Policy Research and Qualitative Analysis

The Online Volunteer will be part of UNDP’s Climate and Disaster Resilience Team at the Istanbul Regional Hub, supporting research and analytical work on disaster risk reduction, climate resilience, and risk-informed development across Europe and Central Asia. The assignment will focus on identifying and assessing indicators, data sources, and policy approaches related to disaster resilience, preparedness, response, and adaptive capacity, with an emphasis on cross-country comparability and data availability. The findings will contribute to ongoing analytical work on country risk profiles.

The Online Volunteer will support policy research related to disaster resilience and risk reduction in Europe and Central Asia. The assignment will contribute to ongoing efforts within UNDP to strengthen evidence-based assessments of resilience capacities across countries and territories in the region.

Policy and Framework Review: Conduct desk research on international, regional, and national frameworks related to disaster risk reduction, resilience, preparedness, response, and recovery, including the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and other relevant strategies and policy instruments.

Identification of Comparable Indicators: Identify indicators that could support the assessment of disaster resilience capacities across countries. The research should consider the availability, consistency, and comparability of data across the Europe and Central Asia region.

Comparative Analysis: Review how governments, international organizations, and research institutions assess disaster preparedness, response planning, resilience, and risk governance, and identify approaches that support cross-country comparability.

Testing and Feedback: Apply selected approaches to a small sample of countries and document observations regarding data availability, consistency, and practical applicability.

Research Outputs: Prepare concise summaries, briefing notes, and background materials highlighting key findings, potential indicators, data sources, and recommendations.