Bangladesh Red Crescent Society
National Headquarters
684-686, Red Crescent Sarak, Bara Moghbazar, Dhaka

Terms of Reference (ToR)
To Hire a Technical Advisor for
Early Warnings for All (EW4ALL) Initiative

The Red Cross - Red Crescent movement is the largest volunteer organization in the world. Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) is a national society of the movement, constituted on 31 March 1973 by the President's Order No. 26 of 1973 with retrospective effect from 16 December 1971. This is the biggest humanitarian organization in Bangladesh. As an auxiliary to the government, the Society provides humanitarian assistance to the vulnerable people over the last 53 years and has undertaken a wide range of activities in humanitarian response, disaster management, health, hygiene, WaSH, Shelter, anticipatory actions, capacity building initiatives and in promoting Red Cross/ Red Crescent ideals and principles.

Currently Bangladesh Red Crescent Society is looking for a suitable Bangladeshi national for the following position:

Purpose of the Job:

The Early Warnings for All initiative (EW4All) is a groundbreaking initiative to ensure that everyone on Earth is protected from hazardous weather, water, or climate events through life-saving early warning systems by the end of 2027. The EW4All was formally launched by the UN Secretary-General in November 2022 at the COP27 meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh. Early warning systems are one of the most effective risk reduction and climate adaptation measures to reduce disaster mortality and economic losses. Half of the countries in the world have no adequate early warning systems, and even fewer have regulatory frameworks to link early warnings to emergency plans. EW4All is co-led by WMO and UNDRR and supported by pillar leads ITU and IFRC.  

The EW4All initiative is built on the four Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (MHEWS) pillars: (1) Disaster risk knowledge and management, which aims to ensure all countries have access to reliable, understandable and relevant risk information, science and expertise (led globally by UNDRR); (2) Detection, observation, monitoring, analysis and forecasting of hazards, which aims to ensure all countries have robust forecast and monitoring systems (both soft and hardware infrastructure) and enable policies to support optimization and sustainability of hazard monitoring and early warning systems (led globally by WMO); (3) Warning dissemination and communication, which aims to use a people-centered approach to ensure that early warnings are effectively and timely disseminated to reach everyone, especially those most at risk (led globally by ITU); and (4) Preparedness to respond to warnings, which aims to ensure local governments, communities and individuals at risk have the knowledge and means to take pre-emptive early action to prepare for and respond to incoming disasters upon receiving warnings (led globally by IFRC).

The consultant will act as the focal point of the National Society/Bangladesh Red Crescent Society for the EW4All initiative and will represent BDRCS in leading EW4All Pillar 4 in close collaboration with the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief (MoDMR), the IFRC Bangladesh Country Delegation, the UN RC Office, and the World Food Programme (WFP).

The position will lead and coordinate the overall activities of Pillar 4 (preparedness to respond), in support of the national/government Pillar 4 leads, coordinators, and counterparts where relevant, ensuring effective engagement with all relevant stakeholders in the country and close cooperation with the other Pillar leads in the country. The Consultant will be responsible and accountable for ensuring the implementation and coordination of the activities under EW4All. The Consultant will work in collaboration with the IFRC, other RCRC Movement Partners, national and international organisations, local authorities, government ministries, and departments.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

Lead National Society/Bangladesh Red Crescent Society in Bangladesh to play its Pillar 4 role (preparedness to respond):

• Lead the National Society/BDRCS to facilitate the roll-out of the EW4All initiative in Bangladesh.
• Lead the National Society/BDRCS at all levels to ensure national coordination mechanisms.
• Lead the Anticipatory Action (AA) Secretariat of BDRCS to ensure effective, timely, and strategic coordination among the actors relevant to the EW4ALL initiative.
• Lead to identify the key interventions and gaps in Pillar 4 of the initiative that need to be addressed, including by IFRC and BDRCS, subject to available funding, in collaboration with the national and technical partners.
• Lead BDRCS and provide support to IFRC, UN RC Officer, Government of Bangladesh, and WFP for the development of key documents, including the updating of stakeholder mapping, finalising gap analysis, and national roadmap regarding the EW4ALL initiative.
• Lead BDRCS in arranging relevant workshops and events.
• Work closely with the EW4ALL National Focal Point (Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief), the IFRC Bangladesh Country Delegation, the UN RC Office, and the World Food Programme (WFP) in executing the EW4ALL initiative.
• Ensure effective Pillar 4 leadership and coordination.

Lead National Society/Bangladesh Red Crescent Society in its engagement in the EW4ALL Initiative:

• Do liaison with partners across the four pillars of the EW4ALL initiative.
• Work on enhancing the capacity of BDRCS on early warning and early action tools, such as the Common Alerting Protocol, national early warning systems, etc.
• Support RCRC partners, community members, policymakers, and technical experts to develop knowledge materials for various audiences.
• Work to build alliances and partnerships with other Early Warning Early Action actors to enhance the implementation of the EW4ALL national roadmap.
• Work for BDRCS to influence the shaping of the EW4All initiative in the country with a focus on the full value chain and ensuring a multistakeholder/whole-of-society, people-centred, locally led approach and community voice and perspectives.
• Represent BDRCS in EW4ALL national leadership meetings, dialogue platforms, strategic meetings, and other relevant coordination platforms.
• Provide technical support to ensure and integration of EW4ALL in all projects/programs of BDRCS

Work for ensuring effective coordination within RCRC network on EW4ALL Initiative:

• Manage the overall planning, budgeting, and reporting for EW4ALL initiative.
• Manage budgets related to the Early Warnings for All initiative and ensure financial management in a timely and effective manner.
• Manage the supervision, monitoring, and evaluation of EW4ALL-related programmes.
• Coordinate closely with the IFRC and other movement partners (PNSs) in Bangladesh.
• Provide necessary technical support and input to AA interventions managed by the IFRC, German RC, AmRC, and Swiss RC in consultation with the IFRC AA focal point.
• Share information and ensure internal coordination as needed with/from IFRC.
• Coordinate with technical counterparts for topics covered under the EW4ALL initiative, including, anticipatory action, disaster law, and preparedness.
• Work to ensure administrative management, monitoring, and coordination of project activities.
• Ensure quality technical advice and support in the country in collaboration with the IFRC and PNSs.
• Ensure all related reporting requirements are submitted timely to IFRC.

Educational Qualifications:

A master’s degree in Disaster Manage, Civil Engineering, Environment Science, Climate Science, Climatology, Meteorology, Water Resources Engineering, Hydrology, Water Resource, Management, Physics, Geography and Environment, or any other relevant university degree. PhD is desirable

Experience:

At least 15 years of experience in working with National and International organizations in the area of Early Warning, Community Based Early Warning, Impact Based Forecasting, Anticipatory Actions, Disaster Management, Water Resources Management, Hydrology, Meteorology, Climate Change, or Weather Modelling.

Skills:

• Extensive expertise and experience on Early Warning, Hydrology, Meteorology,
• Anticipatory Actions, Impact Based Forecasting, Early Action Protocol,
• As well as Research and Development activities of these fields.
• Scaling up Early warning system, Hydro Meteorology/Anticipatory Actions/ Impact based Forecasting/ research and development of Early Action Protocol

Apply Instruction:

• Departmental clearance will be required for internal candidates.
• This is an advisory level position, please read carefully before applying.
• Ineligible candidates are discouraged to apply.

If you think you are competent enough for the position, please send your updated CV with a cover letter to the email address: hr@bdrcs.org and copy to: md.shahjahan@bdrcs.org before 2:00 pm, October 14, 2024.

BDRCS is an equal opportunity employer. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified for interview.