Project Coordinator, Panama City

## Project Coordinator, Panama City - Organization:UNDRR - United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Office:UNDRR in Panama City, Panama Description of assignment title:Project Coordinator Assignment country:Panama Duty stations:Panama City Work location:On UN premises Expected start date:09/01/2026 Expected end date:08/31/2027Long-term benefits and allowances Sustainable Development Goal:13. Climate action Volunteer category:Expert UCoS from Apr2026 Work schedule:Full-time Number of Assignments:1 Mission and objectives: - Our mission is to provide leadership and support to accelerate global efforts in disaster risk reduction to achieve inclusive sustainable development and the goal of the Sendai Framework. UNDRR’s vision is of a world where disaster risks no longer threaten the well-being of people and the future of the planet. - The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework) was the first major agreement of the post-2015 development agenda and provides Member States with concrete actions to protect development gains from the risk of disaster. - The Sendai Framework works hand in hand with the other 2030 Agenda agreements, including The Paris Agreement on Climate Change, The Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, the New Urban Agenda, and ultimately the Sustainable Development Goals. - It was endorsed by the UN General Assembly following the 2015 Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR), and advocates for: - The substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries. - It recognizes that the State has the primary role to reduce disaster risk but that responsibility should be shared with other stakeholders including local government, the private sector and other stakeholders. - ECHO DP Program (formerly DIPECHO) - Since 2011, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and DG ECHO (European Commission's Directorate General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations) have joined forces in 14 actions financially supported by ECHO through a total investment of close to €10 million carried out in Central America (4 actions), South America (5 actions), the Caribbean (4 actions) and a regional support activity in Latin America and the Caribbean. - Specifically, the new regional UNDRR- ECHO Action will contribute to the scaling up of the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SF) through disaster preparedness, risk knowledge for anticipatory and humanitarian action, strategic coordination and key partnership engagement supporting the LAC region. Special focus will be given to the action and promote better response with participation from multiple stakeholders such as MOU EU LAC signatures, humanitarian actors, United Nation Country Teams and the wider disaster preparedness community, including ECHO partners and actors funded by other donors. - Activities will be carried out at the regional, sub-regional and national level. The main activities to achieve these results include technical assistance, capacity-building, risk knowledge, multi actor coordination, strategic communication, and political advocacy to boost concrete results. - The planned activities of the Action include a gender, age and disability approach as identified in the Sendai Framework and as reflected in UNDRR's Work Programme but also in accordance with the United Nations and EU mandates and values. - Early Warnings for All - In November 2022, the UN Secretary General launched the Early Warnings for All (EW4ALL) initiative to advance the efforts to protect everyone in the world by the end-to-end MHEWS. The initiative calls for all people everywhere to be protected by early warning systems by 2027. UNDRR, together with World Meteorological Organization (WMO), leads the global coordination of the EW4ALL in close collaboration with International Telecommunication Union (ITU), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Society (IFRC). - Early warning systems (EWS) are key elements of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, as they help reduce or avoid the detrimental impacts of hazardous events. To be effective, early warning systems need to be risk-informed, multi-hazard, multi-sectorial, target communities most at risk, disseminate messages and warnings efficiently, ensure preparedness, and support early action. - Under the EW4All Executive Action Plan, different organizations will lead the implementation of the four pillars that make up the early warning chain: - • Pillar 1: Disaster risk knowledge, is led by UNDRR. - • Pillar 2: Detection, observations, monitoring, analysis and forecasting of hazards, is led by WMO. - • Pillar 3: Warning dissemination and communication, is led by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). - • Pillar 4: Preparedness to respond, is led by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). - The UN Volunteer will provide overall leadership, coordination, and quality assurance for implementation of the project across Latin America and the Caribbean, ensuring coherence subregions and alignment with UNDRR, EW4ALL, and EU-LAC MoU priorities. - Under the supervision of the Programme Management Officer (EW4ALL Regional Coordinator) of UNDRR Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean (ROAC), the UN Volunteer will: - Project Leadership & Coordination - • Lead overall planning, implementation, and monitoring of project activities, deliverables and financial management - • Ensure coherence across subregional workstreams and alignment with project results and indicators - • Coordinate contributions to risk knowledge products (RAR, country risk profiles, EW4All stock takes) - • Serve as primary liaison with key partners (DG-ECHO, IGOs, UN agencies, ECHO funded partners); - • Lead EU-LAC MoU coordination, technical secretariat – including transition - and high-level dialogues; - • Ensure linkages and support to 2027 Regional Platform, subregional events and fora and global DRR processes - • Guide quality assurance of: - o Risk assessments and knowledge products - o MHEWS assessments, risk knowledge products, inputs to RAR27 and overall technical outputs - o Knowledge exchanges and public information (press releases, social media feeds, web content, etc.) - • Provide support to UNETT / UN Country Team and the Resident Coordinator's Office (RCO); as well as to related UN and humanitarian processes, including technical advising to the regional office on disaster preparedness, early and anticipatory action, and humanitarian linkage aligned with Sendai Framework implementation and reporting on progress. - Monitoring & Reporting - • Gather, systematize and produce progress reports and results tracking, - • Ensure compliance with UNDRR results-based monitoring and donor requirements, - • Lead weekly internal coordination meetings and overall planning cycles. - • Guarantee visibility of the project activities and impact stories, using prevention web (dipecho lac), social media channels, etc. - Others as agreed mutually with the regional office. - Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities: - • Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and taking an active part in UNV activities (for instance, in events that mark International Volunteer Day); - • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country; - • Provide annual and end-of-