Regional Expert, Climate-Resilient Transport Infrastructure

Climate Adaptation and Resilience for South Asia Project

The rising threat of climate-related hazards is already being witnessed with increasing severity and frequency of disasters occurring in South Asia. A World Bank study[1] has warned that, without climate change adaptation, 800 million (or 44 percent) people in South Asia will be living in moderate or severe climate hotspots by 2050 which will push millions of people below the poverty line. The negative effects of extreme weather and climate events also undermine productivity in key economic sectors such as agriculture, transport, energy, and manufacturing, with limited adaptive capacity in these countries causing further constraints on their development prospects. Increasing climate risks impact the entire transport value chain from its location to design, construction standards and services it provides.

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 and the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) are jointly implementing a five-year (2020-2025) project, titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CARE) for South Asia”. The project aims to create an enabling environment for climate resilience policies and investments in Climate Resilient Agriculture, Integrated Water Resources Management, Resilient Transport Infrastructure, and Policy, Planning and Finance sectors. Through its regional portfolio, ADPC will also facilitate high-level dialogues for institutional cooperation and knowledge exchange, develop climate-resilient guidelines, and promote innovation and adoption of disruptive technology at national and regional levels. The national-level activities will initially be implemented in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.

In the above context, ADPC is aiming to establish positions for Regional Experts that provide an advisory and mentoring role to the sectoral teams and Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of ADPC based at the regional level in Bangkok, Thailand. The Regional Expert on Climate-Resilient Transport Infrastructure will provide solid technical guidance and oversight for resilient infrastructure sector (climate resilient road infrastructure) on a part time basis, in addition to participating in national, regional and global events to highlight best practices and learning of the CARE for South Asia project as part of wider knowledge-sharing.

The Regional Expert on Climate-Resilient Transport Infrastructure’s primary role is twofold:

• Providing expert advice and consultative support to the members of resilient transport sector, especially to the Sectoral Director and Lead, to maintain state-of-the-art technical standard of interventions and approaches in the project; and
• Supporting the capacity and relationship building to meet the wider needs of the stakeholders to be reached out and to benefit from the existing climate adaptation institutions and initiatives in the region.

Statement of Intent

The Regional Expert, Climate-Resilient Transport Infrastructure is expected to help with an improved output performance that will show emerging impact to the stakeholders and beneficiaries and increased quality of the technical products and outcomes based on standards set by the World Bank.

It is also expected that Regional Expert, Climate-Resilient Transport Infrastructure will support the project’s sustainability by strengthening in-house technical capacities of ADPC teams in the key sectors and facilitate wider dissemination of the project outputs and outcomes beyond the geographical confines of the project.

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.

Duties and Responsibilities

The detailed functions of the Regional Expert, Resilient Infrastructure (Roads) are expected to include:

1. Advisory and consultative support

• Provide input and strategic advice on the implementation of the sectoral activities and achievements of the project’s goals and objectives related to road infrastructure.
• Provide technical guidance on criticality analysis as well as strategic plans and guidelines for the climate resilient road network.
• Provide high level technical expertise to review and ensure that project outputs and reports are delivered to the required quality standard, in line with agreed specifications of the Work Plan and other commitments.
• Undertake periodic review of the sectoral implementation strategies, identifying potential gaps and solutions and ensuring incorporation of lessons learned into ongoing implementation.
• Function as a source of advice and support in technical updates, including new technology and innovations, tools and approaches that can be rolled out in the region.

2. Regional level capacity and relationship-building

• Provide knowledge sharing and advocacy supports and act as resource person on behalf of ADPC in the Global and Regional events.
• Provide technical guidance to the project team for conceptualizing, designing, and implementing institutional coordination and technical capacity development plans at the regional level.
• Provide technical inputs to the project regional activities and initiatives such as regional policy dialogues, thematic fora, and other outreach events and missions.
• Participate in relevant regional/global meetings, where required, and expand exposure, disseminate impact and lessons learned, and involve in the promotion or follow-up of the project. Establish effective communication channels and develop close ties with existing and instrumental regional and international partners and initiatives.
• Provide technical support for the regional initiative of demand-driven scientific research and advisory services targeting subnational public institutions and agencies in collaboration with regional centers of excellence.

3. Regional Expert Meetings

a) Convening meetings

Regular Regional Expert meetings will be convened to undertake monitoring and review of the project implementation status and strategies. The PIU of the CARE for South Asia project will be the convener of the meetings and provide the Secretariat to the Regional Experts ensuring the preparation and storage of relevant documents/minutes. All Regional Expert meetings will be held virtually.

b) Frequency of the meetings

Two Regional Expert meetings per year are foreseen during the course of the project.

Qualifications

The candidate should hold a Master’s degree (Ph.D. is desired) and have at least 15 years of professional experience in Transportation Engineering gained in international and multi-cultural environments.

Professional record should include experience in:

• Design, management and technical coordination of complex multi-stakeholders’ projects and programs;
• Climate data analysis, analysis of climatic hazards and stressors’ impact on the transport sector, as well as road infrastructures’ geometric, hydraulic, pavement, and geotechnical design and construction;
• Understanding of risk-based evaluation methodologies;
• Experience in climate resilient road infrastructure projects;
• Globally recognized in the subject matter;
• Liaise with central agencies, local administrations and representatives of the donor community.

Reporting Relationships

The Regional Expert will report to the Project Director and work in close coordination with the Technical Advisor – Transport and Resilient Infrastructure Specialist. The Expert will also coordinate with the other CARE for South Asia project specialists at regional and national levels as necessary to carry out different activities under the project.

The expert will submit a time-charging sheet every month explaining the type of inputs and a summary of deliverables every quarter to ascertain the level of efforts.**

Contract Duration

The contract duration will be a maximum of 120 days stretched over a period of 1 year. It will be a time-based contract.

Selection Method

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

How to apply

Interested Candidates can submit the completed ADPC application form (downloadable from www.adpc.net), resume, copy of degrees/certificate(s) together with a cover letter, to:

adpcjobs@adpc.net or visit https://www.adpc.net/igo/contents/HRA/ADPC-JoinUS.asp#sthash.OIkVn5Qp.dpbs

Female candidates are especially encouraged to apply. ADPC encourages diversity in its workplace and supports an inclusive work environment.