Vacancies

Vacancies

Senior Consultant, Land and Conflict

Issue Date 27 Feb 2017 Closing Date 13 Mar 2017
Grade CONSULTANT Post Duration
Duty Station Home-based Organizational Unit Policy, Legislation and Governance
Job Opening

The specific objective of this consultancy is to provide short term and temporary highly specialized technical and strategic support to the GLTN Secretariat to implement a sub-programme of the GLTN Phase 2 Programme on ‘International partner organisations and key stakeholders are better able to improve land governance interventions in the urban-rural nexus context through strengthened conflict-sensitive land tools, guidelines and approaches and multi-stakeholder partnerships and coordination.’ A senior consultant with extensive relevant expertise in the area of work is required.

  Download PDF Version

Consultant Vacancy Announcement

                                                                                                           Issued on: 27 Feb. 17

ORGANIZATIONAL LOCATION:

UN-Habitat

DUTY STATION:

Home Based

FUNCTIONAL TITLE:

Consultant: Senor Consultant, Land and Conflict

SUPERVISOR

Unit Leader, Land and GLTN Unit , ULLG Branch

CONTRACT TYPE & DURATION

120 days over 8 months

EQUIVALENT LEVEL

P5

VACANCY CLOSING DATE

13 March 2017

BACKGROUND
Securing land tenure and property rights are fundamental for the realization of human rights, poverty reduction, food security, peace building, sustainable rural and urban development, economic growth and sustainable development. The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) Phase 2 Program contributes to this broader objective of securing land and property for all through the development of pro-poor and gender responsive land tools, through strategic partnerships. The main objective of  the Program (2012-2017) is for ‘International partner-organizations, UN-Habitat and related land programs/projects and targeted countries and/or cities/municipalities to better able to improve tenure security of the urban and rural poor through the adoption and implementation of land policies, tools and approaches that are pro-poor, gender appropriate, effective and sustainable’ (see www.gltn.net).
Within the GLTN program, there is a new Sub-Program funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation: ‘Conflict Sensitive Land Governance Initiative within the Urban-Rural Nexus Context’ which will contribute to the achievement of the broader GLTN Program objectives with specific but complementary outcomes and activities. Like the GLTN Program, the Sub-Program will promote broad strategic partnerships with international organizations in the land sector, including UN agencies, multi-lateral and bi-lateral institutions, rural and urban civil society organizations, professional bodies and academic and training institutions in its project implementation. The Sub-Program will address conflict sensitive land governance issues in the urban-rural nexus context. There is global recognition that land governance challenges exist in these contexts, which negatively impact food security and peace building. There is limited knowledge about this, and the knowledge that exist needs to be shared across the broader land sector community and be utilized in a more integrated manner. To date, GLTN has not focused on these specific contexts and challenges aside from work currently being done for the United Nations Rule of Law Coordination and Resources Group (see below). Now GLTN has more partners, international organizations and potential champions in post conflict, and the urban –rural nexus, also in regard to small market towns. Also there is an increased global urgency to address the land governance challenges in the urban-rural nexus, also because of discussions around the Sustainable Development Goals. The same urgency exists in the post conflict context as the UN wide system is undergoing overall institutional reform. The Sub-Program objective is: International partner organizations and key stakeholders are better able to improve land governance interventions in the urban-rural nexus context through strengthened conflict-sensitive land tools, guidelines and approaches and multi-stakeholder partnerships and coordination.
This GLTN Sub-Program will link to, build on, and compliment an ongoing GLTN supported work stream where the Rule of Law Unit of the Executive Office of the Secretary General requested UN-Habitat to lead the drafting of a UN Guidance Note on ‘Land and Conflict,’ coordinated through the Rule of Law Coordination and Resource Group (RoLCRG). This work, in the First Phase, has to date included an advanced draft functional status assessment of land and conflict across the UN system, and an outline of a Secretary General Guidance Note and road map, both of which need to be more detailed. This work aligns with other reform work being undertaken by the UN wide system around peace-building and peacekeeping, also relating to recent Secretary General’s report on ‘The future of United Nations peace operations: implementation of the recommendations of the High-level Independent Panel of Peace Operations.’
For this work stream, preliminary discussions started from the assumption that land, and the conflict over land-related resources, are increasingly becoming a driver of violence, instability and intra-state or cross border conflict, posing an increasing global challenge. This will only increase in the next decades due to the effects of climate change, food insecurity, global population increase, limited natural resources and unsustainable urban growth. UN engagement is needed around a common agenda that includes land issues as an integral part of conflict prevention, peace agreements and peace-building, humanitarian and development efforts. The knowledge and experience developed so far indicates the need to prioritize land and conflict prevention to ensure that all crisis response feeds into continued and sustainable action resulting in longer term stability and sustainable political processes.
The land framework put forward by the Global Land Tool Network (www.gltn.net), builds around a set of core values and principles: pro-poor, good governance, equity, subsidiarity, sustainability, affordability, systematic large scale and gender sensitiveness. The central concept of security of tenure is defined by the ‘continuum of land rights’; where different sources of land access and use patterns co-exist, acknowledging a diversity of tenure situations ranging from the most informal types of possession and use, to full ownership; recognizing the complexity of land rights, claims and records (e.g. customary, statutory, informal); and systemic inequalities (e.g. women). A key aspect of the framework for this work is Fit for Purpose Land Administration.
Since November 2015, an issue based coalition around land and conflict is established after a 3 days forum around the topic and facilitated by GLTN secretariat. The coalition is composed of UN and non UN actors working on land and conflict at both country and global levels. This consultant is part of the work plan agreed upon during this forum on land and conflict.
Objective
The specific objective of this consultancy is to provide short term and temporary highly specialized technical and strategic support to the GLTN Secretariat to implement a sub-programme of the GLTN Phase 2 Programme on ‘International partner organisations and key stakeholders are better able to improve land governance interventions in the urban-rural nexus context through strengthened conflict-sensitive land tools, guidelines and approaches and multi-stakeholder partnerships and coordination.’ A senior consultant with extensive relevant expertise in the area of work is required.

