Communications and Urban-Experience Specialist

Result of Service The overall objective of this project is to build more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient cities and territories, by strengthening the capacity of key public, private and civil society stakeholders to measure, make decisions, plan and develop actions for building resilience to ensure that public and private investments are risk-informed and that early interventions in crisis-prone cities are linked to longer-term development goals in line with the actions of the New Urban Agenda. This joint initiative aims at improving local government and stakeholder understanding of, and capacity for, developing and implementing resilience action plans.

Work Location Home-based

Expected duration SIX(6) Months

Duties and Responsibilities BACKGROUND

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the agency for human settlements mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. UN-Habitat helps the urban poor by transforming cities into safer and healthier places with better opportunities. It works with organizations at every level, including all spheres of government, civil society and the private sector.

As the main UN Agency responsible for ensuring the sustainable development of cities, towns, and other human settlements, UN-Habitat is strategically placed to coordinate the humanitarian and development efforts of multiple actors and policy makers at all levels in the common pursuit of urban resilience. UN-Habitat’s approach to strengthening urban resilience as a key determinant for ensuring the effectiveness of response interventions during times of crises, and subsequent sustainable development, is embodied in its City Resilience Global Programme (CRGP).

The CRGP goes beyond conventional approaches to ‘risk reduction’, delivering a forward-looking, multi- sectoral, multihazard, multi-stakeholder model for building resilience that recognizes the complexities and unique value of cities, and the inherent interdependencies of each part of an urban system.

Fast growing cities and urban areas of the world are engines of growth and wealth accumulation. This growth can have positive social, cultural and educational impacts. On the other hand, evidence demonstrates that fast economic growth, combined with rapid sprawling population expansion in urban areas, also increases disaster vulnerability and exposure. The level of urbanization is far higher in the developed world; however, the annual ‘urbanization rate ’ is much faster in the developing world. The primary urban agglomerations with the highest concentrations of people and economic activity mostly overlap with the areas of extreme or high risk related to disasters such as coastal areas, along rivers and in flood plains.

This joint initiative with UNDRR (UN Office on Disaster Risk Reduction), UN-Habitat and the European Commission aims at improving understanding of, and capacity to, address disaster risk at the local level in crisis-prone cities. UN-Habitat will focus on supporting local capacities from crisis-prone cities, and humanitarian partners, in measuring their resilience status and have an action plan in order to build resilience.

The action builds on the achievements of the Hyogo Framework for Action – Building the Resilience of Nations 2005-2015 and paves the way toward the implementation of the Sendai Framework for DRR (Disaster Risk Reduction) 2015-2030 at the local level and the New Urban Agenda adopted at Habitat III in Quito, Ecuador October 2016. The Action will also contribute to the European Commission’s Action Plan for Resilience in Crisis Prone Countries 2013-2020 and The EU Approach to Resilience: Learning from Food Security Crises. The project will work with local government institutions, to plan, coordinate, implement and support the various outlined activities. The primary and most direct beneficiaries will be local stakeholders, city authorities and civil society. Women, children and other at-risk groups, often disproportionately affected by crises situations, will be engaged and receive additional attention.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE URBAN RESILIENCE CONSULTANT

Under the direct supervision of the Head of the City Resilience Global Programme (CRGP), the consultant will provide substantive professional support to the Programme.

The objective of this consultancy is to evolve the CRGP brand strategy and define the stakeholder's experience (off and online) as well as optimize and create content for the Urban Resilience Hub and communicate the implementation work of the CRGP.

The main activities of this contract will contribute to the branding of CRGP by defining stakeholder-centric interactions and touchpoints, and to the optimization and engagement of the Urban Resilience Hub through communication content and may involve simplifying processes and empowering technical and advocacy teams to deliver a superior stakeholder experience off and online and will undertake the following tasks:

• Task 1: Content production o Writing, editing and conceptualizing communications products with technical colleagues, city partners and institutional partners. o Monitoring and analyzing communication efforts and impact. o Coordination with graphic designer and web developer to prepare communication materials.
• Task 2: Brand strategy and urban experience o Develop the strategies to generate awareness of the project and urgency for building resilience—enabling the mobilisation of different urban actors in all phases of the tool implementation in cities and territories and generating willingness to transform the recommended actions into policies. o Provide expertise to the design and development of the participatory process for the program of Terres de l'Ebre and Barcelona's cooperation cities. o Improve the experience by connecting all aspects of the City's and Territorial's experience with the programme based on current projects.
• Task 3: learning and capacity-building programs o Generate alliances with multiple urban actors and networks to offer specialized and quality training to enhance the knowledge of city officials, and decision-makers for building urban resilience—fostering peer-to-peer knowledge sharing. The methodologies and formats of the learning activities are varied and adapted to the public and themes.
• Task 4: Urban Resilience Hub 4.0 o Definition of the structure and content for the development of the profile pages of Terres de l'Ebre and Barcelona's cooperation cities on the Urban Resilience Hub website. o Monitor and analyze strategies for website optimization and social media mobilization. o Monitor and analyze audiences and messages of the Urban Resilience Hub. o Content creation for the Urban Resilience Hub 3.0 (including the structure and content for the development of the Social Resilience)
• Task 5: Provide expertise on implementing the CRGP Communications Strategy o Make recommendations to the Head of City Resilience Global Programme on the Programme's communications strategy. o Make recommendations to improve communication work within the Programme

The expected results are:

1. Increased commitments to build local and territorial-level resilience. 2. Local and Territorial Resilience and investments measured. 3. Key issues and challenges identified in linking early interventions in crisis-prone cities and territories to long-term 4. sustainable development inputs. 5. Capacity is built in cities, territories and regional and local governments to develop and implement integrated local climate and disaster resilience action plans. 6. Crisis-prone cities and territories have enhanced capacity to develop and implement plans to increase their resilience.

Qualifications/special skills Advanced university degree (Master's degree) or equivalent in journalism, media, political or social sciences, or similar fields is required. A first level university degree with two qualified years of experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree. Relevant technical training in web developing is also desirable however applicants with extensive experience in related fields will also be considered. A minimum of five(5) years of progressively responsible experience in public communication, journalism, international relations, branding, or related area is required. Two of the five years of experience at the international level involving political judgment and successful management of public information communications is highly required. Experience in developing and implementing social media campaigns and leading websites development is required. Experience in producing and disseminating information communications products and services including press releases is desirable. Experience of service design with knowledge of CX, UX and UI, in branding and identity strategy projects is desirable. Knowledge with partnerships, account management and capacity development themes will be a distinct asset, which is desirable. Experience with international organizations in a similar job group is an added advantage, which is desirable. Ability to work with minimal supervision and with good sense of initiative to keep the supervisor regularly informed of progress is required. Ability to work effectively under pressure is desirable. Ability to work co-operatively with other staff and share experience is desirable. Excellent communications, reporting and representation skills is desirable.

Languages - Fluency in spoken and written English is required.

• Fluency in spoken and written Spanish is required.

• Knowledge of other UN languages would be an additional asset.

  No Fee THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.