Thailand: Team Leader, Baseline Assessment

Position Title: Team Leader, Baseline Assessment

Duration: 3 Months

Work Base: Bangkok, Thailand

Joining: Immediate

TheAsian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), established in 1986, is a regional non-profit foundation with headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand supporting the advancement of safer communities and sustainable development, through implementing programs that reduce the impact of disasters upon countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. The primary geographical focus of ADPC's activities is Asia with the South, South East, and East Asia being the primary sub-regions.

ADPC has more than 30 years of work experience in Asia along with the national and local Government of its charter member countries as well as countries of the Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) on Disaster Management. ADPC works to build preparedness at all levels, from regional, national, sub-national and even up to community level. Further details on ADPC and its programs can be found at www.adpc.net

Project Background

The humanitarian architecture in Asia is still in its premature stage, and the United Nations (UN)-led cluster system for humanitarian response has not yet been fully adopted in the countries of Asia and the Pacific. This has resulted in a duplication of efforts, less access to humanitarian funding information, lack of vertical and horizontal coordination and lack of leadership among local humanitarian agencies during mega disasters. The risk to communities in disaster-prone areas is much higher due to the high level of social vulnerability associated with the lack of institutional systems and mechanisms at the local level. There is a strong need for additional support, devoted to strengthening local emergency response capabilities and setting up institutions and systems for at-risk countries in the region to be better equipped to face more challenging disasters in the future, which is likely to occur under the evolving patterns of climate change.

As witnessed during the Myanmar flood in 2015, Nepal Earthquake in 2014, Haiyan Typhoon in the Philippines in 2013, etc. responding to emergencies requires strong local and national emergency actors. They are often the first responders before international actors arrive and are at times the only responders as trends of more frequent and high-intensity disasters means international resources are stretched. Therefore, investing in strengthening local capacities has the benefit of ensuring emergency response and management is efficient, effective and sustainable, resulting in a reduction of loss of lives and assets.

To address this shortcoming, the program “Strengthening Emergency Response Capacity of Local Humanitarian Actors in Asia” has been formulated based on the need assessment and the findings of the study report, “Let Your Voice Be Heard” commissioned to Crescendo International in 2016 by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Asian Disaster Preparedness Center is the program execution agency while Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, and Sri Lanka have been the selected as beneficiary countries in Asia that recognize the needs for localization of humanitarian response with a greater involvement of National Governments, local NGOs, and civil society groups.

Program Goal: To improve the preparedness to emergency response and recovery from disasters in Asia by strengthening the interface between the government and local humanitarian organizations by strengthening their technical capacity to better engage in the humanitarian framework by providing institutions, partnerships, knowledge resources, training, and networking opportunities.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Ph.D./ Masters in Social Science, Statistics, Disaster Management, Environmental Sciences, Engineering, or Natural Resource Management, or any other closely related fields is essential. Diplomas on monitoring and evaluations or baseline assessments will be an added advantage.
• Prior experience in conducting baseline assessments and evaluations for policy interventions related to disaster management with a demonstrated experience in the use of quantitative and qualitative methods.
• At least 15 years of proven experience in disaster management, interagency coordination, planning, and capacity building in Asia
• Proven experience in Emergency Response Management such as scenario based contingency planning, Incident Command System, application of specific technical information and data for designing capacity building programs.
• Familiarity and at least five years of experience of working with National Governments and NDMOs in Asia
• Previous experience in working with Humanitarian NGOs or international organization in similar programs.
• Knowledge of working ethics of national or state government agencies, International NGOs, National NGOs and private organizations would be an added advantage.

Personal Qualities:

• Self-motivated, pro-active and takes the initiative.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, and organize work & time independently.
• Verbal and written communication skills in English is essential.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, team-oriented work style, and experience in working in a multi-cultural environment.
• Strong networking capacity and understanding of development work at local and regional levels.
• Strong desires to learn, undertake new challenges, a creative problem-solver, and must have self-confidence, willingness to work hard, good sense of humor but with seriousness about the quality and excellence of work.

General Requirements:

• Operate within all ADPC Guidelines & Procedures/ Policies
• Operate within Government Procedures/Policies

Duties and Responsibilities:

The consultant will be responsible for providing country specific technical inputs for the baseline study team and lead the baseline assessment process, including

• Finalize the Baseline study approach including sampling framework, data collection strategy, methodologies, etc. for six countries;
• Design and establish a comprehensive work plan and monitoring strategy for the baseline assessment including data collection, data validation, data analysis, reporting, and dissemination;
• Design a training program for baseline assessment teams in six countries and train the country teams on evaluation design, sampling framework, research instruments and research ethics;
• Lead the conduct of Baseline Assessment with program managers and baseline assessment teams in respective countries;
• Coordinate with program manager/s in ADPC HQ and Country Offices of ADPC and provide necessary advice and guidance on regular basis in conducting the Baseline Assessment;
• Monitor progress of the implementation of Baseline Assessment with well-defined milestones against the work plan;
• Guide country teams in data analysis, data validation and drafting the final reports including debriefing to relevant ADPC staff and key stakeholders;
• Review and provide technical inputs for six baseline assessment reports from the respective countries;
• Guide developing roadmaps/action plans for strengthening preparedness for disaster response at local levels by the National Humanitarian Partnerships;
• Draft and finalize the Regional Synthesis Report (based on the country reports) that describes the initial conditions (before the start of the project) against which progress /changes can be measured;

Deliverables:

• Finalized the Baseline study approach and the methodology.
• Baseline Assessment work plan and monitoring strategy
• Training program including the curriculum and training materials.
• Successful completion of the Baseline Assessment in six countries.
• Baseline Assessment Reports in six countries.
• Roadmaps / Action Plans for strengthening preparedness for disaster response at local levels by six countries. Regional Synthesis Report.

Reporting Relationship:

• Department Head, Training Services, ADPC
• Work closely with country program managers in Cambodia, Myanmar, Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan

Period of Engagement:

The Consultant shall work in the above-mentioned activities for three work months (66 work days) starting from Mid-April 2017 till July 2017

***For more detail, please visit our website at* www.adpc.net**

Interested Candidates, please submit the completed ADPC consultancy application form, (downloadable from www.adpc.net), resume, copy of diploma(s) and certificate(s) together with a cover letter, to adpcjobs@adpc.net or

Human Resources and Administration

979/69, 24^th Floor

SM Tower, Paholyothin Road

Samsen Nai, Phayathai

Bangkok, 10400

THAILAND

Tel: +66-2-2980681-92

Fax: +66-2-2980012

Only Short-listed candidates will be contacted.