Result of Service

The service will help UN-Habitat to be in a better position to improve the security of tenure of the Syrian citizens especially the informal settlements by introducing pro-poor practices and innovative tools that proved efficient and effective in the most challenging contexts allowing thus for better inclusiveness and participation in areas of most concern of the Syrian people. The ultimate result of this service will be:  Develop and prepare tested module on database and document management, data collection, spatial data analysis and report generation for the customised STDM.  Customized version of the STDM tool for the Syrian urban context in selected informal neighbourhoods.  Prepare training materials and conduct STDM trainings in the selected office workspace of Aleppo city.

Work Location

Home-Based

Expected duration

8 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Background: The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations programme working towards a better urban future. Its mission is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all. Since 2014, UN-Habitat has been working closely with the Syrian local governments and communities to address the implications of the crisis. Support to the cadastral offices and municipalities in cities at the local level to provide suitable HLP services, and to secure property rights to the affected individuals and communities has become a key UN-Habitat objective. In 2017, UN-Habitat Syria Programme started supporting the efforts to rehabilitate the damaged cadastral offices and create digital archives of the cadastral contracts in affected cities where the land sheets were lost or destroyed. In this respect, an e-archiving and document management system was developed and used to secure the cadastral documentation in Aleppo based on the UN-Habitat’s Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM), a concept and system used by UN-Habitat globally to register lands and property in countries where no functional land registration system exists. And, a guidance note on the application of STDM in Syria was developed and published as one of the key fit-for-purpose land administration tools that could be used during and post of the conflict context. After the earthquake that hit the Country on the 26th of February 2023, UN-Habitat has been committed to responsive projects that aim to support the resilience of the population and the buildings affected by the earthquake, focusing on cities affected widely by the earthquake like Aleppo and Jableh, where many residents fled the city, significant part of its urban texture damaged and part of its land records was destroyed. Objectives Under the project titled “Integrated Post-Earthquake Early Recovery and Resilience Building in Aleppo and Jableh“ and within the general objective of improving the security of tenure of affected population by conflict and earthquake, this assignment aims to deploy a customized version of the STDM-based document management system that can be adopted in one of the informal settlement of Aleppo’s city, the customized STDM will play an important role in increasing the security of those who those who are risking to lose their HLP rights especially in the damaged informal neighborhoods as a result of the earthquake, where STDM will be used for collecting and georeferencing housing, land and property claims and supporting evidence, preventing further HLP violations, and supporting humanitarian and early recovery activities with information on land ownership and housing, including rehabilitation of housing and debris management, in addition to support the governmental mechanism to provide financial compensation to the people were living in the buildings affected by the earthquake. Reporting Line: The Developer will work under the overall supervision of the Head of Country Programme and the daily collaboration with the Urban Land Expert and related national team at UN-Habitat Syria Programme. Duties and Responsibilities: Under this assignment, the System Developer will perform the following tasks:  Develop a HLP evidence registration system incorporating the UN-Habitat’s Social Tenure Domain Model approach in close collaboration with UN-Habitat Syria HLP team and the city officials. The system should be responsive to the requirements mentioned in the “System Requirements” section below.  The gathered information is expected to be stored in a multi-user database supplied with a strong protection and access privilege structure.  Ensure quality through testing, prototyping, revising and finalizing the customized STDM version.  Prepare end-user manuals and guides in Arabic and English of the developed system.  Carry out one or more training sessions for the potential users of the system.  Provide technical support during the utilization of the system. System Requirements 1) The system is comprised of the following components: a. The desk part: should work as a multiuser server-client system. It is to be developed using PostgreSQL as an RDBMS and QGIS as a GIS environment b. The mobile part: intended to collect data in the field. It is expected to work on tablet devices or cell phones working on Android OS. The development of data collection tools is expected to rely on Microsoft Office tools. c. The interfacing part: intended to upload the filed data collection results to the desktop system. 2) The system is required to be able to receive and register HLP claims and relevant documentations of different formats: manuscripts, printed documentation, verbal statements, photos, drawings, videos, and other. 3) The system should be able to capture and register spatial data along with the alphabetic ones using GIS. 4) The system should be able to produce a variety of reports and statistics. 5) The system should allow the system administrator with a number of tools to manage users, fine-tune the system performance and protect and backup the database.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced university degree (Masters or Equivalent) in computer engineering, computer science, information systems, database development 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 5 years of demonstrated work experience in designing, developing and implementing multiuser database/geodatabase and GIS systems is required. Proven work experience with Postgres SQL database system, Quantum GIS (QGIS) and scripting languages such as Python and JavaScript is required. Previous work experience in developing land administration systems is required. Familiarity with the Social Tenure Domain Model system is desired.

Languages

Fluency in both oral and written English and Arabic is required.

Additional Information

Not available.

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.