SSA - National Consultant - National Disaster Management Office / NDMO

Background

Context / Background 

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The Fiji Multi Country Office (MCO) covers 14 Pacific countries, with field offices/presence in 6 countries, and five ‘focus countries’ (Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Samoa). Each field presence is led by a national Country Programme Coordinator. UN Women, in partnership with Pacific Islands Governments, regional organizations, CSOs, donors and UN agencies, focuses on delivering within four interlinked programme areas:

• Women’s Political Empowerment and Leadership (WPEL)
• Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE)
• Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVAWG)
• Gender and Protection in Humanitarian Action (GPiHA) and Disaster Risk Reduction

UN Women Fiji MCO is implementing the Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) Programme in the Pacific. UN Women promotes gender-responsive disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience across its triple mandate through technical and policy support, provision of gender expertise to DRR mechanisms and processes (local, national, regional, and global), advocacy and knowledge management, and by implementing programmes and projects for gender-responsive DRR and resilience building, including the Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) programme, which is UN Women’s signature DRR initiative. The WRD Programme aims to reduce the loss of lives and livelihoods from disasters and threats, including COVID 19 and climate change, and to contribute to sustainable, secure and thriving communities and countries through addressing critical gender gaps in disaster and climate resilience. UN Women’s key partners include the 50 UN entities related to the UN Plan of Action on Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience, all stakeholders working on disaster and climate resilience including the Early Warnings for All Initiative, the Loss and Damage collaboration and international financial institutions, and various gender, DRR and climate platforms at the global, regional, and national levels.

UN Women’s WRD programme proposes a comprehensive package for building women’s resilience to disasters, climate change and threats.   The aim of the WRD Programme is to render women’s and girls’ lives and livelihoods disaster-resilient, contributing to sustainable and secure communities, by promoting gender responsive prevention, preparedness, and recovery systems, plans and tools; and by enabling targeted action to help women and girls withstand hazards and threats, recover fully from disasters, and increase their resilience to future risks. 

Objectives of the Assignment

The WRD Pacific regional component is looking for an individual consultant to support the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) to support the implementation of selected activities under the work plan of the WRD programme.    

For this purpose, the selected consultant will work under the leadership of the Director of the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) with technical support from UN Women.  He/ She will report to and be supervised by the WRD national programme coordinator (NPC) and in collaboration with the UN Women Country Programme Coordinator (CPC) based in Vanuatu. The consultant will be technically supported by the WRD Regional team and Programme Manager as and when required.  

Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities

The National Consultant will provide support in enhancing knowledge, skills around the gender dimensions of disaster risk and strengthen utilization of tools that support gender responsive DRR, climate change actions.

• Enhance capacity of actors to effectively engage in disaster risk reduction and resilience building with adequate knowledge and skills for promoting leadership of women and girls.
• Strengthen NDMO utilization of gender response frameworks through available resources and relevant review processes support engagement of DRR and climate resilience practitioners in communities of practice, networks, and partnerships; and,
• Strengthen DRR coordination mechanisms and partnerships to ensure they adequately integrate gender responsiveness and social inclusion.

Suggested Activities to fulfil these overarching objectives include:

Task 1. IEC Material Review/Development.

• Review the existing resources in gender responsive DRR, Climate Action materials to develop new IEC products that are both Gender responsive and socially inclusive targeting people with special needs and other vulnerable grouping.
• Arrange for translation of the IEC materials, into all the three national languages of Vanuatu; and,
• Support printing, dissemination, and socialization of materials.

Task 2. Support Community Engagement.

• Provide support to strengthen communication at all levels to ensure gender and other social inclusion agendas are addressed and made known to the community, DRR decision makers and practitioners through appropriate mediums and events.

Task 3. Review of the Hazard drill guidelines for the Community Disaster and Climate Change Committees / CDCCC) / Provincial Disaster Climate Change Committees (PDCCC) targeting gender and social inclusion.

• Initiate the review and strengthen existing drill guidelines and consultation with relevant stakeholders for necessary revision from gender and social inclusion perspective.
• Undertake training (including TOT) for CDCCC participants 2023,2024) to rollout the guidelines.

Task 4. Review early warning messages & signs capturing the Gender and social inclusion perspectives.

• Undertake an assessment of existing early warning messages for the purpose of finding the gaps and opportunities for revision.
• Draft modified messages for targeted groups based on localized needs for submission to the appropriate authorities for endorsement.
• Finalize the modified early warning messages and disseminate to appropriate authorities for updating/implementation in partnership with relevant agencies.

Task 5. Capacity building initiatives for stakeholders.

• Conduct capacity building initiatives to strengthen the capacity of climate change and disaster governance bodies (national, provincial, municipal and community levels) to plan for and respond to the specific needs of women, children, youth, people with disabilities, the elderly and other vulnerable groups.
• Organize capacity building sessions with the women leaders at national, provincial, municipal and community levels.

Task 6. Review Vanuatu National Policy on climate change and disaster induced displacement (NPCCDID).

