CONSULTANT VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT Issued on: 30 April 2014
ORGANIZATIONAL LOCATION:
UN-HABITAT
DUTY STATION:
Home Based
FUNCTIONAL TITLE:
Cities and Climate Change Consultant
DURATION:
70 days over 7 ½ months
CLOSING DATE:
14 May 2014
BACKGROUND The Climate Change Planning Unit within the Urban Planning and Design Branch of UN-Habitat is supporting several related activities, as follows:
The Cities and Climate Change Initiative (CCCI), launched in August 2008, supports small- and medium-sized cities in developing countries to begin to become more resilient to climate change and embrace low-carbon growth trajectories. CCCI has received additional funding support from the Government of Norway to implement activities during 2014. The new proposal from the Norwegian Government is structured as a one year agreement which upon satisfactory implementation is subject to be renewed for an additional three years. The agreement places emphasis on partnerships, including a specific reference to Norwegian partners, and on the balancing between normative work and technical assistance. The proposal has five activities that have been identified as priorities:
Linking with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat to encourage dialogue with local governments;
Developing the cities work stream as part of the Climate Summit (23 September 2014);
Engaging in the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) to reduce short-lived climate pollutants;
Preparing a source book for stakeholders to develop urban nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs); and
Advising countries on climate issues in national urban policies (NUPs).
The ‘Promoting Low Emission Urban Development Strategies (Urban-LEDS) in Emerging Economy Countries’ project is a European Commission (EC) funded initiative that seeks to enhance the transition to low emission carbon development in cities in the emerging economy countries of Brazil, India, Indonesia and South Africa. This project is jointly implemented by UN-Habitat and ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability. It began in March 2012 and is scheduled to complete in August 2015. A Mid-term Evaluation is scheduled during 2014. UN-Habitat is increasingly playing a substantive role in urban spatial planning issues that have emerged in several of the participating cities.
As suggested above, UN-Habitat is supporting the UN Secretary-General (SG) in his plans to convene a Climate Summit on 23 September 2014 in New York City. The Summit will bring together Heads of State, as well as global leaders from civil society and other sectors. This event will offer a chance for leaders to mobilize political will for an ambitious global legal agreement by 2015 to rein in global warming, as well as to catalyze climate action on the ground. ‘Cities’ has been identified as one of a handful of high-potential thematic areas that will be addressed at this Summit, and the SG’s office has tapped UN-Habitat to help lead the cities work stream leading up to 23 September. The UN-Habitat Executive Director Dr. Joan Clos, along with the Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team, and Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change Michael Bloomberg, are working with partners to bring major announcements to the table on 23 September.
The Climate Summit will occur in addition to the ongoing negotiation processes of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which include mid-year talks in Bonn, Germany, as well as an annual Conference of Parties (COP) which in 2014 will occur in Lima, Peru (COP-20). The mid-year talks will include a ‘cities and sub nationals’ day, and the UNFCCC has asked UN-Habitat to play a leading role in that day. It is also highly likely that COP-20 in Lima will feature a cities day as well, in which UN-Habitat likewise should play a role.
The demands of supporting the Climate Summit process and playing an increased role in UNFCCC events, placed on top of the ongoing requirements of managing two projects with one Unit staff member currently on leave, has necessitated the hiring of a Consultant to support various activities during the remainder of 2014.
RESPONSIBILITIES Under the supervision of and in close coordination with the Unit Leader of the Climate Change Planning Unit of the Urban Planning and Design Branch, the consultant will:
CCCI
Assist as needed with finalizing the work planning and budgeting process for 2014. Noting that the implementers of several activities have committed to starting activities before mid-year, help to monitor implementation of those and other activities to ensure completion within the calendar year.
Primarily via periodic meetings with the CCCI monitoring focal point, ensure that we are capturing 'results' and obtaining supporting documentation on an ongoing basis in the CCCI monitoring database, so that this is not a last-minute end-of-year activity.
(If confirmed) Organize two back-to-back day-long meetings in Norway, most likely during the fourth quarter. Day 1 would be an expert group meeting on ‘minimum standards for city-level climate change plans’, and would involve selected members of the CCCI Advisory Committee and other partners and local government representatives. This task may include coordinating with the World Bank on, and providing input to, a background paper. Day 2 would permit an exploratory and learning interchange between UN-Habitat and CCCI on the one hand, and representatives of the Government of Norway and proponents of an ‘arctic settlements and climate change’ initiative on the other.
