UN Women: DRR Specialist – to support a province-level, gender-responsive analysis of El Niño risks and GEDSI-responsive interventions in Viet Nam, Home-based, National Consultant

UN Women · Hanoi

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Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. 

Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors. In Viet Nam, UN Women contributes to the development objectives of Viet Nam’s Socio-Economic Development Plan and the National Strategy for Gender Equality. Its Country Strategy Note for 2022-2026 is aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (CF) 2022-2026 and is focused on supporting Viet Nam’s fulfilment of Gender Equality commitments under The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the promise of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda to “leave no one behind”. The key priorities of UN Women in the 2022-2026 period are:  

• By 2026, people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will benefit from and contribute to safer and cleaner environment resulting from Viet Nam’s effective and gender responsive mitigation and adaptation to climate change, disaster risk reduction and resilience building, promotion of circular economy, the provision of clean and renewable energy, and the sustainable management of natural resources.  
• By 2026, people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will contribute to and benefit equitably from more sustainable, inclusive and gender-responsive economic transformation based on innovation, entrepreneurship, enhanced productivity, competitiveness, and decent work;  
• By 2026, people in Viet Nam, especially those at risk of being left behind, will have benefited from and have contributed to a more just, safe and inclusive society based on improved governance, more responsive institutions, strengthened rule of law and the protection of and respect for human rights, gender equality, and freedom from all forms of violence and discrimination in line with international standards.  

Under the draft Strategic Note 2027–2031, UN Women Viet Nam will continue to promote gender-responsive disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and humanitarian action, including anticipatory action, women’s leadership in disaster risk management and climate-resilient livelihoods for women, especially ethnic minority women and women in rural, mountainous and climate-vulnerable areas. UN Women works with the Government, UN agencies, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), the Viet Nam Red Cross Society and the Viet Nam Women’s Union, including through the UN Disaster Risk Management Team (DRMT) and the Disaster Management Working Group (DMWG), to ensure that preparedness and response address the specific needs and capacities of women and girls.

El Niño 2026–2027. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), El Niño is firmly established and is expected to become very strong, peaking towards the end of 2026, with a likelihood of nearly 100% that it will persist through February 2027 and with climate impacts continuing well into 2027.
At regional level, the inter-agency El Niño Status and Humanitarian Outlook (Global ENSO Analysis Cell, updated 22 June 2026) identifies October 2026 – March 2027 as the peak global impact window and lists Viet Nam among the Southeast Asian countries facing drought, heat and water stress, with the main impact window for Viet Nam, Thailand, Cambodia and Lao PDR expected in March – May 2027. The Asia and the Pacific Snapshot of El Niño & Middle East Crisis (OCHA, FAO, WFP, WMO; Snapshot #2 as of 28 August 2026, with UN Women contribution) highlights that the region is entering a period of overlapping risks: El Niño conditions are strengthening, a positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is forecast from September 2026 and may reinforce dryness in Southeast Asia, while pressures linked to the Middle East crisis are adding uncertainty to fuel, fertilizer and food markets and supply chains. UN Women’s Gender Alert: The 2026 El Niño and Compounding Crises in Asia and the Pacific (June 2026) and the UNFPA/GBV AoR Asia-Pacific GBV in Emergencies Update – Q2 2026 (Special Release for El Niño) highlight potential impacts on women’s and girls’ food security, livelihoods, health, unpaid care work and protection, including risks of gender-based violence.
In Viet Nam, the Hydro-Meteorological Agency (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment – MAE) forecasts El Niño at very strong intensity in October–December 2026 (98% probability), persisting into early summer 2027. Two risk scenarios have been issued:

•   Scenario 1 – High risk: a moderate to strong El Niño weakening in early 2027, with elevated risks of drought, water shortage and saltwater intrusion concentrated in the South Central Coast, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta;
• Scenario 2 – Very high risk: a very strong El Niño lasting until mid-2027, compounded by prolonged heat, a late 2027 rainy season, low reservoir levels and reduced Mekong upstream flows, with saltwater intrusion comparable to past very strong El Niño events, reduced hydropower inflows and higher forest-fire risk in the Central region, Central Highlands and Southeast.

