Consultant for review, facilitation and documentation of an experience-sharing workshop on Emergency Coordination Centers

Background:

Ethiopia has experienced a complex emergency including drought, floods, conflict, desert locust plague, and COVID-19 that challenged the government's and humanitarian actors' response capacity. With this situation, the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission (EDRMC) has been working with the humanitarian partners to strengthen the Emergency Coordination Centers (ECCs). The Commission has worked closely with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) with the technical and financial support from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation under the “Strengthening Institutional Capacity & Preparedness for Emergency Response in Ethiopia (SIPERE)” program to enhance operational capacity, infrastructure, and information management system of the National and Regional ECCs in 3 pilot regions (Afar, Oromia and Somali). The National ECC, in collaboration with the regional ECCs, was able to initiate over 20 Incident Command Posts (ICPs) and Quarantine Centers (QCs) in six regions and one city administration in response to flood emergency and missive Ethiopian migrant returnees’ influx from neighboring and Middle East/Arab countries due to COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the national and the three regional ECCs are able to organize their daily activity coordination and weekly ECC stakeholder briefings on their own.

ADPC and EDRMC are currently implementing the program on “Improving Coordination Capacity for Preparedness and Emergency Response in Ethiopia (ETCOR)”. The overall goal of the program is to achieve an improved inter- and intra-sectoral coordination capacity of the government system for preparedness and emergency response in Ethiopia. The goal will be achieved through technical support to the EDRMC, Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Ministry of Health (MoH), and their technical institutions for strengthening emergency coordination mechanisms. The program focuses on supporting the relevant government institutions in the effective coordination of emergency relief, humanitarian coordination, emergency preparedness, and early recovery in the conflict-affected Northern and other vulnerable regions where the respective sectoral stakeholders are involved.

Purpose and Objectives:

The purpose of the assignment is to provide technical support to EDRMC in enhancing capacity and facilitating linkages of the ECCs under EDRMC, MoA, and MoH at the national and sub-national levels through the experience sharing for the establishment and operationalization of the ECCs. The specific objectives are:

1. To review progress for the establishment and operationalization of the national and regional ECCs.
2. To design the workshop methodology and tools, facilitate the ECC experience sharing among the ECCs under EDRMC, MoA and MoH, and identify linkages between them.
3. To consolidate the workshop results and provide technical advice for developing the coordination mechanisms between the ECCs at national and sub-national levels under EDRMC and respective sectoral ministries.

Expected Outputs:

• Review and documentation of experiences, lessons learned, and best practices for ECC establishment and operationalization at national and sub-national levels (Afar, Oromia and Somali) and the linkages between the identified ECCs.
• A workshop methodology with clear objectives, expected outcomes, agenda, and tools.
• Technical facilitation of the workshop sessions including orientation, experience sharing, capacity building and simulation exercise.
• A report consolidating workshop results including experiences, lessons and best practices for the establishment and operationalization of the ECCs at national and regional levels.
• Recommendations for developing coordination mechanisms between the ECCs under EDRMC, MoA, and MoH at national and sub-national levels.

The consultant is expected to commence the work from 1 December 2022 until 31 March 2023.

Responsibilities and Tasks:

• Review of ECC establishment, operations, and coordination mechanisms in Ethiopia.
• Develop workshop methodology and tools for the ECC experience-sharing.
• Develop questionnaires, checklists for key informant interviews and focused group discussions, and a guide for observations for data collection and analysis of the national and field operations in target regions ECC (Oromia and/or Somali) to capture good practices and lessons for the future.
• Carry out consultations, focused group discussions, and observation at the national and regional ECCs.
• Develop methodology and tools for the workshop (PowerPoint presentation, participants’ notes, and discussion guides).
• Provide overall facilitation of the workshop and prepare the workshop report and recommendations for developing coordination mechanisms between the ECCs.

Working Principles:

In performing the duties and responsibilities indicated above, the consultant will be supervised by the Program Manager based in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. The consultant will work closely with EDRMC and ADPC program team in Ethiopia.

Qualifications:

The consultants should have the following qualification and experience:

• A minimum of a Master’s degree in Disaster Risk Management, Engineering, Humanitarian Response Planning, or other related fields is required. Experience in the Horn of Africa region is preferable.
• At least 15 years of experience in disaster risk management, developing and mapping capacity-building programs, including conducting the programmatic assessment, after- action reviews, and evaluations.
• Proven experience in emergency response management, particularly emergency operations center (EOC), incident command system, emergency response planning, early warning systems, and application of specific technical information in these fields.
• Well-conversant with state-of-the-art knowledge of EOCs, current global development, and best practices.
• Experience both at the strategic and operational levels of the EOCs.
• High-level experience in designing and facilitating the multi-stakeholder workshop with diverse backgrounds and interest groups.
• Proven experience in policy review and program strategy development that involves the coordination of government and non-government actors.
• Previous experience in working with national governments, humanitarian NGOs, or international organizations in similar programs.
• Excellent command of English, both written and spoken, and ability to prepare high-quality reports.

Duty Station:

This is a home-based assignment. Travel to Ethiopia is required for the key informant interviews at the National and Regional ECCs in Oromia and/or Somali and the experience-sharing workshop facilitation.

Duration:

The assignment will be commenced from 1 December 2022 to 31 March 2023. This is an output-based consultancy.

Itinerary:

In case the official mission outside the duty station is required, the consultant will be entitled to international and domestic flights, visa fees, local travel, daily subsistence allowance, accommodation, and other related travel costs as per ADPC financial policy.

How to apply

Interested Candidates can submit the completed ADPC application form (downloadable from adpc.net or ADPC Website), resume, copy of degrees/certificate(s) together with samples of related work to: adpcjobs@adpc.net

Female candidates are especially encouraged to apply.

ADPC encourages diversity in its workplace and supports an inclusive work environment.