Contingency Planning Specialist (Consultant)

Purpose and Objectives:

Background:

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), established in 1986, is a non-profit, autonomous international organization and non-political in management, staffing, and operations. ADPC has been created for scientific, educational, developmental, and humanitarian purposes that work to build the resilience of people and institutions to disasters and climate change impacts in Asia and the Pacific region.

ADPC has more than 37 years of working experience in Asia and the national and local Governments of its founding charter member countries and countries of the Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) on Disaster Management. ADPC works to strengthen disaster risk reduction at all levels, from regional to national, sub-national, and even local community levels. ADPC aims at supporting governments, strengthening institutions, and building capacity for mainstreaming DRR into development processes. It includes developing institutional systems, assessing disaster risks, undertaking programs for disaster risk reduction, adapting to climate change, etc. Further details on ADPC and its programs can be found at www.adpc.net.

The Preparedness for Response and Recovery (PRR) Department of ADPC focuses on enhancing the preparedness, response management capacities of governments, response organizations, volunteers, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, communities, and other traditional and non-traditional actors of the Disaster Risk Management Ecosystem. It also strives to strengthen the capacity of institutions and at-risk communities for faster and efficient disaster recovery. The department works with the above-stated actors to ensure that the regional, national, sub-national, and local disaster preparedness, response, and recovery frameworks and implementation plans are in place well before disaster strikes.

ADPC has been implementing a range of disaster risk reduction activities in Bangladesh over the years.

Bangladesh Resilience Advancement in City Ecosystems (BRACE) Program is a two-year initiative funded by USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA). BRACE seeks to enhance the policy environment for urban resilience while enabling communities to undertake risk assessments and identify priority interventions for enhancing their resilience. It engages with at-risk urban communities, Ward Disaster Management Committees (WDMCs) in selected wards of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Cox’s Bazar Municipality (CBM) and government institutions to drive urban resilience in Bangladesh.

The primary objective of this consultancy assignment is to facilitate contingency planning in 05 wards of DSCC and 04 wards of CBM under BRACE. This will be done by training WDMC members and community volunteers on contingency planning and then handholding them to undertake contingency planning for their wards validated and finalized through simulation exercises.

Purpose of the Assignment:

The consultant will primarily contribute to the implementation of Bangladesh Resilience Advancement in City Ecosystems (BRACE) Program activities planned for Dhaka South City Corporation and Cox’s Bazar Municipality in Bangladesh. As one of its components, BRACE will facilitate community volunteers and Ward Disaster Management Committee members from 09 wards of CBM and DSCC to develop ward level contingency plans in their area and identify key priority actions to be taken by different stakeholders line with the contingency plans.

A consultant is required to train and facilitate community volunteers and Ward Disaster Management Committee members from 09 wards of CBM and DSCC to undertake the above tasks.

Training shall be conducted over two days each in both locations with a batch of about 40 participants each, in a ‘show how’ mode. Once trained, the Consultant shall extend handholding support to WDMCs to undertake contingency planning in their respective wards and conduct simulations of the same for finalization of the contingency plans.

Expected Outputs:

Following are the expected outputs from the consultant as per the mentioned timeline:

1. Training Package on ward level contingency plans – Modules, Participants Workbook, Facilitators Guide, Presentation and Evaluation Tools.
2. Delivery and Reports for two training.
3. Facilitation and finalization of contingency plans based on simulation Exercises for 09 wards.

Responsibilities and Tasks:

• Developing URA Training Package (Participants Work Book, Facilitators Guide, Presentation and Evaluation Tools).
• Conducting Two batches of two-day Residential Training (Per Batch for Two days) for Dhaka South City Corporation and Cox’s Bazar Municipality.
• Submission of reports of 02 Trainings.
• Facilitating the development of Contingency Plans in 09 Wards (DSCC:05 & CBM:04).
• Facilitate simulation exercises based on ward-level contingency plans.
• Submission of Finalized Contingency Plans validated by the Ward Disaster Management Committee (WDMC) in 09 wards.

Working Principles:

In performing the duties and responsibilities indicated above, the Consultant will be supervised by the Senior Project Manager based in the Bangladesh office under the overall guidance of the Technical Lead- Resilient Recovery of PRR Department of ADPC.

Qualifications:

Required Qualifications and Specifications

• Master’s degree in Disaster Management, Development Studies, Environmental Science, Emergency Management or any closely related field is essential. A Ph.D. degree in a related field would be an added advantage.
• At least ten years of overall work experience in disaster risk management-related disciplines.
• At least five years of proven experience in conducting multi-hazard Urban Community Risk Assessment and contingency planning.
• Proven ability to develop quality reports, training modules and manuals.
• Experience working with Urban Local Government Institutions is required.
• Knowledge of working ethics of National or State Government agencies, International NGOs, International organizations, National NGOs, the private sector, and International Organizations would prove to be an added advantage.

Personal Qualities:

• Self-motivated, proactive, and takes initiative;
• Demonstrated ability to plan and organize work and time independently;
• Verbal and written communication skills in English and Bengali are essential;
• Able to work independently with little supervision and ability to prioritize tasks.

General Requirements:

• Operate within all ADPC Guidelines & Procedures/ Policies

Operate within specific program needs

Duty Station:

Home Based with fieldwork in Dhaka South City Corporation and Cox’s Bazar Municipality

Duration

01st November 2023 – 31 March 2024. This is an output-based consultancy contract.