| Overview : The Government of Malawi, with the support from UNDP, has secured funding from the Green Climate Fund to scale up the use of modernized early warning systems (EWS) and climate information in the country. The project will work with communities in disaster prone and food-insecure districts to co-develop tailored weather- and climate-based agricultural advisories to be disseminated through ICT/mobile, print and radio channels. The project will also scale up best practices in community readiness to respond to disasters and mitigate key risks. Community-based EWS will be scaled up in flood-prone areas and capacities to use and respond to warnings will be strengthened at the national, district and community levels. The project is being implemented in 21 districts by the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA), in collaboration with the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services (DCCMS), Department of Water Resources (DWR), Department of Agricultural Extension Services (DAES), Department of Fisheries (DoF), and the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM). The project has three expected outputs; Expansion of observation networks that generate climate-related data to save lives and safeguard livelihoods from extreme climate events Development and dissemination of products and platforms for climate-related information/services for vulnerable communities and livelihoods Strengthening communities’ capacities for use of EWS/CI in preparedness for response to climate related disasters One of the objectives of the project is to scale-up community based early warning systems in flood-disaster prone areas of Karonga, Salima, Dedza, Nkhotakota, Nkhata Bay, Rumphi, Phalombe and Zomba through awareness raising on flood hazards and vulnerabilities, installation of automated rainfall and hydrological monitoring and telemetry system and implementation of flood risk reduction and management measures that includes community level vulnerability and risk assessments, development and implementation of local level flood risk management measures. Community based disaster risk management (CBDRM) is a process, which leads to locally appropriate and locally 'owned' strategies for disaster preparedness and risk reduction. The importance of this approach has been recognized widely to promote a culture of safety, reduce vulnerabilities and enhance local capacities. In Malawi, similar approaches have been practiced by national and international NGOs and government departments. Community based early warning systems (CBEWS) for flood forecasting and warning is one such CBDRM approaches being promoted in Malawi. Over the years, the number of agencies implementing CBEWS projects has increased significantly. However, their approach to CBEWS has remained inconsistent due to absence of national standards to guide implementation of such projects. Under the M-CLIMES project, DoDMA, in partnership with NGOs will be implementing CBEWS sub-projects in 33 flood prone communities in eight districts. Before the commencement of this initiative, DoDMA wishes to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the performance and effectiveness of similar projects in Malawi. The lessons learnt from this exercise will not only inform the implementation of the planned CBEWS sub-projects, but also lead to development of national guidelines to ensure a consistent approach to implementation of similar projects in Malawi. In the above context, UNDP Malawi Country Office currently seeks to hire a consultant to support DoDMA in assessing the existing CBEWS and develop national guidelines for Community Based Flood Early Warning Systems (CBEWS) under M-CLIMES project. | 
