Vacancies at IFRC

• The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) promotes the humanitarian activities of RC/RC National Societies among vulnerable people.
• By coordinating international disaster relief and encouraging development support it seeks to prevent and alleviate human suffering.
• The International Federation, the National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross together constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

IFRC Delegation in Viet Nam is seeking for  

1.Vulnerability and capacity assessment analysis (VCA Analysis)

Background

The project “building regional capacity and collaboration for community resilience in Southeast Asia” also known as C3R, includes a focus on strengthening Red Cross Red Crescent (RCRC) advocacy efforts around disaster risk reduction (DRR), including components of gender and climate change.

In the first C3R workshop held in December 2013, several National Societies agreed that an analysis of the IFRC’s standard “vulnerability and capacity assessment” (VCA) tool, would be the most practical and effective source to identify DRR messaging from communities at a country level.

The messages taken at each country level will then feed into a regional report where a set of DRR messaging for the project will be identified, and agreed upon during another C3R workshop in September 2014.

Viet Nam Red Cross (VNRC) is recognized in Viet Nam and within the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement for their Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction and in particular utilizing the VCA approach. VNRC have conducted a large number of VCA through a network of trained facilitators throughout the country. Through its extensive experience the VNRC has identified a key challenge in the integration or reference of VCA outcomes and subsequent CBDRM action plans into local planning process such as the Government social-economic development plans.  VNRC and its partners have also identified the potential to strengthen the VCA approach through the greater awareness and inclusion of specific actions to understand the needs related to gender and disability. The government has recently approved a community based assessment tool which although is informed by VCA, is a less comprehensive tool and with the aim of conducting hazard risk assessment in 6000 communes by 2020.

There are potentially three planned Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment Reviews

• The Australian Red Cross are  proposing (if funding secured ) on a review of the VCA process with the aim to strengthen this process  with a particular emphasis on specific actions to understand climate change adaptation (CCA) in 2015.
• The German Red Cross will conduct as part of DIPECHO9 project an evaluation of the VCAs in six provinces with particular focus on  gender, disability inclusion and CCA. The evaluation will include a review  on the  use  of the tools including a comparative analysis with the newly adopted government Community Based Disaster Risk Assessment tool (CBDRA). The outcomes of t  VCA within  local projects as well and national programme 1002 will be evaluated along with,  identifying how this tool can be used for future  high level planning.
• American Red Cross under take a study  of  VNRC and other organization reports to define ‘success criteria’ for VCAs. A practical list of measurable indicators will be developed that can be used utilized for baseline/end line analysis.

The analysis from this study will feed into the above reviews.

Tasks and Responsibilities

The purpose of the project is to analyze the 10 VCAs and their respective community  plan of actions with the purpose of collecting research on common issues identified by the community and their proposed solutions. These will then be synthesized into DRR messages for use to advocate with different audience (VNRC, local authorities and regionally).

• VNRC: Key messages to support advocacy within VNRC to clarify the added benefits of using the VCA tool.
• Local Authorities: Key messages will be defined to advocate to local authorities on the integration of the outcomes of VCA and subsequent community action plans into commune and district social-economic development plans.
• Regional Forums: Will collect DRR research that can be used to advocate in humanitarian diplomacy activities 

Key outcomes should also include recommendations on how to strengthen future VCAs (cross-cutting issues such as gender/climate change) and ways that communities can better use VCAs with local stakeholders.

Expected outputs for the consultancy include:

• A report consolidating the main learning points from VCAs exercise, including a focus on gender and climate change.
• A list of key advocacy messages based on issues identified through VCA exercise and with identified target audiences (community, local authorities – provincial and national level, Red Cross staff – provincial and national level),
• Clear guidance on the most appropriate communication channels for which to advocate the identified key messages.
• A clear outline on the step-by-step process used to identify advocacy messaging through the VCA process
• Review the existing VCA checklist and recommend steps to enhance the capturing of community voices and gender/climate change elements.

All these outputs should be made available in both the Vietnamese and English, .

2.Consultant for Vietnamese Red Cross to prepare Contribution documents to the HFA / ASEAN ADDMER Work

Background

In November 2013, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched the “Building Regional Capacity and Collaboration for Community Resilience in Southeast Asia” (C3R) project, which is a 3-5-year initiative funded by the Canadian Government and the Canadian Red Cross. This project is supporting the 11 National Societies of the region with the overarching goal of reducing the impact of natural disasters on vulnerable communities in Southeast Asia.

Regionally, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Secretariat is the key driver of DRR* and regional approaches to environment and climate change adaptation (CCA)**. The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community is responsible for building disaster-resilient nations and safer communities within the region under the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) sub-committee and comprised of national-level Disaster Management Agencies. The ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), adopted in 2005, and the AADMER Work Programme 2010-2015 represents ASEAN’s commitment to the HFA (as reported in the 2013 ASEAN HFA review report).

