Early recovery coordinator

Background

The Philippines was struck by a series of typhoons in a span of 10 weeks from 27 September to 1 December 2006. The most destructive typhoon to strike the country was Reming (Durian), which struck the eastern coast on 30 November 2006 with sustained winds of 190 kilometer per hour and gusts of up to 225 kilometer per hour, causing massive mudflow in the southern slopes of Mt. Mayon Volcano in Albay province.

The cumulative impact of these typhoons was enormous. A total of 62 of the country’s 79 provinces were affected by the typhoons’ impact. The worst affected provinces were Albay, Camarines Sur and Catanduanes in the Bicol region. As per data from the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC), 1,158 people lost their lives, 3,235 people were injured, 891 people went missing and more than 300,000 people were displaced. The damage and losses caused by typhoons were estimated to be approximately Php20 billion, comprising infrastructure damages and agricultural losses.

The Government of the Philippines (GOP) declared a state of national calamity following the typhoons which hit the country between September and December 2006. It also requested the United Nations (UN) to facilitate and coordinate the offers of assistance from donors and aid agencies and to facilitate monitoring and reporting on the funds.

The GOP and the UN launched the Philippines 2006 Typhoon Appeal for US$48.7 million, on 15 December 2006. In response to the Appeal, a total of US$14.98 million was made available for relief and life-saving activities from various governments and development partners. A large number of critical emergency needs such as provision of emergency shelter, water, sanitation, food, health and education were met through these contributions. Additionally, projects amounting to US$12 million were supported by the UN and its partners in Albay, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Camarines Norte, Marinduque and Mindoro. It is estimated that 6.8 million individuals and 566 institutions (schools, day care centers and health facilities) benefited from these projects. (Note: In May 2007, the UN Resident Coordinator made a new request for CERF assistance for residual life-saving needs. US$938,622 was released to a number of UN agencies shortly thereafter.)

In December 2006, the UN System successfully adopted the “Cluster Approach” for strengthening the overall co-ordination of humanitarian response in the areas affected by typhoons. The approach was made operational through a distribution of responsibilities at the field level, meetings of cluster heads and the establishment of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) - a coordination mechanism of the UN and its partners from the NGO community and private sector - at the apex level. This facilitated the pooling of collective resources and expertise of the UN system and its partners in carrying out relief activities and conducting assessments of relief and early recovery needs.

In line with the UN proposal to implement a multi-sector early recovery program in the Bicol region over a period of two years, the GOP and UN launched the Consolidated Appeal for Residual Relief and Early Recovery Needs on 5 July 2007. In response to the Appeal, a number of governments and development partners provided resources. It is estimated that more than US$10 million will be available for early recovery from various funding sources, including US$1.8 million from UNDP’s core resources. 


Duties and Responsibilities 

Under the direct supervision of the United Nations Resident Coordinator (RC), the Early Recovery Coordinator will provide UN System direction for the early recovery effort in support of the Government of the Philippines and support the development of in-country capacity whilst ensuring the Government’s ownership and leadership of the recovery process. The ER Coordinator will be responsible for convening the Early Recovery network/cluster and the formulation and implementation of the IASC-Humanitarian Country Team’s integrated early recovery strategy. Based in the RC joint unit (coordination of humanitarian and recovery responses) in Manila, and making use of available staffing resources within the Humanitarian Country Team, the incumbent will: 


HC/RC support 

- Support the RC to ensure that decisions are taken in the best interests of affected and vulnerable populations, by ensuring that early recovery action is needs-based and conducted in an effective and principled manner, this includes:
- Act as the prime advisor to the HC/RC on ER policy issues.
- Assist the RC in his/her lead role in coordinating the inter-agency ER activities.
- Assist the RC with advocating for ER issues vis-à-vis the government and donor community.
- Interact with the global level Cluster Working Group on Early Recovery (CWGER) on behalf of the RC.
 

Inter-agency coordination and mainstreaming of ER at national and local levels 

- Facilitate the establishment of mechanisms to ensure consensus on the recovery process and the transparent use of resources, through appropriate consultative processes involving the participation of all stakeholders.
- Coordination with the other sectors/clusters especially regarding the early recovery activities being undertaken by them.
- Ensure that ER actors are aware of relevant policy guidelines and technical standards provided by the CWGER and that their responses are consistent with these.
- Convene and chair inter-agency ER coordination meetings in Manila and in the regions and provide the necessary secretariat support; ensure that coordination mechanisms are managed efficiently.
- Promote national and local ownership of programmes through increased consultation and participation of key national, regional and local stakeholders to ensure that ER activities in the regions are complementary to common and nationally owned reconstruction strategies. Although the NDCC is the lead inter-agency coordinating group at the national level, the coordination and communication with the regional & local level DCCs may need additional support from the ER Coordinator.
- The ER Coordinator should be supportive of the inclusion of counterparts and using local resource persons) as much as possible on specific recovery issues where possible.
 

