Vacancies

CONSULTANT VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT

Issue Date: 12 December 2018

BACKGROUND

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the mandated UN Agency working towards a sustainable urbanization and human settlements. UN-Habitat works in over 90 countries supporting people in cities and human settlements for a better urban future. The agency has been focusing on urban development for over 40 years. Working with governments and local partners, its high impact projects combine world-class expertise and local knowledge to deliver timely and targeted solutions. The Regional and Metropolitan Planning Unit (RMPU) is one of the three units in the Urban Planning and Design Branch, along with the City Planning, Extension and Design Unit, and the Climate Change Planning Unit.

Urban Planning & Design Branch (UPDB) of UN-Habitat supports countries in developing urban planning methods and systems that address current urbanization challenges. It promotes urban planning and environmental management approaches to address climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban areas, as well as urban biodiversity, urban mobility and energy in the context of sustainable urban development.

UPDB builds on the heritage of the Urban Environment and Planning Branch, which was created in September 2008 when the Urban Environment Section was upgraded to the level of a Branch, with the mandate to serve as the agency’s focal point branch for urban environment and urban planning. The Branch has three Units which are closely related:

(1) Regional and Metropolitan Planning, (2) City Planning, Extension and Design, and (3) Climate Change Planning. To implement the UN-Habitat’s 2014-2019 work programme, all the three Units will continue to work in synergy, across other UN-Habitat branches and Units.

Regional and Metropolitan Planning Unit

The Regional and Metropolitan Planning Unit will play a key role in supporting the delivery of the six above strategic entry points through the following 4 (four) intervention areas:

• National Urban Policies from pre-feasibility, diagnostic, development, implementation to monitoring and tracking progress;
• Regional, Metropolitan and City-region planning to include in development of corridors, clusters and systems of cities and promotion of a green economy and urban-rural linkages;
• The International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning as well as it is rolling out, implementation and monitoring;
• Spatial Planning Frameworks at metropolitan, regional, national and supra-national levels.

Given the relative new focus provided by the programme to urban planning work of UN-Habitat, the RMPU is reinforcing its human resource base to provide technical support to this programme and its various stakeholders and beneficiaries.

This post is located in the Regional & Metropolitan Planning Unit of the Urban Planning and Design Branch.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The consultant will be responsible for development of tools, knowledge products and services, and offering technical support in implementation of the Regional and Metropolitan Planning (RMPU) work including supporting countries formulate their National Urban Policies (NUP); countries and regions develop Regional Plans and Frameworks; Development of County Spatial Plans, Implementation of the International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning (IG-UTP), Metropolitan development and Urban Rural Linkages. The consultant will also design and implement capacity development programme including training and learning packages, support resource mobilization and partnerships.

Under the overall guidance of the Leader of the Regional and Metropolitan Planning Unit (RMPU), the incumbent will perform the following specific tasks:

1. Collect information, analyze and present gathered information to enhance knowledge base on NUP, IG-UTP, Regional Planning, metropolitan development and urban-rural linkages to strengthen tools already developed by the unit.
2. Provide technical support and advisory services in NUP formulation, review and cross country leaning to selected countries including Nigeria, Zambia, and Malawi among other countries.
3. Develop result-oriented tool kits and packages to support planning and policy making related to NUP, IG-UTP, Regional Planning, metropolitan development and urban-rural linkages.
4. Prepare and support review of concept notes, project proposals and documents to explore funding and resource mobilization on NUP, IG-UTP, Regional Planning, metropolitan development and urban-rural linkages.
5. Develop learning materials and training packages on IG-UTP and urban and rural linkages and NUP thematic guidelines to support implementation.
6. Explore partnerships and offer technical support to county governments in Kenya in the formulation and review of county spatial plans, including designing and implementing capacity development initiatives at county, regional and national levels.
7. Draft reports, prepare background papers, technical notes, case studies and awareness raising material NUP, IG-UTP, Regional Planning, metropolitan development and urban-rural linkages; give inputs and undertake reviews to unit’s publications and knowledge products.
8. Liaise with editors and springer publishers to undertake authoring of a Smart and Green National Urban Policies: Supporting the Future of Urbanization

9. Undertake other relevant duties to advance the work of the Unit, Branch and the Agency.

OUTPUTS

The Consultant will be expected to deliver the following outputs

1. Tools and knowledge products on NUP, IG-UTP, Regional Planning, urban and rural linkages.
2. Review frameworks, tools and inputs for spatial plans and NUP in different countries.
3. Learning materials and training packages on IG-UTP and urban and rural linkages.
4. Training modules and reports.
5. NUP thematic guidelines.
6. Smart and Green National Urban Policies: Supporting the Future of Urbanization book.

COMPETENCIES

Communication

-Speaks and writes clearly and effectively.

-Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately.

-Asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication.

-Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience.

-Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Teamwork:

-Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals.

-Solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others.

-Places team agenda before personal agenda.

-Supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position.

-Shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.

Client Orientation:

-Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view.

-Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect.

-Identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions.

-Monitors on-going developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems.

-Keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects.

-Meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

EDUCATION

• Advanced university degree in urban management; urban, regional and metropolitan planning, geography or another related development field.
• A first-level university degree in combination with three additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• At least seven years of professional experience in social/economic sustainable urban development, regional and territorial planning, metropolitan planning or policy analysis and assessment.
• Experience in regional and metropolitan planning
• Extensive demonstrable experience in research and documentation urban and metropolitan issues is desirable

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Fluency in English is required

Knowledge of and ability to work in other official UN languages is an advantage

OTHER SKILLS

• Demonstrable ability to innovate and initiate activities from scratch;
• Ability to work under pressure in diverse environments with minimum supervision;
• Ability to represent and articulate the organization’s philosophy at various for a;
• Demonstrable effective written communications skills including the ability to prepare reports, proposals, policies and procedures;
• Very strong analytical and interpersonal skills.