Director, ADPC

Background

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) welcomes applications from qualified professionals with experience in disaster risk assessment to strengthen its professional team. Please indicate the professional affiliation and Position Title in the cover letter clearly.

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), established in 1986, is a regional non-profit foundation with headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand supporting the advancement of safer communities and sustainable development, through implementing programs that reduce the impact of disasters upon countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. The primary geographical focus of ADPC’s activities is Asia with the South, South East and East Asia being the primary sub-regions. In 2005, nine countries, namely Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, and Sri Lanka signed a Charter establishing ADPC as an inter-governmental organization.

ADPC has vast experience of over 25 years of working in Asia Pacific region along with the national and local Government of its charter member countries as well as countries of the Regional Consultative Committee on Disaster Management (RCC); a regional mechanism established by ADPC in 2000 and comprising of head of national disaster management offices of 26 countries in Asia Pacific. ADPC also shares a close partnership with sub-regional inter-government agencies, such as Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Secretariat for Pacific Community (previously known as SOPAC) on various DRR related themes including capacity building, strengthening institutions and systems, knowledge management and mainstreaming DRR into development. It works closely with a range of UN Agencies including UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCAP, WHO, WMO, UNISDR, UNOCHA, UN-Habitat, etc. on DRR related projects and consulting services. ADPC works with international and local NGOs, national technical and training institutions, Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Further details on ADPC and Programs can be found at www.adpc.net

ADPC aims at supporting governments strengthen institutions and build capacity for mainstreaming DRR into socio development processes at all levels. The primary focus of ADPC is to assist national and sub-national Governments in Asia to build capacity to respond to, prepare for and mitigate the natural disaster risk and adaptation to climate change. It includes building Institutional and Legal systems in reducing risk due to natural disasters and adapting to climate change, Assessment of Risk; undertaking risk reduction programs and programs for adaptation to climate change, Hazard specific mainstreaming of DRR & CCA into development etc. Accordingly ADPC is comprised of several thematically organized operational departments such as Department on Safer Development Planning and Implementation, Department on Climate Change and Climate Change Adaptation, Department on Resilient Cities and Urban Risk Management, Department on Disaster Risk Management Systems, Department of Public Health in Emergencies, Department of Disaster Risk Assessment and Monitoring, Training Services Unit. With over 100 staff from 19 countries and with professionals with expertise in development planning, engineering, architecture, agriculture, social sciences, health science climate sciences and disaster risk reduction, ADPC has been involved for years in strengthening partnerships between nodal agencies on disaster risk management (DRM) and national agencies of water resource, agriculture, meteorology & hydrology, geology, physical planning, development planning & financing etc and other sectors for effective integration and institutionalization of DRR in development planning processes.

Duties and responsibilities:

The Director reports to the Executive Director and is a member of the Executive Committee of ADPC. The Director would be responsible for providing strategic guidance and management oversight of performance of operational departments. He/she would be responsible for supporting the Executive Director in the execution of institutional decisions and functions.

Institutional responsibilities

- Provide necessary technical assistance to Executive Director and ADPC Executive Committee in overall ADPC management and administration
- Build, manage and sustain institutional partnerships with global, regional, and national institutions including government agencies, donors, NGOs and other stakeholders to promote ADPC’s work in all thematic area/s
- Lead/and represent ADPC in various kind of field missions of business development to provide technical inputs in key specialized technical areas
- Participate as a member of the ADPC Executive Committee in various external and internal functions to represent Executive Director or ADPC and participate in routine management meetings such as Executive Committee, Department Heads meetings,
- Participate in ADPC Governance functions such as RCC meetings, BoT meeting , Development partner meetings etc in order to Provide technical resource inputs in key specialized technical areas, contribute to ADPC resource generation efforts, strategy and institutional development
- Provide technical guidance as necessary to support service units such as Office of the ED, Human Resources & Administration, Finance, Training Services and Information Technology & Communication services as an institutional responsibility for improvement the ADPC systems, and to ensure effective cooperation and efficient functioning of the administrative, finance and other support systems
- Assist Executive Director in reviewing various documents to support implementation of activities of departments such as contract agreements, Appointment of senior staff, Statement of work for consultants , MOU/ Agreement, with donors, I/NGOs, and Country program partners, in accordance with the approved procedures and policies of ADPC
- Responsible for financial management of operational departments in accordance with the approved authorization level
- Other duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Executive Director (ADPC) or DED

Programmatic responsibilities

- Provide necessary technical assistance to Executive Director and Executive Committee in overall ADPC strategy development and implementation.
- Responsible for providing strategic guidance to Department Heads in program/project development to ensure the proposed activities are in accordance with agreed set of strategic objective of the respective Department and in line with ADPC strategic goals, core values, vision and mission statements and capturing the demand in the region.
- Responsible for oversight of the programs implemented by Department Heads to ensure a smooth program/project implementation and the proper resource mobilization and staff development are taking place.
- Review and monitoring existing programs/projects of respective department to ensure the program/project activities are in accordance with work plan and donor requirement.
- Provide relevant technical guidance in key specialized technical areas to all departments to promote inter-department collaboration through cross-departments efforts & inputs in development of new programs, delivery of services, training and capacity building, advocacy, networking and facilitating sharing of experiences among multi-country stakeholders

Required qualifications / selection criteria:

Qualifications and experience:

- PhD or Master’s degree in a field relevant to ADPC activities explained above.
- At least 12 years of professional experience in conducting Disaster Risk Assessment and/or climate information generation to be used in loss estimation and disaster risk management interventions at National, sub-national and local government levels.
- Extensive work experience in developing user-specific disaster risk/climate information, analyzing vulnerability and impacts and communicating / disseminating the information
- Extensive experience in one or more disciplines such as Urban Disaster risk management, Earthquake Disaster Risk management, Flood Risk Management
- Experience in design, implementation and management of large scale disaster risk management projects
- Experience in managing multi-disciplinary teams engaged in disaster risk management projects
Training skills and knowledge
- Demonstrated capacity in conducting training and Capacity building programs
- Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of subject specific risk information generation and applications in DRR and CCA
- Demonstrated knowledge and understanding on impacts of multi- hazards and climate change on societal systems
- Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of Hazard specific information application, translation / interpretation and dissemination to all levels including sector specific stakeholders
- 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 general audience

Personal qualities

- Self-motivated, pro-active and takes initiative
- Demonstrated ability to plan , organize and manage multi-disciplinary professional teams
- Excellent interpersonal skills, team-oriented work style, and experience in working in a multi-cultural environment
- Strong desire to learn, undertake new challenges, must a creative problem-solver, must have self confidence, willingness to work hard, good sense of humor but with seriousness about the quality and excellence of work.