Consultant for Urban Data for SDG Localization at UN-Habitat

Duties and Responsibilities

• The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the lead United Nations agency for cities and human settlements. The agency is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all and sustainable development. The main documents outlining the mandate of the organization are the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements, the Habitat Agenda, the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements, the Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millennium, and UN General Assembly Resolution A/56/206.
• UN-Habitat, being the focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system, has a role in delivering the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, adopted by Member States in 2015, specifically goal 11: make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.
• As our cities and towns grow at unprecedented rates, setting the social, political, cultural, and environmental trends of the world, sustainable urbanization is one of the most pressing challenges for the global community in the 21st century. In 1950, one-third of the world’s population lived in cities. Just 50 years later, this proportion has risen to one-half and will continue to grow to two-thirds, or six billion people, by 2050. Cities are now home to half of humankind. They are the hub for national production and consumption - economic processes that generate wealth and opportunity. But they also create disease, crime, pollution, and poverty. In many cities, especially in developing countries, slum dwellers number more than 50% of the population and have little or no access to shelter, water, and sanitation
• UN-Habitat’s Strategic Plan 2020 – 2023 reinforces UN-Habitat’s position as the global centre of excellence on sustainable urban development, offering solutions that help seize the opportunities presented by urbanisation, while bringing about transformational change for the benefit of millions of people, ensuring that no one and no place is left behind. The Strategic Plan lays out a recalibrated vision and mission, and a sharpened focus. UN-Habitat proposes to serve Member States, sub-national and local governments, and other key urban actors in the pursuit of four mutually reinforcing and integrated domains of change: (1) Reduced poverty and spatial inequality in urban and rural communities; (2) Enhanced shared prosperity of cities and regions; (3) Strengthened climate action and improved urban environment; and (4) Effective urban crisis prevention and response.
• The implementation of the Strategic Plan 2020 - 2023 is also supported by six “organizational performance enablers”: (1) monitoring and knowledge; (2) innovation; (3) advocacy, communication and outreach; (4) partnerships; (5) capacity building; and (6) systems and processes. UN-Habitat needs to put in place the adequate institutional, managerial and financial conditions. Moreover, “drivers of change” for achieving sustainable urbanization have been outlined: (1) policy and legislation; (2) urban planning and design; (3) governance; and (4) finance mechanisms.
• Since 2004, UN-Habitat has been implementing a series of projects and programmes ranging from Settlement and Integration of Refugees (2005 – 2009), Regional Capacity Strengthening Programme in Urban Management and Housing Support (2007 – 2009), Settlement and Integrated Local Development Programme (2008 – 2009), Peace Building and Inclusive Local Development Programme (2009 – 2012) to Strengthening National Capacities for Sustainable Housing in Selected Countries with Economies in Transition (2016 – 2017). In 2016, the engagement has been rejuvenated followed by a series of technical missions. Serbia has been a champion in the preparation of the International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning (IGUTP, 2018) resulting in the Sustainable Urban Development Strategy 2030 for the Republic of Serbia building on the New Urban Agenda and the IGUTP as guiding frameworks. Since then, UN-Habitat has been extending its technical support to the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) lead buy the Resident Coordinator Office (RCO). As a non-resident UN entity in the country, UN-Habitat has been supporting the Common Country Analysis (CCA) and United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDCF) 2021 – 2025 implementation through the employment of the United Nations System-Wide Strategy on Sustainable Urban Development. Missions conducted in 2018, 2019 and 2021, and the active participation in the UNCT in this regard have re-established a clear interest on both sides to establish a new, effective partnership.

