Resilient transport sector specialist (regional)

A. About Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

ADPC is an autonomous international organization with a vision to reduce disaster and climate risk impacts on communities and countries in Asia and the Pacific by working with governments, development partners, international organizations, NGOs, civil society, private sector, media, and other key stakeholders.

Established in 1986 as a technical capacity building center, ADPC has grown and diversified its expertise across social and physical sciences to support sustainable solutions for risk reduction across a broad range of specialist areas. With over 100 staff from 19 different nationalities and a wide range of professional expertise from atmospheric scientists to social scientists with experiences from all levels of engagement typically required for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Resilience (CR) in an effective manner. ADPC is a competent regional resource center and has seven thematic departments: ADPC Academy, Risk Governance, Climate Resilience, Urban Resilience, Health Risk Management, Preparedness for Response and Recovery, Geospatial Information. These are supported by Finance, Human Resources and Administration, and Strategic Planning departments. In addition to the departments, ADPC works on three cross-cutting themes: Gender and Diversity, Poverty and Livelihoods, and Regional and Transboundary Cooperation through permanent working committees.

ADPC Strategy 2020 guides the organization in providing comprehensive risk reduction support to countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. ADPC recognizes the importance of examining the linkages between disaster risk management, poverty reduction, gender equality, sustainability, rights-based approaches, climate change and regional cooperation.

For details please refer to ADPC website at http://www.adpc.net/

B. Background

Disasters take a huge toll on the development agenda of SAR countries. Between 2000 and 2017, disasters in South Asia incurred estimated damages of US$ 149.27 billion. Public expenditure is under stress by the repeated need to reallocate capital budgets away from long term development planning and towards reconstruction activities in post-disaster environments. For example, since 2005, Pakistan has suffered losses on the order of US$ 16 billion due to natural disasters. In Bangladesh, 2007 Cyclone Sidr resulted in damages and losses of US$1.7 billion, or 2.6 per cent of GDP.

To increase resilience and achieve climate commitments, there is a need for a transformational shift towards policies and institutions that enable climate resilient investments. Investing in more resilient infrastructure is both profitable and urgent as disruptions are extremely costly for governments, households and private sector and large ongoing investments in infrastructure assets will have long-lasting repercussions as poor maintenance and natural disasters result in a vulnerable stock.

With the financial support from the World Bank Group, ADPC will be implementing a five years’ project, titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience Project for South Asia” (CARE). The project aims to create an enabling environment for climate resilience policies and investments across South Asia. This objective will be achieved through enhanced regional cooperation and knowledge exchange for climate resilience and adaptation and mainstreaming of resilience and adaptation in national policies, plans and investments.

Scaling up the climate-resilient infrastructure strategy for strategic and rural roads plays a vital role in satisfactorily implementing all the required components of the project. It would involve development of standardized geospatial databases and other data for climate-related risk assessments on the transport sector.

Accordingly, a highly qualified and experienced Resilient Transport Sector Specialist will be required to provide technical support in developing relevant climate adaptation strategies for the transport sector in selected countries and reviewing existing standards and guidelines. S/he will be selected on competitive basis following World Bank Procurement Regulations.

The objectives of this consultancy service are to:
- Technical input in revising guidelines (regional and countries) on climate-risk informed design and construction in the transport sector;
- Support in risk assessment of the transport sector, including review and making geospatial databases of transport sectoral data, that will be used for the development of climate inclusive risk profile of transport sector in Bangladesh and Nepal
- Support in conducting consultations and workshops to finalize methodologies for strategic and rural roads in Bangladesh and Nepal
- Conduct training needs assessment and capacity building initiatives on climate change adaptation in the transport sector of the two focus countries

C. Statement of Intent

The Resilient Transport Sector Specialist will provide technical support in revising guidelines (regional and countries) on climate-risk informed design and construction in the transport sector, as well as reviewing existing climate-related hazard and risk-assessment approaches to develop inclusive risk assessment and climate change methodologies for strategic and rural roads in Bangladesh and Nepal. The Consultant will further support in reviewing regional guidelines and standards for climate resilient transportation infrastructure to identify key gaps and issues to support in capacity building.
The Resilient Transport Sector Specialist will be based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Note:
It is not the intent of this Terms of Reference to cover every aspect of the position requirements, rather to highlight the most important areas of personal and joint responsibilities.

