Closing date:

Disaster risk reduction consultant (strengthening ACTED’s cross border watershed management approach)

City/location:
Home based and field work in Sugdh & Batken
Organization:
Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED)

This job posting has closed

Background

French NGO ‘ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development)’ has been implementing various projects in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction mainly with the funding from the EC and ADB in Tajikistan, and ECHO in Kyrgyzstan. In the region, ACTED has been the partner of DIPECHO programs since 2003.

All the initiatives and programmes implemented by ACTED are based on community participation which is achieved through Local Governance Initiative components. The concept of LGI was introduced within ACTED in 2002, before being developed into a specific strategy within the scope of which ACTED builds capacities and creates strong linkages and dialogue between community-level self-management structures (makhalla committees) and their authorities.

As part of its ongoing DRR work, ACTED facilitates and promotes the integration of DRR issues into local development plans, from village up to district levels. In order to strengthen the communities’ capacity in DRR, community structures such as Village Disaster Preparedness Committees – VDPCs (in Tajikistan) and Village Rescue Teams - VRTs (in Kyrgyzstan) are established and fully integrated into target communities. These structures receive extensive training on DRR in order to be able to conduct Hazard Assessments and draft Village Disaster Preparedness Plans. Whilst this is an essential step in the Ferghana Valley there are wider issues that must also be considered in order to reduce the risks of disasters.

Therefore ACTED is developing a Cross Border Watershed Management (CBWM) Approach which will go beyond just making linkages between communities and local authorities to consider linkage, impacts and cross cutting issues across the entire watershed and cross cutting issues. This will include ensuring that community structures do not just consider how they can reduce risks within the confines of their communities, but understand the wider issues affecting the watershed and are given the tools to address potential issues. As part of this process ACTED will be developing and exploring methodologies that will be essential to their work in the Ferghana Valley and beyond which addresses the challenges posed by Cross Border Watershed Management.

A key part of the project will to use information from community level Hazard and Vulnerability Assessments (HVAs) to strengthen local level disaster information and encourage the development of institutional planning and project implementation around DRR within the framework of the CBWM Approach.

Essential to the effective implementation of the Approach will be to ensure that ACTED project delivery staff receive training on how to implement the Approach across several target audiences (local government and communities). Further ACTED will be working to development and enhance Early Monitoring Systems in the community which will rely on utilising information from across the watershed using a CBWM methodology.

Within the framework of DIPECHO VII project “Improving Preparedness & Response Abilities to Natural Disasters in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan”, ACTED is seeking a Disaster Risk Reduction Consultant to assist ACTED to refine the components of the CBWM Approach at community level. This will involve:

• To refine the CBWM Approach and develop comprehensive guidance on its uses and implications
• Assist the organisation to integrate ensure that HVAs promote and reflect the issues of CBWM
• Developing training methodologies that will enable the organisation to explain the complexities, implement and develop the CBWM Approach to communities and local government and ensure that they have the tools necessary to reduce risks within the target watersheds
• Assist ACTED to refine its approach to Early Monitoring Systems within the framework of the CBWM Approach

Tentative workplan:

3 days preparation at home base
11 days in the border communities of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (including half day travel to Osh)
2 days training implementation staff (both Tajik and Kyrgyz teams), Osh
4 days home based, preparation of final recommendations

Tentative start date (desk research): 25th June 2012
Tentative start date (field work): 2nd July
Tentative report submission date: 21st July

Responsibilities:

The Consultant will work under the supervision of the ACTED Regional DRR Project Manager and in close cooperation with the Country Director’s for Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and the project implementation teams. The Consultant will assist in the development of a consolidated concept of Cross Border Watershed Management (CBWM).

The following list of activities provides a preliminary indication of the scope of the DRR consultant’s assignment. These activities may change based on discussions with the project team and consultant.

Overview: Creating clear methodologies on conducting the Cross Border Watershed Management Approach

• Refinement of the Cross Border Watershed Management Approach
• Design of Training for VDPCs/VRTs and local authorities on the principles of the CBWM Approach
• Development of Hazards and Risk Vulnerability Assessment (HVA) methodologies which reflect the CBWM Approach
• Refinement of ACTED’s Community Based Early Monitoring Systems for a cross border context
(For more details, please find the TOR as attachment.)

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