Urban Reconstruction/Housing Recovery and Reconstruction Platform (HRRP) Nepal

Urban Reconstruction Support to Housing Recovery and Reconstruction Platform (HRRP) Nepal

Position
HRRP is seeking a person(s) with experience in urban planning, governance / policy, and if possible in post disaster recovery and coordination to work in Nepal with the HRRP team, Partner Organisations, and the Government of Nepal on urban recovery.
The person would be part of the HRRP technical coordination team at national level but will work a lot from the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) as they will have to work closely with the NRA’s urban advisor.

Location: Nepal – Kathmandu with travel to urban areas of 32 districts
Local partner: CRS Nepal, lead organisation for HRRP
National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET)
Start Date: As soon as possible

About HRRP

HRRP is a coordination platform that was established in December 2015 to take over supporting coordination of the post-earthquake housing reconstruction from the Nepal Shelter Cluster.

HRRP provides coordination support services for the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), Building and Grant Management and Local Infrastructure (GMALI) Central Level Programme Implementation Units (CLPIUs), other relevant government authorities, and Partner Organisations (POs). HRRP is primarily funded by DFID Nepal and CRS Nepal. Other financial contributors and implementing partners include Oxfam, Caritas Nepal, Plan International, and the National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) which leads on technical coordination.

Reconstruction

To a large extent the focus during recovery from The 2015 Gorkha Earthquake has been heavily on rural areas. However, there are urban areas which were affected. HRRP worked with district, municipal, and ward officials to identify the urban wards in earthquake affected areas and found that there are 589 urban wards spread across 94 municipalities. Based on this, there are more than 120,000 households in urban areas that need to rebuild or retrofit their home post-earthquake.

Urban recovery has specific complexities and challenges and requires a higher level of collective planning due to the densely packed nature of many urban areas. There are also urban areas with additional issues to be considered, for example the old core areas where vernacular architecture is at risk of being lost.

Despite funding gaps at district and national level in multiple areas, including urban, HRRP has managed to provide at least a minimum level of coordination support for urban recovery. This includes the ‘urban housing reconstruction status paper’ published earlier this year, a technical session on urban reconstruction, and advocacy on urban issues through advocacy reports, bulletins, etc. There is however a need now for a bigger push on urban reconstruction, something which the government technical staff, Partner Organisations, and municipal officials have all recommended also.

Project goals

• Improved coordination of reconstruction actors working in / interested to work in urban areas
• Documentation of urban housing reconstruction issues and development of advocacy points based on these
• Facilitate and support role of NRA urban reconstruction advisor, support NRA to develop action plan for urban recovery
• Build capacity of HRRP, Partner Organisation, and government staff on urban recovery
  Policy review to identify potential policy adjustments / additions required to support urban recovery
• Review of municipal by-laws leads to recommendations on adjustments / additions required that support and promote urban housing reconstruction

Key Tasks

• Urban Technical Working Group (TWG) established with NRA. TWG workplan, with schedule, prepared by members.
• Updated version of HRRP’s ‘urban housing reconstruction status paper’ based on urban TWG meetings, field assessments, and work with NRA and CLPIUs
• Reconstruction policy review from urban perspective and recommendations on policy adjustments required to facilitate urban recovery
• Technical sessions on urban recovery conducted at national and district level
• Develop training / orientation package on urban reconstruction issues and urban planning for municipal / ward officials, government technical staff, Partner Organisation staff, and HRRP staff
• Review of municipal by-laws
• Review of existing research on retrofitting options for urban housing
  Research on the rental market and experience of urban renters affected by the earthquake
• Design ToR, schedule, plan, budget, etc. for exchange visits between officials and households from different urban areas

How to apply

Application is by CV and cover letter to Declan Alcock, Director, EWB-Ireland at Declan.alcock@ewb-ireland.org.