Landscape architect with a social and environmental approach

Overview

Design and develop inclusive public spaces in Tunis

You have:

• Advanced university degree in public space, Right to the City, health, urban planning or related field.
• A first-level university degree with two additional years of qualifying work experience may be accepted.
• A minimum of 2 years of documented experience in development and public space projects is required.
• Experience in social awareness and workshop facilitation in the Tunisian context is highly recommended.
• Fluency in both oral and written Arabic and French is required.
• Working knowledge of English is an asset.

Result of Service Cities across the Arab region still face major challenges in achieving sustainable urban development, including socio-economic and political crisis, climate-change challenges, civil unrest, and conflicts across the region.

The purpose of this consultation is to: in response to the issues and challenges of SDG 11 and 5, to implement a process for designing and building public spaces with and for the most vulnerable in Hay Hlel (Tunis), marginalized neighborhood.

Work Location Tunis, on field and home-based

Expected duration 10 months

Duties and Responsibilities Organizational Setting UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. It is the focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system.

Background Urban areas were the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with an estimated 90 percent of all reported infections. The Arab region was additionally hit hard by the socio-economic consequences of the outbreak. The impact of COVID-19 further exacerbated existing vulnerabilities in the region including gender, urban and economic inequalities.

The United Nations Secretary-General policy brief on the impact of COVID-19 on the Arab Region, produced in 2020, stated that the consequences of the pandemic are likely to be long-lasting. The report expected the region’s economy to contract by 5.7 percent, and the economies of some conflict countries were projected to shrink by as much as 13 percent, amounting to an overall loss of US$ 152 billion. These economic setbacks have a direct impact on the region’s path towards achieving sustainable urbanization and advancing the issues of urban health. Especially when taking into consideration the pressing urban health and climate induced issues the region was facing prior to the pandemic.

Therefore, the COVID-19 shock calls for a stronger focus and increased investments in urban health and climate change to increase the resilience of cities. Furthermore, the response to the COVID- 19 crisis can also be used to address some of the long-standing structural weaknesses in the region, notably to build back better in line with the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development through stronger support to local authorities.

WHO’s Healthy Cities Programme is a well-established initiative which has been running for the last 30 years. After recent developments, where our urban world was faced with the danger of pandemics and the effect of natural disasters on urban communities, it has become more relevant than ever as an important mechanism to address the public health challenges of the 21st century. These recent developments provide a timely opportunity to integrate, expand and compliment the green urban indicators to the healthy cities initiative and formulate green based indicators that help create implementable initiatives to mitigate the climate change impacts that are harmful to public health in addition to creating enabling environments for promoting health and wellbeing.

WHO and UN-Habitat have a global MoU emphasizing their commitment to promote health and wellbeing in urban settings. At the regional level, WHO EMRO and UN-Habitat ROAS have agreed to expand and scale-up the Healthy Cities Programme by developing a wider set of green urban indicators aligned to WHO and UN-Habitat frameworks to include within the Healthy Cities Programme related indicators and domains to be used for co-awarding to cities in the region who fulfill the criteria.

There are many challenges to achieving SDG 11. Cities need strong strategies and implementation plans and support to achieve the goals. Innovative solutions are needed to help create people-centered cities where citizens are involved in the planning processes of public and green spaces, especially as these are threatened by pollution and urban sprawl. Public and green spaces offer opportunities to improve the physical and psychological health and quality of life of all people living in cities and the most vulnerable. That is why target 11.7, which addresses public and green spaces, is so important to preserve, protect and/or enhance and receive strong support from local and national governments. Target 11.7: By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible green and public spaces, especially for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities.

In this regard, the UN-Habitat Regional Office for the Arab States, through the UN-Habitat Tunisia Office, aims to support the Tunisian government in the development of strategies and processes for the realization of healthy, sustainable and inclusive public spaces, accessible to the most marginalized.

Reporting Line The consultant will be working under the direct supervision of the of the project manager of UN-Habitat Tunisia office and the head of the office and the Knowledge Management and Reporting Officer, ROAS.

Duties and Responsibilities 1. Produce a series of podcasts on the right to the city in the Hay Hlel informal settlement; 2. Develop a strategy to carry out all stages of the production process (from identifying speakers, topics, length of podcast, delivery format...) in order to achieve the final objectives; 3. Work towards the timely delivery of all project outputs in accordance with the agreed detailed work plan;

Qualifications/special skills Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in public space and Right to the city health, urban planning, urban development and communication or related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

A minimum of 2 years of documented experience in development and public space projects is required.

Experience in social awareness and workshop facilitation in the Tunisian context is highly recommended

Languages Fluency in both oral and written Arabic, Tunisian and French s required. Working knowledge of English is an 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.

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 3 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: careers.un.org