Nairobi is the headquarters duty station for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) the United Nations agency mandated with ensuring better urban future by promoting socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement sustainable development goal 11 (SDG 11). Although the mandate of UN-Habitat is global, the agency has placed special emphasis on working for the benefit of the host country through contributing to Kenya’s development priorities in a variety of ways.
UN-Habitat Regional Office in Africa (ROAf) located in Nairobi, Kenya, is supporting priorities of member states and governments to achieve sustainable urban development. Implementation of Kenya programmes is carried out within the ROAf.
The overall objective of this project is to build more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient cities, by strengthening the capacity of key public, private and civil society stakeholders to measure, make decisions, plan and develop actions for building resilience to ensure that public and private investments are risk-informed and that early interventions in crisis-prone cities are linked to longer-term development goals in line with the actions of the New Urban Agenda.
This joint initiative aims at improving local government and stakeholder understanding of, and capacity for, developing and implementing resilience action plans.
BACKGROUND The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the agency for human settlements mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities.
UN-Habitat helps the urban poor by transforming cities into safer and healthier places with better opportunities. It works with organizations at every level, including all spheres of government, civil society and the private sector.
As the main UN Agency responsible for ensuring the sustainable development of cities, towns, and other human settlements, UN-Habitat is strategically placed to coordinate the humanitarian and development efforts of multiple actors and policy makers at all levels in the common pursuit of urban resilience.
UN-Habitat’s approach to strengthening urban resilience as a key determinant for ensuring the effectiveness of response interventions during times of crises, and subsequent sustainable development, is embodied in its City Resilience Global Programme (CRGP).
The CRGP goes beyond conventional approaches to ‘risk reduction’, delivering a forward-looking, multi-sectoral, multi-hazard, multi-stakeholder model for building resilience that recognizes the complexities and unique value of cities, and the inherent interdependencies of each part of an urban system. Fast growing cities and urban areas of the world are engines of growth and wealth accumulation.
This growth can have positive social, cultural and educational impacts. On the other hand, evidence demonstrates that fast economic growth, combined with fast population expansion in urban areas, also increases disaster vulnerability and exposure.
The level of urbanization is far higher in the developed world; however, the annual ‘urbanization rate’ is much faster in the developing world. The primary urban agglomerations with the highest concentrations of people and economic activity mostly overlap with the areas of extreme or high risk related to disasters such as coastal areas, along rivers and in flood plains.
UN-Habitat’s City Resilience Global Programme aims at improving understanding of, and capacity to, address disaster risk and build resilience at the local level.
UN-Habitat focuses on supporting local capacities from crisis-prone cities, and humanitarian partners, in measuring their resilience status and have an action plan in order to build resilience. The Programme works along three complimentary streams: technical cooperation, knowledge, and advocacy and partnerships. The Programme works with local government institutions, to plan, coordinate, implement and support the various outlined activities.
The primary and most direct beneficiaries will be local stakeholders, city authorities and civil society. Women, children and other at-risk groups, as local level stakeholders, often disproportionately affected by crises situations, will be engaged and receive additional attention.
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES Under the direct supervision of the Head of the City Resilience Global Programme (CRGP), tthe consultant will provide substantive professional support to the Programme and will undertake the following tasks: Task 1. Development of Front End Requirements ● Develop a user-friendly and interactive web map viewer that displays data related to urban and territorial resilience.
● Use modern front-end technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and relevant frameworks (e.g., React, Angular, or Vue.js).
Task 2: Integration with Back-End Services and APIs ● Collaborate with back-end developers to integrate the web map viewer with back-end services and APIs. ● Ensure seamless data flow and synchronization between the front-end and back-end components. ● Handle data visualization using mapping libraries (e.g., Leaflet, Mapbox, or OpenLayers) and ensure efficient rendering of spatial data. Task 3: Establish Considerations for Scalability and Performance ● Optimize the web map viewer for high performance and scalability to handle large datasets and multiple concurrent users.
● Conduct regular performance testing and troubleshooting to identify and resolve bottlenecks.
– Advanced university degree or equivalent professional qualification in urban and regional planning, urban studies, urban geography, development studies, or public policy for the consultancy with knowledge of Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field is required.
– A 1st level university degree with two qualified years of experience will be accepted in lieu of the advance degree. – A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in urban planning, urban and climate resilience, development policies, or related fields is required, including at least 2 years of specialized experience in front-end web development.; – Experience in developing interactive web applications and data visualization tools is required; Previous work experience in projects related to urban planning, resilience, or GIS is highly desirable; – Ability to work with minimal supervision and with good sense of initiative to keep the supervisor regularly informed of progress is required; – Good communications, reporting and representation skills Good teamwork and drive for results – Adaptable to rapidly changing priorities and able to manage multiple deadlines and deliver high quality work products.
Able to meet deadlines for reporting and all project work – required; – Willing to take responsibility, act professionally at all times, and make sure tasks are fully completed; – Familiar with and committed to the goals of international organizations; – Express enthusiasm and willingness to continue learning new skills and share experiences with other members of the team; – Sensitive to gender issues and issues of concern to vulnerable groups; – Be able to meet deadlines for reporting and all project work is required.
• Fluency in spoken and written English is required.
• Knowledge of other UN languages would be an additional asset
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.