Closing date:

Component head (community based disaster risk management)

City/location:
Kabul
Organization:
United Nations Development Programme - Afghanistan

This job posting has closed

Background

Afghanistan is recurrently hit by natural disasters causing losses to lives, livelihoods and property. In recent decades, this has led to massive problems of food insecurity and population exodus from the worst-hit areas. Between 1970 and 1998, the country experienced 57 large-scale disasters. More recently, Badakshan, Herat, and Badghis provinces have been affected by floods, extreme winter and snow avalanche. Vulnerability to disaster risk has increased significantly as coping capacities have been reduced due to prolonged conflict.

The Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) states that an institutionalized disaster response capability serves as the primary form of protection for Afghans. It helps them attain a basic level of physical security and enhances their capabilities to find sustainable livelihoods. The strategy further mentions that the Government will establish a national disaster preparedness and response capacity that effectively deals with both slow and quick-onset disasters throughout the country, resulting from either natural or man-made causes. According to the benchmark set up in the ANDS “by 2010 effective system of disaster preparedness and response will be in place”.

Since 2003, Government of Afghanistan (GoA) in partnership with the UN and other development organizations has developed key policy documents such as the Disaster Management Framework, National Strategy for Disaster Management, National Disaster Management Plan etc. The National Emergency Commission, under the leadership of the Second Vice President, has been established. The Afghan National Development Strategy has been developed and officially launched in 2008. While much progress has been made towards policy formulation, the implementation has been weak due to lack of capacity to effectively implement these policies and plans by the Afghan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDAMA).

To address this capacity gap, GoA with assistance from UNDP, formulated a five-year Comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction Project (CDRRP). The Program’s goal is, “to reduce the level of community vulnerability to natural and human induced hazards down to manageable and humanitarian levels”. The Program seeks to achieve this goal by strengthening the capacity of the Afghanistan disaster management system to reduce risks and improve response and recovery management at the national, provincial and community level.

Community Based Disaster Risk Management Projects will build community resilience through identifying and expanding indigenous coping capacities and strengthening traditional warning systems will be an important focus. This component will specifically target marginalized groups (women, children, disabled persons and the extreme poor) with a goal to strengthening their capacity and confidence to access a range of support services, with a view to minimizing the personal negative impacts associated with disaster situations. Part of this strategy will be to assist communities to establish community emergency response teams, community disaster management plan, community response plans and build community coping capacities through:

    • Education and awareness (e.g. awareness of hazards and their potential impact effects, and education on actions that might be taken to reduce risk posed by those hazards).
    • Community emergency/disaster response action plans.
    • Local “normal” development activities that reduce vulnerability (e.g. health, education, poverty reduction, infrastructure development).
    • Environmental enhancement programmes (e.g. re-greening programmes, watershed management).
    • Support for local actions to reduce hazards and/or vulnerabilities (mitigation).


Note: UNDP Afghanistan reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP Afghanistan at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and education requirements.

Duties and responsibilities

The Component Head will work under the direct supervision of the deputy project manager , and in close collaboration with ANDMA management and will be performing the following responsibilities:

    • Develops and implements CBDRM component work plans and revises as appropriate to meet the requirements of the project;
    • Facilitate training of trainers (ToT) trainings for Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA) at center and community level;
    • Identifies resources needed and assigns individuals responsibilities to the team assigned by ANDMA for Implementation of the CBDRM;
    • Manages day-to-day operational aspects of the component and scope;
    • Reviews plan and deliverables prepared by ANDMA team before implementation;
    • Gets report from the field and reviews, compiles, analyzes and submit it to CDRRP on monthly basis or as required;
    • Conducts meeting with field staff and ANDMA head office on regular basis to address the project issues and barriers and find appropriate solutions;
    • Ensures all related documents to the CBDMR component is complete, current, and stored appropriately;
    • Work with field implementation officer of ANDMA to ensure general activities of the programs are maintained, implemented and all requirements are met;
    • Arranges and call meeting with the government officials, NGOs and the community to discuss and promote disaster risk reduction activities;
    • Maintains good relationship with government officials, NGOs, Provincial authorities, and targeted communities;
    • Communicates with the government officials on any issue that may affect the work of the project;
    • Monitors and evaluates the CBDRM implementation process, prepare periodic progress reports as required;
    • Conducts site visits to monitor the project implementation status and address any inconsistencies noticed between project implementation and goals;
    • Ensures timely, accurate invoicing, and monitors project expenditures;
    • Ensures the project bills, cash receipts and petty cash objectives are met.


Competencies

Corporate competencies

    • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
    • Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
    • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
    • Treats all people fairly without favoritism.


Functional competencies

- Professionalism: expert knowledge to manage a program that deals with disaster preparedness and risk reduction, building community capacity and resilience to cope and deal with disasters.

- Managing & Coordinating: Proven ability to manage, plan and establish priorities. Sound experience and a proven skill of tracking record, managing project challenges and all the management aspects, e.g project implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

- In addition, sound technical knowledge of disaster prevention and ensuring community preparedness and be aligned to agencies that work on the same issues.

- Judgment & conflict management: Ability to manage conflict and apply sound judgment to resolve issues and make sound decisions.

- Teamwork: Strong interpersonal skill and ability to facilitate process among people and build capacity; ability to establish and maintain effective working relation with a multicultural team.

- Communication: Ability to write in a clear and concise manner to communicate effectively including writing report and conveying information to the management. Excellent oral and written English communication skill.

Required skills and experience

    • Master’s degree or Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Development Studies, Environmental Science;
    • Relevant working experience in project management, programme management, community level work experience (documentation will be required at time of written test);
    • Managerial experience in a staff supervisory or programme management position (application must illustrate this experience);
    • With master’s degree 2 years of experience and with bacholer’s degree 4 years of is required;
    • In depth understanding of the issues related to disaster management and capacity development;
    • Proven experience working with government and non-government partners
    • Proven qualities in leadership, staff management and team-work (references must be provided with application);
    • Advanced computing skills and knowledge of spreadsheets is required; (competence will be tested prior to short-listing for interview).
    Language Requirements:
    • Excellent command of written and spoken English. The candidate should be fully conversant in Dari and Pashto, and be able to review translated materials in Pashto and Dari.

Attachments

P-11 Form , English
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