Consultant to develop a Planning Guide & Toolkit for “Risk Informed Development”

GNDR is seeking a consultant to support GNDR and its partners to develop a planning guide and toolkit for risk informed development that will support them to design holistic resilience-building actions. It should be developed using the information, tools and lessons collated in consultation with GNDR members. The multilingual guidebook will then be translated into our 5 working languages (Spanish, English, Portuguese, French and Arabic) and disseminated through our Regional Advisory Groups and National Coordination Meetings. The ultimate aim is for CSOs to have increased capacities to plan for complex disasters, with this task to strengthen capacities of community-based organisations to utilise local risk information to plan for future events.

Definition

Risk Informed Development prioritises risks faced by communities living in the most vulnerable situations, and taking account of these risks when designing and delivering development plans and actions. Sustainable development can only be achieved when risk and its drivers are fully understood. When development is not risk-informed, communities report that far from offering progress, this so-called ‘development’ is actually creating risk, increasing existing risk and wiping out any potential gains.

Objectives

GNDR seeks consultancy support to deliver the following for the ‘Local Leadership for Global Impact’ project:

1. Develop a capacity strengthening planning guide and toolkit, targeting GNDR’s CSO members around the world
2. Facilitate online group conversations, including at a large launch event for the project, to ensure input from members is gathered, considered and included in the design of the final guide and toolkit
3. Give Secretariat staff guidance on how to train others in the use of the toolkit, promote its use going forward and advice on any matters arising from the topical discussions held

Applicants

All applicants must:

1. Demonstrate previous experience in risk informed development
2. Demonstrate previous experience in producing guides and toolkits for capacity strengthening, especially with local CSOs
3. Be able to confidently facilitate workshops gathering information and content ideas online, and communicate with a mix of organisations that make up the GNDR membership
4. Demonstrates experience of working with diverse groups in an inclusive and participatory manner
5. Be aware of key concepts including disaster risk drivers including gender inequality, triple nexus considerations (development, humanitarian, peacebuilding), SFDRR priority actions and national development planning processes
6. Effectively synthesize information to produce key results
7. Be fluent in English, with other languages (french, arabic, portuguese or spanish) desirable

This assignment will be home-based. We are seeking someone who can start as soon as possible, with a hopeful completion of early September 2021. Up to 40 working days are available but these can be achieved by more than one person if required.

Local Leadership for Global Impact - Project Overview

The nature of risk is changing, with its frequency, intensity and complexity increasing. Local actors, including Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), local government and community leaders, are at the frontline. Despite their critical role, 84% of local actors report not being included in assessing threats, preparing policies and plans, and taking action to reduce threats. Women in particular are not systematically leading DRR despite having specific needs and knowledge on how they can be addressed. As the COVID-19 global pandemic highlighted, risk is now intertwined in all aspects of society and requires ‘whole of society’ engagement to be able to respond to pending crises. **

Barriers severely hinder local inclusion. For CSOs’ to play their critical role of working with communities and local governments, they require access to appropriate capacity strengthening to be able to plan in evolving risk contexts and leadership capacities. They need funds to innovate and trial new approaches. National and international systems need to make space for these local roles to come to the forefront.

Working in partnership across 50 countries, GNDR & Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe are scaling-up the use of approaches by local actors which enable them to more effectively utilise their knowledge and skills which contribute to increased community resilience to complex disasters. This initiative aims to achieve this by strengthening the capacity, innovation and influence of local actors to amplify the perspectives and priorities of most at risk communities to decision-makers.

Enabling communities, local leaders and civil society organisations to overcome challenges in three dimensions of planning are seen as key ways forward for more effectively engaging with the multiple dimensions of risk, by:

1. Utilising local data to inform holistic development actions to ensure that all development considers the underlying drivers of disaster risk
2. Down-scaling climate projections for use by local actors to effectively plan to reduce the risk of future disasters
3. Utilising local contingency planning to support planning for locally-led anticipatory action and community-led crisis response

How to apply:

If you meet the applicant criteria, please submit an expression of interest detailing:

• How your experience matches the consultant profile;
• A one-page methodology of how you would undertake the assignment;
• A projected total cost for the assignment;
• Your CV (no more than 2 pages);

For more information or to submit an expression of interest, please contact Elise Belcher, Project Coordinator, at GNDR: elise.belcher@gndr.org by midnight (BST) on Wednesday 30 June 2021