Early Warning for All and Disaster Risk Reduction Financing Lead Consultant for Guatemala

Contract

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Result of Service

The expected outcomes at both global and national levels for this project are the following: · Enhanced understanding of stress posed by disasters on public finance · Strengthened capacity for tracking DRR financing flows, assessing gaps in public spending, and identifying DRR financing needs · Increased investments into DRR from public, private, and international sources.

Work Location

Guatemala City, Guatemala

Expected duration

14/07/24-13/03/25

Duties and Responsibilities

Background Created in December 1999, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is the designated focal point in the United Nations system for the coordination of efforts to reduce disasters and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the United Nations and regional organizations and activities in both developed and less developed countries. Led by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG/ASG), UNDRR has over 140 staff located in its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and in regional offices. UNDRR guides, monitors, analyses, and reports on progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. It supports regional and national implementation of the Framework and catalyzes action and increases global awareness to reduce disaster risk working with UN Member States and a broad range of partners and stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians and the science and technology community. The consultant will be based in Guatemala City, Guatemala and will report to the Economic Affairs Officer and Regional Coordinator for Early Warnings for All (EW4All) of UNDRR’s regional office for the Americas and the Caribbean and serve as the liaison with Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres (National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction) CONRED by its acronym in Spanish, other governmental entities, such as the Ministry of Finance (Ministerio de Finanzas) MIFIN by its acronym in Spanish, and Secretaría de Planificación y Programación de la Presidencia (Secretariat of Planning and Programming of the Presidency) SEGEPLAN by its acronym in Spanish for the DRR Financing Frameworks Initiative and with Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología, Meteorología e Hidrología (National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology, and Hydrology) INSIVUMEH by its acronym in Spanish for the Early Warnings for All (EW4All Initiative. This will allow for strong alignment between the project and programmatic approach together with the strategic priorities of the country. The consultant will lead the strategic and technical implementation of these two initiatives’ scope of work, providing overall coordination and guidance to the country project team. Additionally, when requested, the consultant will engage in national, subregional, regional, and international conversations, as well as foster engagement with the territorial and local level, as well as with other non-government partners such as civil society, academia, science & technology sector, private sector and others, while also acting as interlocutor to the UN Resident Coordinator’s office and UNCT, capitalizing on and disseminating key learnings from the implementation process of the financing components and to provide overall technical and strategic support to the government to ensure proper execution of the nationally-defined EW4All and DRR Financing Frameworks implementation plans. DRR Financing Frameworks Investing in disaster risk reduction (DRR) for resilience is Priority 3 of the Sendai Framework. Finance remains one of the largest bottlenecks to protecting countries’ sustainable development from the devastating impacts of disasters. The midterm review of the Sendai Framework further stressed the need for accelerating investment in DRR as the current level remains vastly inadequate and issued several calls for action to this end. Recognizing the urgency for scaling up investment in DRR, UNDRR is committed to stepping up its work in this area and supporting countries in finding solutions to their challenges. Innovative approaches and “all hands on deck” are required to make significant progress in this area (business as usual has shown its limits). The political declaration of the high-level meeting on the midterm review of the Sendai Framework called upon States to strengthen their investment in disaster risk reduction. In particular, it called for: (i) identifying gaps in public spending on DRR and mainstreaming risk reduction into the financial framework; (ii) developing comprehensive DRR financing strategies, and (iii)promoting the development of innovative instruments and tools to finance DRR (GA Resolution 77/289). Responding to this call, UNDRR will work with CONRED and other entities such as MINFIN and SEGEPLAN, as well as in articulation with private sector stakeholder and cooperation and financing institutions, to enhance national financial frameworks in Guatemala, promoting a risk-informed approach that aligns public investments and financial systems with DRR goals. The expected outcomes at both global and national levels for this project are the following: · Enhanced understanding of stress posed by disasters on public finance · Strengthened capacity for tracking DRR financing flows, assessing gaps in public spending, and identifying DRR financing needs · Increased investments into DRR from public, private, and international sources. EW4All In November 2022, the UN