Job Purpose and Organizational Context

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 cities, with the aim of providing adequate housing for all.  It is the lead agency within the United Nations for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. UN-Habitat supports Member States and development partners to transform cities into safer, more resilient and healthier places with better opportunities working towards achieving inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and communities, with a focus on addressing urban challenges and improving the quality of life for all people.

UN-Habitat advocates for policies and practices that promote sustainable urbanization, including the integration of social, economic, and environmental dimensions. It also helps build the capacity of governments, local authorities, and communities to plan, manage, and govern urban areas effectively, including promoting participatory approaches and inclusive decision-making processes.

In Ethiopia, UN-Habitat works closely with the Ethiopian government and other stakeholders to support sustainable urban development in strategic and spatial development of regions and cities, including through resilience and climate change adaptation. In the context of displacement, UN-Habitat plays a crucial role in addressing the challenges faced by displaced populations and supporting their sustainable reintegration into communities. It supports planning processes that consider the needs of displaced populations and promote inclusive urban development while advocating for the protection of land and property rights by supporting legal frameworks and policies that safeguard the rights of displaced individuals and communities. As well as providing technical assistance in resolving land and property disputes, it seeks to provide up to date, holistic documentation, and analysis of the impact of crisis in cities, synthesizing information and insight from existing sources and priority sectors, supplemented by direct field research.

The incumbent under this call is expected to join a team of professionals for a multi-agency joint  project to pursue a nexus-based multi-dimensional and integrated approach to enable internally displaced communities in Somali and Oromia regions of Ethiopia to move towards recovery and resilience by employing durable solutions actions that enhance communities’ coping mechanisms against future shocks to anthropogenic disasters and natural hazards by rolling out a multi-pillar intervention that aims to take into consideration the diverse aspects of solutions-based programming among UN Habitat, FAO and IOM. The general objective of the project is to employ durable solutions that enhance IDPs’ and host communities’ capacities to move towards recovery and resilience with a particular focus on the Fafan and Shebelle zones of the Somali Region, and the East and West Hararghe zones of the Oromia Region.

Along this, UN Habitat’s responsibility focuses on strengthening and building capacity of institutions through area level spatial planning to ensure sustainable re-integration of displacement affected communities for improved access to HLP through legal and policy tools and planning instruments to respond to longer-term impacts of displacement affected communities (DACs).

APPLICANTS SHOULD INDICATE PREFERRED REGION OF ASSIGNMENT (SOMALI OR OROMIA)

Reporting relationship

• The Senior Urban planner and project Lead will directly supervise the incumbent.
• The incumbent is expected to provide weekly update reports and monthly narrative reports in format shared by the project manager. The reports must be shared with the programme support staff as necessary.
• The incumbent will be part of a team of experts working on the project. He/she is expected to work individually and, in a group, collaboratively.
• The incumbent is expected to work together with different government officers, representatives of local administration, local academic institutions, civil society, representatives of host and displacement affected communities.
• The incumbent is expected to frequently travel to project sites outside Dire Dawa as needed.

Scope of the work

The incumbent will work under the direct supervision of the Senior Urban Planner and Project Lead who is under the project manager.

He/she will be responsible for the following duties:

• Undertake Community Planning components, participate in site/neighborhood assessments, support participatory planning processes with the local government, host and displacement affected communities and different organizations to inform area-based multisectoral interventions.
• Coordinate with and provide technical assistance to the team to carry out preparation and reporting of trainings, events, exchanges for synchronized and coordinated outputs.
• Together with the senior urban planner and team leader, follow up daily work progress against the work plan of the project, assess results, identify problem areas, and take corrective steps to achieve program and project objectives.
• Support monitoring of project implementation and report against milestones to project team members.
• Undertake GIS mapping exercise of land use pattern, basic services, facilitate data collection for spatial planning and profiling of settlements.
• Facilitate participatory enumeration to contribute to reducing land related conflicts.
• Any other tasks requested by the Project and Programme Manager.