Background to consultancy:

• In the first half of 2023, the RCO in Serbia and UN-Habitat initiated a project to enhance the data and indicator framework for monitoring urban development in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
• The goal is to support the Serbian Statistical Office by improving the availability of urban development-related indicators for the Voluntary National Review (VNR) and Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs).
• The initiative aims to boost accountability and performance of institutions involved in urban development, aligning with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the New Urban Agenda.
• To aid this process, a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Data Workshop was held in June 2023. It focused on the methodology for collecting and processing data related to urban indicators under SDGs 1, 9, 11, and 12. The Statistical Office of Serbia currently has 128 indicators in its National SDG Indicators Database, and a presentation during the workshop introduced the Urban Monitoring Framework (UMF), which contains 46 specific indicators for the urban development dimension.
• The workshop also conducted an analysis of 8 indicators that were not yet available in the national SDG database, validating data for 5 new indicators as a result.

Objectives

• The United Nations requires external expertise from an individual contractor to prepare key deliverables supporting the RCO, UN-Habitat, and the Serbian State Statistical Office in creating a publication that summarizes the outcomes of the urban development dimension of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
• The main goal is to strengthen Serbia's national data and indicator frameworks for monitoring and reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• The publication's purpose is to provide essential information to primary users, including the government, local self-government units, academia, media, international organizations, and the general public.
• It aims to inform them about the availability and accessibility of official urban development SDG statistical data in Serbia. Having high-quality urban development data is crucial, as it aligns with the New Urban Agenda and the proposed operationalization of the EU Urban Agenda. This data will play a pivotal role in project development and monitoring results.
• To ensure continuous support for the Statistical Office in terms of urban development indicators and addressing existing data gaps, UN-Habitat and RCO will seek further funding opportunities.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Outputs and Expected Deliverables

• The main objective of this consultancy is to provide an overview of research findings on the status of available urban development-related indicators. The expected outcome is a written publication, not exceeding 10 pages, which will serve as a reference during the design phase of a publication. The publication will present the key results of the research conducted on the urban development indicators.
• The National Consultant's role involves identifying and gathering data to prepare content for the publication titled "Progress in monitoring urban development-related indicators of sustainable development in the Republic of Serbia, 2023." This will be achieved through a comprehensive desk review of available data and documents resulting from the project "Strengthening national data and indicator frameworks for monitoring and reporting on the urban development dimension of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda towards the localization of Sustainable Development Goals in the Republic of Serbia". Additionally, the consultant will utilize data and information available in the State Statistical Office to support this task.
• The consultant will directly report to the Inter-Regional Advisor based at the Global Solutions, Programme Development Branch.
• In close collaboration with the UN RCO and technically supported by the UN-Habitat Data and Analytics Unit at the Knowledge and Innovation Branch I External Relations, Strategy, Knowledge & Innovation Division (ERSKI), the consultant will be under the direct supervision of the Inter-Regional Advisor for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

(S)he will complete the following outputs:

• Report on the analysis of the Urban Monitoring Framework (UMF) and availability of data for missing SDG indicators in the field of urban development in the Republic of Serbia;
• Report on the review the findings of the SDG Data Workshop held in June 2023, including reliability review of urban development-related indicators analyzed in the SDG Data Workshop held in June 2023 but not yet made available in the national database;
• Report on the capacity assessment of relevant Serbian institutions for reporting on the new set of available urban development- related indicators.
• Final Report outlining future activities towards increasing the number of available urban development-related indicators and limitations that need to be addressed;
• Assist RCO and UN-Habitat in content and layout for publication in Serbian and English language.

Qualifications/special skills

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in statistics, geomatics, spatial planning, architecture, civil engineering, landscape architecture, or other related fields and urban development-related disciplines, is required.
• Master’s Degree in these or similar fields will be considered as an asset.
• A minimum of five years (5) years of progressively responsible experience in conducting statistical analysis preferably in the context of the Serbia statistical system. Contribution to, or co-authorship of, national publications, reports and/or knowledge products on statistics and/or monitoring of inter/national urban development indicators will be considered as an advantage

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in English, both oral and written, is required. Knowledge of another official UN language is an added advantage, in addition to Serbian language fluency.