Subscribe to Job Alert
Join our happy subscribers
Never pay for any CBT, test or assessment as part of any recruitment process. When in doubt, contact us
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the UN agency for human settlements. It 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. The Urban Economy Branch of UN-Habitat has the mandate to promote local capabilities of local go...
Result of Service
The overall objective of the SLSISUP is to contribute to the achievement of SDG11, Target 1 in Saint Lucia ‘’by 2030, ensure access for all adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums” and the concept of “Leaving no one behind”. Principles echoed by the current administration i.e. “Putting People First”.
Work Location
Home based
Expected duration
5 Months
Duties and Responsibilities
Goal and Objective of PSUP – Phase III
The overall goal of the programme is directly linked to "ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums" (SDG Target 11.1). The PSUP Phase III is structured in two specific objectives, which are:
The PSUP facilitated the development of the Caribbean Strategy for Informal Settlements Up-grading (CSISU) as a response to a combination of factors, including historic requests for spe-cific attention to the Caribbean sub-region, relevant policy and technical advances (including the drafting of a Caribbean Urban Agenda), recognition by the General Assembly of Ministers and High-Level Authorities of Housing and Urban Development of Latin America and the Car-ibbean (MINURVI), ECLAC and UN-Habitat, throughout the preparatory process and negotia-tions during Habitat III, of the need for Caribbean-specific support for urban development planning from UN agencies.
The CSISU focuses on informality in the region as a policy priority that requires dedicated re-sources and collective know-how to respond to this major issue. It produced an opportunity to galvanize broad-based partnership and innovation and ultimately promote inclusive urban de-velopment and build the climate resilience of the most vulnerable, making great strides towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals and New Urban Agenda in the region.
PSUP is globally promoting six key principles (see below) to ensure coherent and integrated, inclusive and participatory, people-centred, right based and gender-sensitive, and community-managed and driven approaches and solutions are mainstreamed in all programme development and delivery. PSUP's partners (government and non-government actors) embrace and operate on these common principles.
Saint Lucia Context
Based on the 2010 Census, St. Lucia’s population is 166,5262. This represents moderate popu-lation growth of 5% since 2001. The Census also revealed that the number of households in-creased by 24% during the same period, resulting in an average annual rate of household for-mation of 1,261 per year, and indicating that there has been an increased demand for housing in the country. This increase has been concentrated mainly in the urban districts of Castries and Gros Islet due to the high rural to urban migration rate that has been an important demographic characteristic of the country for the last few decades. However, the 2010 Census indicated that while these districts have maintained their position as the most populous parts of the country, there has also been significant population movement in the last ten years to other areas; such as rural areas of Castries and some of the peri-urban districts around Canaries, Soufriere and Vieux Fort. This phenomenon has contributed to the growth of Informal settlements on the pe-riphery of Castries and other towns.
These settlements vary in size with their population ranging from about 300 to about 1,600 de-pending on their proximity to the urban districts. Settlements in or around Castries are large and densely populated while smaller ones are located in the rural areas. Similarly, the number of households, which range from about 100 to 600, vary in relation to their location. However, the households are not very large; average household size for those in the urban areas is about the same as the national average of 2.8 persons, while household size in the rural settlements is about 3. In most cases, women make up the majority of the population. Single parent families are also in the majority, being as high as 70% in some communities. The residents are normally quite youthful, with the percentage of persons under 30 years being over 50% in most cases. Most of the households, therefore, are single parent, female-headed households with children and/or young people. Many of the residents in the urban settlements are either self-employed or work in the tourism industry; their rural counterparts tend to be engaged as small farmers.
Overall living conditions in these settlements are inadequate. There is an absence of basic phys-ical infrastructure such as pathways, drainage and lighting. Poor housing quality, over-crowded conditions and poor sanitation are also issues affecting these communities. Based on the St. Lu-cia Central Statistical Office’s (CSO) Basic Needs Index – a composite score used to depict a community’s standard of living − all the communities in the country are ranked from Quintile 1 (the poorest) to Quintile 5 (the richest). Informal settlements are mostly in Quintiles 1 or 2 with a few, usually the older and more established ones, being in Quintile 3. This denotes that the Informal communities experience generally poorer socio-economic conditions than other com-munities in the country.
Saint Lucia Housing
St. Lucia’s housing sector is characterized by relatively high levels of home ownership (74%) and private rental (18%) as well as significant numbers of Informal settlements.
Surveys by Saint Lucia’s Department of Housing and Local Government (DOHLG) have identi-fied at least 33 Informal settlements on the island comprising over 6,000 households. Some set-tlements have been in existence for over 40 years. The extent of the problem and the limited availability of suitable Crown lands have constrained corrective actions in the sector. The DCA does not have sufficient manpower to effectively police unplanned developments. In order to partially address the enforcement issue, areas to be regularized have been designated Special Development Areas (SDA), and are subject to relaxed planning criteria (e.g. smaller setbacks). DOHLG staff carry out periodic visits to the SDA to ensure that there is no expansion of settle-ments that have already been mapped and also to assist DCA in enforcing SDA regulations as necessary.
The DOHLG and SLNHC are the primary actors in the sector with direct responsibility for hous-ing. However, several other government agencies/ministries are also involved in housing con-struction, regularization, provision of land, and other activities in the sector. No single entity has an effective overview of sector-wide activities, coordination is limited, and there are overlap-ping responsibilities.
Consequently, the Government of St Lucia (GOSL) embarked on addressing the Informal set-tlements in Saint Lucia through a robust national strategy that provides an overarching frame-work and guidance to improve living conditions of the vulnerable group to achieve SDG11.1.
SAINT LUCIA STRATEGY FOR INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS UPGRADING AND PREVENTION (SLSISUP)
Against this background GOSL has requested UN-Habitat to facilitate a participatory process to support the development of a Saint Lucia Strategy for Informal Settlements Upgrading and pre-vention (SLSISUP).
The overall objective of the SLSISUP is to contribute to the achievement of SDG11, Target 1 in Saint Lucia ‘’by 2030, ensure access for all adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums” and the concept of “Leaving no one behind”. Principles echoed by the current administration i.e. “Putting People First”.
Specific objectives of the SLSISUP are to develop a set of strategic priorities and actionable pol-icy proposals aimed at addressing issues surrounding Informal settlements in Saint Lucia, with the aim to facilitate settlement regularization, relocation where required and reduce the likeli-hood of Informal settlement development.
Scope of the SLSISUP
The process to develop the Saint Lucia Informal Strategy for Informal Settlement Upgrading & Prevention Strategy will have three major areas of work. This includes:
RESPONSIBILITIES
The consultancy will be home-based with travel to Saint Lucia when needed. Any official mis-sion travel expenses will be paid for directly by UN-Habitat. The consultant will be contracted by UN-Habitat and jointly supervised by a project team housed at the Government of Saint Lu-cia’s Department of Housing and Local Government (DOHLG). S/he will be working closely with local consultants and staff of the DOHLG to undertake following specific tasks, which are to:
Qualifications/special skills
Excellent analytical skills in analysing data, legislation and policy framework to extract key issues related to informal settlements. S/he has prepared situation analyses, providing detailed and structured analysis of informal settlements in a small island developing state context. S/he has been open and constructive in discussion with government, the PSUP team and other key stakeholders leading to fruitful discussion. The consultant has excellent writing and interpersonal skills needed to establish connections with the government including mobilization of partners and government agencies.
S/he meets deadlines strictly.
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.
Build your CV for free. Download in different templates.
Join our happy subscribers