Interim Head of Evidence

Centre for Disaster Protection: Interim Head of Evidence Background

The Centre for Disaster Protection works to prevent disasters devastating lives, by helping people, countries, and organisations change how they plan and pay for disasters. We focus on disaster risk financing to help ensure that money and plans are in place before a disaster strikes, so that the poorest and most vulnerable people are better protected. We are committed to work in partnerships across sectors and geographies to drive more impactful and more equitable disaster risk finance that leaves no one behind. Specifically, through a focus on:

Delivering excellent client outcomes and promoting lasting disaster risk finance expertise: We provide clients with impartial and evidence-based advice, quality assurance and training that meets their needs and drives more effective disaster risk finance.

Quality evidence and learning: We work to strengthen the evidence base for prearranged financing and document and share what shows the greatest potential to achieve system change.

Impactful communications and global policy engagement: We seek to engage and influence through evidence-led policy and inclusive policy dialogue that bridges both ‘local to global’ and the humanitarian development climate nexus, targeting the bottlenecks key to effect transformative change of the international crisis financing architecture.

Additionally, we are focused on building effective systems and processes for people and operations that support the Centre to rapidly, yet strategically, scale and grow in a way that supports our people to do their best work through safe challenge, promoting and integrating diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Centre is funded with UK aid through the UK government. Read more about us in our updated strategy (2022-2025) and find out more at .

The role

Under these terms of reference, we wish to appoint an interim Head of Evidence who will be contributing to portfolio delivery, reporting, and planning for the Centre’s work on one of our four goals:

Quality evidence and learning: We will strengthen the evidence base for prearranged financing and document and share what shows the greatest potential to achieve system change. We will fill in areas of white space in what we know about what works and what doesn’t in the disaster risk financing landscape, translating, and deploying learning and insights through our advisory and engagement, and to inform and shape the global policy agenda.

with a focus on two evidence-led programmes: ‘Operational learning’ and ‘Effective international support for disaster risk financing’.

Expected deliverables

The interim Head of Evidence will report to the Centre Director and be expected to work closely with the Evidence Program Manager and wider team on the following activities, to be prioritised based on need and the interim Head of Evidence’s availability:

1. Programme management for two evidence-driven programmes:

1. On a quarterly basis advise the Centre Director on the relevance and impact of the publications pipeline, including providing views on gaps and opportunities.
2. Review evidence-related project concept notes submitted under these programmes.
3. Prepare project concept notes under these programmes.
4. Recommend the formation of project teams to deliver specific evidence projects.
5. Provide recommendations on peer review chairs for each publication.
6. Provide recommendations for short- and medium-term options for investment in evidence under each of these programmes, building on inputs from the evidence team.
7. Provide assessments on the performance of Project Leads for projects within these programmes, to be submitted to line managers.

1. Reporting:

1. Draft inputs to quarterly Board reporting packs on the status of the Centre’s evidence work, progress against logframe, and forward look.
2. Provide comment and input on other Board papers and internal concept notes as requested.

1. Quality enhancement:

1. Act as peer reviewer and/or peer review chair for Centre publications.

1. Work planning and strategy refresh:

1. Synthesise own inputs and inputs from evidence team to proposed 1-year programme of work for the two evidence-driven programmes for workplan year July 2025 – June 2026 for inclusion in the Centre’s 2025/26 workplan, to be submitted to the Board in June 2025.
2. Synthesise own inputs and inputs from evidence team to proposed 5-year programme of work for the period July 2025 – June 2030 for inclusion in the Centre’s 5-year workplan, to be submitted to the Board in June 2025.
3. Synthesise own inputs and inputs from evidence team to inform our updated theory of change and Logframe, to be submitted to the Board in June 2025.

1. External representation:

1. At the request of the Centre Director, attend and present at specific international events on behalf of the Centre, including media engagement.

For all these deliverables the interim Head of Evidence will be required to:

• Uphold the organisation’s values and contribute to a positive organisational culture.
• Contribute to building the Centre’s external reputation through delivering excellent technical work and the development of innovative solutions.