Secretary General launched the Early Warnings for All (EW4ALL) initiative to advance the efforts to protect everyone in the world by the end-to-end MHEWS. UNDRR, together with World Meteorological Organization (WMO), leads the global coordination of the EW4ALL in close collaboration with International Telecommunication Union (ITU), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society (IFRC). The main hydrometeorological and climatic hazards in Guatemala are floods, landslides, droughts, tropical storms and hurricanes, whose frequency and intensity are being exacerbated by climate change. Of the geological hazards to which Guatemala is exposed, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and landslides. Disaster and climate risk data and information are available in country but with notable gaps and largely dispersed. Early warning systems exist but need to be strengthened and articulated. According to data from the Sendai Framework Monitor, since 2015 there have been more than 6,800 death and more than 1,000 persons missing from disasters, with more than 1,723,886 persons whose livelihoods were disrupted or destroyed attributed to disasters, 325 health facilities and 1,108 education facilities damaged or destroyed, with millions of dollars in economic loss from disasters. At the same time, despite notable advances in disaster risk reduction and hazard monitoring, Guatemala continues to face notable challenges in terms of population exposed that are covered and protected by Early Warning Systems. It is one of 30 countries selected globally for the initial phase of the Early Warnings for All initiative and to date has advanced in the mapping of stakeholders, the identification on gaps and towards the definition of its national EW4All implementation plan. As per the outcomes of the national launch and workshop held in March 2024, the designated national focal points for EW4All in Guatemala are the Coordinating Agency for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) and the National Institute for Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology (INSIVUMEH). For the DRR Financing Frameworks, the consultant will: 1. Engage with the parties involved to align on the scope of work, agree on timelines, and define other strategic parameters. 2. Prepare a detailed work plan for project implementation 3. Through the leadership of CONRED, promote wide-sectoral participation including national government entities, such as MINFIN and SEGEPLAN, private sector stakeholders, municipal governments, civil society organizations and international cooperation institutions. 4. Foster coordination with the Resident Coordinator Office (RCO) in Guatemala, ensuring alignment with the Strategic Cooperation Framework and other relevant initiatives of the UN System in the country. 5. Conduct a rapid analysis of the economic consequences of disasters in the country based on existing data, models, and publications. 6. Develop a DRR Financial Landscape Assessment based on information about public investment management, private sector engagement, and financing mechanisms. This will include desktop analysis of DRR budget-related expenditures using tools such as Risk Management Budget Classification, DRR and CCA budget tagging, the Anticipatory Financing scoping process, and review of project datasets from major development partners. The assessment will adopt a broad DRR approach with an additional focus on financing for Early Warning Systems and Anticipatory Action. 7. Organize workshops and sessions with strategic stakeholders to present emerging findings and showcase available tools for DRR budget management as well as opportunities for AA financing. 8. Prepare recommendations for priority actions and key pathways to improve investment in DRR, including for pre-disaster phases, through a mix of existing and new funding instruments and strategic partnerships. 9. Develop a roadmap to enhance DRR financing, encompassing policy recommendations, capacity-building needs, a set of financial instruments, strategic partners, monitoring and evaluation guidelines, and other strategic components for a comprehensive action plan. 10. Ensure high-level awareness of the roadmap and commitment with defining the subsequent steps for implementation. With regards to EW4All, this will involve the following: 1. Develop an initial work plan subject to approval by CONRED and UNDRR ROAC. 2. Facilitate the adoption, including any adjustments needed, of the national implementation plan in coordination with national focal points (Presidency, CONRED and INSIVEMEH), UN RC office in Guatemala and the four EW4All pillar leads (UNDRR, WMO, ITU and IFRC). 3. Overall coordination and support for advancing in the IP’s actions identified under interpillar on governance and pillar 1, including coordinating the development of a monitoring and evaluation or performance management framework with a prioritization of actions, agreed indicators for measuring progress, baseline, timeline with annual targets. 4. Support policy directives to ensure that relevant legislation and mandates are in place to allow for effective and authoritative early warning and early action. 5. Provide technical support towards generating funding and financing proposals. 6. Support the Government of Guatemala via CONRED in establishing or strengthening a multisectoral and inclusive national coordination mechanism or platform to foster a strategic approach for executing Guatemala’s EW4All implementation plan (IP) and in particular provide technical assistance to foster the coherent exchange of risk information across national, sub-national entities and line ministries, in keeping with the stakeholder mapping and the gaps identified at the country level. 