ER planning and implementation at national and local levels

- Lead or facilitate inter-agency needs assessments.
- Coordinate the collection and analysis of early recovery needs assessment information.
- Lead a team of thematic experts to develop and guide implementation of an integrated ER strategy for the Humanitarian Country Team that will be based on the findings of the inter-agency needs assessment.
- Ensure that regional disparities, inter-sectoral linkages, and cross-cutting issues [Gender, HIV/AIDS, Environment, Protection (including Human Rights)] are taken into account in the activities for early recovery.
- Ensure the application of the ER guiding principles during the assessment and implementation phase and provide advice to the humanitarian clusters on linking humanitarian action to longer term recovery and development.
- Advocate for and support the development and/or application of policies guiding the recovery process especially policies relating to the integration of risk reduction into the recovery process.
- Support the mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction into the recovery work of all other clusters, and ii) into all existing and ongoing projects in the DRR field, particularly the READY project.
- Work closely with national counterparts, the World Bank, the regional development banks, donors and other stakeholders to ensure that common reconstruction strategies link with the ongoing ER activities
- Advocate for an early deployment of development actors to facilitate a smoother transition from relief to development
- Coordinate and play a leading role in the development of area-based early recovery plans that conform with the country early recovery strategy
- Provide technical support to implementation of early recovery programmes.
 

Thematic areas
- Identify specific capacity needs of the national institutions involved in recovery and reconstruction
- Based on the results of the inter-agency needs assessment, coordinate agencies’ programming of humanitarian and recovery-related interventions in priority sectors (livelihoods; community-driven approaches; shelter, property and land right issues; basic social services; rule of law; disaster risk management and governance).
 

M&E and reporting
- Establish monitoring mechanisms and report progress of early recovery activities in a timely, transparent and consolidated manner; identify gaps and propose alternatives
- Optimize future actions through the evaluation of ER activities by ensuring baseline data is collected, benchmarks are defined, real-time evaluations are conducted and recommendations are integrated in future planning.
 

Surge capacity and training
Identify surge capacity and training needs and address the appropriate provider within the UN system or beyond.
 

Resource mobilization
Work closely with the UN agencies and other stakeholders on the development of a resource mobilization strategy.
 

Deliverables
- Coordinate/contribute to the drafting of a early recovery frameworks and/or implementation plans and their development in support of government and inter-agency initiatives, based on the findings of inter-agency assessment missions
- Support resource mobilization efforts for the funding of early recovery among the resident donor community.
- Support the development of a post-humanitarian phase “recovery plan of action” as needed, in cooperation with the Government and the Country Team.
- Draft/contribute to the drafting of project proposals related to the coordination of early recovery and recovery activities
- Draft/contribute to the drafting of regular reports to the RC and the country team, and inform the global CWGER on early recovery progress, developments, needs and areas of potential concern, including preparations for CERF and other financing
- Prepare RC briefings and regular reports to government officials and donors
- Contribute to/develop CAP and other appeal documents in conjunction with UN OCHA, as needed
- Undertake such other related tasks as may be requested by the RC.


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
 
Knowledge Management and Learning

- Promotes knowledge management among UN and non-UN partners
- In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary programmatic issues regarding the transition from relief to recovery 
- Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills
- Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of the UN
- Coordination Effectiveness
- Ability to lead the design and implementation of UN joint programme activities, strengthening of strategic partnerships for Early Recovery.
- Ability to build and sustain effective partnerships with UN Agencies and main constituents, advocate effectively, communicate sensitively across different constituencies.
 
Management and Leadership
- Focuses on impact and result for the client.
- Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills.
- Establishes priorities for self and other members of the team; schedules activities to ensure optimum use of time and resources.
- In providing advice to the RC, has the capacity to gather comprehensive information on complex problems or situations; evaluates.  information accurately and identifies key issues required to resolve problems.
- Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
- Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors.
- Manages conflict and stress, remaining composed and working as a mediator in crisis or antagonistic situations.
- Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
- Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view.
- Solicits feedback from staff about the impact of his/her own behavior.
 
Development and Operational Effectiveness.
- Ability to lead strategic planning, change processes, management and reporting.
- Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of strategic plans/frameworks.


Required Skills and Experience

- Advanced university degree in political science, sociology, law, international relations, public administration, or other relevant field; or the equivalent combination of education and the extensive relevant professional experience in a related area
- At least 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in humanitarian affairs, early recovery or longer term recovery and/or development, including at least 8 years of experience at the international level. Part of that experience must be in the field involved with inter-agency coordination in post-natural disaster settings. Extensive professional experience in Asia would be a strong asset
- Familiarity with practical examples on linkages with relief to recovery and longer term development
- Demonstrated experience in humanitarian and/or development coordination especially at the field level and in working with Government officials, NGOs and donors
- Excellent proven skills in analysis, facilitation, negotiations and leadership
- Proven ability to interact at the highest governmental and diplomatic levels
- Experience with the media
- Familiarity with the UN common systems, (coordination) tools and procedures 
- Demonstrated experience in analysis and problem solving 
- Excellent writing and presentation skills
- Experience in monitoring and evaluation
- Computer literacy, including familiarity with spreadsheets, power point presentations and databases
- Proven qualities of and experience in: team leadership and motivation, team building, office management, oral/written communication. - Strong inter-personal skills and a demonstrated capacity to deal with colleagues and counterparts from different backgrounds, and proven ability to function in a multi-cultural and multi-ethnical environment 
- Fluency in written and spoken English is required for this post.