.RESPONSIBILITES

 

The consultant, under the direction of the designated Task Coordinator, will have the following responsibilities:

  • Develop four project proposals for land and conflict related projects;
  • Provide substantial contributions to three capacity development events on land and conflict, including developing content and presentations, undertake background research and lead specific sessions during the learning events;
  • Develop a tool no Root Cause Analysis on Land and Conflict, including preparing a short version of the tool for dissemination;
  • Support the preparations and implementation of a writing workshop on conflict sensitive land tool implementation;
  • Review and provide inputs into the research on land, conflict and large scale land based investments and provide inputs to the UN Secretary General Guidance Note on Land and Conflict;
  • Develop a set of training modules on land and conflict.

COMPETENCIES
Professionalism: Knowledge of concepts and approaches relevant to land governance, conflict prevention and resolution, early recovery, stakeholders’ coordination, and capacity development.
Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to communicate across different socio-cultural environments.
Teamwork: Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to operate effectively within multi-cultural environments, the UN wide system and INGOs and with all levels.
Creativity: Offers new and different options to solve problems or meet client needs.
Technology awareness: Ability and confidence is the use of modern technology to achieve results, this includes the use of communication technology for global communication and achievement of research results.
EDUCATION
Advanced University degree (Masters or similar) in a field deemed relevant to the subject areas covered by these Terms of Reference such as land, law, international development, international relations or similar social sciences field. A first-level university degree in combination with two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
WORK EXPERIENCE

  • Minimum 10 years of previous working experience with international development assistance agencies or international NGOs is required, in one or more of the following areas: global and country level land sector work, land policy, land administration, land tool documentation and/or development, development cooperation, UN system harmonization processes, conflict and post-conflict contexts, rural and urban contexts.
  • Experience with the UN system and knowledge of its architecture and coordination mechanisms.
  • Previous experience of supporting high level officials within the UN system and/or Member States.
  • Demonstrated skills in both conceptual and practical analysis of complex issues and in report writing and producing clear, concise and well written facts and arguments
  • Previous experience in undertaking research into conflict contexts and land issues in global and country contexts, in rural and urban areas and/or at the national level.
  • Previous experience in the documentation and/or development of land tools, preferably for conflict sensitive environments.

LANGUAGE SKILLS
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations. For the post advertised, excellent proficiency in spoken and written English is required.

OTHER SKILLS

  • Proficient in use of Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point
  • Ability to wok to schedule, but where requested to be flexible with changes in timelines

REMUNERATION:

The rate is determined by functions performed. The fees will be paid in 6 tranches as per agreement. Where applicable, travel costs of the consultant on work related missions (airplane ticket economy class), transfers, and daily allowance as per the UN rate is payable in addition to the daily fee. The ticket and DSA will be paid and arranged by UN-Habitat/GLTN and is not part of this contract

 

Applications should include:

  • Cover memo (maximum 1 page)
    • Summary CV (please use the United Nations standard personal history form available upon request or via http://www.unon.org/docs/P11.doc).
    • Educational Background (incl. dates)
    • Professional Experience (assignments, tasks, achievements, duration by years / months)
    • Other Experience and Expertise (e.g. Internships/ voluntary work, etc.)
    • Expertise and preferences regarding location of potential assignments
    • Expectations regarding remuneration (daily)
    • List of referees
  • Optional: A document developed by the applicant that is able to depict his / her ability to perform the tasks described in these Terms of Reference.      

    
All applications should be submitted to:
Global Land Tools Network Secretariat, UN-Habitat
P.O. Box 30030, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya
Email : Josephine.Ruria@unhabitat.org and CC Ombretta.tempra@unhabitat.org

 

Subject of the email: Application -  Senior Consultant –Land and Conflict

Deadline for applications: 13 March 2017

UN-HABITAT does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. If you have any questions concerning persons or  companies claiming to be recruiting on behalf of these offices and requesting the payment of a fee, please contact: recruitment@unon.org