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Consultant to coordinate the elaboration of a Regional Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction for the Americas and the Caribbean 2023

Panamá

  • Organization: UN - United Nations
  • Location: Panamá
  • Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Environment
    • Security policy
    • Communication and Public Information
    • Humanitarian Aid and Coordination
    • Conflict prevention
    • Disaster Management (Preparedness, Resilience, Response and Recovery)
    • Documentation and Information Management
  • Closing Date: Closed

Result of Service

a. A final index of contents of the RAR 23, based on the Concept Note, to be approved by the Technical Advisory Council, including a roadmap and timeline for its development.

b. A work plan approved by the Technical Advisory Council.

c. An inventory and systematization of key information and bibliographical inputs contributing to analysis of financing and investment in DRR in the region and An inventory of regional and national initiatives, and of good practice and case studies, along with the identification of key actors.

d. Conduct preparatory consultations as necessary

e. Report on the outcomes of Special and Technical Sessions

Work Location

Home based

Expected duration

6 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Background

In adopting the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 – 2030 (Sendai Framework), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda), the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Member States clearly identified the prevention of new risk, the reduction of existing risk and the strengthening of resilience as central to global efforts towards sustainable development.

The Global Assessment Reports on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) serve to periodically demonstrate the changing context of risk and disaster, and the worldwide efforts to reduce these. The GAR is the product of contributions by a number of different UNDRR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction) partners, including from regional, national and local governmental authorities, public and private sectors, the scientific and academic community, individual contributors, amongst others.

The Americas and Caribbean region is highly exposed to natural, socio natural, biological, technological and anthropic hazards. Combined with increasing exposure and vulnerabilities, the context is one of great and increasing losses, even to the extent of exceeding many of the countries’ GDPs,(gross domestic products) thus challenging the overall sustainable development of the region. Additionally, global warming and climate change increases the frequency, intensity and unpredictability of hydro meteorological and oceanographic hazards , making it even more important for all countries across the region to possess strong capacities to manage the existing and emerging risks and to avoid the creation of new ones.

Based on this context, the development of a Regional Assessment Report (RAR) becomes a relevant instrument to enhance understanding of the current trends and patterns of risk in the region; increase understanding of DRR from a development, climate, and other emerging perspectives; provide focused policy recommendations for the region; and facilitate the understanding and tracking of Sendai targets.

In 2021, UNDRR launched the first Regional Assessment Report on Disaster Risk in Latin America and the Caribbean (RAR21): Challenges for disaster risk reduction and progress towards the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030). The Report, based on today's most advanced and accepted scientific concepts, modes of analysis, and methods, takes stock of thirty years of efforts to reduce disaster risk and highlights challenges for the future, including the need for significant changes in understanding risk and its causality and, building on this, the need to rethink and innovate with mechanisms and governance structures for disaster risk reduction.

In coordination with the sub-regional Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) CDEMA/CARICOM (Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency/Caribbean Community), CEPREDENAC/SICA (Centro de Coordinación para la Prevención de los Desastres en America Central y República Dominicana) /,(Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana), CAPRADE/CAN (Comité Andino para la Prevención y Atención de Desastres) and RMAGIR/MERCOSUR (Reunión de Ministros y Altas Autoridades de Gestión Integral de Riesgos de Desastres)/ (Mercado Común del Sur), the UNDRR Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean will facilitate the production of a Regional Assessment Report (RAR23). Preparing for RAR23 will rely, amongst other inputs, on the outcomes of the VIII Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean: "Science and Technology for Integrated Disaster Risk Management" (PR23) to be held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, from the 28th of February to 2 March 2023. This is so given the consideration the Regional Platform will afford to the progress and challenges faced in implementing the Sendai Framework and the updated 2021 Regional Action Plan- RAP-; to proposals and collective responses to the challenges established in the RAR-LAC 2021; and to the analysis of sustained, attractive and valid mechanisms for the best use of technology in DRR.

The Regional Action Plan (RAP) for the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean was adopted by Member States at the V Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas (7-9 March 2017, Montreal, Canada) and updated at the VII Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean (1-4 November 2021, hosted virtually by the Government of Jamaica). It concentrated especially on Regional Initiatives for the implementation of Priority 3: Investing in Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience.

The main challenge that RAR23 will address has been posited after a consideration of the above contexts and priorities. Thus, the central objective is to consider the systemic nature of risk and the macro conditions that the region will face in the next five years, examining the conditioning factors of its development processes, identifying the public problem this signifies and generating evidence-based recommendations and courses of action to support the design and promotion of novel, inclusive, and sustainable financing mechanisms that support investment in all DRR components. This must be appropriate to the context and type of hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and disaster (rapid- or slow-onset, climatic, or geological, for example), developed within an appropriate governance framework and with a focus on increasing resilience.

