Monitoring and Reporting (M&R) Specialist At Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

A. 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, and 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/

B. 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 percent of GDP.

To increase resilience and achieve climate commitments, there is a need for a transformational shift toward 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 the 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.

C. About CARE for South Asia Project

ADPC is implementing a five-year project titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CARE) Project for South Asia” with financial support from the World Bank Group. 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.

Until now, a considerable amount of effort has been taken through the provision of advisory services for policy and investment interventions, promotion of Climate Resilient Design and Standards for the South Asia Region, and Implementation Support to Climate-Risk Management Solutions for Participating Countries in the focus sectors of Climate-Smart Agriculture, Integrated Water Resources Management, Resilient Transport Infrastructure, and Climate Policy, planning and finance sectors in the three project countries of Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. This initiative was successful because of close engagement and collaboration with over 35 government stakeholders across the three project countries.

In this setting, we are seeking a highly experienced professional to assist the Project Director in effectively coordinating the monitoring, evaluation, and reporting aspects essential to the success of the project. This role demands strong organizational skills, a comprehensive understanding of project management processes, and the ability to communicate and report findings in a clear and concise manner.

D. Statement of Intent

The primary objective of the M&R Specialist is to coordinate and lead all monitoring, evaluation, and reporting activities, ensuring accurate data collection, analysis, and reporting on project progress. Based in Bangkok, the M&R Specialist will collaborate closely with the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) to provide comprehensive M&E support.

This role involves leading the implementation of CARE for South Asia project Results Framework and M&R Plan. The M&R Specialist’s contributions will be critical in achieving project development objective, and other targets as set in the Results Framework.

Note:

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

E. Duties and Responsibilities

• Monitor project activities against approved work plan and ensure adherence to timelines, milestones, and deliverables.
• Collect relevant data to assess progress toward project development objective, intermediate results indicators defined in the Results Framework
• Analyze collected data to identify trends and provide insights to the Project Implementation Unit (PIU).
• Regularly review progress and provide feedback to the PIU, highlighting achievements and areas for improvement.
• Plan and manage an independent final evaluation to comprehensively assess project performance.
• Provide training sessions on M&E tools, methodologies, and best practices as needed.
• Strengthen the M&E capacity of project staff and partners.
• Prepare well-structured M&E reports for PIU and World Bank. Highlight key findings, lessons learned, and success stories.
• Document lessons learned, success stories, and challenges faced during project implementation.
• Identify potential risks to project success and adjust M&E activities accordingly.
• Support the Innovation for Climate Adaptation (iCARE) team in monitoring the implementation of innovation projects.
• Collect relevant data to assess progress toward project development objective, intermediate results indicators defined in the innovation projects Results Frameworks
• Include the iCARE monitoring and other data in the overall project reports.
• Document lessons learned and best practices from iCARE project
• Ensure that project M&E processes adhere to World Bank requirements and ADPC M&E policies and guidelines.

F. Qualifications

• An advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in economics, project management, development studies, monitoring & evaluation, environment science, climate change, sustainable development, or related areas is required.
• A minimum of 10 years of experience in project development and MEL, including relevant experience building and managing MEL frameworks, plans, tools and reporting systems, and relevant experience supervising data collection and data validation exercises, including building staff capacity.
• Strong quantitative and qualitative analysis skills, including proficiency in relevant software/tools.
• Minimum of two (2) years of international experience.
• Demonstrable experience of results framework and reporting methodologies, online reporting platforms, evidence and results-based monitoring methodologies, outcome mapping and database management, preferably applied in the context of developing countries and climate change.
• Analytical and problem-solving skills, experience conducting analyses using appropriate software, undertaking research, primary and secondary data collection, analysis and report writing.
• Certification in M&E/MEL/MEAL will be an asset.

G. Reporting Relationships

The M&R Specialist will report directly to the Project Director (PD) and will work in close coordination with the PIU of the CARE Project. The position would also coordinate with the other CARE project specialists at the regional and national levels to carry out different activities under the project.

H. Contract Duration

The contract’s duration will be 10 months. The assignment might be extended depending on need and also upon satisfactory performance of the outputs envisaged in the TORs.

I. Selection Method

The consultant will be selected in accordance with ADPC’s recruitment process and in compliance with the World Bank Procurement Regulations.