Land Housing and Shelter Youth Volunteer

Contract

This is a UNV International Youth contract. This kind of contract is known as International UN Volunteer. It is normally internationally recruited only. More about UNV International Youth contracts.

This UNV assignment falls under the Land, Housing and Shelter Finance practice area of the United Nations Human Settlements (UN-Habitat) Programme. UN-Habitat is the UN agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

The UNV will a specific focus on supporting the Norad-funded land and property taxation in fragile states project, now entering its third and final year. The aim of this project is to evalu-ate, improve and deploy land-based finance tools and practices in fragile contexts. The Pro-ject builds upon UN-Habitat’s preceding and ongoing normative and operational work on land tenure, land-based finance and fragile states. With land-based finance, this project refers to any taxes, fees or charges that are under the authority of local governments. Two years into the project, several important lessons have already emerged fragile states such as in Afghan-istan and Somalia and the time has come for the Project to introduce and further test these lessons in other fragile countries, such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Pal-estine and possibly also Syria. The Project includes an intensive learning, knowledge building and capacity development component. It consists of interconnected streams of work, involv-ing both normative and operational elements

Under the direct supervision of the Land, Housing and Shelter Finance Programme Management Officer, or any authorized staff, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following: Key responsibilities: • Provide technical documentation and coordination support on the conceptualization, establishment and implementation of ongoing LHS land and property finance initiatives. • Support the development of periodic meetings as well as progress, mid-term and final narrative reports. • Contribute to the planning and implementation of international and local learning events and assisting in note taking and the production of reports. • Supporting the administration and strengthening of the UN-Habitat LHS Finance community of practice. • Support the planning, implementation and reporting of country activities and missions • Provide technical support and summary notes on project meetings, multi-stakeholder consultations and other related events. • Provide for and maintain a land and property taxation project shared drive which is up to date, accurate and comprehensive for all project knowledge management purposes. • Perform other related duties as may be assigned. Results/Expected Outputs • Technical documentation and coordination support is provided for the conceptualization, establishment and implementation of ongoing LHS land and property finance initiatives. • An effective planning and organizational support system is in place for the UN-Habitat LHS Finance community of practice, learning events organized by LHS as well as the broader distribution of normative products of LHS • A reporting system with action-oriented documentation of project meetings, multi-stakeholder consultations, meetings of LHS Finance community of Practice and other related events. • A land and property taxation shared drive which is up to date, accurate and comprehensive for all project knowledge management purposes.

Client Orientation Commitment and Motivation Communication Ethics and Values Knowledge Sharing Professionalism Respect for Diversity Technological Awareness Working in Teams

a developing country context • Previous research and publications on Municipal Finance, Public Finance or Public Administration is a plus • Previous working experience in international development agencies or the United Nations is desirable and will be an added advantage

The Republic of Kenya is an equatorial nation on the coast of East Africa, neighbouring Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Indian Ocean. Kenya has two levels of Government; National Government and 47 sub-national Governments called Counties. Counties are further divided into sub-counties. Kenya is a multi-party state with Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Kenya’s population of more than 40 million is growing at an annual rate of 2.2%. The country’s GNP per capita estimated at purchasing power parity (PPP) is $975, and the GNP is growing at an average rate of 0.1% annually. More than 26% of Kenya’s people live below the international poverty line of $1 per day. Kenya’s main food crops are “maize, wheat, pulses, roots and tubers.” (FAO). Nairobi is a modern metropolitan city where most basic goods and services, health facilities, public transport, telecommunication and banking services and educational facilities are readily available. The city is widely connected through its main airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the smaller Wilson Airport. Air transport is also available to many up-country destinations. The city is home to some 3,000 UN personnel mainly attributed to the fact that it serves as the headquarters for both the UN HABITAT and UNEP. The socio-economic and cultural background of the immediate society the UNV would be living and working in is diverse and prevailing security conditions at the place of assignment is modest. The topographic and climatic features of the assignment location is highland cool and warm tropical climate.