Duties and Expected deliverables

The incumbent will have to perform the following assignments independently and in collaboration with the project lead and other team members:

• Within their assigned regions or responsibility, the Junior Urban Planner will provide support in the daily management of all project activities ensuring that works are carried out in compliance to the agreed project deliverables and UN Habitat’s best practices for the full project life.
• The Junior Urban Planner will assist with technical support to the project team, local government and displacement affected communities in the areas of participatory planning exercise including settlement planning, mapping, spatial profiling with location of key functions for target project locations in Oromia and Somali regions.
• Provide details on affected and host communities such as land tenure and ownership, size and mix of communities, quality of housing etc.. to prioritize project activities at project locations to develop short- and long-term programmes for upgrading housing, improving security of tenure and proving support to the affected community in a way that considers the gender dimension and the peaceful co-existence of communities.
• The Junior Urban Planner will support in mapping stakeholders, assessment of displacement causes, analyze institutional capacity and gaps in responding to the needs of displacement affected and host communities to inform decision making.
• Follow up reports on community planning workshops with disaggregated data, results, and findings.
• Conduct meetings with local government and hosting community on various topics including tenure arrangements, land uses, settlement planning etc…
• Undertake settlement planning and spatial profiling exercise using UN habitat tools and GIS software
• Follow up periodic progress reports against milestones based on monitoring of project activities.
• Coordinate with consultants on research, data collection, participatory planning and capacity building trainings towards targeted results.

Competency

Professionalism: Ability to identify key strategic issues, opportunities and risks. Ability to generate and communicate broad and compelling organizational direction. Ability to communicate clearly links between the Organization’s strategy and the work unit’s goals. Demonstrated ability to provide innovative technical leadership by performing and/or overseeing the planning, development, and management of operation. Demonstrated ability to negotiate and apply good judgment Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. 

Planning & Organizing: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.

Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors ongoing developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.

Managing Performance: Delegates the appropriate responsibility, accountability and decision-making authority; makes sure that roles, responsibilities and reporting lines are clear to each staff member; accurately judges the amount of time and resources needed to accomplish a task and matches task to skills; monitors progress against milestones and deadlines; regularly discusses performance and provides feedback and coaching to staff; encourages risk-taking and supports creativity and initiative; actively supports the development and career aspirations of staff; appraises performance fairly.

Judgement/Decision-making: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; gathers relevant information before making a decision; considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization; proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; checks assumptions against facts; determines the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; makes tough decisions when necessary.

Qualifications/Experience/Skills

Education

• BA/BSC degree in urban planning, spatial planning or other relevant disciplines.

Work Experience

• Two (2) years of relevant experience in urban planning including community mapping, GIS and participatory monitoring.
• Training facilitation
• Proven experience and knowledge in urban planning fields, projects/ programme design and implementation with the UN or other international agencies is desirable.
• Experience in crafting questionnaires, undertaking interviews, report writing, making presentations and case study development.
• Experience in working with the United Nations is an advantage. Experience in the humanitarian sector, including field experience is an asset.
• Proven experience and skills in arcGIS
• Ability to work independently or with minimal supervision with a high degree of responsibility, in a flexible manner and often under pressure.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Commitment to gender sensitivity. Have conception on social inclusion and pro-poor development works.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Excellent writing skills, with analytical capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for preparation of quality reports as well as media stories.
• Capacity to coordinate and organize a team and to support project implementation.
• Ability to conduct interviews, surveys, and other data collection techniques.
• Ability to follow work plans and schedules.
• Consultative and empowering working style and willingness to learn from others.
• Willingness to travel as required.
• Computer skills in ArcGIS, Database Software, Microsoft applications

Language

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required. Good knowledge (written/spoken) of the working language of the regions is desirable. Ability to communicate technical knowledge to non-expert audience is preferred.

Assessment 

Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

NOTE: All applicants are strongly encouraged to apply on-line as soon as possible after the job opening has been posted. The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application.

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