Duties and Responsibilities
Created in December 1999, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) is the designated focal point in the United Nations system for the coordination of efforts to reduce disasters and to ensure synergies among the disaster reduction activities of the United Nations and regional organizations and activities in both developed and less developed countries. Led by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG/ASG), UNDRR has over 150 staff located in its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and in regional offices. UNDRR guides, monitors, analyses, and reports on progress in the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. It supports regional and national implementation of the Framework and catalyzes action and increases global awareness to reduce disaster risk working with UN Member States and a broad range of partners and stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, parliamentarians and the science and technology community. Timor-Leste faces a complex and evolving disaster risk landscape shaped by the interaction of multiple natural hazards, high socio-economic vulnerability, and climate change impacts. The country is regularly affected by floods, landslides, droughts, tropical cyclones, and earthquakes, with hydrometeorological hazards posing the most frequent and widespread impacts. Recent events, including Tropical Cyclone Seroja in 2021, demonstrated the severe consequences of disasters on lives, livelihoods, infrastructure, and public service delivery, and highlighted the country’s exposure to compound and cascading risks. Over the past decade, Timor-Leste has made important progress in strengthening disaster risk governance. The adoption of the Civil Protection Law and the establishment of the Civil Protection Authority (CPA) marked a shift from a predominantly reactive emergency response model toward a more preventive, multi-hazard approach to disaster risk management. The Government’s Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 (Sendai Framework) in 2023 confirmed gains in legal and institutional frameworks, preparedness, and coordination, while also identifying persistent gaps in risk knowledge, data integration, and the use of risk information to inform policy and investment decisions. The Government has recognized the need to develop a comprehensive National DRR Strategy that consolidates existing risk knowledge and clarifies national priorities. Central to this effort is the development of a strategic, policy-oriented national risk overview. Disaster risks in Timor-Leste are increasingly expressed through disruptions to critical infrastructure and essential services. Damage to transport networks, health facilities, and early warning and communication systems can significantly amplify disaster impacts by isolating communities, delaying emergency response, limiting access to health and social services, and weakening preparedness and early warning measures. These disruptions disproportionately affect women, older persons, persons with disabilities, and other groups facing mobility and service-access constraints. In response, UNDRR, in partnership with the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), is supporting Timor-Leste through the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) initiative to strengthen the integration of disaster risk considerations into infrastructure planning and investment. The project provides an entry point to assess disaster risks affecting key infrastructure systems, particularly transport, health, and early warning infrastructure—through a national infrastructure hotspot analysis, while promoting risk-informed prioritization under the data and capacity constraints typical of small island and least-developed states. The hotspot analysis will generate evidence to support decision-making by the Council for the Administration of the Infrastructure Fund (CAFI) and relevant line ministries, including the integration of disaster risk and inclusion considerations into infrastructure investment planning. To support this work, spatial mapping and geospatial data harmonization are required. This consultancy will therefore assist the CPA in DRR strategy formulation, specifically on the strategy’s risk overview, while providing GIS data compilation and spatial analysis . The consultant will be homebased and work under supervision of Programme Management Officer in UNDRR ROAP in close coordination with Climate and Disaster-Resilient Development Officer, based in Dili, Timor Leste Scope of Work The consultant will be responsible for developing the DRR Strategy Risk Overview and managing the geospatial data pipeline for the Hotspot Analysis: - Generating National Risk Overview: Under this component, the consultant will support the CPA in consolidating existing risk assessments and information into a strategic, multi-hazard national risk overview to be utilized in the DRR strategy formulation. This will include reviewing global guidelines or standards on risk information (such as WiA for DRR Strategy and hazard information profile:HIP) available risk data and assessments and generating spatial maps to be inserted into the DRR strategy. - Geospatial Data Harmonization and Spatial Analysis: Compile, quality-assure, and harmonize infrastructure asset inventories (transport, health, early warning system) alongside historical hazard and disaster loss datasets available in Timor-Leste to produce standardized spatial data layers, execute GIS-based spatial overlays, and generate maps that feed directly into the multi-criteria framework . Duties and Responsibilities 1. Risk overview for DRR Strategy support: Support CPA in consolidating national disaster risk information for the purpose of developing a strategic national risk overview and prioritisation framework. Translate risk insights into implications for DRR strategic objectives in a short, concise manner, ready to be utilized as part of the National DRR Strategy. 2. Infrastructure Hotspot analysis (GIS and data support): Compile and harmonise relevant datasets in a manner that is compatible for geospatial analysis. Produce the necessary spatial overlays and maps for transport networks, health facilities, and early warning infrastructure to directly feed into the prioritization framework. 3. Documentation & handover: Prepare spatial data documentation in English, ensuring a clean and organized institutional handover of all GIS layers, asset databases, and spatial files to the CPA.
Qualifications/special skills
Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in geoinformatics, geographic information systems (GIS), geography, disaster risk management, or a closely related field is required. Minimum 3 years of professional experience in geospatial analysis, multi-hazard risk assessment/analytics. A first-level university degree with at least 2 additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree. Experience in geospatial analysis using GIS software (ArcGIS, QGIS etc) is required. Experience in conducting disaster risk assessments in SIDS, LDCs, or Southeast Asian context is highly desirable. Experience in facilitating multi-stakeholder consultations, including marginalized and vulnerable groups is desirable.