• Drought and salinity risk is expected from the 2026–2027 dry season (from around November 2026) until around September 2027 depending on the region, with an estimated 424,800–502,300 ha of agricultural land at risk at peak, notably in the South Central Coast, Central Highlands, Mekong Delta, Southeast and North Central regions. A rapid transition to La Niña in late 2027 is also possible, which could bring heavier rainfall, floods and storms in the following season. An 18-month horizon is therefore needed to cover both the El Niño impacts and the possible transition period.
• Past events show the scale of potential impacts. The 2015–2016 El Niño caused one of the most severe droughts and saltwater intrusion episodes in Viet Nam in decades, with 18 provinces declaring a state of emergency and serious impacts on food security, water supply, livelihoods, health and nutrition. Women, ethnic minorities, older persons, persons with disabilities and children were disproportionately affected, owing to their roles in agriculture and water collection, unequal access to land, credit, services and information, and an increased burden of unpaid care work. Economic stress may also heighten the risks of gender-based violence and distress migration.
• The current outlook also comes at a time of institutional change: following the 2025 administrative restructuring, Viet Nam now has 34 provinces and centrally run cities with a two-tier local government system, which affects how risk information, historical data and interventions are organized and coordinated at sub-national level.

Operational context – inter-agency contingency planning. The El Niño response in Viet Nam is coordinated under the Government-led disaster management framework (National Civil Defence Steering Committee, with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment advising on disaster prevention and response) and, on the international side, within the DRRP and the UN Disaster Risk Management Team (DRMT), under the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office and with strong support from OCHA. Discussions and agreements reached so far through the contingency planning sessions include:

• Viet Nam Multi-Hazard Contingency Plan 2026 (draft, August 2026): Scenario 1 (drought, heat and saline water intrusion) assumes impacts in up to 12 provinces of the South-Central Coast, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta, with needs concentrated in high-risk communes; up to 1.5 million people exposed, of whom 300,000 are particularly vulnerable and 150,000–200,000 may need temporary support to access safe water. The plan defines a monitoring phase (June–August 2026), a preparedness window (September–November 2026) and an escalation window (December 2026 – April/May 2027), and treats drought and late-season storms/floods as potentially concurrent hazards.
• Protection, gender equality and inclusion are cross-cutting in the plan, guided by the Protocol for the Protection of Vulnerable Groups in Humanitarian and Development Contexts (UN Women and the Viet Nam Disaster and Dyke Management Authority), the IASC Gender with Age Marker and the regional Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group. Planned protection preparedness actions include GBViE risk mapping and protection audits in the Mekong Delta, South-Central Coast and Central Highlands, gender-sensitive early warning messages, and integration of GBV prevention and women’s leadership into provincial and commune disaster management plans.
• Viet Nam El Niño Readiness and Response Plan: following the DRMT meeting, sector leads are completing a template on sector impacts, key needs, priority preparedness and anticipatory actions, contacts and costing (by 22 October 2026), to be followed by a technical workshop in early November 2026.
•  UN Women regional guidance: the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) regional discussion on El Niño (25 June 2026) agreed that Country Offices should integrate El Niño impacts into risk registers, strengthen gender-responsive anticipatory action, engage women-led organizations, contribute country evidence to regional analysis, and coordinate with the regional humanitarian team.

Gap. The existing contingency plan provides aggregated planning figures and names priority regions and provinces, but does not provide province-level, sex-, age- and disability-disaggregated analysis that would allow UN Women to justify geographic targeting or to design and cost specific interventions (e.g. for a concept note). Likewise, the regional analysis (the Asia and the Pacific Snapshots and the UN Women Gender Alert) covers Viet Nam only briefly, grouped with Cambodia, Lao PDR, the Philippines and Thailand, without a provincial zoom-in. A Viet Nam-specific, province-level GEDSI analysis is therefore needed to strengthen the gender-responsiveness of the inter-agency response and to inform UN Women’s own interventions.
Against this backdrop, UN Women seeks a National Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Specialist (short-term, supporting position) to build on the existing contingency plan and scenarios – without duplicating them – by providing the province-level risk data and the mapping of interventions needed for the GEDSI analysis and for the selection of priority provinces. These technical inputs will support a province-level, gender-responsive analysis of El Niño risks and the design of GEDSI-responsive interventions in Viet Nam. The consultant will report to the Programme Analyst for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction, UN Women Viet Nam, with oversight from the Programme Management Specialist and overall management by the Country Representative.
 

