Agriculture Sector Risk Assessment Specialist

About Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

ADPC is an autonomous international organization with a vision to reduce disaster and climate risk impacts on communities and countries in Asia and the Pacific by working with governments, development partners, international organizations, NGOs, civil society, private sector, media, and other key stakeholders. Established in 1986 as a technical capacity building center, ADPC has grown and diversified its expertise across social and physical sciences to support sustainable solutions for risk reduction across a broad range of specialist areas. With over 100 staff from 19 different nationalities and a wide range of professional expertise from atmospheric scientists to social scientists with experiences from all levels of engagement typically required for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Resilience (CR) in an effective manner. ADPC is a competent regional resource center and has seven thematic departments: ADPC Academy,

Risk Governance, Climate Resilience, Urban Resilience, Health Risk Management, Preparedness for Response and Recovery, Geospatial Information. These are supported by Finance, Human Resources and Administration, and Strategic Planning departments. In addition to the departments, ADPC works on three cross-cutting themes: Gender and Diversity, Poverty and Livelihoods, and Regional and Transboundary Cooperation through permanent working committees. ADPC Strategy 2020 guides the organization in providing comprehensive risk reduction support to countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. ADPC recognizes the importance of examining the linkages between disaster risk management, poverty reduction, gender equality, sustainability, rights-based approaches, climate change and regional cooperation.

For details please refer to ADPC website at http://www.adpc.net/

Background

Disasters take a huge toll on the development agenda of SAR countries. Between 2000 and 2017, disasters in South Asia incurred estimated damages of US$ 149.27 billion. Public expenditure is under stress by the repeated need to reallocate capital budgets away from long term development planning and towards reconstruction activities in post-disaster environments. For example, since 2005, Pakistan has suffered losses on the order of US$ 16 billion due to natural disasters. In Bangladesh, 2007 Cyclone Sidr resulted in damages and losses of US$1.7 billion, or 2.6 per cent of GDP.

To increase resilience and achieve climate commitments, there is a need for a transformational shift towards policies and institutions that enable climate resilient investments. Investing in more resilient infrastructure is both profitable and urgent as disruptions are extremely costly for governments, households and private sector and large ongoing investments in infrastructure assets will have long-lasting repercussions as poor maintenance and natural disasters result in a vulnerable stock. With the financial support from the World Bank Group, ADPC will be implementing a five years’ project, titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience Project for South Asia” (CARE). The project aims to create an enabling environment for climate resilience policies and investments across South Asia. This objective will be achieved through enhanced regional cooperation and knowledge exchange for climate resilience and adaptation and mainstreaming of resilience and adaptation in national policies, plans and investments. Scaling up the climate-resilient strategy for climate smart agriculture and agro-climatic zones plays a vital role in satisfactorily implement all the required components of the project. It would involve development of standardized geospatial databases and other data for climate-related risk assessments for the agriculture sector. It would also involve development of strategies and frameworks to comply with World Bank regulations. Accordingly, through the Geospatial Information Department, a highly qualified and experienced Risk Assessment Specialist will conduct risk assessments for the agriculture sector in the 3 countries of the CARE project (Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan). S/he will be selected on a competitive basis following the World Bank Procurement Regulations. We are expecting consultants who have hands-on work experience in conducting disaster risk assessment. Demonstrated experience conducting risk assessment for the agriculture sector will be considered very favorably. In addition, the candidates with educational backgrounds in agriculture, hydrology, geology, geography, meteorology, or water resource management will be sought.

Statement of Intent

The Agriculture Sector Risk Assessment Specialist will provide technical leadership as well as subject-matter-expert inputs to related project activities of the World Bank CARE South Asia project. The specialist will take a leading role in all the agriculture sector risk assessment related tasks for Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal, which include the data needed to characterize climate change exposure and vulnerability, climate inclusive hazard and risk mapping.

This position is located in Bangkok, Thailand.

Note: It is not the intent of this Terms of Reference to cover every aspect of the position requirements, rather to highlight the most important areas of personal and joint responsibilities.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Reviewing existing climate-related hazard & risk assessment studies/approaches for the agriculture sector, conducting interviews of relevant stakeholders, and conducting need assessments for the agricultural sector in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan;
• In close collaboration with the GIS Specialist, collecting and evaluating existing geospatial data and other data needed for climate-related hazard, exposure,vulnerability, risk assessment for the agricultural sector across the three focus countries;
• Leading consultations, meetings and workshops to finalize the climate-related hazard and risk assessment methodologies for the agricultural sector in the three focus countries;
• Supporting hazard experts to analyze relevant science-based information to create hazard zonation maps, including but not limited to floods, drought, cyclone & storm surge, and salinity intrusion hazards;
• Provide technical supports in the development of climate inclusive hazards (e.g. flood, drought, cyclone, storm surge, salinity intrusion etc) assessment as a basisto update/revisit agro-climatic zoning;
• Conducting climate inclusive vulnerability & risk assessment of element-at-risk (agriculture assets) to multiple hazards;
• Analyzing potential impacts from the estimated hazard and vulnerability for agriculture sectors, considering the various multi-hazard approaches;
• Providing technical inputs in the development of climate smart agriculture guidelines for the three focus countries;
• Developing modules and conducting trainings and Training of Trainers (TOR) for national and sub-national agencies;
• Strengthening the development of Climate Smart Agriculture Strategic Framework, and for scaling up the existing climate smart agriculture strategic framework for the relevant ministries in the three focus countries;
• Supporting the development of a detailed policy actions to reform Agriculture sector in three focus countries to be climate-informed;
• Facilitating the development of a handbook on climate resilience and adaptation for the Ministry of Agriculture in Nepal.

Qualifications

The candidate should at least have:

• Six (6) years of professional experience where three (3) of which must be hands-on experience conducting quantitative disaster risk assessments at national or sub-national scales.
• Demonstrated experience in risk assessment of the agriculture sector strongly desired.
• At least a Master’s degree in one or more subjects such as Disaster Risk Assessment, agriculture, hydrology, geology, geography, meteorology, water resource management, or other relevant subjects.
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of how climate-related hazards such as floods, drought, and saltwater intrusion impact agricultural lands, yields, and production.
• Excellent English proficiency in oral and written communication, including a demonstrated track record in technical report writing and ability to communicate technical matters effectively to a general audience.

Reporting Relationships

The Agriculture Sector Risk Assessment Specialist will report to the Project Director and work in close coordination with Director, Geospatial Department, ADPC. The specialist will also coordinate with the other CARE project specialists at the regional and national level to carry out different activities under the project.