Housing and Migration Expert at United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

Result of Service

To work on the implementation of the project portfolio of the Land Housing and Shelter Section (LHS) and the project “Fostering local communities of solidarity for migrants and refugees from Venezuela” in coordination with the UN-Habitat Andean Hub in Colombia

Outputs

Output 1: Formulate LHS conceptual documents on migration and:

housing and tenure rights.
tools and instruments to support housing diversity.
information management systems.
metropolitan governance in relationship to housing models.

Output 2: Draft LHS and finetuning the existing methodologies for migration related projects:

formulation of local government’s stakeholder groups.
definition of consensus-based city priorities.
fine tuning the LHS section methodologies on City Migration Profiles.

Output 3: Draft the following documents required to support the creation of pilot projects supporting migrant inclusion in housing strategies and overall urban development:

Formulation of a concept note for pilot projects
Formulation of terms of reference for pilot projects
Conduct application, implementation, and monitoring processes for pilot projects

Output 4: Conduct technical revisions -as required- to the products submitted to the LHS by the Andean Countries Hub on the theme of housing and migration.conceptual documents on migration and:

housing and tenure rights.
tools and instruments to support housing diversity.
information management systems.
metropolitan governance in relationship to housing models.
Work Location

Home Based

Expected duration

8 Months (October 2020- May 2021
Duties and Responsibilities

ORGANIZATIONAL SETTING

UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate and affordable housing for all. It works with organisations at every level, including all spheres of government, civil society and the private sector, to help build, manage, plan and finance sustainable urban development.

UN-Habitat, through the Land Housing and Shelter section, supports New Urban Agenda partners and governments at all levels in formulating and implementing progressive housing sector reforms, policies, programmes and legislation which contribute to the creation of inclusive and sustainable cities, and comply with international law relating to the right to adequate housing. It provides expertise to support sound analysis of the housing sector and, in particular, the review of key legislation and elements affecting affordable housing provisions. UN-Habitat assists governments to formulate and implement policies and strategies designed to maximise the impact of housing in national socio-economic development and employment generation, as well as in urban development. It helps with in-depth local diagnosis of the state of the housing sector and provides technical support to the formulation of national housing policies and subsequent implementation strategies.

BACKGROUND TO THE CONSULTANCY

Venezuela experiences a significantly deteriorating socio-economic situation. More than 3 million Venezuelans now live out of the country, with the numbers growing strongly over recent months. While initially a majority had moved to the United States and Spain, this changed significantly with the growing number of persons leaving in 2017. At present (October 2018), more than 2.6 million have moved to Latin American neighbouring countries (first and foremost Colombia with 1,174,000 migrants, but increasingly also Peru with 506,156, and Ecuador 221,000. In Colombia, this also includes 300,000 Colombian returnees who had fled violence in Colombia, as well as numerous families of mixed Venezuelan and Colombian nationality. The legal status of Venezuelans varies across and within the countries in the region, which can determine their rights to work and to access basic services. As a consequence, migration is placing significant pressures on institutions, service provision systems.
Given the described situation, UN-Habitat, IOM and UNHCR as United Nations Agencies have agreed on formulating and proposing an inter-agency project to address the described problematic: Fostering Communities of Solidarity. The overall objective of the project is to reduce vulnerabilities of migrants and refugees and address the impact on host communities in order to design stable and durable solutions with medium and long-term vision.
In particular, the consultant will provide direct support to the implementation of the Fostering Communities of Solidarity Project and the links between this project and the overall work from the Land Housing and Shelter section on the field of migration.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the leadership of the Housing Specialist, Land Housing and Shelter Section, Urban Practices Branch, the consultant is expected to conduct the following tasks:

• Work with UN-Habitat’s LHS advocacy, outreach, and knowledge management, as well as internal communication on housing diversity and culture and its links to migration governance.
• Increase migrant’s housing rights-related knowledge by leveraging on UN-Habitat’s Housing team as well as connecting with the on-going Mediterranean City to City Migration Project’s network’s technical expertise.
• Revise and contribute technically on the products stemming from the Fostering Communities of Solidarity project, by drawing on lessons learnt from UN-Habitat’s projects on migration, formulating new conceptual documents and methodologies on themes related to housing and migration.
• Carry out research and drafting of thematic papers, reports, and any document related to vulnerable populations’ access to adequate housing, the prevention of homelessness and unlawful forced evictions.
• Proofread and edit all outputs and documentation as required, in English and in Spanish.

Cross-cutting issues

The expert will be prompted to look at a number of cross-cutting themes in the template/guidelines provided to complete the aforementioned products, these include human rights, youth, gender, climate change, etc.
Most importantly, the expert should pay attention to studying how far the human rights of migrants are addressed and guaranteed (in particular, the right to adequate housing). This will include an analysis of the adoption of international human rights standards and principles (equality, non-discrimination, participation, inclusion etc.) at the national and local levels, particularly as they relate to migrant women, migrant youths and undocumented migrants.

Remuneration

The consultant will be paid per output delivery. Remuneration to be discussed

Qualifications/special skills

• Skills: Excellent skills in editing analytical reports and methodologies. Ability to proofread and edit long texts to ensure that complex ideas are articulated in a clear and accurate manner.
• Excellent proofreading and editing skills in English and Spanish to correct spelling and grammatical errors and ensure that there is consistency in the language style.
• Ability to ensure that sources are correctly and consistently referenced in-text and in the bibliography.
• Planning and management skills: ability to coordinate own work plan in order to meet deadlines set by the project team.
• Knowledge of research and policy issues in the field of migration, housing rights, culture and diversity, including the prevention of homelessness, unlawful forced evictions, and human rights abuses.
• Academic Qualifications: Advanced university degree (masters or similar) in journalism, communications, social sciences or related fields (including political science, public policy, international development, migration studies, or similar) is a requirement
• Experience: Minimum 2 years of relevant professional experience, including writing published articles, reports and/or academic texts is a requirement; Experience in writing analytical texts relating to housing rights, urban governance, migration governance, or migration issues would be an advantage.
• Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations. For this position, proficiency in spoken and written English and Spanish are required