The Philippine’s Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (PARR) is in immediate need of Senior Planning Advisors who are more or less immediately available or at least available within a few weeks / one month.  If interested and qualified to apply, please send a copy of your current CV to the PARR Supporting Contractor  parr.sc.services@gmail.com.  See the TOR below for more details.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Senior Planning Advisors for the Supporting Contractor to the

Philippine’s Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (PARR)

for Typhoon Yolanda Recovery

Assignment Objective: Provide technical / strategic planning assistance to the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (PARR) to support the PARR’s mandate to coordinate and manage the recovery and reconstruction of areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

This advisory assistance will be provided to support the PARR’s official mandate, which is:

(a)  Act as over-all manager and coordinator for rehabilitation, recovery and reconstruction efforts of government departments, agencies and instrumentalities in the affected areas;

(b) Coordinate with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and consult with the local government units in the formulation of plans and programs;

(c) Exercise oversight over the relevant government agencies with respect to the implementation of plans and programs; and

(d) Submit to the President status reports as may be required.

This assignment will require senior planning advisers, sector experts and coordinators in the cluster fields of:

•       Resettlement (e.g., housing, community and land use planning);

•       Livelihood and economic development (e.g., agriculture, trade and industry);

•       Infrastructure (e.g., water and sanitation, transport, communications, roads, electricity);

•       Social services (e.g., health and education);

•       Agriculture and aquaculture, and

•       Integrated planning and finance (e.g., budget and management, finance, economic planning)

The main focus of these planning activities will be at the provincial Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) level – Philippine line agencies, such as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), are concurrently preparing their respective recovery plans for funding approvals by the Office of the President.

As approved, funding of auditable and certifiable plans is targeted to be provided both by national funds, through the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and potentially through the donor organizations, such as the World Bank and the developing Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF).

Overall guidance to these planning efforts will be provide by the second version of the Recovery Assistance to Yolanda (RAY) plan being prepared and consolidated by the National Development and Economic Authority (NEDA). This second version of the RAY is expected out in May.

The main output of our technical assistance to these 5 sectoral planning areas is synthesis, prioritization, local validation / consultation and checking that proposed provincial plans and activities are not concurrently covered by line agency plans.

These outputs and cluster plans will be designed and detailed for presentation to the Office of the President for funding approval, with draft provincial plans and overall master plan currently expected to be completed in June / July 2014.

Required qualifications: Higher related educational degrees and/or related “planning for implementation” project experience, and prior experience in post-disaster recovery planning in the Philippines and/or in other developing countries in the Asia-Pacific Region is needed.

Proposed assignment period is expected to start on / about May 1, 2014.  Actual assignment periods may be flexible and intermittent to meet qualified candidates availability and specific PARR requirements until June 30, 2016.

The key services are listed below and will focus on providing key planning / management / coordination support services as required by the PARR.  These services would primarily be provided through the PARR’s office facilities to be located in the NEDA sa Makati Building, under the planning and programming leadership of PARR Undersecretary Atty. Lesley Cordero.  Field travel for local meetings, consultations and validation assessments is expected to be required.

These required Senior Planning Advisor services will be provided through the USAID-funded Supporting Contractor to the PARR.

Terms of Reference and Work Task Responsibilities:

In accordance the PARR Request Memo to USAID dated Feb. 28, 2014, the TOR and work task responsibilities of the Senior Planning Advisors will include:

(a) Collate and collect all existing information on needs and priority requirements for their respective sectors, including but not limited to the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) led by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council – Office of Civil Defense (NDRRMC-OCD), sector assessments prepared by government line agencies, and local government plans;

(b) Undertake additional analysis and fact-finding missions to fill information gaps, if any, in cooperation with national and LGUs, NGO research and academic institutions and international  aid agencies operating in the typhoon-affected areas;

(c)  Prepare an inventory of existing and planned initiatives to address the needs and gaps as well as resources, financial, human and material, which are available or can be made  available for the recovery plans and programs;

(d) Coordinate and convene various line agencies to discuss and align sector plans, programs and policy recommendations, including detailed plans for rehabilitation and reconstruction in their assigned sector;

(e) Develop a logical framework for recovery that is consistent with the recovery  and rehabilitation framework established under Republic Act 10121 and define rehabilitation objectives, targets and policy recommendations based on the needs assessment;

(f) Formulate a rehabilitation and reconstruction strategy with a clear roadmap and priorities based on the needs assessment, resource inventory and best practices in similarly ­ situated countries;

(g) Support cluster leaders and Departments to design activities and projects, together with related costing, based on the needs analysis and logical framework;

(h) In conjunction with cluster leaders, develop detailed programs for rehabilitation and reconstruction in the assigned sector and prepare project concepts for potential funding;

(i) Coordinate program implementation with Development Partners, Private Sector and other executing agencies;

(j)  Establish the Recovery Plans’ monitoring and evaluation (M & E) systems and products;

(k) Ensure plans and programs incorporate the thematic requirements of resilience, ‘build back better’, gender support, environmental protection, and protection of vulnerable groups. In the review process, planning advisers should bring in both Philippine and international best practices, including innovative, leading-edge approaches to improve and refine existing plans. Planning advisers are also requested to support sector experts in the drafting and consolidation of said plans and programs as needed. The team of planning advisers will provide input and advice into the cluster planning process.

(l) Manage the review of the cluster plans and programs together with relevant line agencies, the NEDA and other planning advisers to arrive at comprehensive and strategic cluster plans;

(m)  Convene workshops to ensure stakeholder engagement throughout the planning process and presenting the proposed plan for vettil1g and enhancement;

(n)  Consolidate and integrate all cluster plans to be presented to all relevant stakeholders;

(o) Support the writing of the overall plan to be presented to the President of the Philippines for approval;

(p)  Prepare background analysis on policy or implementation concerns and recommend to PARR a policy position and /or a course of action to address the same;

(q)  Collect and collate progress reports from government line agencies as input to periodic and special reports to the President; and

(r) Provide on-going support for the various government, private sector and donor plans and programs in the relevant sector (e.g., coordinating new policy decisions with line agencies, de-bottlenecking implementation roadblocks, etc.).

Contact information:  If interested and qualified to apply, please send a copy of your current CV to the PARR Supporting Contractor (The Louis Berger Group, Inc.; www.lousiberger.com):

parr.sc.services@gmail.com