7. In coordination with other consultants in country and with UNDRR ROAC and CONRED, oversee the organization of a pillar 1 - risk knowledge consultation to review the current practices of producing, managing and using risk information in support of early warning systems, with particular emphasis on elements of local and community inclusion and with emphasis on vulnerable or marginalized groups. 8. Together with UNDRR’s risk knowledge consultant in Guatemala, facilitate the implementation of the Inclusive Early Warning Early Action Checklist and oversee the final outcome document subject to approval by national focal points and UNDRR ROAC. 9. Oversee, together with the risk knowledge national consultant and UNDRR ROAC, the development of a national risk profile, including considerations on data & information management and knowledge exchange. 10. Support capacity development on MHEWS among Government and non-government actors in country and support advocacy campaigns. 11. Support actions related to enhancing national DRR policies, strategies and/or plans, ensuring a focus on multi-hazard early warning systems (MHEWS) at national, subnational and local levels, and supporting EWS policy at the subregional level as relevant via CEPREDENAC. 12. Together with other UNDRR consultants in country, support Guatemala through CONRED as coordinating focal point to report on Sendai Framework indicators of target G and nationally defined custom indicators related to MHEWS. 13. A final report subject to feedback by national focal points and pillar lead agencies (UNDRR, WMO, ITU, IFRC) that includes the status of the IP’s implementation and of MHEWS in Guatemala together with all relevant annexes Overall reporting and coordination will include the following: 1. Participation in UNCT activities as relevant on behalf of UNDRR. 2. When requested, participation in activities organized by UNDRR ROAC 3. Monthly progress reports highlighting advances, challenges, opportunities and next steps for the coming month as well as an overview of progress to date. DRR financing: 1. Workplan submitted for revision by UNDRR and CONRED. 2. Financial consequences of disasters report, analyzing the direct and indirect impacts of recent disasters in Guatemala. 3. Workshop for the presentation of the findings, showcasing tools and methodologies for DRR financing and multistakeholder definition of DRR financial assessment guidelines for Guatemala. (An internal post-workshop report will be submitted). 4. DRR financial landscape assessment, including public, private and international financial flows. The assessment will build on existing tools and will apply new methodologies in order to develop comprehensive understanding of the general DRR financial landscape in Guatemala and special focus on anticipatory action and early warning systems. 5. Workshop for presentation of findings and multistakeholder prioritization on critical areas to increase and enhance DRR investment. (An internal post-workshop report will be submitted) 6. Recommendations report and roadmap to enhance DRR financing frameworks and advancing strategies to increase financial flows for general DRR and specific recommendations for anticipatory action and early warning systems. 7. Report on high-level meeting for the presentation of the recommendations and roadmap. EW4All: 1. An initial work plan subject to revision by national focal point authorities, the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Guatemala and UNDRR ROAC. 2. An internal report on the process surrounding the political approval of Guatemala’s national EW4All implementation plan. 3. A national EW4All monitoring and evaluation or performance management framework developed and subject to feedback by national EW4All focal points and EW4All pillar leads. 4. A proposal for the creation and functioning of a national EW4All multisectoral and mulitstakeholder coordination mechanism, or task team, for implementation of EW4All in Guatemala, subject to feedback from national focal points and pillar leads. 5. Internal brief on policy recommendations to enhance MHEWS in Guatemala, including recommendations on institutional regulations, particularly for CONRED, with elements on enhancing articulation at the regional, national and local levels. 6. An internal brief with recommendations for strengthening national policy and normative framework as well as institutional regulations to enhance integrated MHEWS at the national and local level. 7. Pillar 1 risk knowledge and/or inclusive early warning early action workshop concept note, list of participants and workshop report. 8. Monthly progress reports and a final consultancy report.

Qualifications/special skills

Master's degree in disaster risk reduction, climate change, sustainable development, or other related areas is required. A first-level university degree (Bachelor's degree or equivalent degree) in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree. At least 4 years of experience in disaster risk reduction is required. Experience with national stakeholders in areas of disaster risk management, climate change, early warning systems or identification of vulnerabilities and exposures is required. Experience with information management systems is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. Fluency in Spanish is required for this consultancy. Knowledge of English is desirable.

Additional Information

Due to the high volume of applications received, only successful candidates will be contacted.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.