Disaster Risk Management Consultant

Disaster Risk Management Consultant

Location:  Washington D. C

Context:

The Bahamas is one of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries that has historically experienced a significant number of climate-related disasters. According to the international disaster database, EM-DAT (2024), the country has reported 14 disasters in the past 20 years, mostly related hurricanes. These disasters have caused more than 400 deaths, affected about 50,000 people, and caused direct economic losses of about US$6.7 billion. These include hurricanes Joaquin (2015), Matthew (2016), Irma (2017), and Dorian (2019) with total damages of US$104.8 million, US$438.6 million, US$200 million, and US$ 3.4 billion, respectively (note: these estimates were made through the Damage & Loss Assessment (DALA) conducted after each disaster by the IDB, ECLAC, and the Government of the Bahamas: GoBH). 

Adopting a robust disaster risk management (DRM) governance framework is essential to ensure that a country is resilient to disasters. This is acknowledged by the United Nations’ Sendai Framework Agreement for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, signed also by The Bahamas, which included as 2^nd Priority for Action “Strengthening DRM Governance for resilience”.

Having a robust DRM governance framework requires the existence of legal, institutional and budgetary conditions that facilitate the implementation of an effective DRM public policy. Recognizing that the current governance arrangements in The Bahamas are not optimal for the effective implementation of public policy on DRM, the GoBH, through the Cabinet, in February 2022, authorized the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, in collaboration with the Disaster Management Unit (DMU) of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs (OAG), to draft legislation aimed at promote and implement a holistic, comprehensive, integrated and proactive approach to DRM to ensure resilience to the socio-economic and environmental impacts of natural/climate hazards that are becoming more frequent and intense due to climate change. Following this Cabinet decision, the Office of the Prime Minister, through the DMU, requested technical assistance from the IDB to draft the aforementioned legislation. Subsequently, in June 2022, the Ministry of Finance requested a Programmatic Policy-Based Loan (PBL) from the IDB to support this legal reform.

After going through these processes, the GoBH approved and enacted the new Disaster Risk Management Act (DRM Act) in December 2022. The Act provides an appropriate legal, institutional and budgetary framework for the implementation of a comprehensive public policy on DRM. In addition, the DRM Authority was established in the GoBH in May 2024 as the coordinating and responsible body for the implementation of the DRM Act.

The Act mandates as one of the responsibilities of the DRM Authority (in Section 57(5)(c)) to "coordinate the execution of damage and loss assessments, in collaboration with the appropriate public body, and such assessments shall include an analysis of the underlying risk factors of the disaster". Section 16 of the Act further requires that the National Disaster Risk Information System include the impact of past disasters, including any analysis of their underlying risk factors.

 About this position:

The IADB is seeking a consultant to provide knowledge transfer to the GoBH on a conceptual framework and practical methodologies for analyzing the risk factors underlying the impact of disasters, including cascading and systemic risk to be carried out post-disaster based on the DRM Act.

The IDB's Rural Development, Environment and Disaster Risk Management Division (CSD/RND) will be responsible for the coordination of this contract; the Division will also be technically responsible for the execution of this contract and for the approval of the deliverables prepared by the consultant.

What you’ll do:

The direct beneficiary of this consultancy, due to the nature of the deliverables, will be the DRM Authority, which has been established by the new DRM Act as the entity responsible for implementing the analysis of the underlying risk factors related to the impact of disasters. That is, the conceptual framework and practical methodology for the analysis of the underlying risk factors of disasters – the deliverable of this consultancy - should be handed over to the DRM Authority to be able to execute it on its own.

The process of product development through this consultancy will require the involvement of a wide range of related stakeholders/organizations. The DRM authorities will play the main role in coordinating with these GoBH bodies.

The framework of the analysis of the underlying risk factors must follow those set out in the DRM Act. In general, the context of the analysis of the underlying risk factors can be similar in context to the Forensic Investigations of Disasters (FORIN) proposed internationally, for example, by the UN (2024) or IRDR (2016). In a nutshell, FORIN is a method to examine a materialized/impacted disaster from a multidimensional perspective (i.e., social, economic, traditional, cultural, institutional and structural/physical), to analyze in depth the cause-and-effect cascading relationships between each factor, to draw lessons and identify priority actions to be taken in the future, as well as to reflect them in decision-making for the development of strategies, policies, plans, and instruments, thereby realizing the building of disaster/climate resilience in the future. In other words, the Underlying Risk Factor Analysis or FORIN is not only about examining the loss and damage due to disasters through quantified statistics/data but is also a way to provide a broader perspective by having a variety of stakeholders discussing, sharing and qualitatively analyzing based mainly on their experiences, then integrate/compile a wide range of opinions (or qualitative factors) on why disasters materialized. The Pressure and Release (PAR) Model by Wisner (2004) should be a useful reference for understanding the conceptual framework of the analysis of the underlying risk factors or FORIN.

The conceptual framework and practical methodology provided by the consultant should not be limited to existing statics/data, but (i) should be implemented by a wide range of participants taking into account their experiences and opinions, (ii) should respect the traditions and culture of the Bahamas, and (iii) should be a methodology that the GoBH (or DRM Authority) can implement on its own. Specifically, the methodology of implementing the analysis of the underlying risk factors or FORIN should include practical methods through workshops (utilizing datasets from past events such as the DaLA).

This consultancy uses a development process methodology that fully involves the GoBH stakeholders. That is, the consultant does not simply hand over the conceptual framework and practical methodology developed on paper to the GoBH, but rather facilitates discussions to incorporate the opinions and information from the GoBH that are necessary to develop these deliverables.

The consultant shall:

·       Collect and analyze the literature necessary to develop the analysis of the underlying risk factors or FORIN conceptual framework. The consultant will select literature that can be used in The Bahamas, taking into account the social, cultural and governmental background of the country. The collected literature will be systematized and summarized, then submitted to the IDB/GoBH in a form that will be incorporated into the consultant's inception report (which includes the work plan). At the same time, the inception report (including the summary of the literature review) will be presented to the GoBH/IDB in person.

·       Develop a conceptual framework for the analysis of the underlying risk factors for The Bahamas through discussion/exchange of views with the GoBH, either in person or online. The draft conceptual framework will be presented to the IDB/GoBH in person or online. The final version, incorporating comments received there, will also be submitted to the IDB/GoBH.

·       Develop a draft practical methodology based on the conceptual framework that can be operated by the DRM Authority. The development process should be carried out through discussions/participation with the GoBH. The draft methodology will be submitted to GoBH/IDB and its summary/overview will be presented in person or online. The consultant will then incorporate the comments received into the final version of the methodology.

·       Conduct a face-to-face knowledge transfer seminar/workshop to detail the steps taken with existing datasets and hand over the conceptual framework and practical methodology to the GoBH. The consultant will also propose to the GoBH a medium to long term action plan for the technical acquisition necessary to operate the methodology in case of disasters. This action plan will include training in its use as well as practical simulation exercises.

Deliverables and Payments Timeline:

The focus of this contract, running until March 31^st, 2025.