(To confirm) Draft an article to be released under Dr. Clos’s authorship, on ‘Planned city extensions to address a changing climate’ or related topic.
Urban LEDS
Jointly supervise implementation of the Urban LEDS mid-term evaluation, including (if applicable) coordination between the lead evaluator and any national evaluators, review of draft submittals and so on.
Coordinate and supervise inputs in the area of urban spatial planning provided by UN-Habitat to city-level activities. This may include preparing TORs, ensuring the prompt fielding of short-term consultants provided by the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP), liaising with ISOCARP and reviewing the quality of consultants' deliverables. It may also include mobilizing and coordinating with short-term consultants provided via other partners, including potentially Arcadis (via an agreement with UN-Habitat to provide pro bono assistance), UNIDO, Nature Conservancy, and others.
Task Area 3: Preparations for Climate Summit
Assist with final preparations for the Abu Dhabi Ascent meeting, scheduled for 4-5 May.
Assist with preparations for the Climate Summit itself, scheduled for 23 September in New York City, with a focus on the development of initiatives in the ‘city’ work steam: a ‘Compact of Mayors’ and several types of city-level ‘transformative projects’.
Assist with organizing one or more side events at the UNFCCC mid-term Bonn climate talks, and/or the year-end 20th Conference of Parties (COP-20) to be held in Lima, Peru.
COMPETENCIES Professionalism: Knowledge of the climate change field with specific regards to urban planning, institutional frameworks, policy support and development, financing mechanisms and related fields.. Communication: Excellent written, verbal and visual communication skills and ability to articulate ideas in a clear and accurate manner including the ability to prepare and edit a variety of documents, reports and briefs. Planning and organizing: Ability to work under pressure, establish priorities and plan, coordinate own work plan, use time efficiently and apply judgment in the context of competing deadlines. Teamwork: Work collaboratively with the core Cities and Climate Change Initiative team and technical support team to achieve consultancy objective while soliciting input by genuinely valuing their ideas and expertise; learning from and placing team agenda before personal agenda.
EDUCATION Advanced university degree in a field deemed relevant to the subject areas covered by the Terms of Reference such as Environmental Planning and Management, Urban Planning, Strategic Planning or related disciplines.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Experience in a organizational position focusing on urban management, urban environmental planning or similar tasks
Experience with programmes implemented or funded by international donors and/or UN agencies is essential.
Experience in developing countries working in the area of local government, urban environmental management or similar. A good grasp of the climate negotiation process, financing frameworks, policy instruments as well as proof of experience of working on this topic in developing nations and with local authorities and civil society is highly preferred
The consultant must have a minimum of five years’ work experience and experience with international agencies is an added advantage.
LANGUAGE SKILLS English and French are the working languages of the United Nations. For the post advertised, excellent proficiency in spoken and written English is required.
OTHER SKILLS
Proficient in use of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Ability to be flexible with changes in timelines.
Strong facilitation and communication skills (both oral and written)
Good analytical and writing skills
REMUNERATION Payments will be based on deliverables over the consultancy period. There are set remuneration rates for consultancies. The rate is determined by functions performed and experience of the consultant. The fees will be paid as per agreement.
Applications should include:
Cover memo (maximum 1 page)
Summary CV (maximum 2 pages), indicating the following information:
Educational Background (incl. dates)
Professional Experience (assignments, tasks, achievements, duration by years/ months)
Other Experience and Expertise (e.g. Internships/ voluntary work, etc.)
Expertise and preferences regarding location of potential assignments
Expectations regarding remuneration
All applications should be submitted to:
Please be advised that applicants for consultancies must be part of the Inspira e-Roster in order for their application to be considered. You can reach the e-Roster through the following address: inspira.un.org
Ms. Jayne Kimani, Programme Assistant, Climate Change Planning Unit, Urban Planning and Design Branch
UN-HABITAT
P.O. Box 30030, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya
Email: jayne.kimani@unhabitat.org
Fax: + 254 20 7625404
Deadline for applications: 14 May 2014
UN-HABITAT does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. If you have any questions concerning persons or companies claiming to be recruiting on behalf of these offices and requesting the payment of a fee, please contact: recruitment@unon.org
View the original article here
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
No comments:
Post a Comment