Project manager / senior advisor (m/f) to the Chinese State Council in the field of disaster risk management

Your area of activity

GTZ (Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit - German Technical Cooperation), on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), started working on a project designed to improve disaster risk management in China in April 2009. Since then, GTZ has cooperated with the China National School of Administration (CNSA) and the Emergency Management Office of the Chinese State Council, which is answerable to the Chinese Head of State.

The three-year project aims to standardise and optimise the existing system for disaster preparedness, emergency planning and crisis management and, at the same time, to advise on the establishment at CNSA of the National Institute for Emergency Management (NIEM). Project implementation involves close cooperation with the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and the authorities and further training facilities that operate under it, the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW)/THW’s national training school in Neuhausen near Stuttgart and the German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK)/Academy for Crisis Management, Emergency Planning and Civil Protection (AKNZ) in Ahrweiler.

Your tasks

As Project Manager you will have the overall responsibility of coordinating and managing the German contribution as well as for the configuration of activities with the German Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), the above-mentioned authorities, other bilateral and multilateral development-cooperation organisations and other GTZ projects and programmes.

The focus of your task is on process and technical consultancy for the Chinese partners, in particular the Chinese State Council’s emergency management office and the China National School of Administration (CNSA).
On the one hand, you will advise on the development and implementation of an optimised disaster risk management system and, on the other, on the establishment of the National Institute for Emergency Management (NIEM) as well as on module-based further training in disaster risk management at national level, in Sichuan Province and in other provinces and cities. Capacity development measures will play a major role in these tasks.
Furthermore, you will manage specialist dialogue on disaster risk management, in particular with BMI, THW and the German Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK), and you will coordinate further training events for Chinese participants/partners in Germany.

You will ensure your team’s success by competently managing local staff members and soundly steering short-term experts seconded primarily by BMI, THW and BBK.

Your profile

You have a university degree or equivalent and at least 10 years’ professional experience, no less than 5 of which were spent in developing countries, ideally in Asia. You have successfully completed further/post-graduate studies in disaster risk management and have put this knowledge into practice over a period of several years. You have in-depth knowledge of disaster preparedness, emergency planning, crisis management and civil protection. You are well acquainted with the German system for national crisis management and know how it is structured. Ideally, you also have knowledge of China’s economic, societal, administrative and welfare system. On top of this, you are experienced in cooperating with other actors involved in German and international cooperation.

You possess the qualities that are absolutely essential for this post, namely, an innovative spirit, organisational and management skills and leadership experience with international teams. You demonstrate excellent consultancy and networking skills and are able to respond to challenging contexts and environments with political and cultural sensitivity. You have extremely high tolerance to stress and are willing to travel frequently to earthquake zones. Excellent English and German-language proficiency as well as, ideally, some knowledge of Chinese are amongst the key assets in your professional portfolio.