Regional Expert, Climate Resilient Development

A. Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) is an autonomous international organization with a vision to reduce disaster and climate risk impacts on communities and countries in Asia and the Pacific by working with governments, development partners, international organizations, NGOs, civil society, private sector, media, and other key stakeholders.

Established in 1986 as a technical capacity building center, ADPC has grown and diversified its expertise across social and physical sciences to support sustainable solutions for risk reduction across a broad range of specialist areas. With over 100 staff from 19 different nationalities and a wide range of professional expertise from atmospheric scientists to social scientists with experiences from all levels of engagement typically required for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Resilience (CR) in an effective manner. ADPC has six strategic themes supported by seven departments: ADPC Academy, Risk Governance, Climate Resilience, Urban Resilience, Health Risk Management, Preparedness for Response and Recovery, Geospatial Information. These are supported by Finance, Human Resources and Administration, and Strategic Planning departments. In addition to the departments, ADPC also works on three cross-cutting themes: Gender and Diversity, Poverty and Livelihoods, and Regional and Transboundary Cooperation through permanent working committees.

ADPC Strategy 2020 guides the organization in providing comprehensive risk reduction support to countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. ADPC recognizes the importance of examining the linkages between disaster risk management, poverty reduction, gender equality, sustainability, rights-based approaches, climate change and regional cooperation.

For details, please refer to ADPC website at http://www.adpc.net/

B. Climate Adaptation and Resilience for South Asia Project

South Asia has experienced a long period of robust economic growth, which has translated into declining poverty and impressive improvements in human development. However, these long-term development gains are increasingly threatened by the staggering social and economic impacts of climate-related hazards. A recent World Bank study[1] concluded that 800 million (or 44 percent) people in South Asia today live in locations that would become moderate or severe climate hotspots by 2050 without climate action. Therefore, investing in resilience is both profitable and urgent as disruptions are extremely costly for public and private sectors and households. South Asia could preserve and enhance its social and economic growth by investing in climate-resilient development.

With the financial support from the World Bank Group, ADPC and the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) are jointly implementing a five-year (2020-2025) project, titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CARE) for South Asia”. The project aims to create an enabling environment for climate resilience policies and investments in Climate Resilient Agriculture, Integrated Water Resources Management, Resilient Transport Infrastructure, and Policy, Planning and Finance sectors. Through its regional portfolio, ADPC will also facilitate high-level dialogues for institutional cooperation and knowledge exchange, develop climate-resilient guidelines, and promote innovation and adoption of disruptive technology at national and regional levels. The national-level activities will initially be implemented in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.

In the above context, ADPC is aiming to establish a position for Regional Expert on Climate Resilient Development that provides an advisory and mentoring role to the Climate Planning and Finance team and the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of ADPC based at the regional level in Bangkok, Thailand. The Regional Expert will provide guidance and oversight for the project’s mainstreaming climate change into development planning processes on a part time basis, in addition to participating in national, regional and global events to highlight best practices and learning of the CARE for South Asia project as part of wider knowledge-sharing.**

The Regional Expert on Climate Resilient Development’s primary role is twofold:

• Providing expert advice and consultative support to the project staff and consultants on climate resilient development, especially to the Sector Leads, to maintain state-of-the-art technical standards of interventions and approaches in the project; and
• Supporting the capacity and relationship-building to meet the wider needs of the stakeholders to be reached out and to benefit from the existing climate adaptation institutions and initiatives in the region.

C. Statement of Intent

The Regional Expert, Climate Resilient Development is expected to help with an improved output performance that will show emerging impact to the stakeholders and beneficiaries and increased quality of the technical products and outcomes based on standards set by the World Bank.

It is also expected that the Regional Expert, Climate Resilient Development will support the project’s sustainability by strengthening in-house technical capacities of ADPC teams in the key sectors and facilitate wider dissemination of the project outputs and outcomes beyond the geographical confines of the project.

Note:

It is not the intent of this Terms of Reference to cover every aspect of the position requirements, rather to highlight the most important areas of personal and joint responsibilities.

D. Duties and Responsibilities

The detailed functions of the Regional Expert, Climate Resilient Development are expected to include:

1. Advisory and consultative support

⁃ Provide input and strategic advice on the implementation of sectoral activities and achievements of the project’s goals and objectives on climate policy and planning.

⁃ Review and ensure that project outputs and reports are delivered to the required quality standard, in line with agreed specifications of the Work Plan and other commitments.

⁃ Undertake periodic review of the climate planning and finance implementation strategies, identifying potential gaps and solutions and ensuring incorporation of lessons learned into ongoing implementation.

⁃ Function as a source of advice and support in technical updates, including new technology and innovations, tools and approaches that can be adapted for the project countries and in the region.

2. Regional level capacity and relationship-building

⁃ Provide technical guidance for the Planning and Finance Team for conceptualizing, designing, and implementing institutional coordination and technical capacity development plans at the regional level.

⁃ Provide technical inputs to the project regional activities and initiatives such as regional policy dialogues, thematic fora, and other outreach events and missions.

⁃ Participate in relevant regional/global meetings, where required, and expand exposure, disseminate impact and lessons learned, and involve in the promotion or follow-up of the project.

⁃ Establish effective communication channels and develop close ties with existing and instrumental regional and international partners and initiatives.

⁃ Provide technical support for the regional initiative of demand-driven scientific research and advisory services targeting subnational public institutions and agencies in collaboration with regional centers of excellence.

3. Regional Expert Meetings

a) Convening meetings

Regular Regional Expert meetings will be convened to undertake review of the project implementation status and strategies. The PIU of the CARE for South Asia project will be the convener of the meetings and provide the Secretariat to the Regional Experts ensuring the preparation and storage of relevant documents/minutes. All Regional Expert meetings will be held virtually.

b) Frequency of the meetings

Two Regional Expert meetings per year are foreseen during the course of the project.

E. Qualifications

The candidate should hold a Master’s degree (Ph.D. is desired) and have 15 years of professional experience in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable development gained in international and multi-cultural environments.

Professional record should include experiences in:

• Design, management and technical coordination of regional multi-stakeholders projects and programs in Asia;
• Advisory services in the development of climate and disaster risk-informed policies;
• Strategic analysis, planning and programming for risk-informed development;
• Mainstreaming of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction into national and local development planning processes; and
• Liaison with high-level government agencies and representatives of the donor community.

F. Reporting Relationships

The Regional Expert, Climate Resilient Development will report to the Project Director and work in close coordination with the Sectoral Lead on Climate Planning and Finance of ADPC. The Expert will also coordinate with the other CARE for South Asia project specialists at the regional and national levels as necessary to carry out different activities under the project.

The expert will submit a time-charging sheet every month explaining the type of inputs and a summary of deliverables every quarter to ascertain the level of efforts.

G. Contract Duration

The contract duration will be a maximum of 100 days stretched over a period of 1 year. It will be a time-based contract.

H. Selection Method

The consultant will be selected in accordance with ADPC’s recruitment process and in compliance with the World Bank Procurement Regulations.