Disaster Risk Reduction Associ - Colombo

Agency UNDP
Title Disaster Risk Reduction Associ
Job ID 7457

Practice Area - Job Family
Environment&Disaster Reduction - COMMUNITY RESILIENCE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND DISASTER RISK REDUCTION

Vacancy End Date (Midnight New York, USA) 12/01/2017

Duty Station
Colombo, Sri Lanka

Education & Work Experience
G-Bachelor's Level Degree - 2 year(s) experience

Languages Required:
Desired: English ,Sinhala, Tamil

Vacancy Type
National Regular UN Volunteer

Posting Type External

Bureau United Nations Volunteers

Contract Duration 7 Months

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. This position is open only to Sri Lankan nationals.

Background


	UNV Strategic Framework (SF) 2014-2017 articulates the scope and dimensions of UNV’s strategic direction, results and associated resource requirements over a four-year period. Based on the global context outlined in the SF and UNV’s expanded mandate, track record and ex-pertise, UNV will intentionally direct its efforts and programme resources into five priority areas where volunteerism has a transformational and cumulative impact on the lives of people: (i) basic social services; (ii) community resilience for environment and disaster risk reduction; (iii) peace-building and peace-keeping; (iv) youth; and (v) national capacity development through volunteer schemes. The present regional project aims to support the United Nations Plan of Action on Disaster Risk Re-duction for Resilience in South-East Asia and Pacific through volunteerism in a number of countries that were affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. The scope of the regional project is to allow the organisation to deliver its results in community resilience for environment and disaster risk reduction, in accordance with the individual requirements of programme countries and partners, by supporting up to six UN Resident Coordinators, their offices and UNCTs, with one international and, wherever feasible, two national UN Volunteer Associates in DRR, as well as establishing a results and resources framework to guide regional and country-specific initiatives in support of nation-al/regional efforts and UN engagement in disaster risk reduction. In Sri Lanka, an island country where over 75% of the population lives in rural areas with agriculture as the primary source of livelihood, the impacts of climate change are significant amongst the mar-ginalized groups, including women who are among those most affected as they traditionally manage household water, family gardens and livestock and are therefore in the frontline of managing impacts of hazards. Since 2005, there have been significant improvements in the country’s capacity to manage disasters through the development of the “Road Map Towards a Safer Sri Lanka”, the set-up of a number of DM programmes, institutional and legal frameworks, and the development of the Sri Lanka Compre-hensive Disaster Management Programme (SLCDMP). Nevertheless, latent challenges still remain in terms of the preparedness, response, awareness, risk-based decision making and fostering of an enabling environment for risk reduction. Building on UNDP and UNV’s strengths and expertise, the project will respond to the challenges, through harnessing the potential of volunteerism to increase communities’ and individuals’ resilience and adaptation to hazards and climate change. The overall goal is to promote community resilience for environmental management and DRR by mobilizing volunteers and integrating the critical force of volunteerism as a substantive resource. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and re-sources to help people build a better life. The UNDP operates in 166 countries, working with people on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capaci-ty, they draw on the people of UNDP and its wide range of partners. UNDP’s focus is helping countries build and share solutions to the challenges of: Democratic Governance; Poverty Reduction; Crisis Prevention and Recovery; Environment and Energy; HIV/AIDS. UNDP helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all its activities, it encourages the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women. UNDP focuses on key development issues, providing measurement tools, innovative analysis and often controversial policy proposals. In all its operations, UNDP well-coordinated and inclusive approach seeks to ensure the most effec-tive use of UN and international resources. The United Nations Volunteers programme is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of de-velopment and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing volunteers.
	Duties and Responsibilities
	Under direct supervision and guidance of the Technical Advisor of the Sri Lanka Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme, the National UN Volunteer will support the UNV/UNDP project to strengthen Community Resilience for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation as well as the UNV project Support to United Nations Plan of Action on Disaster Risk Reduction for Re-silience in South? , South-East Asia and Pacific. Specifically, she/he will be required to perform the following functions: Technical assistance: Facilitate the operational management of project, including: Support Sendai Framework for Disatert Risk Reduction (SFDRR) implementation in the country; Collect, analyse and present information on emerging disasters and its impact Support the coordination of community-based volunteer taskforce as part of the DRR project; Assist in day-to-day project management activities; Assist in classification and maintenance of all materials and administrative documents; Assist in programme planning, monitoring and evaluation Collect information and support preparation of planning and reporting documents; Prepare activities proposal, meeting minutes and other supporting documents; Provide logistic support for missions, events, workshops, etc.; Provide administrative support as required; Support the Disaster Risk Management team to document success stories and best practices; Undertake any other relevant tasks as directed by the Assistant Country Director, Environ-mental Sustainability & Disaster Resilience Cluster. Promotion of Volunteerism: Identify interlinkages between women, youth, people with disabilities and marginalized people voluntary actions on disaster risk reduction and its contribution to build resilience communities; Give visibility to women, youth, people with disabilities and marginalized people contributions through civil engagement to demonstrate their strategic role and contribution to DRR and re-sponse to disasters; Promote women, youth, people with disabilities and marginalized people volunteering through civic engagement in order to have a multiplier effect, expanding participation and involving larger numbers of people who have traditionally been excluded; Advocacy and partnerships building: Support the Ministry of Disaster Management in implementing the Sendai Framework for Dis-aster Risk Reduction campaign and the National Safety Campaign; Facilitate communication with UN agencies as well as external partners; Prepare newsletter and other communication pieces; Support the creation of content for UNV webpage or social media; Proactively work with different partners. Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to: Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading rele-vant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark IVD); Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host coun-try; Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participa-tion in ongoing reflection activities; Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publica-tions/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.; Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers; Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible. Results/Expected Output: Effective implementation of the project to achieve expected outputs; Improved communication with various partners; Enhanced capacity of risk assessments, risk reduction and early warning efforts in pilot areas; A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.
	Competencies
	Experience working using participatory approaches, is an advantage; Excellent communication skills and ability to draft clearly and succinctly in English; Detail-oriented and excellent at multi-tasking; High degree of independence, creativity and ability to motivate; Good command of MS Office; Ability to work on multiple tasks and against tight deadlines; Strong analytical and strategic thinking abilities; Excellent communication and problem management skills; A proactive, participatory and result oriented approach to their work; Commitment to Knowledge Sharing/Continuous Learning.
	Required Skills and Experience
	A Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, economics, Disaster Risk Management, development studies, natural resource management, or a related field; At least 2 years of relevant work experience in a disaster related field such as agriculture and rural development, water resources management, poverty reduction, environment, emergency management, and with demonstrated interests in disaster risk reduction and sustainable devel-opment; Experience of working with UN organizations, Government Agencies and civil society organiza-tions, especially in the area of disaster risk reduction is an added advantage; knowledge of UN system and procedures would be an added advantage; Good written and spoken communication skills in English required. Proficiency in Sinhala and/or Tamil will be an advantage; Computer skills (i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and others).
	Disclaimer
	United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme which welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. United Nations Volunteers reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this opening for other openings with United Nations Volunteers with similar assignment description, experience and educational requirements. How to Apply : You can visit this link for complete information UN Volunteers