Skills and experience

Successful candidates will be able to demonstrate the following skills and experience:

• Relevant professional experience managing complex evidence projects and portfolios.
• Significant expertise (and where relevant, professional qualifications) in disaster risk financing or a relevant field, such as public financial management, insurance, risk management, risk modelling, actuarial science, economics, or humanitarian finance.
• Relevant experience delivering evidence projects in low- and middle-income country contexts.
• A credible understanding of actors, incentives, and institutional and policy environment of multilateral and bilateral international development.
• Experience in presenting to large, senior, and multi-stakeholder audiences.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.
• Ability to motivate others, take initiative, and work effectively as part of a dynamic, multidisciplinary team.

Timelines & Payments

The role is expected to be between six and nine months, with a level of effort between 8 and 16 days per month to be agreed on a quarterly basis in advance, at the mutual agreement of the interim Head of Evidence and the Centre Director. The time allocation to each activity will be determined by the Centre Director, informed by business needs. The total number of fee days will be between 48 and 144, depending on the needs of the Centre and the availability of the consultant . The work is expected to start on 1 January 2025.

We recognise that each candidate brings unique skills, expertise, and aspirations. As such, we are open to tailoring the responsibilities and to offering this position on a fixed-term contract basis, either as full-time employment or on a call-down arrangement. If you have preferences or specific requirements regarding the structure of this role, we encourage you to outline them in your application or during the interview process (if scheduled).

Remuneration will be based on individual experience and skills while, as the Centre is a UK aid-funded project, all rates for consultants and staff are subject to controls. The remuneration package, whether as a fixed salary or call-down rate, will be negotiated accordingly and will depend on the type of contract and scope of responsibilities agreed upon.

Any applicable expenses approved by the Centre/ DAI will be covered. This includes travel related expenses and others as relevant and mutually agreed. Approved expenses will be billable exclusively on actual costs incurred, as evidenced by receipts.

Fees will be payable on actual usage of days evidenced by timesheets, subject to completion and approval of key deliverables due at the invoicing point. Any expenses will be paid on actual costs (against receipts) using an agreed invoice and timesheet template.

Correctly submitted invoices will be paid within 30 days of receipt of invoice and/or approval of relevant work (whichever is the later).

DAI on behalf of the Centre reserves the right to negotiate on any aspects of the proposed costs and payment and is not bound to accept any offer.

Application Process

Submission mechanism and deadline

Please submit the following by 11:59pm UK time, Wednesday 11 th December 2024 to the DAI careers portal at

• Your CV (max. 3 pages).
• Covering letter indicating how your experience and interest aligns with this work (max. 1 page).
• Indicative gross daily fee rate expectations.

DAI Eligibility Criteria

All individual(s) shortlisted will undergo an initial eligibility criteria assessment. This includes vetting of the organisations in line with terrorism checks, company history of improper conduct, any legal acts against the organisation(s) and initial vetting of proposed personnel. Where disqualification factors are discovered, the application may be rejected without notification.

Successful individual(s) will be subject to detailed vetting analysis and relevant reference checks, and, in the case of organisations, also a due diligence assessment through DAI’s Management Capacity Assessment Tool (MCAT). This will include an assessment of:

• Organisational details.
• Safeguarding policies, procedures, and systems.
• Financial management policies, procedures, practices and systems.
• Duty of care.
• Modern Slavery policies and procedures.

Final award of contract will not be confirmed until these checks are complete.

Intellectual property

Intellectual Property Any Foreground Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) arising out of the performance of project will belong to the Managing Agent of the Centre for the purposes of awarding to the Centre perpetual, irrevocable license to use, sub-license or commercially exploit such IPRs in the delivery of its mission and likewise to the Centre’s funder, the UK FCDO. The Management Agent, on behalf of the Centre, will provide the Service Provider with the right to use such IPRs and other Centre IPRs to the extent needed to fulfil their obligations under this project. IPRs relating to any background intellectual property drawn upon by the Service Provider in delivery of the assignment shall remain with the Service Provider, who will provide the Centre (through its Managing Agent) and FCDO rights to use such intellectual property to the extent it is integrally required to enjoy their rights to use the results of the Project and the foreground IPRs.

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