Manager: Myanmar office

Background & Rationale

The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) was established in 1986 to support 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. ADPC is governed by its Board of Trustees and annually convenes the Regional Consultative Committee on Disaster Management (RCC) that brings together National Disaster Management Offices (NDMOs) from 26 countries of the Asian region.

In March 2011, on completion of 25 years, ADPC in consultation with member countries and development partners developed the Strategy-2020 to guide its support to countries over the next decade. The ADPC Strategy-2020 aims at focusing the involvement of ADPC on key issues in the region in relation to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, based on its many years of experience and comparative advantage in the region. The implementation of ADPC Strategy 2020 is being pursued through a programmatic approach on three core areas namely Science, System and Applications for DRR, with each of the three programs having well defined Outcomes and Result Areas.

In line with what has been defined in the Strategy-2020, ADPC has been implementing a range of activities in Myanmar through its country office. The primary objective of the ADPC engagement in Myanmar is to support the needs and priorities of the Government, as a priority stakeholder. It is expected that ADPC’s contribution to strengthening DRR capacities of different stakeholders in Myanmar would increase over the next few years. Therefore, it is imperative for ADPC to strengthen the ADPC Myanmar office in a way that ensures a most robust management of ongoing and future activities. In this backdrop, ADPC plans to appoint a Country Manager to be based in Myanmar for overall management of the ADPC Myanmar office.

Statement of Intent

The Manager in charge of Myanmar office will be reporting to the Director in charge of the Myanmar office. He/She is expected to provide technical resource inputs to programs undertaken in Myanmar by different departments of ADPC and in designing, planning and implementation. The Manager in charge of Myanmar office will be responsible for management of all the operational and administrative issues of the country office in Myanmar.

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

General Requirements:

• Operate within all ADPC Guidelines & Procedures/ Policies.
• Provide ongoing capacity building training & development to ADPC staff as required.

Core Responsibilities

• Contribute and provide resource inputs to all on-going and future ADPC implemented program interventions and training activities in Myanmar
• Develop a strategic approach to long term sustainability of program efforts by ADPC in Myanmar
• Maintain smooth operation of the Myanmar office.
• Ensure day-to-day interaction and liaison with relevant government ministries, departments, partner organizations, and other stakeholders in Myanmar to ensure smooth and effective implementation of various activities under different programs and projects.
• Liaise with all Department Heads and the Director in charge of the Myanmar office in monitoring project activities in Myanmar.
• Work with the local staff to coordinate the logistics of organizing events such as meetings, seminars, and training and capacity building activities in Myanmar.
• Regularly interact with development partners and donors based in Myanmar, sharing the details of ADPC’s ongoing interventions and seeking their financial and technical support for future plans.
• Develop concept notes and detailed proposals for interested donors in line with the priorities outlined under the thematic areas of ADPC’s Strategy-2020.
• Develop and strengthen liaison with local media. This includes the dissemination of information. This will also require the incumbent to maintain a close contact with ADPC’s communication department in Bangkok, providing relevant and updated information uploaded on the main website.
• Lead in gathering secondary and primary data and information that may be required either for the development of new projects or for the implementation of approved activities in Myanmar. The Country Manager is also expected to contribute to the development of case studies and success stories in addition to other knowledge products on DRR.
• Undertake local level procurements and HR-related tasks in coordination with ADPC’s Finance as well as Human Resources and Administration Departments.
• Maintain records of assets kept in the country for the program implementation.
• Help prepare project updates, progress reports and other related tasks in coordination with respective departments.
• Prepare the reports on implementation of MoU required to be submitted to the Government when required.
• Perform any other tasks as assigned by the Director in charge of the Myanmar office.

Specific Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes required

• Education Qualification and Work Experience

1. Master degree in development, engineering, science, disaster risk management, environment fields, or any other related field.
2. At least 10 years of practical experience of managing projects and programs, preferably related to disaster risk reduction or emergency preparedness and response management.
3. At least 2 years of experience working in Asia. Prior experience of working in Myanmar will be an advantage.
4. Sound understanding of the functioning of government departments and institutions. Previous experience interacting with the Government of Myanmar will be an asset.
5. Strong writing (English language) skills.
6. Strong English communication skills and ability to develop/ review work plans, write activity progress reports and technical documents.

• Practical Knowledge

1. Project planning and execution
2. Knowledge management
3. Partnership building and networking
4. Result based Project Management including log frame development for complex project/programs

• Work Attitude

1. Strong desire to learn and contribute to the development and implementation of project/programs in target countries
2. Team Player, excellent interpersonal skills and elements to lead a team in multi cultural environment
3. Willingness to undertake new challenges; be a creative problem-solver
4. Self-confident; willingness to work hard
5. Willingness to travel in Myanmar and potentially to other countries in the region.