Consultancy on Capacity Gap Assessment of Viet Nam's National System (CCNDPC and VNDMA) on Child-Centered Disaster Risk Reduction, Viet Nam

Assess capacity gap of Central Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Directorate General of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control in the context of the recent formation of VDMA with emphasis on Disaster Risk Reduction with child lens. The assessment will inform the long term capacity development plan and interventions for VDMA, including those aspects related to children.

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Consultancy Title

Assessment of Capacity Gap of Central Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control (CCNDPC) and Viet Nam Disaster Management Authority (VDMA) and development of an action plan to close the gap in relation to Child-Centered Disaster Risk Reduction (CCDRR).

Background

Since the Doi Moi reform began in 1986, Viet Nam has made rapid progress in economic prosperity and human development. The per capita income increased from 100 USD in 1986 to 2100 USD in 2015. The national poverty rate have declined from 58 per cent in 1993 to 10 per cent in 2014. The Viet Nam Economic Overview by the World Bank expects a continued GDP growth rate of 6.7 per cent. Its Human Development Index (HDI) value of 0.666 in 2014 - which puts the country in the medium human development category. Despite these achievements socio-economic challenges remain, especially with regards to constrained productivity, environmental degradation, widening inequality and persistent multidimensional child poverty. A key challenge, with the potential to jeopardize development gains, is more intense and unpredictable natural hazards and climate change-related events that are already having significant human impact, especially on vulnerable members of society including women and children. 

Globally, Viet Nam is ranked as the seventh most affected country by climate change. The Government of Viet Nam forecasts that by 2050, temperature will rise by 1-2 degrees Celsius, potentially causing higher incidences of droughts with greater intensity and increased rainfall that will result in a one-meter sea level rise along the coastal regions. This will likely have bigger impacts on lowland regions with no adaptation measures, with nearly half of the Mekong Delta region - a critical geographic area for food security and economy - particularly at risk. These major impacts include reduced income and crop yields, degraded natural resources, damaged or loss of assets and infrastructure, reduced mobility with no access to work or services, increased human diseases with resulting decreased labour productivity. An average of 420 people are killed annually, and economic loss is estimated at 0.91% of annual GDP. 

Among the most extreme natural disasters in the recent years, the 2015-2016 El Nino weather phenomenon caused the most severe drought in more than 60 years to hit several regions of Viet Nam, particularly the Mekong Delta, South Central and Central Highlands that adversely affected an estimated 520,000 children and one million women by malnutrition and acute water shortages. Many of the severely affected provinces already had low social development outcomes prior to the crisis. For example, the stunting rate in Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Ninh Thuan provinces was already very high before the crisis, at 35.4, 39.7 and 27.4 per cent respectively, well above the national average of 24.9 per cent. According to the national nutrition surveillance system report, severe acute malnutrition (SAM) rates jumped from 1.3-1.8 per cent to 1.9-2.1 per cent in 2016 after the drought. Children's access to food, water and education is threatened during such crises and the pressure on communities increases children's exposure to violence, exploitation and abuse. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), with the role as the chair of Central Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, requested cooperation of UNICEF to develop a Joint Programme on Risk-informed Programming and Planning, and Disaster Risk Reduction, by means of a Proposal for Investment Policy (PIP) building on the emergency programming and informing the long-term cooperation within the GoV-UNICEF Country Programme 2017-2021. As the PIP has been approved, a key step toward the implementation of PIP is to systematically assess the capacity of the newly established Directorate General of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and its system at both national and subnational level. 

Justification

The assignment requires the support of an expert as DRR4R and children is a new programmatic direction for UNICEF, requiring profound knowledge of the global direction, Viet Nam system of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control as well as that of the subject matter on DRR4R capacity with a child-lens. Moreover, given that the partnership with MARD at the Ministerial level on disaster risk reduction and risk-informed programming are newly formulated, the comprehensive capacity assessment requires a through insight on the institutional set up of the national disaster risk management and coordination mechanism as well as the role and capacity of the VDMA. Therefore, an expert with international reputation combined with national expertise is required for this critical assignment. 