• Support the review of the existing policy addressing gender and social inclusion perspective and develop the policy implementation plan with an M&E framework.
• Engage stakeholders in consultation workshops for the review and finalization of the policy.
• Finalize the inputs for submission to the national authority for approval and subsequent implementation.
• Review the National Disaster recovery Framework incorporating gender responsive measures and social inclusion; and incorporate Gender responsive measures into the National Disaster Recovery Framework.

Task 7. Coordinate and liaise with networks for women's resilience and leadership in DRR (Community of practice, strategic networking, and partnerships).

• Support DWA and NDMO to identify active women leaders from the 6 provinces including 2 municipal councils for strategic networking.
• Provide mentoring and support to these leaders to enhance visibility, impact, and profile of their work.
• Liaise with national and provincial events national committees to secure spots that could be used by women champions/leaders in DRR to share their experiences, lessons learnt and how to improve in the future.
• Organize leadership training (using the leadership tool developed by UNW) for local women Community's leaders/local actioners and grassroots activists.

Task 8. DRR and recovery coordination and partnerships (gender-responsive coordination mechanisms).

• Support the WRD National Programme Management Committee chaired by the Department of Women.
• Provide quarterly updates to the NPMC meetings or other related meetings on the workplan and implementation progress on behalf of the NDMO.

The National Consultant will also support the NDMO in reporting on disaster related work. Strong engagement with other national DRR stakeholders like the National Advisory Board, Vanuatu Association of Non-Government Organizations, Vanuatu Climate Action Network, Vanuatu Council of Churches, Department of Women’s Affairs, and others will be required. 

Expected Deliverables

The duration of this assignment will be to up 180 working days over 12 months.

The Consultant is expected to deliver, specifically, the following major tasks or outputs:

No.	Deliverables	Approximate No. of days	Timeline
	Initial meeting with the UN Women and National Disaster Management office on the main deliverables and to develop workplan.	Up to 2 days	December 2023
	IEC Material Review/Development: Review of available relevant resources for developing new messages.	Up to 18 days	December 2023
	Community Engagement to support communication /visibility.	Up to 20 days	January - February 2024
	Support the review of the Hazard drill guidelines for the Community Disaster and Climate Change Committees (CDCCC) / Provincial Disaster Climate Change Committees (PDCCC) targeting gender and social inclusion.	Up to 25 days	March -April 2024
	Review early warning messages & signs capturing the Gender and social inclusion perspectives.	Up to 25 days	February – March 2024
	Review Vanuatu National Policy on climate change and disaster induced displacement NPCCDID.	Up to 25 days	April - May 2024
	Coordinate and link up with networks for women's resilience and leadership in DRR (Community of practice, strategic networking, and partnerships).	Up to 20 days	June – July 2024
	DRR and recovery coordination and partnerships (gender-responsive coordination mechanisms).	Up to 20 days	August –September 2024
	Conduct Capacity Building Trainings for stakeholder when required.	Up to 20 days	October - November 2024
	Submission of Final Report.	Up to 5 days	December 2024
	TOTAL	180 days

The assignment should be carried out within a period of 12 months, not exceeding 180 working days, with the incumbent being responsible for delivering the following outputs:

• Monthly reports on major tasks performed and the results, including related to support provided to the NDMO, inputs collection etc., as per above description of tasks.
• Monthly time sheet.
• Final report on carried out activities, achievements, and challenges.
• Information management relevant to the assignment.  
• Supporting documents of the month’s activities including any minutes, workplans, briefs, analytical work papers etc.

All the deliverables should be agreed with the UN Women’s Humanitarian & Resilience Programme Team provided in English hard and electronic copy. 

Note that all materials, including any video footage and images, will remain property of UN Women and cannot be used without UN Women’s permission.

Upon receipt of the final deliverables and prior to the payment of the instalment, the deliverables, related reports, and documents will be reviewed and approved by UN Women at least within 10 business days of submission.

All the documents and materials utilized need to be returned to UN Women in electronic format. Any printed materials utilized to be referenced and returned.

Input

The NDMO and UN Women will provide the Consultant with background materials.  UN Women will only cover Consultant’s travel and within Port Vila should the need arises and upon prior approval by the NDMO and UN Women.

The Consultant is expected to be based at the NDMO with frequent meetings with UN Women for technical inputs.  The Consultant may access the either the NDMO or the UN Women Office for printing of relevant documents or should he/she be required to work on-site at any point during the assignment.

Management Arrangements

The National Consultant will work under the overall coordination of the Director of NDMO and direct supervision of the UN Women, WRD National Programme Coordinator (NPC), Vanuatu in collaboration with the UN Women Country Programme Coordinator (CPC) based in Vanuatu.  The National Consultant workspace will be provided by the NDMO with the necessary information, materials, and logistics, as well as office space.  The selected candidate will be provided with a laptop, while NDMO will provide access to other equipment for the fulfilment of his/her tasks (such as printer, copier).

Performance Evaluation

The Consultant’s performance will be evaluated based on timeliness, responsibility, initiative, communication, and quality of the products delivered.

