Hurricane-resistant Home Improvement in
the OECS
Making low-income housing in the OECS safer and
environmentally sustainable
through property insurance and home retrofit programs.
Terms of Reference for Review of the Administrative and
Financial Aspects of the NRDF Hurricane-resistant Home Improvement Program
I. Objective
Under the Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project (CDMP), the OAS assisted the
National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF) of St. Lucia in launching a
Hurricane Resistant Home Improvement Program (HRHIP). This program has been
operational for nearly 7 years. Recently, the OAS has been able to generate an
interest on the part of the World Bank World in this program, and in exploring
the potential for its replication in other territories of the Eastern Caribbean.
In response, a short term project was prepared by the OAS and approved by the
World Bank.
The proposed project aims to review the lessons learned from the St. Lucia
HRHIP program and to build capacity in the OECS to improve on and replicate the
linkage of property insurance with home retrofit programs for low-income
homeowners. It will also introduce an environmental management dimension to the
existing program. There will be four main activities under this project: 1)
strengthening of the safer housing and insurance program for low-income
homeowners in St. Lucia; 2) development of siting criteria designed to minimize
the impact of the housing on the environment and to minimize the effects of
prevalent hazards on the housing; 3) development of a blueprint for successful
safer and environmentally sustainable housing retrofit and insurance programs
for use in the region, based on the St. Lucia program and on an assessment of
existing safer housing programs and insurance schemes for low-income housing in
the region, and 4) a sub-regional workshop to present the draft blueprint and to
identify opportunities for replication of this program within the region.
II. Purpose
The purpose of this consultancy is to review NRDF's existing Hurricane
Resistant Home Improvement Program (HRHIP) in order to identify strengths and
weaknesses, and to draw lessons learned, which will inform recommendations for
improving overall performance and effectiveness. The Consultant will review
NRDF's existing Hurricane Resistant Home Improvement Program (HRHIP) to identify
strengths and weaknesses, and to draw lessons learned, which will inform
recommendations for improving overall performance and effectiveness. In
particular, the Consultant will be responsible for the following:
- Review the overall process of the HRHIP, using the existing
"toolkit" as a guide. This includes describing the objectives of
the program as perceived by the NRDF Executive Director and Staff, actual
practices in program marketing and outreach, method employed to define the
required improvement/retrofit works, loan application, construction
monitoring and certification upon completion, and loan collection.
- Review the financial aspects of the program, in particular the management
of the revolving loan fund, the costing of the specific services provided by
NRDF staff, costing of services charged to borrowers, loan repayment rates,
and other relevant parameters.
- Review the quality control applied to the construction process, in
particular, the initial estimation of work and materials needed for the
improvement/retrofit job, the extent to which minimum standards are applied,
the selection of qualified artisans to carry out the work, the monitoring of
the construction process, and the final certification of completed works.
Review the role of the estimators and NRDF staff in carrying out the
different steps in this process.
- Design a survey of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the program on a
random sampling basis. The Survey should enquire about the beneficiaries'
satisfaction with the various components of the program, perception of value
of the retrofit/minimum standards for safe construction, interest in and
willingness to pay for insurance and specific recommendations from the
respondents. Field test the survey questionnaire and make necessary
adjustments. Organize and supervise the implementation of this survey using
NRDF field staff. Using a standard statistical package, compile the
responses and analyze and summarize the results of the survey as a basis for
the formulation of specific recommendations for improving the HRHIP program.
- Based on the reviews (items 1,2 and 3) and survey (item 4) described
above, formulate recommendations for improving the operational aspects and
effectiveness of the HRHIP focusing on the quality control and financial
operation aspects, as well as on the public awareness and outreach component
of the program. The recommendations should take the form of updates in NRDF
operating procedures, information management, job descriptions for the
different functions of the NRDF Staff, the estimators, and of a detailed
outline of the training requirements to enable the NRDF staff to effectively
implement the recommendations.
- Organize a series of meetings with the NRDF Executive Director and Staff
to introduce and discuss the recommended updates, improvements and training
needs identified under item 5. Adjust and finalize the recommendations as
needed based on feedback from these meetings.
- Prepare a report describing in detail the results of the review, the
methodology used in the survey, the analysis and recommendations arrived at.
- Review the overall process of the HRHIP, using the "toolkit" as
a guide. This includes describing the actual practices in program marketing
and outreach, definition of improvement/retrofit works, loan application,
construction monitoring and certification upon completion, and loan
collection.
- Review the financial aspects of the program, in particular the management
of the revolving loan fund, costing of services provided by NRDF staff,
costing of services charged to borrowers, loan repayment rates.
Last Updated 13 March 2003