EWS Expert to Support MHEWS (ECOWAS) at United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

Specifically, he/she will support the continental multi-hazard situation room at the Humanitarian and DRR Directorate in the setting up and operations of the situation room, ensuring a seamless implementation of the MHEWS. In the exercise of his/her functions the consultant shall:

•  Support the Director at the Social Affairs and Gender and the Director at the Humanitarian and DRR Directorate in developing the regional situation room for natural hazards;
•  Liaise with the DRR Director and team on all activities related to the design and realization of the situation room;
•  Support the Director in ensuring full a workflow and identifying solutions for staffing needs;
•  Coordinate the start-up and operations of the situation room;
•  Convene regular weekly regional meetings with relevant regional stakeholders and keep concise minutes of the meetings;
•  Participate in coordination and technical meeting with the other continental and regional situation rooms;
•  Ensure exchange of information with the continental and other regional situation rooms ad relevant technical bodies;
•  Ensure reporting on project implementation
•  Lead the technical set-up and management of the situation room
•  Coordinate installation of EWS software (myDEWETRA) for exchange of early warning information and ensure testing and operation of the system
•  Liaise with EWS experts at AUC, ACMAD, IGAD, SADC and with hydro meteorological experts at Centre Regional de Formation et d'Application en Agrométéorologie et Hydrologie Opérationnelle (AGHRYMET), IGAD and SADC to improve the existing mechanism for the coordination of data exchange at the continental and the regional levels
•  Provide input for the AUC situation room for EWS and situation reports and coordinate the preparation of bulletins and situation reports based on information collected through the new regional coordination mechanism established
•  Design the regional multi-hazard early warning bulletin in consultation with other the relevant bodies at ECOWAS
•  Coordinate the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the situation room in close consultation with the Member States; review and foster the development of data sharing policies and system of warnings and policy framework for sharing risk information
•  Develop a system for warning and information dissemination
•  Initiate the development of an institutional framework at the level of ECOWAS and facilitate the endorsement of the continental framework developed by AUC
•  Anticipate obstacles realistically and plan for contingencies - create plans that factor in time for unexpected problems and uncertainties.
•  Establish mechanisms to facilitate and encourage knowledge sharing

Qualifications/special skills

• Academic Qualifications: Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) , environmental science, geography, governance and disaster risk management, hydrology, meteorology or a related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with at least two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Experience: At least five(5) years of experience in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) with two (2) years of progressive experience in Early Warning Systems (EWS) development and implementation is required.
• Experience working in Africa at the regional or national level on Disaster Risk Reduction/Management (DRR/M), on humanitarian action with linkages to EWS is required.
• Experience in Emergency preparation and response planning, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Emergency information management, data management and emergency operations is desirable.
• Experience as a professional forecaster, including data management, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Early Warning Systems (EWS) management of emergency information, coordination of people and tasks, for the generation of Early Warning (EW) messages is desirable.
• Experience in managing projects/teams is desirable.
• Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position fluency in English and French is required.