Result of Service

The objective of this consultancy is to support the product development process of the UNITAC project’s digital tools. Where necessary, the consultant will conduct user research and usability tests to understand users’ needs and gather feedback, create user journey maps, document and present design decisions, create low and high-fidelity web/mobile prototypes to visualize design concepts. The consultant will also deduct actionable recommendations from user needs assessments and user testing activities to iteratively refine designs and enhance the project’s digital products and services. Through this work, the consultant will contribute to the development of user-centric solutions that effectively address the needs of local authorities and support evidence-based decision-making processes. Ultimately, the consultant’s efforts will help ensure that the digital tools developed are both user-friendly and impactful

Work Location

Home-based

Expected duration

3 months

Duties and Responsibilities

UN-Habitat 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. About the United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities (UNITAC) The United Nations Innovation Technology Accelerator for Cities is an innovation lab in Hamburg, established in March 2021 through a collaboration between UN-Habitat, the UN Office for Information and Communications Technology (UN-OICT) and HafenCity University. The Accelerator promotes open and participatory governance of data and digital platforms, innovations related to mapping, spatial analysis and data visualization and people centered smart cities. UNITAC Hamburg is funded by the Government of Germany for four years. The Accelerator is creating a team of urban, technology and innovation experts which will develop technologies to solve the world’s most pressing urban challenges and ensure that we speed up progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 11 on sustainable cities and communities. UNITAC Hamburg will work with a bespoke urban technology innovation acceleration methodology that can be used to analyse real urban challenges and urbanization trends. The methodology will be based around three themes: (1) Open, transparent and participatory governance of data and digital platforms (2) Mapping spatial analysis and visualization, and (3) People-centred smart cities. Within these fields particular emphasis will be placed on how to generate knowledge and use cases on smart city governance and the development of frontier technologies with a special emphasis on developing countries and cities with large informal populations. The solutions developed by UNITAC Hamburg will be tested and piloted through UNHabitat’s networks across the world with a particular focus on less developed countries. UNITAC Hamburg will also work with the City of Hamburg to establish an urban technology acceleration testbed in Hamburg in which technologies, governance frameworks and approaches can be tested in a simulated urban environment before scaling up internationally. Learning will be documented and published through high-quality guides and toolkits that can be used by policy makers to ensure that smart cities are inclusive, sustainable and peoplecentered. Duties and Responsibilities: Under the overall supervision of UNITAC Manager, and the Chief of Knowledge and Innovation Branch, the Consultant will perform the following duties and responsibilities: 1. Support product development and user testing activities, for example: prepare research plans that outline study goals and methodology, develop discussion guides, create information-gathering artifacts. 2. Work closely with user testing coordinator and front-end developer to improve and implement design elements that create user-friendly products and services that help users and meets their needs. 3. Consider the end-to-end user journey and external factors that may impact the user experience including business, policy, and technical constraints. 4. Communicate research findings and involve team in analysis and synthesis to develop empathy with the users and enable evidence-based design decisions. 5. Synthesize research findings using appropriate tools and translate them into user stories. 6. Visualize through diagramming, journey mapping, storyboarding, or information design to help others see the end-to-end and surface-to-core service and customer experience. 7. Develop and maintain design systems and style guides. 8. Design UI elements for both web and mobile devices, such as input controls, navigational components, and informational components (I didn’t understand?). 9. Prepare high-fidelity interactive prototypes for both web and mobile devices, ready for demonstration at World Urban Forum.

Qualifications/special skills

A minimum of bachelor’s degree in User Experience (UX) Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Anthropology, Information Science, or related field is required. Minimum of 2 years of professional work experience involving design and development of high-quality mobile and web applications is required. Proven track record in developing user-friendly applications: portfolio demonstrating a range of UX/UI projects, preferably including work on data-driven applications or dashboards is required. Previous experience working with public sector institutions, particularly local authorities is desirable

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position advertised, fluency in English with excellent drafting and communication skills, is required.

Additional Information

Not available.

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.