Financial Arrangements

Payments will be disbursed to the consultant in instalments, upon submission and approval of deliverables, monthly timesheets aligned with actual days worked and certification by the UN Women WRD NPC in collaboration with the UNW CPC based in Vanuatu for that the services have been satisfactorily performed.

Travel

Travel costs outside Port Vila, Vanuatu are not envisaged and if needed will be covered separately by UN Women with prior approval.  During the consultancy assignment’s related missions, UN Women will cover travel cost for the Consultant for the agreed upon routing and in conformity with UN Women applicable rules and regulations. 

The Consultant will be responsible for all administrative and travel expenses associated with undertaking this assignment and be based in Vanuatu. 

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between NDMO and UN Women and the National Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

For more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies, you can also visit this ONLINE LINK.

Required Skills and Experience

Required Qualifications and Work Experience

The Consultant should fulfil the following requirements:

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, International Development, Disaster Risk and Climate Change, Environment, Programme Management, Data Analysis, or other related areas is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience and Skills:

• At least 2 years (with Master’s degree) or 4 years (with first-level university degree) of progressively responsible experience related to information management, data science, development, adaptation and resilience capacity building, disaster risk reduction, climate resilience or other closely related fields.
• Minimum of 2 years’ relevant national/regional/international experience both in the field and headquarters in disaster response, recovery, or development work.
• Experience in disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness and/or response and recovery is required.
• Excellent writing and consultation skills with the ability to gather and synthesize information, and present it in a clear, concise format, is required.
• Familiarity with government knowledge management resources (sector, macro, sub-national) is an advantage.
• Experience with risk assessment and disaster risk metrics is an advantage.
• Experience in the UN system related to disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, humanitarian-development-peace collaboration, response, and recovery is desirable.
• Experience in training and building capacity of both government and UN representatives is desirable.

Language and other skills:

• Excellent skills and fluency in verbal and written English is required. 
• Fluency in Bislama language is an asset.

Additional Information:

UN Women Statement on Diversity Inclusion

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law.  All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.  If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.  

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination.  

All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check).

Evaluation

Initially, individual consultants will be short-listed based on the following minimum qualification criteria:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, International Development, Disaster Risk and Climate Change, Environment, Programme Management, Data Analysis, or other related areas is required.  A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• At least 2 years (with Master’s degree) or 4 years (with first-level university degree) of progressively responsible experience related to information management, data science, development, adaptation and resilience capacity building, disaster risk reduction, climate resilience or other closely related fields.

Technical evaluation of shortlisted candidates will be done through desk review of applications on the basis of responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (TOR) as per table below.  Interviews and/or written tests will be organized if needed only, depending on the short-listed candidates’ qualifications.

Technical Evaluation Table:

No.	Criteria		Maximum points
	Master’s degree or equivalent in Social Sciences, International Development, Disaster Risk and Climate Change, Environment, Programme Management, Data Analysis, or other related areas is required.  A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.	First-level university degree – 8 pts. Masters’ s qualification- of 12 pts.	12
	At least 2 years (with Master’s degree) or 4 years (with first-level university degree) of progressively responsible experience related to information management, data science, development, adaptation and resilience capacity building, disaster risk reduction, climate resilience or other closely related fields.	Up to 2 years with Master degree and up to 4 years with first-level university degree – 10 pts, Each year over 2 (or 4) years - 2 pts each up to a max 20 pts.	20
	Minimum of 2 years’ relevant national/regional/international experience both in the field and headquarters in disaster response, recovery, or development work.		10
	Experience in disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness and/or response and recovery is required.		10
	Excellent writing and consultation skills with the ability to gather and synthesize information, and present it in a clear, concise format, is required.		10
	Familiarity with government knowledge management resources (sector, macro, sub-national) is an advantage.		10
	Experience with risk assessment and disaster risk metrics is an advantage.		7
	Experience in the UN system related to disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, humanitarian-development-peace collaboration, response, and recovery is desirable.		7
	Experience in training and building capacity of both government and UN agency representatives is desirable.		7
	Excellent skills and fluency in verbal and written English is required.  Fluency in Bislama language is an asset.		7
	Maximum Total Technical Scoring		100

The consultancy recruitment process will be governed by the rules and regulations of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).

Submission of application

Interested candidates are requested to submit fully completed application on the UNDP Vacancy Site. 

Submission Package:

1. Cover letter explaining the suitability of the consultant: applicants are encouraged to address experience and qualifications listed in the ‘criteria for technical evaluation’.
2. Duly filled Personal History Form (P11) and/or Curriculum Vitae (CV) of consultant including records of past experience in similar assignments and specific outputs obtained; P11 can be downloaded at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/employment

Failure of candidates to submit a duly completed P11 form, as well as false representations on this form, shall constitute sufficient grounds for withdrawal of further consideration of the application. Information provided in the P11 form will be treated with confidentiality.  Applications without a complete set of the required documentations will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment. UN Women reserves the right to accept or reject any bid.