The consultant will work under the direction of the Head of Environment and Emergency Telecommunications Division (EET), within the Digital Network Society Department of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, and in close coordination with the Emergency Telecommunications (ET) thematic priority focal point in the region.
The consultant will also work with identified Focal Points in the administrations who will provide guidance and required information needed to develop the NETP and support the country in developing their mobile early warning system. He will help setting up interviews with relevant stakeholders within the country during the virtual meetings. He will agree on the time and lengths of the virtual meetings with the Focal Points in the Administrations.
In particular, the consultant will:
• Develop and organize a national consultation meeting, with the main stakeholders in all countries in charge of disaster management and emergency response, as well as set up individual virtual meetings with different stakeholders if necessary, to address key challenges and opportunities and gather all the information required to start the development of the NETPs, and to develop mobile early warning systems.
• Identify stand-alone plans from other organizations, such as regional disaster management entities or UN organizations, and its linkage with other contingency plans including the telecommunications sector emergency plan. This information will provide key elements for the development of the National Emergency Telecommunication Plan (NETPs).
• Based on the ITU’s NETP Guidelines, design and develop the NETP for countries including a regulatory framework that will support the implementation of the NETP at the national level.
• Conduct situational assessment of country’s early warning systems, including the coverage of different alerting channels, mapping of current infrastructure, and community needs, to identify the channels for the early warning systems and provide substantive advice.
• Support countries in implementing a mobile Early Warning System (EWS) on cell-broadcast (CB) and/or location-based SMS (LB-SMS), by providing technical advice on technical specifications for a bidding document.
• Conduct legal analysis of the policies, regulatory frameworks and laws associated with the implementation and use of the mobile EWS. Support country in creating the enabling legal environment for the implementation, with focus especially on cooperation and coordination with the Mobile Operators. This will be inspired by the European 110 article of the EECC and by the use of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). This work will help Member States to accelerate the Call to Action “Early Warning Systems for all”.