Call for experts: DRRS Porto Alegre | Brazil-Netherlands Knowledge Exchange

Context
In May of 2024 the State of Rio Grande do Sul suffered its worst flood in living memory. The Porto Alegre Metropolitan Area was badly affected in terms of human suffering and loss of livelihoods and economic damage. At the moment of writing the efforts towards recovery are ongoing, and will be so for a considerable time. Also, the thinking about the causes of the flood and about potential interventions to avoid future floods have begun, with municipal, state and federal governments analyzing their role in improving flood prevention and impact mitigation.

The DRRS team worked in Porto Alegre from 5 to 11 June to assess the floods, analyze the failure of the flood protection system in the city, and present some ways forward, mostly for the short and medium term. The team’s contacts with stakeholders have created a clear picture of the need to improve monitoring, early warning, preparedness and flood prevention interventions. With the failure of the existing flood protection system, a rethink of the approach towards floods has become necessary.

Objectives and Deliverables
The aim is to bring together all governance levels and stakeholders to rethink the flood management system of the larger Porto Alegre metropolitan area, through a knowledge exchange between Brazilian and Dutch experts, and deliver a result that is immediately useful for follow up processes.

Requirements
The team leader for this assignment has been selected. This flood risk management expert has international expertise on water governance, and experience in the development of flood resilience strategies, including a good understanding of the national and institutional context.

To complete the DRRS team for Porto Alegre, we are looking for expertise on the following topics:

• early warning, monitoring and flood modelling;
• flood management structural and non-structural options (to apply to the Brazilian context but also from a Dutch perspective);
• river morphology;
• institutional framework and financing.

The experts should preferably have working experience in Brazil and understand the local context.

A balanced team regarding gender and age is preferred and aimed for. Young professionals are specifically encouraged to express their interest. The exact requirements for expertise and the composition of the team will be worked out with the team leader.

Planning
This assignment is scheduled from July untill September 2024. The knowledge exchange in Porto Alegre is scheduled for the week of August 19. The total expected days are approximately 5-15 days.

Interested? Kindly share a short motivation and an updated CV to drrs@rvo.nl.