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work

The consultant will work over the period [1 November 2026 – 31 January 2027]. The assignment will build on, and not duplicate, existing analysis and scenarios (in particular the Viet Nam Multi-Hazard Contingency Plan, the Viet Nam El Niño Readiness and Response Plan and its sector inputs, national forecasts, the Asia and the Pacific Snapshots and the UN Women Gender Alert). All analysis should use sex-, age- and disability-disaggregated data (SADDD) where available.

PART B – DRR SPECIALIST 

Task B1: Inception and review of existing analysis (November 2026) 

• Joint inception: contribute to the joint inception report, including the approach to the province-level risk profiles and the mapping template (4W/5W: who, what, where, when, for whom).
• Review of existing analysis: summarize, in a short note, the scenarios, planning figures, timelines and triggers already agreed in the Multi-Hazard Contingency Plan, the Readiness and Response Plan and the latest national and regional forecasts, presented as an 18-month risk timeline (indicatively [December 2026 – May 2028]); no new forecasting is required.

Deliverables B1: Inputs to the joint inception report; note summarizing existing scenarios and an 18-month risk timeline.

Task B2: Province-level risk profiles and mapping of interventions (November – December 2026) 

• Province-level risk profiles: for the provinces identified in the contingency plan (up to 12 provinces in the South-Central Coast, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta), compile available province- and, where possible, commune-level data on hazard, exposure, historical impacts and vulnerability (including available SADDD), based on the current 34-province administrative structure; propose criteria and recommend 2–3 priority provinces for UN Women interventions.
• Mapping of interventions: map ongoing and planned El Niño-related interventions of UN agencies and INGOs at national and provincial levels, building on the sector inputs to the Readiness and Response Plan, in a 4W/5W database (Excel), and identify geographic and sectoral gaps.

Deliverables B2: Province-level risk profiles with recommended priority provinces; 4W/5W mapping database with summary of gaps.

Task B3: Consultation workshop and technical inputs to the final report (January 2027) 

• Consultation workshop: support the preparation of the workshop and present the province-level risk profiles and the mapping of interventions.
• Technical inputs: provide the DRR chapter and annexes (risk tables, maps, mapping database) for the consolidated final report.

Deliverables B3: Workshop presentation; DRR chapter and annexes for the final report.

Consultation workshop: One consultation workshop (in person in Ha Noi or hybrid, indicatively in [mid-January 2027]) will be organized with the participation of relevant government agencies, UN agencies, INGOs, the Viet Nam Red Cross Society, the Viet Nam Women’s Union, OPDs and representatives of high-risk provinces, to consult on the province-level GEDSI analysis, the Viet Nam Gender Alert and the proposed interventions and activities. Workshop logistics and costs will be arranged and covered separately by UN Women.

1. Deliverables and deadlines

No.

Tasks/Activities

Deliverables

Deadline

Note: Timelines may be adjusted in consultation with UN Women depending on the evolution of El Niño and the availability of stakeholders. Any change to the scope requires UN Women’s written agreement.

1. Timeline for Payment

The consultant will be paid in three instalments upon submission and approval of the deliverables by the Programme Analyst on DRR & CCA, UN Women Viet Nam, as set out below.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

Climate and disaster risk analysis

• Translates existing forecasts, scenarios and disaster data into province-level risk information for decision-makers; skills in GIS or data visualization are an asset.
• Understands disaster risk management and humanitarian coordination, 4W/5W mapping and anticipatory action approaches.

Coordination, facilitation and reporting

• Works effectively with Government agencies, UN agencies, INGOs, the Red Cross, mass organizations, OPDs and community organizations, and with regional teams; facilitates participatory consultations.
• Produces clear, concise reports in English and materials in Vietnamese; applies do-no-harm, safeguarding and informed-consent principles.

Required Qualifications

• Holds a Master’s degree or higher in disaster risk management, climate science, environmental science, development studies or a related field;
• At least 05 years of professional experience in disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation or humanitarian action in Viet Nam;
• Proven experience in compiling and analysing province-level disaster risk and vulnerability data and in stakeholder/intervention mapping; experience with GIS or data visualization is an asset;
• Experience in contingency planning, anticipatory action or humanitarian coordination in Viet Nam;
• Knowledge of Viet Nam’s disaster risk management institutional framework and of humanitarian and development actors; experience with UN agencies is an advantage;
• Fluent in Vietnamese and proficient in English, with good analytical writing skills.
   

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.

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