Support for the application of the Words into Action guidelines on Disaster Displacement in South Africa and Mozambique

The purpose of this consultancy is to provide NRC’s support to the Governments of South Africa and Mozambique as they implement the Words into Action guidelines on disaster displacement. This position will support the implementation of Mozambique’s newly adopted National Strategy and Policy for Disaster Displacement Management (PSiDM) and the continued development of guidelines and associated trainings in South Africa. The consultant will also work with Oxfam South Africa in planned support to the Government of Malawi in the development of national guidelines to address disaster displacement.

1. Consultancy assignment background

The Norwegian Refugee Council strives to assist and protect vulnerable and displaced people during crises, especially in situations of conflict. Established in 1946, NRC is an independent, humanitarian, non-profit, non-governmental organisation working in more than 35 countries with approximately 14.000 staff. NRC employs a rights-based approach, challenging those with responsibility to uphold the rights of displaced people set out within national and international laws. NRC endeavours to secure the acceptance of local stakeholders for activities and is committed to the principles of humanity, neutrality, independence, and impartiality.

NRC seeks to engage with all relevant actors to promote full respect for the rights of displaced and vulnerable people, secure and maintain access for humanitarian operations and promote the achievement of durable solutions. NRC Geneva, with the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), is NRC’s primary presence in Geneva. NRC Geneva leads NRC’s representation with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and UN agencies, and coordinates donor engagement with the UN and Swiss donors. NRC is engaged at the global, regional and national level to better protect people displaced by disasters and the adverse effects of climate change. This includes the prevention of displacement by supporting states and communities to adopt disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation measures.

Displacement related to disasters, including the adverse effects of climate change (disaster displacement) has devastating social and economic impacts on individuals and communities. Disaster displacement is one of the biggest humanitarian and development challenges of the 21st century and it raises multiple protection concerns and undermines development gains. Disaster displacement is projected to increase under the adverse effects of climate change with the expectation that sudden and slow-onset disasters will continue to force people to move away from their homes and seek safety elsewhere.

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies and practice play an important role in preventing and reducing disaster displacement risk, strengthening resilience, and addressing the protection needs of people who are already displaced. The inclusion and meaningful participation of displaced people in planning and response before, during, and after displacement, with due attention to age, gender, and diversity considerations, is essential to ensure durable solutions to their displacement and to avoid the creation of further risk.

Disaster displacement is a cross-cutting topic that can be addressed from different angles and by a wide range of measures: DRR, humanitarian protection, human rights, climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental management, migration governance, etc. This project looks at disaster displacement from a humanitarian protection angle and seeks to strengthen DRR strategies and policies in this regard. Although the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction identifies the need to address disaster displacement in DRR, the great majority of national DRR policies to date do not address disaster displacement risk explicitly and DRR managers are often unaware of the specific protection needs of disaster displaced people. The importance of protection and guidance of the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda is detailed in the Words into Action (WiA) guidance on disaster displacement and needs to be broadly disseminated in the DRR community. To ensure that protection concerns in the context of disaster displacement are included in DRR practice at the national level, DRR policy makers require additional technical support to: (1) review existing national and local policies to assess whether they already consider disaster displacement; (2) identify provisions or measures still needed to be inserted or developed to fill existing gaps in the protection of displaced people and for the prevention of disaster displacement; and, (3) ensure implementation of these provisions, via support from other policy makers and DRR managers for the required measures through dissemination, consultation, and capacity building.

The main aim of this consultancy is to support the continued implementation of the Words into Action (WiA) guidelines on disaster displacement. To do this, the consultant will support the South African National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) to organise and present provincial-level trainings to support local-level operationalisation of the guidelines.

To support the continued implementation of the WiA guidelines and the recently adopted Mozambiquan PSiDM, the consultant will support capacity building efforts in Mozambique to apply the new Policy and Strategy for Internal Displacement Management. During this time, the WiA guide will be translated, designed and printed in small quantities in Portuguese to assist in this process.

The consultant will support the national DRR authorities to build the capacity of local authorities and relevant civil society organizations to apply the new policy and guidelines, in Mozambique and South Africa. The trainings in Mozambique were initially scheduled to take place in 2021 but as the policy and strategy development, approval and launch processes took longer than anticipated, the trainings have consequently been postponed to the first half of 2022.

The consultant will support trainings for provincial and district level disaster risk managers to operationalize the PSiDM in Mozambique and as the Government of South Africa develops its guidelines. Further, the consultant might be asked to go on assessment missions to other SADC countries in order to gauge the need for possible support.

Further, at the global level, the consultant will assist in the preparations for the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR), which will take place 23-28 May 2022.

Project activities

The following planned activities will be carried out by the consultant:

· Activity 1: The development and provision of provincial-level trainings to support operationalization at the local level once the final draft has been approved by NDMC. The trainings on the disaster displacement guidelines will take place in some of South Africa’s nine provinces, prioritizing the provinces most vulnerable to disaster displacement.

· Activity 2: Support implementation the PSiDM in Mozambique. This will entail on going technical support throughout the process as well as support for the NRC consultant in country. Most of the work will be undertaken remotely, however 1-2 visits to Mozambique are envisioned if possible.

· Activity 3: Support other states and SADC, upon request, to develop policy instruments to address disaster displacement.

Institutional and organisational arrangements

NRC will own the intellectual property rights to all materials developed by the consultants under the contract. The consultant must therefore ensure that they have possession of any materials provided to NRC as a part of the deliverable. The rights to reproduce the reports will fall to NRC and its contracted agents. NRC will be free to reproduce the materials at will and to grant reproduction rights.

Duties of the consultant

The consultant will follow Ethical Research Involving Children (https://childethics.com/) guidance on the ethical participation of children. In addition, all participants in any study or other interaction will be fully informed about the nature and purpose of the interaction and their requested involvement. Informed consent must be obtained for any photographs, audio or video recordings, etc., in accordance with NRC’s policy on consent.

Consultant qualifications

• Master’s degree in Social Sciences, International Relations, Human Rights or in a related field.
• Strong policy and practitioner background in Disaster Displacement and Disaster Risk Reduction and related policy frameworks in Mozambique and South Africa required and experience with humanitarian protection/displacement policy work.
• Experience collaborating with the Governments of South Africa and Mozambique and access to relevant decision-making members of Government.
• Sound knowledge of the PDD and the Words into Action guide on Disaster Displacement.
• Excellent communication, research and writing skills in English and Portuguese required.

Terms and conditions

The consultant will work with the Project Manager and Adviser on Disaster Displacement in Mozambique and Southern Africa with overall supervision by Nina M Birkeland, NRC’s Senior Adviser, Disaster Displacement and Climate Change.