English-Spanish Translator Consultant

Result of Service The overall objective of this project is to build more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient cities, 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 One(1) Month

Duties and Responsibilities BACKGROUND

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the agency for human settlements mandated by the United Nations 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 United Nations 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 City Resilience Global Programme 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.

The project works 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.

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 (The United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development) in Quito, Ecuador October 2016.

The City Resilience Global Programme is based in Barcelona, Spain, with the support of the Barcelona City Council on implementing its activity to make cities more resilient. The cooperation between both institutions is entering in a new phase for the 2020-2024 period. Within this phase the CRGP will be key to delivering United Nations operational urban resilience projects, contributing to the achievement of Global Agendas (Agenda 2030 and SDGs, Sendai Framework, Paris Agreement and NUA), sharing innovative practices from Barcelona globally and linking Barcelona/Spain with global resilience initiatives such as the Making Cities Resilient 2030 and World Urban Forum. The City Resilience Global Programme will replicate the CRPP methodology –pilot experience developed in collaboration with the City of Barcelona and calibrated in four cities (Asuncion, Dakar, Maputo and Port Vila) in other cities of the world, building on the new urban resilience standard currently being developed.

Under the direct supervision of Head of the UN-Habitat's City Resilience Global Programme (GRGP), and aligned with the CRGP’s advocacy and technical team, the consultant will provide substantive professional support to the Programme and will undertake the following tasks:

Duties and Responsibilities:

TASK 1: Translation from English into Spanish of the Barcelona Resilience Profile publication (15,000 words), ensuring quality check and proofreading of translation.

TASK 2: Improvement proposals of the document’ structure for future Resilience Profile publications.

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

Qualifications/special skills Qualifications: Advanced university degree (Master's degree) or equivalent in translation, journalism, urban planning, political or social sciences, or similar fields deemed relevant to the subject areas covered by the CRGP Terms of Reference is required, and a first-level university degree in combination with 2 years' experience will be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience: - A minimum of 1 year of experience in areas related to urban resilience and the United Nations system is required. - Experience in writing and editing technical documents in the urban resilience field is required.

Skills: - Excellent command of Spanish language is desirable. - Familiarity with urban resilience vocabulary and urban resilience concepts is desirable. - Excellent communications skills is desirable. - Ability to work co-operatively with other staff and share experience is desirable. - Able to work under pressure in diverse environments with minimum supervision is desirable. - Able to meet deadlines for reporting and all project work is desirable. - An eye for detail along with critical thinking is desirable.

Languages- Fluency in verbal and written Spanish is required.

- Fluency in verbal and written English is required.

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.