D. Duties and Responsibilities

The Resilient Transport Sector Specialist shall be responsible for:
Review and Analysis:
- Lead in reviewing regional guidelines, as well as the context of Bangladesh and Nepal and international best practice, on climate resilient transport infrastructure to identify needs and issues in transportation sector and support in drafting a report on gaps in current standards and guidelines for climate resilient transport infrastructure at the regional level;
- Provide inputs in regional guidelines on resilient transport infrastructure, based on above review;
- Undertake stocktaking of key barriers at national level towards operationalizing climate resilient roads strategy in Bangladesh and Nepal specifically;
- Provide technical input in revising national guidelines on climate resilience for roads in Bangladesh and Nepal, based on above-mentioned stocktaking exercise;
- Support Gender and Inclusion Specialist in developing an action plan to mainstreaming gender into budgeting, planning and transport sector development processes;
- Manage the work plan and outputs of field Transport Specialists located in Bangladesh and Nepal.

Risk Assessment:
- Provide technical inputs in conducting regional hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment for transport sector;
- Technical input in collecting and evaluating geospatial data and other data needed for climate-related hazard, exposure, vulnerability, risk assessment for rural roads in Bangladesh and roads in Nepal to establish standardized geospatial databases needed;
- Support in organizing consultations and workshops to finalize risk assessment and climate change assessment methodologies for roads in Bangladesh and Nepal;
- Provide technical inputs to the report on evaluation of geospatial data for climate-related hazards for roads and to standardize geospatial databases in Bangladesh;
- Provide technical inputs towards conducting climate inclusive vulnerability and risk assessments for Bangladesh and climate inclusive hazard assessment for Nepal;
- Support developing hazard specific climate change scenarios suitable for resilient development planning in Nepal;
- Support in stocktaking and develop a report on the current status of slope stabilization and protection using bioengineering/nature-based solutions in Nepal.

Support capacity building by:
- Supporting the design of the training needs assessment on climate change adaptation and infrastructure design, climate public policy and climate finance in the transportation sector of two focus countries;
- Providing inputs towards developing training workbook and support materials for inter-country and in-country customized training;
- Assist in capacity development, awareness raising and Training of Trainers for national and sub-national agencies on hazard, vulnerability & risk assessment in Bangladesh and Nepal;
- Conducting capacity building on climate-risk informed design and construction;
- Facilitate policy dialogue and consultation events at regional level. Develop communication, knowledge-sharing documents and dissemination of best practices;
Perform other relevant tasks as assigned by the Project Director (PD).

E. Qualifications

The candidate should at least have:
- A bachelor and a master’s degree in one or more subjects in transportation engineering, construction, disaster risk management, infrastructure, or equivalent combination of education;
- At least 10 years of experience on transportation sector development, and having specific expertise in climate change adaptation and resilient transport infrastructure development is preferable;
- Experience in developing climate-resilient strategies and innovative implementation of subsequent climate-resilient design and engineering practices;
- Experience in utilizing geospatial data and other data for climate-related assessments;
- Excellent English proficiency oral and written communication, including a demonstrated track record in technical report writing and ability to communicate technical matters effectively to general audience;
- Experience on conducting training needs assessment and capacity building in relevant field would be an advantage;
- Strong understanding and knowledge of climate change impacts on transportation sector in South Asia;
- International experience would be a plus.

F. Reporting Relationships

The Resilient Transport Sector Specialist will report to the Project Director and work in close coordination with Director, Geospatial Department, ADPC. The specialist will also coordinate with the other CARE project specialists at the regional and national level to carry out different activities under the project.

G. Contract Duration

The contract duration will be for 1 year. The consultant’s performance will be reviewed on a quarterly basis.

H. Selection Method

The consultant will be selected in accordance with ADPC’s recruitment process and in compliance with the World Bank Procurement Regulations.