The United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) of Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM), has been implementing the Government of Japan’s funded, “Partnership for Strengthening School Preparedness for Tsunamis in the Asia Pacific Region project (Tsunami Project)” on June 2017 to November 2018. The key objective of the Tsunami project phase I is to mitigate the impact of tsunamis by strengthening school preparedness in 18 disaster prone countries in Asia and the Pacific, including the Solomon Islands. The Phase II of the project commerce on December 2018 to February 2021 (with inclusion of 5 new countries) and aim to scale up the project’s intervention and institutionalize the preparedness and awareness programme to ensure sustainability of the project results. In considering the COVID-19 pandemic new challenges to disaster preparedness and response and especially on education sector, phase III of the Tsunami Project was approved and commenced in August 2021 to 31 March 2023. Globally and nationally, the pandemic caused temporary closure of schools, and significant number of students continue to do virtual learning from home. This indicates that there is a need to strengthen school and community preparedness as well. In order to continue supporting Solomon Islands Education Sector in strengthening their preparedness and awareness in the current COVID-19 conditions, it is necessary to update the existing preparedness in schools and communities so that they become more resilient to tsunamis, pandemic, and other hazards. The Tsunami Project phase III will aim to achieve the following three outputs, by engaging 16 tsunami prone countries in Asia and the Pacific (including Solomon Islands) over the next 18 months; - School and community preparedness plans reviewed and updated to include multi-hazard preparedness (i.e., tsunami, pandemic, and other hazards).
- Preparedness programme modules developed as part of efforts to institutionalized multi-hazard preparedness at local or national levels; and
- Public awareness of multi-hazards promoted, and World Tsunami Awareness Day marked through events, digital campaigns and awareness raising initiatives.
This assignment is related to and aims to achieve output I as mentioned above. To strengthen the institutionalisation and replication of school preparedness and awareness for tsunamis, UNDP is seeking to recruit an experienced local ‘Country Brief Developer’ consultant. The consultant will work and consult with the relevant government ministries (MECDM, MEHRD, MMERE, MPGIS, MHMS etc), the project team and the relevant stakeholders to develop a Country Brief. The objective of the country brief is to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the education sector with a focus on tsunami prone areas to integrate pandemic preparedness into tsunami preparedness plans and measures. In Solomon Islands we will also considering if there is opportunity for multi-hazard preparedness planning on this process. |