Urban Resilience Programme Specialist at UN-Habitat

Duties and Responsibilities

• The six small island developing states (SIDS) in Africa, namely Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles, Cabo Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, and Guinea-Bissau, share common vulnerabilities that make them highly susceptible to the negative impacts of climate change. These vulnerabilities include limited land area, remoteness, limited resources and export activities, exposure to environmental and economic shocks, and high levels of disaster risk. Slow onset events like sea-level rise, coastal flooding, and salinization of coastal aquifers, together with extreme weather events like increasing cyclonic activity, pose a complex and multi-tiered risk to these countries, leading to several threats including habitat contraction, changes in the location of coastal species, and loss of biodiversity. Added to that, SIDS are highly reliant on natural resources for economic activities, such as agriculture, fishing, and tourism, making them disproportionately affected by climate change-induced phenomena.
• Needless to say, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation measures are crucial for SIDS. However, the effectiveness of these measures is context-specific and can be facilitated or challenged by specific characteristics of each country. The recent Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2022) highlights that limits to adaptation are being reached due to the interaction between constraints to adaptation and the pace of climate change-related impacts. SIDS are likely to reach these limits sooner than other countries due to their low elevation, isolation, and limited resources. Thus, an integrated and inclusive approach to adaptation planning and implementation is critical for effective climate action in SIDS, preventing the limits to adaptation from being reached.
• In response, through its Regional Office for Africa (ROAf), UN-Habitat is developing a regional portfolio of work on disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and urban resilience in African SIDS. With the aim of supporting city management authorities and local government on climate adaptation and disaster preparedness issues, UN-Habitat has designed and implemented a number of tools such as the City Resilience Action Planning (CityRAP) tool, which is a participatory urban resilience planning methodology to enable local governments of secondary cities to assess the resilience status of their cities and to understand risks and plan practical actions to progressively build urban resilience, and the Building Climate Resilience of Urban Systems Through Ecosystem Based Adaptation toolkit, which is designed to assist city management authorities and local government, as well as national government, practitioners, and the wider development community to integrate ecosystems-based adaptation (EbA) into urban development. Additionally, UN-Habitat is currently developing a climate financing toolkit to help municipalities in increasing their planning capacities and access innovative mechanisms.
• Also, UN-Habitat is currently implementing the Development Account project “Strengthened Capacities of African, Caribbean and Pacific SIDS for Green, Resilient and Pro-poor Pandemic Recovery” (DA14). The project aims to build capacity for green, resilient, and pro-poor recovery in SIDS, with a focus on informal settlements. In Africa, the project is working in Comoros and Sao Tome and Principe to provide technical assistance for integrating resilience and recovery planning.

OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY

The objective of this consultancy will be to take stock of UN-Habitat’s existing activities in the African SIDS, make recommendations for strategic direction for scaling-up the portfolio, and fully develop a regional proposal based on an already existing concept note. The proposal should aim to develop a comprehensive full model that increases climate adaptation capacities of vulnerable communities of African SIDS through the implementation of replicable and scalable step-by-step approaches for urban resilience building. The consultant will also contribute to the activities of the above mentioned DA14 project.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Under the overall supervision of the Human Settlements Officer at the Regional Office for Africa (ROAf), the consultant will carry out the following duties and responsibilities:
• Undertake stocktaking of UN-Habitat’s existing activities in African SIDS, analyse them vis-à-vis UN system and donor priorities and emerging issues in the same countries, and prepare recommendations for a strategic direction.
• Design, plan and facilitate an ideation and co-creation workshop to generate innovative ideas for scaling up resilience and adaptation in African SIDS. Document and report on workshop outcomes.
• Fully develop a project proposal for “Climate adaptation for resilient urban communities in African Small Island Developing States (SIDS)” based on an existing concept note and the outcomes of the above two activities.
• Undertake research and analysis on best practices and lessons learned from African SIDS to inform economic recovery and prepare a policy paper summarizing findings and recommendations.

Qualifications/special skills

• Advanced degree in urban development, environmental studies, sustainable development or equivalent is required.
• Minimum 3 year of working experience in strategic planning, urban planning, project management, international development or related fields.
• Familiarity with the concepts of urban resilience, climate change adaptation/ mitigation and DRR.
• Previous working experience with SIDS is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the official working languages of the United Nations. Proficiency in oral and written English language is required.