Project Coordinator (Consultant) At Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

A. About Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)

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, 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. For details, please refer to ADPC website at http://www.adpc.net/.

B. About Urban Resilience to Climate Extremes in Southeast Asia (URCE) Program

ADPC under aegis of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) has initiated a 5 years program titled “Urban Resilience to Climate Extremes in Southeast Asia (URCE)” program with the overall aim to build resilience of the urban systems and urban communities to the current and emerging climate extremes, disasters and emergencies that are anticipated in the deltaic and coastal cities in Southeast Asia. URCE program started its inception phase (from 1st November 2018) for setting up implementation arrangements of the program activities in the two targeted Southeast Asian countries namely Myanmar and Viet Nam as well as making necessary refinement needed for the program implementation; and building regional level learning and exchanges in Southeast Asian countries. The five-year program timing is from 1st November 2018 to 31st December 2023.

URCE program would aim to build resilience in urban areas to weather and climate extremes through understanding current and future risks, building capacities for preparedness, emergency management, risk reducing sectoral developments as well as bringing risk governance and learning mechanisms for sustainable risk management for the future.

C. Background

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Government of Viet Nam has provided necessary approval to implement the URCE program in Viet Nam (on 08th February 2021) over 3-year period (from 2021 to 2023). Nam Dinh (Nam Dinh province) and My Tho (Tien Giang province) cities have been selected to implement the URCE program in Viet Nam. The Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority (VDDMA) has been nominated as the focal agency to provide necessary guidance to ADPC during implementation of the URCE program. ADPC is closely working with the VDDMA to implement different activities under all the outcomes of the URCE program. There are five outcomes, namely, improved multi-hazard early warning systems and risk knowledge (Outcome 1), Strengthened urban community readiness and local preparedness (Outcome2), Improved urban sectoral preparedness and emergency response (Outcome 3), Strengthened urban risk governance systems for dealing with emerging climate extremes and emergencies (Outcome 4) and Improved knowledge and awareness on building urban climate resilience for extremes in Asia and the Pacific (Outcome 5).

The Consultant (Project Coordinator) is responsible for coordination and implementation of URCE program in Viet Nam. He/she will also be responsible for administration, financial, documentation, and logistical support for the program.

Responsibilities and Tasks:

• Ensure the efficient and effective coordination of URCE program in Viet Nam;
• Coordinate with concerned government agencies and other stakeholders to actively participate and guide in implementation of URCE program in Viet Nam;
• Make arrangement for Program meetings, workshops, trainings, forums, exchange visits, etc.
• Provide support to the development of guidelines, tools, training materials, publications, etc.
• Process the cash advance, liquidations; including monitoring and following up outstanding cash advances on a monthly basis;
• Provide secretarial support like minute taking, drafting letters, preparation of documents such as training evaluation, project activity information
• Process payments to consultants, vendors, service providers, etc.;
• Support the program team in monitoring of the implementation progress and evaluation of program impacts;
• Assist the program team in the documentation of project beneficially information, project outputs, project outcomes, and ensure that these feed into the office’s IKM system;
• Be responsible for administrative, financial and logistical arrangement of program implementation.
• Translate program related documents and publications from English to Vietnamese and vice-versa; and
• Perform any other institutional tasks assigned by the Supervisor.

Expected Outputs:

The following outputs are expected from the assignment:

• Attended the Monthly Meeting Updates with the URCE Technical Team
• Sufficient inputs to the Quarterly progress report and supported to update the workplan in Viet Nam
• Recommendation’s list of actions for the program team in administration, financial management, and logistic arrangement
• Competition of the arrangement of the Meetings, Trainings, and workshops/forum in the country
• Competition of tools, reports, studies, and other required supports from technical team
• Assist the program team in M&E Reviews and Progress updates as needed
• Completed the required document translation as request

Working Principles:

The Consultant will work under supervision of URR Director and coordinate with technical specialists at the Headquarters of ADPC in Bangkok, Thailand and works closely with Vietnam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority (VDDMA), the focal agency assigned by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to implement the URCE program activities in Viet Nam.

Required Qualifications and Specification

Education

• Bachelor’s or higher degree in disaster/climate risk management, urban planning, environmental science, public health, development, economics, business administration, and planning or similar fields;
• A relevant first-level university degree in the above fields with demonstrated capacity with work experience in disaster risk management, urban resilience related subjects may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience

• Minimum three years of experience in the field of project management with strong coordination skills
• Practical experience of working in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation field;
• Practical experience of working in a multi-cultural team and ability to work independently and under pressure;
• Experience working with an international organization is a plus.

Competencies

• Familiarity with disaster risk management, urban resilience, climate change adaptation, institutional system, and disaster management system in Viet Nam;
• Experience in data collection, organizing trainings, workshops, and meetings;
• Ability to network, coordinate and cooperate with government authorities, local communities and other partners and build strong mutual relationships; and
• Sensitivity to cultural differences, ability to adapt to the context and work under pressure.
• Strong Networking capacity with government authorities, local communities and other partners and build strong mutual relationships; and
• Sensitivity to cultural differences, ability to adapt to the context and work under pressure.
• cultural differences, ability to adapt to the context and work under pressure.

Personal Qualities:

• Self-motivated, pro-active and takes initiatives;
• Demonstrated ability to plan, and organize work & time independently;
• Verbal and written communication skills in English and Vietnamese are essential;
• Excellent interpersonal skills, team-oriented work style, and experience in working in a multi-cultural environment;
• Strong desires to learn, undertake new challenges, must be a creative problem-solver, and must have self-confidence,
• Willingness to work hard, good sense of humor but with seriousness about the quality and excellence of work.

Language skills

• Excellent English and Vietnamese communication skills.

Duty Station

• The Project Coordinator will be based in Hanoi (Viet Nam)

Duration

• The Project Coordinator is expected to work from 1 April 2023 to 31 December 2023

Condition of payment:

• Payment will be made as per the payment schedule agreed by ADPC and the Technical Coordinator.