Purpose and Objectives

The objective of the assignment is to: 

• Assess capacity gap of Central Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Directorate General of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control in the context of the recent formation of VDMA with emphasis on Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience (DRR4R) and emergency preparedness with child lens.
• Provide recommendations for development of an action plan to close the gap in relation to CCDRR. 

The assessment will inform the long term capacity development plan and interventions for VDMA.

Methodology and technical approach  

In order to complete this assignment, it is strongly advised that the international consultant should, in close consultation with VDMA and UNICEF, directly hire a national consultant to help her/him in completion of this consultancy assignment including supporting the adaptation and translation of the programme design and its associated materials for the Vietnamese context. 

The assignment will be undertaken through a desk review and structured interviews with selected key partners, including MARD officials and UNICEF programme staff. In addition, the consultancy will be conducted using consultations with CCNDPC members, MARD, and ministerial level organizations related to DRR4R; International and local NGOs; and working closely with UNICEF programmes and UN agencies particularly members of DRR4R Joint Results Group. 

Consultant(s) is expected to conduct field visits to meet with regional, provincial, district, and commune authorities in at least 3 provinces representing geographic, ethnic and socio-economic diversity. The Consultant(s) is advised to gather information from a range of stakeholders including community people related to what socio-cultural practices, behaviours, and system are needed to prepare, response for, and recovery after the natural disaster. This also includes the participation of adults, children and young people in these processes. The consultant(s) may use techniques such as focus group discussion, process mapping, stakeholder analysis for gathering information from the visits.

Detailed Tasks and Deliverables as per the attached TOR  Consultancy Notice TOR - Capacity Assessment.docx

Management 

The consultant will be working under the supervision of Mizuho Okimoto-Kaewtathip, Acting Chief of Social Policy and Governance Programme. The supervisor of this consultancy will also work closely with the key staff of other UNICEF programme sections, under the overall guidance of Yoshimi Nishino, Acting Deputy Representative. The UNICEF Emergency Specialist will be assigned as the focal point for the consultant and will provide technical inputs and support as needed. 

As mentioned above, the International Consultant will be solely responsible for the national consultant, including support for quality insurance of deliverables. In engaging a suitably qualified and competent national consultant, VDMA and UNICEF will support the International Consultant by introducing suitable candidates, but it is the responsibility of the international consultant to hire and supervise the national consultant. The international consultant is also responsible for proper translation between English and Vietnamese.

Qualifications/ Specialised Knowledge and Experience: 

The assignment requires an expert with the following qualifications: 

International consultant:

• Advanced degree in public (social) policy, climate change, disaster risk reduction and other relevant fields.
• Over 15 years of experience in providing advisory support in disaster risk reduction with Government, development partners and UN agencies.
• Knowledge of Viet Nam's socio-economic context, including the national disaster risk-management mechanism would be a valuable asset. Knowledge of linkages of DRR to children, as well as UNICEF position in the relevant areas are essential.
• Good listening and communication skills with English as mother tongue.
• Excellent team work skills. 

National consultant: 

• Advanced degree in public (social) policy, climate change, disaster risk reduction and other relevant fields.
• Over 10 years of experience in disaster risk reduction at both national and subnational level.
• Good knowledge and understanding of Viet Nam's government system, socio-economic context, including the national disaster risk-management mechanism.  Knowledge of linkages of DRR to children, as well as UNICEF position in the relevant areas would be a valuable asset.
• Good listening skills as well as written and communication skills in English.
• Excellent team work skills. 

To view our competency framework, please click here. 

Interested candidates are kindly requested to apply online and submit the following documents:

1) A detailed technical proposal of maximum 10 pages which clearly explains how to deliver the required tasks including the share of work between the two consultants;

2) A lump sum financial quote that includes all expected costs for the entire consultancy period (including travel, allowance, sub-contract to the national consultant, and translation, excluding the costs of conducting the consultative workshops/meetings with related national and local stakeholders conducted by MARD). The International Consultant is expected to be responsible for all negotiations, decisions and deliverables.

3) Resume and the Consultant must complete and submit a P-11 form ( UN Personal History Form )

4) Names of three referees that can be contacted and who can attest to a programme design(s) that the consultant was responsible for completing.

Closing date for receipt of applications is Wednesday 22 November 2017 at 23:55 hours Viet Nam Time.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.