Vacancies

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CONSULTANT VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT                                                                                                           Issued on: 16 September 2015

BACKGROUND

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. The Land and GLTN Unit, located within the Urban Legislation, Land and Governance Branch of UN-Habitat has the mandate to develop, test and disseminate pro-poor and gender responsive approaches in regard to urban land, innovative residential tenures, affordable land management/administration systems, and land related regulatory/legal frameworks and tools. The Unit hence focuses on research and tool development also to supply technical advice to Member States and backstop the Regional offices and other sections of UN-Habitat. Land tools provide a resource for enabling action. While there has been extensive global discussion around land policies that work for the poor, there has been insufficient attention paid to the development of methods for developing and implementing these pro-poor land policies. Consequently what are required are land tools that are affordable and accessible for all sections of the population in countries around the world. This is essential for creating societies with sustainable, equal access and use of land. Work has already started on these approaches, both for developing and post-conflict societies. Incremental expansion of this work over time, as capacity is developed, will take place through the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN, the Network), the Secretariat of which is located at UN-Habitat.

Editorial Consultancy – The Global Land Tool Network needs to develop appropriate messages that carry the ideas of the initiative, by using channels such as presentations, speeches, brief materials and visits to get them across. The objectives of the dissemination of the publications and tools of GLTN are to;

• Support implementation at country level to improve the social well-being of citizens and achievement of the MDGs
• Enable dissemination of knowledge and best practices among stakeholders involved in the land sector in general and the GLTN network
• Enable cooperation more effectively among stakeholders involved and with the Government in terms of ministries/agencies involved in the land sector on global, regional and country levels. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the supervision of the Unit Leader and in close collaboration with the focal person for Project Management the expert will undertake the following responsibilities

Editing:

• Proofread all text for spelling, grammar and logical flow;
• Ensure the texts follow the UN style guidelines;
• Re-write any sections that are clumsy or are grammatically incorrect, including moving text so that there is a better flow of information;
• Ensure non-native English speakers will understand the text;
• Reduce text and rewrite to fit a specified word count;
• Fact check;and,
• Ensure adherence to UN guidelines. e.g for references .

Writing:

• Produce documents from texts provided.
• Produce Executive Summaries and /or Conclusions based on text in document.

COMPETENCIES

Professionalism: Knowledge of concepts and approaches in the areas related to communication and journalism and ability to conduct independent analysis, identifying issues, formulating options and making conclusions and recommendations 

Planning and organizing: Ability to work within set deadlines and in line with the requested outputs; Capacity to establish priorities and plan, coordinate own work plan, use time efficiently and apply judgment in the context of competing needs. 

Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to articulate complex ideas in a simple and clear manner; Ability to prepare and edit a variety of written documents, reports and briefs. 

Creativity: Is not bound by current thinking or traditional approaches, takes calculated risks on new and unusual ideas; Offers new and different options to solve problems and meet the GLTN team’s needs.

Teamwork:  Good interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective working relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity 

EDUCATION

First level university degree related to mass communications, journalism or equivalent; Additional qualifications in website development, using the Joomla! Or Drupal content management System, Graphic Design using InDesign, Photoshop, Publisher, Page Maker and Video Editing are added advantages. 

WORK EXPERIENCE

• A minimum 5 years of experience in editorial services, communications or journalism, preferably for an international market and audience
• It is considered as a specific merit if the above mentioned competencies and experiences are drawn from the development area;
• Strong people and process skills with proven ability to communicate with a wide range of stakeholders
• An understanding of the political and cultural dynamics of development issues
• Excellent analytical and conceptual writing skills.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

English and French are the working languages of the UN. For the post advertised, excellent proficiency in spoken and written English is required. Knowledge of a second UN language is an advantage

OTHER SKILLS

• Good communications research and analytical skills
• Excellent drafting and editing skills
• Excellent English writing skills is required and
• Previous work experience for the UN system is desirable

REMUNERATION:

Remuneration shall be computed based on tasks assigned and results delivered.

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