The Crisis Response and Resilience Programme (ICRRP) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) aims to build the resilience of the communities that are most affected by displacement of refugees and internally displaced Iraqis. 

Component one of the ICRRP is focused on supporting the Government of Iraq (GoI) and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in enhancing their institutional and technical capacities in crisis response coordination and progressively building national systems and frameworks for effective disaster and crisis management. UNDP’s support to the GoI and KRG constitutes an investment in the important national agenda to solidify the regulatory, institutional and administrative arrangements for holistic and effective disaster risk reduction, effective societal preparedness, timely and efficient response to emergencies and rapid recovery in the aftermath of a disaster. UNDP’s support to the KRG is channeled primarily through the Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (JCC) and its offices in the three governorates of Erbil, Duhok and Slemani (Suleymanieh).

The JCC was established in September 2014 and officially launched in May 2015. It is established through order #5719, – September 2014 and the mandate (No 1, of 2015) of the KRG Council of Ministers. The head office is a directorate general within the Ministry of Interior and headed by a Director General under the direct supervision of the Minister of Interior. The governorate offices are directorates within the offices of their respective Governors. These offices have an administrative line of reporting to the governors and a dotted technical reporting line to the JCC head office.

The network of JCC offices are formally mandated to coordinate all matters related to crisis management and response in the Kurdistan Region. The head office focuses on strategic matters while the governorate offices are mandated to coordinate and support operational management and response to crises.

Responding to a request from the JCC, UNDP is seeking to commission a specialist to help the JCC Head Office in strengthening organizational efficiency and the capacity of the four JCC Directors. 

The Specialist will be imbedded into the JCC’s Directorate for Crisis Response and Management but is expected to support the entire organization in strengthening institutional planning, monitoring and evaluation capacities related to disaster and crisis management. The Specialist works under direct supervision of the JCC Director General and reports to the JCC Director General and the UNDP Crisis Response Specialist and will be responsible for introducing tailor-made mechanisms, tools and procedures for effective management of all processes related to preparedness and response planning as well as monitoring and review of on-going responses to disasters and crises. The Specialist is also responsible for transferring knowledge to selected JCC staff and managers, especially the director and staff of the Directorate for Crisis Response and Management. The Specialist will act as a mentor to the JCC Directorate of Crisis Response and Management and, more specifically, assume the following duties and responsibilities:

• Diagnose critical capacity gaps specific to key mandated authorities and responsibilities of the Directorate of Crisis Response and Management;
• Develop planning and process management tools, mechanisms and procedures tailored to the needs and critical functions of the Directorate;
• Support the Director of Crisis Response and Management to operationalize the developed tools, mechanisms and procedures and make required adjustments;
• Conduct monthly progress reviews to measure change in the performance of the Directorate jointly with the Director through a mentorship approach;
• Introduce mechanisms for response monitoring and oversight, including gap and need analysis;
• Develop and deliver in-house training to the directors and relevant staff in crisis response planning and implementation oversight;
• The Specialsit is a technical expert and mentor and shall support and enable the relevant JCC director/s in improving organizational efficiency and effectiveness in managing activities and processes related to crisis response planning and implementation oversight;
• Provide technical advisory to the JCC management on how to strengthen KRG’s disaster and crisis management policies and operating frameworks;
• Other related tasks and activities.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference

An advanced university degree in a relevant field of study such as Disaster Management, Public Administration, Organizational Planning and Management, Business Administration and other similar fields of study.

Work experience

• Minimum seven (7) years of professional experience in a relevant field with an emphasis on disaster and crisis management.
• Minimum four years of DIRECT experience in disaster/crisis response planning and implementation oversight;
• Past experience from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region is an asset;
• Past experience working within or with government institutions on disaster and crisis management;
• Extensive knowledge of mechanisms, tools, processes and procedures for preparedness and response planning as well as oversight of actual disaster/crisis response;
• Experience in training and capacity building;

Skills

• Fluency in English is a requirement and Kurdish a strong asset;
• Strong analytical skills and capacities;
• Strong information technology skills;
• Strong verbal and written communication skills;
• Strong skills in developing and delivering trainings and presentations;
• Strong interpersonal skills;
• Has the ability to independently plan and execute assigned tasks and duties.

Competencies

• Demonstrates a strong work ethic and professional integrity;
• Promotes the aim and objectives of UNDP in general and the project in particular considering the development priorities of the JCC;
• Fully abide by the KRG-JCC’s policies, laws and regulations;
• Is respectful of the mandates and roles of different partners, particularly the JCC and is able to build and sustain productive and mutually beneficial partnerships;
• Displays gender, religion, ethnic, age and cultural sensitivity and adaptability;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Is a team player with strong sense of initiative and responsibility;
• Safeguards and serves the principles of accountability and transparency;
• Is able to navigate and produce results within a complex and challenging environment.

Interested professionals are invited to submit their bid consisting of a financial and technical proposal for completion of this assignment.  The technical proposal shall include:

1. Annex 3 - Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) Assignment
2. CV of the applicant (please refer to Annex 4 for the P-11 template);
3. A description of approach and methodology for completion of the assignment;
4. An indicative work plan placing the planned activities of point (b) above along a time-line;
5. Any other information that the applicant finds relevant.

The financial proposal (refer to Annex 5 for the Template) shall indicate the total amount required for covering all aspects of the assignment broken down into the following categories:

• Professional fees presented as daily, weekly or monthly units. The consultant is expected to work estimated 22 days per month;
• Expenses including living cost; travel to and from and between duty stations; communication; transportation; other.

Travel;

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed

The full contracted amount will be disbursed as per the below payment plan unless otherwise agreed between UNDP and the consultant.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

The following criteria shall serve as basis for evaluating offers:

• Combined Scoring Method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a maximum of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted with a maximum of 30%.
• Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% points in the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation.

Note:  In addition to the desk review of the CV and technical proposal, an interview might be held with the shortlisted candidates.

Technical Criteria Weight