The questions that will guide the report are:

a) What is the public problem that needs to be addressed, and how do we substantiate it scientifically and socially? How does it relate to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), the Paris Agreement, and the Sendai Framework? How can a better causal relationship be established between advances and setbacks in one agenda and its impact on the others?

b) Why does the development of the Latin American region need an informed debate on financing and investment in DRR? What should be the fundamental pillars of this debate and the main concerns, taking into consideration efficiency and equity objectives?

c) How can we guarantee a consideration of intersectionality issues, the intersectional gender perspective, and its importance in prioritizing investment, considering the light these shed on the differentiated impact of disasters on women, different age groups, race, ethnicity, and other situations such as capabilities, sexual orientation, and class, all interacting with each other.

d) Why, to increase resilience, must we jointly solve the challenges of investment, but also of funding? What should the countercyclical measures be in macroeconomic, fiscal, and investment terms to broaden countries' tax base and optimize public investment? What experiences have yielded good results in terms of investment in DRR, financial protection mechanisms (retention and transfer), fiscal strategies and budgetary policies in the face of disaster risk? How should the concern for funding and financial investment be complemented by actions in other modalities for promoting comprehensive DRR management, such as organizational and institutional reorganization to promote the elimination of existing "silos", among others? Which of the positive experiences introduced in the most economically developed countries in the North of the region are relevant for the countries of the South?

e) Do the region's efforts to invest in building knowledge, policy, and capacity to increase the resilience of people, livelihoods, infrastructure, and services have sufficient and appropriate financial mechanisms in place, complemented by the existence of appropriate enabling conditions? Is the private sector, including insurance companies, and local governments considered within these mechanisms? What are the main obstacles that countries face in securing adequate financing to address the underlying factors and drivers of disaster risk?

f) How can the efforts of different public (national and local), private and civil society actors be articulated in favor of investment that is based on the equitable organization and planning of territory, allowing a reduction in inequalities, and thus influencing one of the most relevant drivers of disaster risk? How can the capital gains derived from public investment in urban development be directed to finance disaster risk reduction, thus socializing gains from urban development processes, directing them to DRR?

g) Beyond the experiences of retention, transfer, and risk reduction in the region, which are mainly based on contingent and emergency funds (from loans, reserve funds, budget reallocations or donations) and disaster insurance or bonds, with their sometimes-required conditions in terms of risk reduction, what others are required to solve the challenges of risk financing in its DRR-resilience modality? What other innovative financing mechanisms are needed to leverage investment in all components of DRR, not just contingency, and to promote resilience building?

h) How can we enable these novel financial mechanisms to facilitate a coordinated disaster-climate approach, linking DRR in all its components and CC (climate change) adaptation synergistically, permitting more comprehensive and coordinated planning and financing?

i) How should risk governance be established, to properly consider and cover the systemic aspect of risk and ensure the involvement of sectors and territories in the design and implementation of inclusive financial mechanisms, starting with fiscal strategies and budgetary policies?

The RAR will be produced in collaboration and consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, with thinkers, practitioners, experts and innovators from across the Americas and the Caribbean. These stakeholders will support the RAR formulation process, providing information and analysis.

To prepare the RAR23, a full-time coordinating and writing team will be formed, made up of a coordinator and two associated researchers. The present call for applications is focused on the coordinator. Once named, a call for the two associate researchers will be made.

The RAR will be elaborated with the support and approval of the RAR advisory team at the UNDRR Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean and the independent Technical Advisory and Political Councils, which will provide guidance and specialized advice.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will report to the Risk Knowledge officer of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean (ROAMC) and have the following functions and duties:

a. Overall coordination of the research for and production of the written report. This involves overall coordination and lead for the associated researchers engaged in the RAR.

b. Prepare a work plan subject to review and approval by the Technical Advisory Council.

c. Based on the concept note and considering existing UNDRR contributions, propose, prepare and achieve institutional acceptance of the final index of contents of the RAR 23.

d. In collaboration with the associated researchers, define and coordinate the collection of information, bibliography, data and other elements necessary for the writing of the report, including from interviews with key people.

e. Using the information collected and other relevant inputs, integrate the analysis and results into a RAR 23 that brings together in a succinct, comprehensive, balanced and integral manner, the results, analysis, conclusions and recommendations arising from the ideas and discussions present in the literature and in other sources of information.

f. Deliver for discussion and finalization the by-products agreed in the work plan to produce RAR 23.

g. Present the draft(s) and final versions of the Regional Assessment Report in digital format, for revision and approval by the Senior Technical Advisor, RAR team of the UNDRR ROAMC (Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean), Technical Advisory Council and Political Council.

h. Participate in remote work meetings scheduled with associated researchers, to regularly report on the progress in the development of the RAR and to receive technical and strategic guidance.

i. Coordinate remote work meetings with the national contributors from the region, and other relevant actors in each country, to obtain the key information that contributes to the collection, review, analysis, and synthesis of the available information.

j. Coordinate with the different institutions and stakeholders at the regional and national levels to implement the planned activities and elaborate the expected products responding to the achievement of the objectives of this consultancy.

k. Present monthly progress reports as well as a final report of the consultancy.

l. Support the organization of the Special Session and Technical Session of the Regional Platform 2023 (RP23); Mid-Term Review (MTR) of Sendai Framework and Regional Action Plan (RAP) for the Implementation of the Sendai Framework in the Americas and the Caribbean:

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Social Sciences, National Resources Management, Disaster Risk Management, or related fields is required. A first-level university degree in combination with 2 additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
A minimum of at least 8 years of progressive work experience in regional programme coordination, intergovernmental processes, disaster risk reduction, climate change, public policies, financing and investing and/or sustainable development is required.
Prior experience in coordination and management of research projects, specifically on national and international comparative disaster risk reduction is required.

Languages

Fluency in English and Spanish is required. Knowledge of another UN language is an asset.

Additional Information

*FEMALE CANDIDATES ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO APPLY*. UNDRR values diversity among its staff. We welcome applications from qualified women, men, and people with disabilities"

No Fee

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.

This vacancy is now closed.
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