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International Consultant on Comparative Analysis on Disaster Recovery

11:21:00 AM

Background

The effects and impact of disasters compromise economic, political, environmental, and social systems, threaten human security and undermine progress towards the achievement of Development Goals. Disasters expose and exacerbate previous vulnerabilities such as poverty, environmental degradation, weak governance as well as discrimination, issues of land ownership, social inequity, amongst other things. Recovery, therefore, entails not only the management of direct socio –economic impact of disaster effects but it also requires the implementation of specific measures for avoiding the further consequences and socio-economic impact of disasters. When governments and societies are not prepared to address post disaster recovery challenges, there is a high risk that post crises contexts will be characterized by deeper inequalities, worsened poverty, increased vulnerabilities and higher risk of future disasters .

Disasters offer unique, albeit ephemeral, opportunities for change, for transforming while repair strengthening the capacities on Disaster Risk Reduction. However, while the number of disasters and their catastrophic consequences grows, the capacity of countries to manage the recovery process restoring the functionality of the society and building back better is quite limited. Systematic action will be required to build capacities in developing countries in order to realize this post disaster aspiration to secure development gains avoiding the further deterioration of the living conditions of the affected populations.

Strengthening capacities for Disaster Recovery is one of the key commitments of the management response to the Executive Board, as a response to the Evaluation of UNDP's contribution to disaster prevention and recovery. Some countries have initiated processes of developing capacities to address disaster recovery, however, most of the disaster prone countries continue to face a number of challenges including the following:(i) the insufficient awareness on the gravity of short-medium and long-term consequences of poorly managed recovery process. This is reflected in the lack of political commitment, appropriate institutional arrangements and investment in resources by Governments and International community to use recovery as opportunities to address underlying risks. As a result, there is very little body of knowledge documenting the importance of high returns and high investment in good recovery processes. It is difficult for countries to learn from each other about their experiences on preparedness for recovery due to scattered interventions and weak availability of networks and knowledge at regional and global level (ii) more specifically even in countries recurrently affected by disasters, the mechanisms for recovery rely excessively on ad hoc measures and recovery processes are often improvised, uncoordinated, and highly centralized. Recovery is usually limited to short term public investment mainly focused on repair or reconstruction of damaged infrastructure while the human development aspects needed for the restoration of the functionality of the society, is absent and invisible.

It is expected that UNDP supports countries to establish an enabling environment and develop the capacity required to establish organizational arrangements and design, finance, implement, and monitor comprehensive recovery policies and plans at national, urban and local level.

DRRRT requires to:

  • Develop an analysis of institutional models for disaster recovery to support the action at country level.
  • Know the State of the Art on Disaster Recovery and support the development of a concept note on recovery that details the vision of UNDP and provides the rational for intervention.
  • Based on the above and the current work undertaken by UNDP, outline a disaster recovery strategy to be further developed.
  • In order to update and identify trends and major challenges on disaster recovery, an international workshop will be held in Bolivia in late October and it is expected that this consultancy takes advantage of the workshop to analyze, as a key input to be further developed as part of his/her job.

Duties and Responsibilities

The aim of this consultancy is to support the preparation of strategic documents and solid evidence-based information for disaster recovery, contributing to the UNDP’s commitment with the Executive Board and providing tools to help countries on disaster recovery. The consultancy looks for identifying the main issues and challenges in establishing appropriate institutional, financial and policy mechanisms to best ensure that disaster recovery processes restore sustainable development. The consultancy will analyze pros and cons of different options and models to be presented to the governments as alternatives to find their own way to address recovery challenges and restore normalcy while enhancing resilience to future disasters.

Specifically, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks:

  • Develop a work plan with detailed sub-products and timeline.
  • For the development of a comparative analysis of normative frameworks, financial mechanisms and institutional arrangements.
  • Review and analyze existing literature and produce and annotated inventory, map out institutional and financial mechanisms and collect comparative experiences to prepare a state of the art;
  • Participate in an international workshop on disaster recovery and prepare guidelines to prepare presentations by country in Bolivia;
  • Based on the above, prepare the conceptual framework and narrative of the study (comparative analysis and typology of institutional arrangements and financial mechanisms), circulate for peer review and incorporate inputs;
  • Prepare it for publication (2 publications: full project and executive version for decision-makers with graphic support, illustrations, figures, etc.);
  • Prepare the material (PPTs; executive summary, etc.) necessary to the presentation of the study at different fora;

For the development of the State of the Art:

  • Review and analyze existing literature and produce and annotated inventory, map out UNDP interventions and other stakeholders’ s interventions;
  • Identify major challenges and gaps on disaster recovery, analyze comparative advantages for UNDP, identify entry points;
  • Based on the above prepare a concept note that details the state of the art and the vision of UNDP, providing the rational for intervention, circulate for peer review and incorporate inputs;
  • Prepare the material (PPTs; executive summary, etc.) necessary to the presentation of the study at different forum;
  • Prepare it for publication.

Competencies

The Consultant will contribute her/his knowledge, expertise and experience to:

  • Prepare strategic document and solid evidence-based information for disaster recovery
  • Support the development of tools to help countries on disaster recovery
  • Identify the main issues and challenges in establishing appropriate institutional, financial and policy mechanisms to best ensure that disaster recovery processes restore sustainable development
  • Contribute to knowledge management and knowledge sharing on disaster recover

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • A minimum of a Master’s degree or equivalent in Political Science, Law or related field.

Experience:

  • At least 5 years of relevant professional work experience on policy papers, strategies and research work
  • At least 5 years of working experience with international organizations at the national and/or international level and with first-hand field level experience. Demonstrable at least 3 years’ experience on one or several areas associated with Crisis Prevention and Recovery with experience working within a crisis affected environment;
  • Understanding of development challenges, role of institutions on recovery, political economy, crisis analysis and relevant tools to assess crisis environments and institutional capacities;
  • Demonstrable experience working in an international organization, preferably UNDP, and familiarity with Crisis Prevention and Recovery issues is essential;
  • Knowledge of UNDP/UN regulations, rules, policies, procedures and practices is an advantage.
  • Ability to work under pressure and to meet tight deadlines

Language:

  • Fluency in English, both oral and written. Working knowledge of Spanish is highly desirable.

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