Resilient Transport Specialist (Nepal)

About Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

ADPC is an intergovernmental regional 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 infrastructure strategy for rural roads plays a vital role in satisfactorily implement all the required components of the project. It would involve the development of standardized geospatial databases and other data for climate-related risk assessments on the transport sector. Accordingly, a highly qualified and experienced Resilient Transport Specialist will be required in Kathmandu, Nepal to provide technical support in collecting and evaluation data, conducting a risk assessment and capacity building.

The objectives of this staff position are to:

• Support in risk assessment of the transport sector, including review and making geospatial databases of transport sectoral data, that will be used for the development of climate inclusive risk profile of transport sector in Nepal;
• Support in developing national guidelines on climate-risk informed design and construction;
• Support in conducting consultations and workshops to finalize methodologies for rural roads;
• Support in conducting capacity building and drafting training reports on rural roads.

Statement of Intent

The Resilient Transport Specialist will lead field activities and provide support in reviewing existing climate-related hazard and risk-assessment approaches to develop inclusive risk assessment and climate change methodologies for rural roads in Nepal. The Specialist will further support in mapping needs and issues on climate-resilient to support in capacity building of relevant stakeholders. S/he will lead the capacity building activities in Nepal related to the transport sector. The Resilient Transport Specialist will be based in Kathmandu, Nepal. 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

Technical Review and Analysis

• Lead field activities on climate risk assessment for transport sector in Nepal;
• Lead collecting and evaluation existing geospatial data and other data needed for climate-related hazard, exposure, vulnerability, risk assessment for transport sector in Nepal and support conducting assessment of climate-related hazard and risk assessment approaches;
• Support establishing standardized geospatial databases needed for hazard, exposure, vulnerability, risk assessment for transport sector in Nepal;
• Field Lead in Stock take the current status of slope stabilization and protection using bio-engineering/ nature-based solutions in Nepal Needs Assessment;
• Conducting consultations and workshops to finalize the risk assessment and climate change assessment methodologies for the transport sector in Nepal;
• Conducting climate inclusive hazard assessment Tools and Guides Development;
• Support developing climate change scenarios (hazard-specific) suitable for resilient development planning;
• Field lead in supporting the revision of Nepal Roads Standards 2070 and Nepal Rural Roads Standards 2071 to include climate considerations for climate-resilient design; specifically supporting the resilience of the rural/local roads.

Capacity Building

• Organize/support training on hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment for the transport sector in Nepal;
• Field lead in developing innovative ways to support Dept. of Roads in Nepal on slope stabilization and protection using bio-engineering/ nature-based solutions through training and capacity building;
• Field Lead in training on the capacity building and awareness of existing and new engineers in the Department of Roads (DoR) on climate resilience, utilization of geo-hazard assessments, hazard maps and climate data for undertaking climate-resilient Perform other relevant tasks as assigned by the Project Director, Country Project Lead and the Resilient Transport Specialist (Regional).

Qualifications

• A master’s degree in one or more subjects in civil engineering, infrastructure, planning, or equivalent combination of education;
• At least 5 years of experience on transportation sector development, climate change adaptation or resilient infrastructure development;
• Experience in utilizing geospatial data and other data for climate-related assessments;
• Experience in developing climate-resilient strategies;
• Experience on conducting training needs assessment and capacity building in the relevant field is essential (particularly on slope stabilization and protection using bio-engineering/ nature-based solutions through training and capacity building);
• Strong understanding and knowledge of climate change impacts on transportation sector in South Asia and most preferably in Nepal;
• Teamwork with strong communication skills and capacity to work under pressure and short deadlines;
• Cross-cultural awareness and ability to work amongst a diverse group of staff, and partners;
• Experience in technical report writing related to climate-resilient infrastructure;
• 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;
• Fluency in Nepali is preferred;
• Required computer proficiencies: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Teams.

Reporting Relationships

The Resilient Transport Specialist (Nepal) will report to the Director of Geospatial Department and perform day-to-day activities in close coordination with the CARE Country Project Lead and the ADPC’s Country Representative in Nepal. The specialist would also coordinate with the other CARE project specialists at the regional and national level to carry out different activities under the project. The technical oversight will be provided by the Resilient Transport Sector Specialist (Regional) based at the Bangkok office.