Vacancies

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CONSULTANT VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Issued on:  16 February 2016

BACKGROUND

There are 863 million slum dwellers globally and if no serious action is taken, the number is projected to rise over the next 30 years to about 2 billion. Unless radical efforts are made to provide a range of affordable housing options and legal and secure land at scale, cities will be host to hundreds of millions of new slum-dwellers. The situation is critical and unprecedented. In response, UN-HABITAT aims to mobilize a global coalition of partners to address the challenge of unsustainable urbanization. UN-HABITAT’s vision is “to help create by 2013 the necessary conditions for concerted international and national efforts to stabilize the growth of slums and to set the stage for the subsequent reduction in and reversal of the number of slum dwellers.” This vision, derived from the Millennium Development Goals, cannot be realized without systemic reforms to promote access to land and housing for all.

The Housing and Slum Upgrading Branch of UN-Habitat promotes increased access to adequate housing, slum upgrading and prevention, and community development through five cross-cutting strategies: Advocacy, knowledge management, policy advice, capacity development at the global, regional, national and local levels, and implementation support at the national and local levels. The main activities of the Branch include supporting local authorities and central governments in the formulation and implementation of housing policies and strategies to achieve adequate housing for all, as part of sustainable urban development. The Branch promotes a twin-track approach focused on improving the supply and affordability of adequate and sustainable housing for all, and slum upgrading and prevention initiatives, in the implementation of operational activities. This is done through promoting the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing as a component of the rights to an adequate standard of living.

With the objective of contributing to the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7D "to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers”, the Slum Upgrading Unit assists governments to harmonise actions towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by pro-actively engaging at neighborhood, city, national, regional and global levels; and strategically plan urban development for an efficient socio-economic transition in developing countries, cities and neighbourhoods.

UN-Habitat and the Slum Upgrading Unit will continue 1) promoting partnerships for sound urban development practices, up-scaled and city-wide slum upgrading programmes; 2) emphasizing the importance of constant learning and sharing of best-practices worldwide; 3) changing perceptions for inclusive cities and urban vulnerability reduction; advocating for national pro-poor urban policies and slum upgrading strategies and funds to sustainably improve living conditions; and 4) linking efforts to decentralization and empowerment of non-state actors for policy reforms, green economies and participatory pro-active planning.

Therefore UN-HABITAT partnered with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Secretariat and the European Commission to implement the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP) in 34 countries. Some 150 cities across Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific are implementing the program currently. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

Monitor and support the implementation of the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme in PSUP phase 3 Francophone countries (Niger, Burkina Faso, DRC, Cameroon and Senegal)

• Monitor and support as required to the National Focal Point and the HPM for the implementation of the in PSUP phase 3 Francophone countries
• Draft official correspondences and maintain timely communications with National Focal Points and partners, in collaboration with the Regional Office for Africa and the Programme Office of UN-Habitat
• Reviewing outputs and provide comments and draft outputs summary
• Work on the financial transactions and Coordination between the implementing partner and the country team
• Tools adaptation and translation
• Undertake technical missions to aforementioned countries

PSUP Project management Tool

• Collect inputs and information about the PSUP progress
• Update the progress of programmed PSUP implementation projects and give feedback to the team
• Support the project planning for the future main PSUP Activities
• Produce figures and charts to support the reporting to the EC: Gantt chart, Project timeline, Achievement progress Chart
• Capitalize the current PSUP outputs and document and organize PSUP data base

Ensure linkages between activities of the Slum Upgrading Unit and activities of the Housing Unit

• Focal Point for the thematic theme of housing in relation to slum upgrading and prevention
• Ensure timely communication and coordination between the two units
• Work and coordinate materials formulation on slum upgrading through affordable Housing principals

Focal Point support

• Focal Point for the management of CVs  and Expert database
• Focal Point for the Unite Intern recruitment (Prepare intern ToRs, Support the selection process ,Prepare the hiring reports and Interviews)
• Focal Point for reporting on Slum Upgrading activities in Sup programme 5 annual report
• Focal Point for IMDIS reporting

Other

• General support to the work of the Slum Upgrading Unit
• Review and edit relevant documentation in French and Arabic, as required
• provide comments and feedbacks to the Unit on methodology, promotional material and programme implementation, as required

COMPETENCIES

Professionalism:  Knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts and approaches    relevant to urban planning and design. Strong analysis of urban form, urban systems, underlying social, legal and financial mechanisms and the political context. Ability to develop strong graphic materials (concept plans, diagrams, street sections) as well as substantive reports. Knowledge of urban development issues. Ability to observe deadlines and achieve set goals. Ability to work and deliver under pressure.

Communication: Excellent written and oral presentation skills in English. Excellent capacity to produce and manipulate graphic documents and drawings. Good presentation skills. Ability to communicate complex interventions in a clear language and convincing narratives. Sketching capabilities to effectively communicate in workshop settings and teams.

Teamwork:  Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues to achieve agreed goals.
Planning and Organizing: Ability to prioritize activities and assignments and to easily switch between different projects.

Creativity: Strong conceptual thinking. Is not bound by current thinking or traditional approaches, takes calculated risks on new and unusual ideas; thinks “outside the box”, and offers new and different options to solve problems or meet client needs. Can easily develop clear plans in contexts with limited information and datasets. Finds ways to extract and combine data and information to create base maps. Are both able to reduce complexity as well as sensitive to specific urban form and the landscape.

EDUCATION

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Architecture or Urban Planning, or related field that is relevant for sustainable urban development and urban planning and design. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Minimum of 2 years working experience in informal settlements upgrading from an international perspective and field research in urban and informal settlements.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Fluency in written and spoken English, French and Arabic is a requirement; knowledge of any other UN official languages is an advantage. 

REMUNERATION

Payments will be based on deliverables over the consultancy period. There are set remuneration rates for consultancies. The rate is determined by functions performed and experience of the consultant. The fee will be paid as per agreement

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