Business Continuity Consultant

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Philippines is one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia (SEA) and plays an important role in the stability of the region. Environmental degradation and more frequent climatic events are likely to be key political, economic, and security disrupters over the longer term. Humanitarian crises can undermine growth, reverse development gains, increase poverty, and cause instability that can last for decades.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through the support of the Government of Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), is implementing the Strengthening Institutions and Empowering Localities Against Disasters and Climate Change (SHIELD) Programme. Australia invested AUD 18 million in SHIELD which aims to make all people in target communities safer and more resilient to the impacts of natural hazard events and climate change. This will be realized by achieving three interdependent components:

• Component 1: Government, private sector, and civil society stakeholders in targeted local government units (LGUs) are collaborating to unlock funding and implementing informed and inclusive resilience actions
• Component 2: Relevant national government agencies (NGAs) are prioritizing action on local climate and disaster resilience
• Component 3: Philippine scientific agencies are producing tailored and accessible information for local resilience action

The SHIELD Programme is implemented in partnership with the Government of the Philippines through the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and four (4) Consortium Partners, namely, Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), United Nations Human Settlement Program (UN-Habitat), National Resilience Council (NRC), and the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS).

The Programme will partner with 10 provinces, Metro Manila and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

PBSP's component in the project seeks to improve the economic resilience of the 10 provinces through risk-informed Value Chain Analysis (VCA) of key commodities and development of Business Continuity Plans (BCP) of private sector players (i.e. agricultural cooperatives and MSMEs).

Schedule:

The project is expected to be completed within 12 months from June 2026 through May 2027.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Roles and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible for a minimum of thirteen (13) enterprise-level or industry-level Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) across the Provinces of Cagayan, Pampanga, and Pangasinan (approximately four to five BCPs per province). The target enterprises and industries shall be drawn from priority sectors identified through the risk-informed Value Chain Analysis (VCA) process facilitated by PBSP, or from cooperative and MSME players identified through provincial stakeholder consultations.

The scope of work for each BCP includes the following:

• Submission of a detailed workplan on the activities to be conducted
• Conducting Business Impact Analysis (BIA):

>Identify critical business functions and processes.

> Assess the potential impact of disruptions on each function and process. The disruptions should incorporate the climate impact drivers in the Provincial Climate Risk Diagnostics of UN-Habitat.

> Determine acceptable recovery time objectives (RTOs) and maximum tolerable downtime (MTDs) for each critical function.

> Define incident response protocols and communication strategies.

> Create detailed recovery plans for critical functions, outlining alternative operating procedures, resource allocation, and activation processes. Any recommended resource allocations or interventions should be linked to climate risks, among others, and consider at-risk groups such as smallholder farmers, fisherfolk, women, persons with disability, etc in the industry or enterprise.

• Development of comprehensive BCPs for identified industries, business, and/or economic sector players.

> The consultant is expected to demonstrate knowledge of the agri-fisheries sector and the socio-economic context of the target provinces. BCPs developed shall be written in plain language and made accessible to cooperative members and MSME operators, many of whom may have limited formal business education. The consultant shall also ensure that BCPs align with relevant local government disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) frameworks, and that at-risk groups — including smallholder farmers, fisherfolk, women, and persons with disability — are meaningfully considered in the business continuity and recovery strategies developed.

• Presentation of the draft BCPs to the stakeholders, especially to the Provincial Local Government.
• Design of testing and training programs to ensure the effectiveness of the BCP.
• Training of LGUs and other stakeholders on the fundamentals of business continuity planning and regular updating of BCPs.
• Participating in pre-BCP activities facilitated by PBSP, including but not limited to Provincial Technical Working Group (TWG) Meetings, Stakeholder Consultations, and Commodity Deliberation and Selection meetings. In these activities, the consultant shall orient provincial stakeholders on the scope and objectives of the BCP, expected outputs, and the data and information they will be required to provide to support the development of the plans. The role of the consultant in these activities is to basically orient the stakeholders on the scope of work of their undertaking, and the support that the consultant would need from stakeholders (e.g. data and information that would come from the stakeholders that will be relevant to the BCP that they will be developing).

Deliverables:

The consultant will deliver the following:

• BIA report: Identifying critical functions, their recovery priorities, and potential impacts of disruptions.
• Workshop module: annotated guide of workshop delivery to guide replication of VCA output by provincial stakeholders.
• Detailed BCP document: Covering incident response procedures, recovery plans, disaster recovery plan, testing and training programs.
• Training materials and execution of training sessions.
• Documented and accessible BCP procedures and manuals.
• Report on BCP tests and recommendations for improvement.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Proven experience (3 years) in developing and implementing BCPs for similar organizations.
• Strong understanding of BCP best practices and relevant standards (e.g., ISO 22301).
• Excellent communication, analytical, and project management skills.
• Experience in conducting BIAs and risk assessments.
• Knowledge of disaster recovery planning and IT systems resilience.
• Demonstrated familiarity with gender, equity, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI) principles, with experience applying a GEDSI lens in research, fieldwork, or development programming.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively, whether engaged as an individual consultant or as part of a multidisciplinary team.