework (SF) is not on a path to meet its expected outcomes or goals by 2030. Progress with SF Priority 4 has similarly demonstrated important innovation and achievements, but the MTR SF found “build back better principles have not been applied systematically” and identified major barriers to progress include insufficient national capacities, engagement of diverse stakeholders and lack of financing. Ensuring that countries build back better from disasters with greater resilience and improved recovery outcomes will play a critical role in putting the SF and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) back on track. In the face of increasing and more complex disaster risks, the MTR SF recognized the urgent need to enhance pre-disaster recovery planning (PDRP) as a critical component of disaster risk reduction and recovery efforts and to improve recovery outcomes. Despite the clear benefits of PDRP in reducing recovery timelines and mitigating the adverse impacts on communities, it remains underutilized and poorly understood globally. The IRP aims to support countries and communities with knowledge and capacity building for effective PDRP. The IRP will develop training programmes on PDRP. At the outset the training module will be designed to sensitize and train National Disaster Management Offices (NDMOs) and other actors on core prioritized actions for recovery preparedness. The training programmes will be piloted at the upcoming regional platforms for disaster risk reduction in October 2024. Pilot trainings at the country level will also be proposed. The training package will be updated based on the pilot experiences and feedback. It will then be developed into thematic modules for future training. A PDRP checklist will be developed to be aligned with the training programmes to give countries and local governments clearer objectives and accountability. 2. Duties and Responsibilities UNDRR seeks to engage a consultant to support IRP’s activities to contribute to the progress with Priority 4. The work will be undertaken in close collaboration with IRP partners. Under the supervision of the Programme Management Officer and Associate Programme Management Officer, Intergovernmental Processes, Interagency Cooperation and Partnerships Branch, UNDRR, the consultant will be responsible for the following: • Contribute to the preparation of various written outputs, e.g. draft background papers, analytical notes, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications, etc. • Provide administrative and substantive support to meetings, conferences, etc., to include proposing agenda topics, identifying and proposed participants, preparation of background documents and presentations, handling logistics, etc. • Support the Resilient Recovery sessions at Understanding Risk 24, APMCDRR, Africa Regional Platform, G20 DRR WG, EFDRR, Arab States regional platform, COP 29 and WRC 2025 amongst others. • Support the development of a Pre Disaster Recovery Preparedness assessment to be deployed in countries. • Develop the Pre Disaster Recovery Preparedness training programme and checklist in collaboration with the IRP Secretariat team and Steering Committee members: • Develop training curricula • Identify appropriate evidence and case studies to be integrated into the programme • Develop practical, applied exercises for trainees • Coordinate with IRP members and observers, UNDRR’s GETI and Pre Disaster Recovery Preparedness experts to collect relevant resources and knowledge products in the development of the checklist and training programme. • Delivery training and assessment checklist in close coordinatioin UNDRR’s regional offices in selected countries.
Qualifications/special skills
• A master’s degree in disaster risk management, development, public finance, business administration, public policy, urban planning, management or the relevant field is required. • A first-level university degree in combination with 2 additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of a master’s degree. • Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in post-disaster recovery, development, finance, public finance/administration, disaster risk management is required. • Experience with pre-disaster recovery planning as well as capacity building and/or communications is desirable. • Experience in research on disaster risk reduction related topics is desirable.