Consultant, Senior Disaster Risk Management Expert - Cyclone and Flood Products

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance

Job Title :
Senior Disaster Risk Management Expert - Tropical Cyclone and Flood Product Consultant

Type of Contract :
Regular Consultant

Division : ARC African Risk Capacity

Duty Station (City, Country) :
Johannesburg (with a possibility to relocate to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire within the contract period)

Duration : 11 months with the possibility of extension

Reporting to :
Director, Research and Developments Department (RND), ARC

African Risk Capacity (ARC) is a Specialised Agency of the African Union. The ARC Agency leads the ARC Group, a development finance institution that provides financial tools and infrastructure to help countries manage natural disaster risk and adapt to climate change. It counts 39 AU countries as members and is supervised by a ministerial level governing board elected by its Conference of the Parties.

The ARC design and establishment phase was managed by WFP, under a MoU with the African Union, and WFP continues to provide administrative services support to the ARC Agency through an administrative services agreement.

In 2014, ARC launched its initial risk insurance product for member states through its financial affiliate the ARC Insurance Company Limited (ARC Ltd). ARC Ltd is a specialist hybrid mutual insurance company and Africa’s first-ever disaster insurance pool, aggregating risk by issuing insurance policies to participating governments and transferring it to the international market. ARC uses a disaster risk modelling software Africa Risk View to estimate the impact of drought on vulnerable populations – and the response costs required to assist them – after a season ends, and as it progresses, so that index-based insurance payouts, based on Africa Risk View, are triggered at or before harvest time if the rains are poor.

In 2020, ARC expanded its portfolio by introducing an insurance product designed for drought risk in pastoral areas and launching the first tropical cyclone (TC) insurance product in Africa. Following that, a flood risk model was introduced in 2023. The TC model is capable of accurately estimating the risk and economic losses due to tropical cyclone events in SWIO countries such as Mozambique, Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Tanzania.

The model covers hazards of winds, storm surges, and waves. It is the first insurance policy of its kind in Africa, offering rapid financing and early response to countries impacted by tropical cyclones. The ARC flood risk and loss estimate model supports a sovereign flood insurance product. Demand for this flood product has particularly risen among ARC member states following the 2020 flood events in Western and Southern Africa.

Together the tropical cyclone and flood products will prove vital tools in safeguarding lives and livelihoods and making African countries more resilient to extreme climate events.

• Advise ARC on the improvements of the TC and flood products, ensuring that ARC models are based on cutting-edge science and technology, while also meeting insurance industry standards.
• Coordinate the flood and TC product improvement works, ensuring that work is produced on time with the highest quality standards and meeting the specific needs of ARC and Member States.
• Supervise the improvement and maintenance of the TC explorer and the flood explorer software, ensuring that the software components are delivered on time and with the highest quality.
• Provide support to the R&D Director around the preparation, evaluation, supervision, monitoring, and reporting of service contracts related to TC and flood products.
• Advise ARC team on the development of contingency planning standards and guidelines that define Member State eligibility criteria to take TC and Flood insurance proposed by ARC.
• Provide training and capacity building to ARC Technical Working Groups to promote the use of the TC and Flood products as climate risk management tools for ARC Member States and their partners.
• Co…