Senior Sahel Regional Specialist

Programme & Policy

Overview

Lead urban resilience initiatives for the Central Sahel region

You have:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Urban Planning, Geography, Development Studies, International Relations, or relevant discipline with a focus on human settlements is required.
• Minimum of 10 years of working experience and technical specialization in the field of urban planning at the international level is required.
• Fluency in oral and written in French and English is required.

Result of Service Urban Resilience for Central Africa

Work Location Home-based

Expected duration One year - part time.

Duties and Responsibilities Background: The UN-Habitat’s vision of “a better quality of life for all in an urbanizing world” is bold and ambitious. UN-Habitat works with partners to build inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and communities. UN-Habitat promotes urbanization as a positive transformative force for people and communities, reducing inequality, discrimination and poverty.

The current portfolio of UN-Habitat is expanding in the West Africa and more specifically in the Sahel. For almost a decade, the Sahel region has been suffering from different conflicts which originated from indigenous populations claiming independence (Mali, spread into Burkina Faso and Niger) or caused by Boko Haram (North-East Nigeria, Northern Cameroon, Western Chad). This crisis is complex: Islamic groups carry out terror attacks in the region that exacerbate existing tensions between ethnic groups competing over access to natural resources – themselves scarcening due to the impacts of climate change – or over precious metals and minerals. As a result, approximately 14 million internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees or returnees have been displaced, with no possibility to return, through the rather porous boundaries of the Sahel. These massive movements of population have profound impacts on land tenure, property and on recipient urban settlements which have sometimes doubled or tripled in size in a few months. Local authorities are ill-prepared for such a rapid increase in population, with great challenges emerging in terms of basic services delivery, housing, fragile livelihoods among others, increasing not only the vulnerability of the population, but also conflict between host and displaced populations and violence within households.

As most displaced seek refuge in urban areas, UN-Habitat’s vast experience in designing strategies and carrying out concrete actions in urban areas of conflicts/post-conflict countries is very relevant. UN-Habitat aims at strengthening the Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus in the region and to mobilize its spatial planning tools and multi-scaled territorial approach to understand the system of cities of the Sahel in order to help make the fast-growing Sahelian urbanization a more sustainable, inclusive, safe and resilient one.

Support is needed within UN-Habitat’s Regional Office for Africa (ROAf) for undertaking the implementation of its activities in the Central Sahel (Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal) including the development of a Regional Assessment on the System of Cities of the Sahel.

Under the overall supervision of the Senior Human Settlements Officer (SHSO) in the Regional Office for Africa and Task Manager for West Africa, in close collaboration with the Technical leading Team (TLT) of the project, and supported by the Urban Planner for the Sahel, the Senior Sahel Regional Specialist will provide expertise and substantive contribution to the Urban Resilience for the Central Sahel project, within the Regional Office for Africa. Specifically, he/she will:

3. Duties and Responsibilities

- Regional Assessment’s production, research and data analysis; undertaking research and evidence-gathering; and undertaking consultations with key experts.

- Prepare the annotated outline of the Regional Assessment on the Systems of Cities of the Sahel.

- Draft the detailed terms of reference of the Regional Assessment including elaborating on the methodology.

- Provide original written content, undertake ongoing evidence-gathering to fill critical information and research gaps, ensure overall narrative flow, and prepare the interim drafts of the Regional Assessment.

- Consult with TLT, submit the Regional Assessment for external and peer review and revise interim drafts based on comments and inputs (exp. 3-4 revisions).

- Prepare the presentation of the Regional Assessment for the UN-Habitat/ UNDP Publications Committees.

- Prepare written summary of main findings/ recommendations based on the final account of the report and draft forewords.

- Editing and graphic design of the layout for the Regional Assessment and final product quality assurances.

- Validate the findings and recommendations of the final version of the Regional Assessment with key informants, UN-Habitat, UNDP, relevant Member States and experts.

Qualifications/special skills Academic Qualifications: - Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Urban Planning, Geography, Development Studies, International Relations and/ or other relevant discipline with a focus on human settlements is required. Experience: - Minimum of 10 years of working experience and technical specialization in the field of urban planning at the international level is required. Language: - Fluency in oral and written in French and English is required.

Additional Information Not applicable

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.

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Added 4 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: careers.un.org