GEDSI-Sensitive DRR Expert

This assignment strengthens the collaboration between UNDRR, MINEMA and UN Women. The primary objective is to design, validate, and deliver a comprehensive, actionable, and budgeted National GEDSI DRR Strategy for Rwanda. The strategy must operationalize UN Women’s localized assessment data and guidelines while aligning directly with the water-centric goals, multi-hazard early warning benchmarks, and community-resilience targets of the Water at the Heart of Climate Action project.

Home based

3 months

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 efforts to reduce disasters and to ensure synergies among the disaster risk reduction activities of the United Nations and regional organizations and activities in both developed and less developed countries. Led by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG), UNDRR has over 150 staff located in its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and in regional offices. Specifically, UNDRR guides, monitors, analyses and reports on progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, supports regional and national implementation of the Framework and catalyses action and increases global awareness to reduce disaster risk working with U.N. Member States and a broad range of partners and stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians and the science and technology community. Climate change in Rwanda manifests predominantly through water-related hazards. The country experiences a high frequency of destructive floods, water-induced landslides in mountainous terrains, and prolonged droughts that threaten both food and water security. Vulnerable groups, including women, children, youth, elderly populations, and Persons with Disabilities, frequently experience the worst impacts of these water-related shocks due to unequal access to resources, adaptive capacities, and early warning information. To address these vulnerabilities, this assignment is launched under the regional "Water at the Heart of Climate Action" (WHCA) project. This initiative focuses on protecting vulnerable communities from water-related climate hazards through integrated water resources management, climate-smart water services, and inclusive early warning systems. This assignment will be implemented in close coordination with UN Women in Rwanda. In Rwanda, UN Women is currently conducting a localized Gender-Sensitive Disaster Risk Assessment in high-risk districts and is developing a Roadmap for Strengthening Gender-Responsive Disaster Risk Reduction and Inclusive Early Warning Systems. The two assignments are designed to be complementary: the UN Women assessment generates the evidence base and district-level roadmap, while the present assignment translates that evidence into a national strategy. UNDRR, as an executing partner of the "Water at the Heart of Climate Action" project, is collaborating with MINEMA to scale up these localized insights into a comprehensive Rwanda GEDSI DRR Strategy that links water security, climate adaptation, and social inclusion. The assessment covers case study districts in the Western Province and additional districts in other provinces so that the evidence base reflects the diversity of hazards affecting Rwanda, including floods, landslides, drought and storms, and the different risk and vulnerability contexts across the country. This assignment will build directly on the UN WOMEN assessment, using its findings, recommendations and roadmap as the evidence base for the Rwanda GEDSI DRR strategy, validating and operationalizing them through broader national consultation. The Strategy will be anchored in the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Policy, the National Gender Policy and MIGEPROF gender mainstreaming frameworks, and will contribute to Rwanda's commitments under the Sendai Framework, the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. This Rwanda GEDSI DRR strategy will be aligned with the UNDRR Sendai Gender Action Plan and forthcoming UNDRR Gender Equality and Disability Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan (GEDI-SAP) 2026–2030. Scope of Work The consultant will execute the following technical tasks: ● Water-Climate-GEDSI Nexus Desk Review: Synthesize the UN Women GEDSI assessments and localized DRR/EWS roadmaps, specifically analysing how water-related hazards (floods, landslides, droughts and storms) uniquely interact with gender dynamics, age, and disability, and review UNDRR GEDSI materials ● Institutional Project Alignment: Ensure the strategy structurally aligns with the overarching objectives of the Water at the Heart of Climate Action regional project, Rwanda's National Water Resources Management policies, MINEMA's Strategic Plan, and Rwanda's NDC climate targets. Alignment will also be ensured with the National Disaster Risk Management Policy, the National Climate Change Policy, the National Adaptation Plan (NAP), the National Gender Policy and the Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS) Strategy. ● Multi-Stakeholder Consultations: Facilitate strategic key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) with MINEMA, the Ministry of Environment (MoE), the Rwanda Water Resources Board (RWB), the Rwanda Meteo Agency, Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), CSOs, and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs). Consultations will also include the National Council of Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), the National Women's Council, the Rwanda Red Cross, District Disaster Management Committees in selected case study districts, and development partners supporting DRR and climate resilience. ● Inclusive EWS Strategy Formulation: Draft a five-year Rwanda GEDSI-DRR Strategy that treats water-security and inclusive, multi-hazard Early Warning Systems (EWS) as central pillars—ensuring hydrometeorological alerts are accessible to all, including individuals with sensory, physical, or cognitive disabilities. The Strategy will apply the four pillars of the Early Warnings for All (EW4All) initiative, ensuring that risk knowledge, detection and forecasting, warning dissemination and preparedness to respond are all designed inclusively. ● Action Plan and Budgeting Architecture: Develop a realistic, costed national implementation plan with a specialized Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) framework tracking sex, age, and disability-disaggregated data (SADDD) for water-disaster response and adaptation. ● National Validation Workshops: Lead technical validation sessions to consolidate and incorporate final institutional feedback from project steering committees, ministerial representatives, and civil society partners. This consultancy is home-based, and the consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Programme Management Officer at the Regional Office for Africa

An advanced degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Disaster Risk Management, Water Resources Management, Environmental Sciences, Gender Studies, Development Studies, or any other relevant field is required. A first-level university degree in any of these fields in combination with two additional years of qualifying work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. Five (5) years of progressive experience in developing national-level strategic policies within DRR, climate change adaptation, or environmental governance is required. Technical expertise in integrating GEDSI/Gender-responsive methodologies into water management, climate resilience, or emergency frameworks is required. An understanding of the water-climate nexus, hydrometeorological risks, and inclusive Early Warning Systems (EWS) is desirable. Experience working alongside UN agencies (e.g. UNDRR, WMO, UNICEF, UN Women) and national line ministries (e.g. MINEMA) in Sub-Saharan Africa is desirable. Experience working in Rwanda is desirable. Experience facilitating high-level policy consultations and validation workshops with senior government officials, communities and stakeholders is desirable.

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position fluency in English is required.

Due to the high volume of applications received, only successful candidates will be contacted.

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.