Consultant for ASEAN Humanitarian Training

Background Information:

The ASEAN Standards and Certification for Experts in Disaster Management (ASCEND) is an initiative of the ASEAN Member States (AMS) that provides regionally recognised competency standards and a certification process for disaster management professionals across ASEAN. ASCEND helps to facilitate the recognition and mobility of disaster management professionals.

The ASEAN Standards refer to common competency standards for different professions in the disaster management sector that are recognised in all ASEAN Member States. The agreed ASCEND competency standards and its supporting documents will also become a reference for ASEAN nations that will establish their national qualification standards in disaster management.

The ASCEND Certification refers to the process of securing official ASEAN recognition that an individual possesses the necessary qualification and competence to perform a specific profession in the disaster management sector.

The first phase of ASCEND development started in 2016. In 2020, the Republic of Korea generously provided three-year funding to support the second phase of ASCEND development. This resulted in Resilience Development Initiative (RDI’s) development of ASCEND toolboxes in 2021 for five professions: Humanitarian Logistics, Rapid Assessment, Information Management, Shelter Management and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

Moving forward, RDI will proceed with the ASCEND Toolbox implementation and evaluation stage. The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) will continue to implement the ASCEND Phase II in collaboration with the Korean National Fire Agency (KNFA). The project will be critical for the development of ASCEND since the AHA Centre will focus on the pilot application of the ASCEND Framework in identified ASEAN countries with the following objectives:

A. To enhance the capacity of the ASEAN countries in the implementation of ASCEND.

B. To establish regionally recognised competency standards and assessment process covering five professions in disaster management.

C. To improve the capacity of the AHA Centre to serve as the ASCEND secretariat.

D. To promote understanding of the ASCEND Framework among the AMS and other sectors in ASEAN in preparation towards the inclusion of ASCEND into the ASEAN Mutually Recognised Agreement (MRA).

Scope of Work:

The scope of work of this project includes the following:

1. ASCEND Guides Familiarisation

i. Support the organisation and facilitation of the familiarisation sessions of the ASCEND Guides documents to the AMS National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), AHA Centre’s partner organisations, and relevant training institutions.

ii. Produce event reports and suggestions for improvement from the familiarisation sessions.

2. ASCEND Assessor’s Training

i. Support the conduct of one workshop on the ASCEND Assessor Training Curriculum and three assessor training based on the agreed curriculum and ASCEND Assessor’s Guides.

ii. Develop materials for the ASCEND assessor training, including assessment forms, presentation slides, visual aids, session plans, hands-on exercises, and other supplementary training materials such as videos and online training modules.

iii. Administer training evaluation and prepare post-training report incorporating evaluation results, lessons learned, and recommendations.

3. ASCEND Toolbox Implementation and Evaluation

i. Support the implementation of the ASCEND Trial Simulation (1 time) and ASCEND Pilot Assessments (2 times) with the involvement of various ASCEND stakeholders.

ii. Support the evaluation workshops (3 times) after each conduct of trial simulation and pilot assessments.

iii. Conduct review and improvement of ASCEND Toolbox based on the trial simulation, pilot assessments, and evaluation workshops under the consultation of the ASCEND Reference Group.

4. Report Writing

i. Produce a short report on each activity and a final summary report on the overall consultancy service provided, incorporating evaluation results, lessons learned, and recommendations for the improvement of ASCEND programme.

Timelines

The consultant will work with RDI teams from October 2022 until December 2023.

Key Responsibility:

1. Facilitate ASCEND Assessor training processes
2. Actively track, manage, and report on project objectives and deliverables
3. Prepare training reports
4. Edit and tweaking training materials

Qualifications and attributes required:

The consultant should have demonstrated expertise in facilitating high-level stakeholder meetings, disaster risk management, program management, and monitoring and evaluation or another relevant field

Individual interested in this assignment must meet the following minimum requirements:

• Master’s Degree in disaster management, or equivalent experience
• At least 7 years of training facilitation and simulation
• At least 10 years of experience in disaster risk management, project management, and monitoring and evaluation or another relevant field.
• Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate, and monitor the progress of the project as a team.
• Good interpersonal skills, and ability to work in a consultative and collaborative manner.
• Experience managing multi-stakeholder processes.
• Strong team player and client oriented personality