Deadline: 25-Jun-23
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is inviting proposals to support countries to strengthen disaster preparedness and early warning for early and anticipatory action.
UNDRR is the United Nations’ focal point for the coordination of disaster risk reduction, working with countries and a broad range of partners and stakeholders to support the implementation, monitoring and review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-20230 in coherence with the 20230 Agenda and other instruments, for the multi-hazard management of disaster risk in development and the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses.
UNDRR issues grants, in line with UN Financial Regulations and Rules, to apolitical and not profit-making organisations to facilitate, implement, or carry out activities related to UNDRR’s and the partner’s mandates and work programmes.
UNDRR’s specific objective is to improve DRR understanding and governance capacities of the four island states – Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles, through activities that aim at improving the national institutional and operational preparedness on DRR which includes assessing and testing existing early warning systems at national level.
Purpose
- Through this call for proposal UNDRR is seeking a technical partner to conduct an assessment of the early warning for early and anticipatory action system (EW-EAAS) human resources, equipment and protocols in Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles and to provide recommendations on how to improve the current EW-EAAS set-up.
- The assessment and recommendations should focus on the two (2) following areas:
- Recommendations for investments in equipment for National Disaster Management Authorities (NDMA) to improve the EW-EAAS.
- Recommendations to improve institutional capacities for EW-EAAS in NDMA including capacity development of staff and national EW-EAAS procedures (SOPs, protocols for communication etc.).
- Recommendations to systematise, prioritise, enhance and use existing data and risk information for preparedness and early warning and early and anticipatory action (EW/EA).
- The assessment of EW-EAAS should include the following:
- Look at the four elements of people-centred EW-EAAS, i.e., assess the level to which the following elements are achieved:
- disaster risk knowledge;
- detection, monitoring, analysis and forecasting;
- dissemination and communication; and
- preparedness.
- Be multi-hazard i.e., assess the level to which the EWS encompasses several hazards which may occur alone, simultaneously, cascading or cumulatively over time, and which take into account the potential interrelated effects.
- Take into consideration the MHEWS custom indicators8 developed in 2022 to assess the efficacy of the EW-EAA Systems.
- Build upon the assessment and recommendations provided in the UNDRR baseline reports, the EWS diagnostics conducted under the CREWS SWIO project under the leadership of WMO, and other relevant reports.
- Use the checklist developed under the EW4All initiative for the analysis of EWS pillar one related to understanding risk.
- Look at the four elements of people-centred EW-EAAS, i.e., assess the level to which the following elements are achieved:
Funding Information
- The duration of the proposed project cannot exceed 30 October 2024. The maximum amount requested from UNDRR for the implementation of this project cannot exceed USD 340,000.
Suggested Activities
- Activity 1. Contextualization of the assessment with partners, scoping and planning
- Activity 2. Methodology for the assessment of EWS and equipment
- Activity 3. EW-EAASs assessments and recommendations for investments in equipment for EWEAASs (to be done by January 2024)
- Activity 4. Testing of EW-EAASs procedures (including the chains of responsibilities) and recommendations on improving institutional capacities for EW-EAASs in NDMAs (to be done by September 2024).
Outcomes
- The national institutional and operational DRR and preparedness is improved in the four targeted countries – Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles. The analysis will provide regional, national and local authorities and partners with essential information for improved EWEAASs and procedures. The results of the assessment and the recommendations will be disseminated to national, regional and international DRR stakeholders for consideration in DRR projects in the region and will be used as a basis for the activities to be implemented by the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) within the RDRM-IO programme (i.e., investment in equipment for NDMAs in the four countries aiming to enhance EW-EAASs).
- The analysis of which risk information exists and how (and information/data gaps) it is used for preparedness and EW-EAASs. The ensuing recommendations will enable UNDRR to strengthen this domain through activities in 2024 and 2025.
- Finally, the work will feed into ongoing efforts to support MHE-EAAWS approaches in the region and beyond, by contributing to the development of a standard and replicable methodology to assess MHEW-EAASs.
Outputs
- The grant should provide the following outputs for the four countries – Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles:
- Early Warning for Early and Anticipatory Action Systems are assessed
- Methodological guidance for the assessment of MHEW-EAASs are developed
- Investments in equipment for EW-EAASs are guided
- Capacity building plan for EW-EAASs informed
- Institutional procedures for EW-EAASs are tested and recommendations for improvements are formulated for each country
- The availability and use of risk information for preparedness and EW-EAASs is assessed, mapped and consolidated.
Elements specific to the project that the grantee should know:
- Applicants are required to indicate a plan for implementation, taking into consideration challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- UNDRR’s principal interlocutor are the national multi-sectoral DRR coordination mechanisms (e.g., national DRR platform) and/or other national and regional coordination mechanisms, generally envisaging at least:
- National Disaster Management Agencies (NDMA) in the four countries,
- RDRM-IO implementing partners (Indian Ocean Commission, PIROI),
- Members of the United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs) and other UN organizations at the national and regional level such as UNDP, WMO, WFP, IFRC.
- Hydromet institutions or departments in charge for providing/issuing EW messages,
- Other recipient and end-users of EW for triggering early and anticipatory actions.
- Under the component focusing on assessing existing risk information for preparedness and EWEAA, UNDRR strongly encourages grantees to develop collaborations with national higher education and research centers.
- As part of their application, candidates are requested to provide a brief draft overview of the methodology they will seek to develop through the project.
- Activities should be implemented in French and English depending on the country context. The reporting language is English. UNDRR requests the grantees to budget for professional copy editors working in French and in English to ensure high quality of all written deliverables.
For more information, visit UNDRR.