The consultancy will represent the first step towards supporting SEA National Societies to utilize existing cooperation mechanisms and tools to build greater collective responsibility and trust, nationally and regionally. Through the review and mapping of the VNRC National Society’s initiatives in DRR as well as the identification of existing partnerships and coordination mechanisms, it will bring evidence about the concrete contribution of the VNRC National Society to both national and regional DRR priorities.

Vietnam Red Cross (VNRC) has engaged extensively in supporting the Government of Vietnam in DRR and is well positioned within the Vietnam Disaster Management sector, illustrated by the following points:

• The legal basis of VNRC is based on the Red Cross Law of 2008. This sets out the legal ability for VNRC to engage in emergency response.  The Law on Vietnam Red Cross’s activities (no. 11/2008/QH12) and the Statute of Vietnam Red Cross (Amendment in 2008) specify that the Vietnam Red Cross is responsible for evaluating damages and needs, and in organizing emergency relief and recovery activities in response to natural disasters.
• The decree 64/2009/ND-CP of the Government specifies how the Vietnam Red Cross can mobilize national and international resources, and utilize these resources in carrying out relief activities. VNRC is a member of the central committee for flood and storm control at all levels from National to commune level This places VNRC in a very important position regarding coordination and implementation of humanitarian assistance
• VNRC are a member of key coordination and technical working groups including the Joint Advocacy Networking Initiative, Disaster Management Working group, Climate Change working Group and the CBDRM technical working group
• VNRC has signed a bilateral MOU with the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) to support the government in implementation of the CBDRM program to 2020 in 6000 communes.
• VNRC and the Ministry of health have signed a joint resolution N0:03/NQLT-BYT-HCTD “On Coordination in the protection, care and improvement of peoples health 2011-20” that outlines the joint areas of cooperation (Health Education, First Aid, Voluntary Blood, tissue and organ donation, humanitarian medical services, epidemic prevention, emergency health and charity meals)
• VNRC participates on the National Steering Committee on pandemic and epidemics and at the request of the Ministry of Health has been involved in responding to disease outbreaks e.g.  the Hand, Foot and Mouth in 2011-2012.
• VNRC prepared a background study on the Law and Regulation for the Reduction of Risk from National Disasters in Vietnam, which was subsequently used as part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development analysis of the DRR institutional framework in Vietnam resulting in the development of the new Law no. 33/2013/QH13, ON NATIONAL PREPARDNESS AND RESPONSE, approved in 2013 for implementation in 2014.

Alignment to the IFRC’s objectives and strategy (IFRC’s Strategy 2020)

In 2009, the Southeast Asia National Societies agreed to employ the risk reduction framework, Reducing the Risks: A Framework for DRR in Southeast Asia, as their working document for advancing DRR, nationally and regionally. This Framework builds into the IFRC Framework for Community Safety and Resilience and aligns with IFRC’s Strategy 2020: Saving lives Changing Minds. The South-East Asia Regional Delegation office, based in Bangkok, Thailand, is responsible for coordinating and supporting the 11 Southeast Asian National Societies based on its Long-term Planning Framework (LTPF) 2012-2015.

Tasks and Responsibilities

The consultancy will identify VNRC’s existing cooperation mechanisms, activities and tools in the field of DRR so to document its overall contribution to the HFA (2005- 2015) and AADMER work plan 2010-2015.

Desired outcomes

1.The provision of technical support to VNRC in order to consolidate, document & promote its role & contribution to both national-level HFA implementation and Southeast Asia regional DRR efforts.

Finally, it is to be noted that similar documentation is being conducted in 6-7 countries throughout Southeast Asia and a regional report integrating all the national-level documents will be launched at the end of 2014 to support advocacy and partnerships enhancement with regional stakeholders

Consultancy outputs

• Produce a technical report depicting tangible qualitative and quantitative contributions of VNRC  to the HFA implementation from 2010 to 2013
• Produce a technical report depicting tangible qualitative and quantitative contributions of VNRC to the ASEANAADMER programme implementation from 2010 to 2013.
• For each of the two reports, produce a one-page info graphic presenting the key messages of the report.

The format for both reports will be provided by the IFRC and will be linked to the HFA as well as the AADMER Work Programme 2010-2015), including gender and environment components.

Application contacts:

Candidates are requested to submit their application in English, with full CV to:

Ms. Pham Bich Ha
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Floor 8, 59 Quang Trung, Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi
Tel: 844-39422983
Email: [email protected]

Application Deadline: 15th September 2014

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* US Depart of State website, 26/01/2014: http://www.state.gov/p/eap/regional/asean/
** ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change, accessed 26/01/2014: http://environment.asean.org/asean-working-group-on-climate-change/