Summary
Date Posted: Thursday, April 07, 2022 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
National Urban Policy Consultant
Duties and Responsibilities
Context and organizational framework
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable cities, with the aim of providing adequate housing for all. UN-Habitat is the lead agency within the United Nations for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. UN-Habitat supports Member States and development partners to transform cities into safer, more resilient and healthier places with better opportunities. She works with organizations at all levels, including all spheres of government, civil society and the private sector. The incumbent will be based in Conakry (Guinea).
The UN-Habitat Regional Office for Africa (ROAf) is working with the government of Guinea Conakry for the implementation of the SANITA program (Urban Development and Sanitation Program in Guinea). Within the framework of the National Indicative Program (NIP) of the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), urban sanitation is identified as a priority. The decision to improve the health situation encourages an integrated territorial approach while promoting inclusive and sustainable urban and territorial policies.
There was a first project implementing this sector, the Urban Development and Sanitation Program in Guinea (SANITA), signed in December 2017 for an amount of 42 million euros. The general objective of SANITA is to improve the sanitary environment and the quality of life of urban populations, particularly in Conakry and Kindia. This time, in this action entitled "Urban Development and Sanitation Program in Guinea (SANITA) - Sustainable Cities", it is a question of strengthening urban governance at the local and national level under the responsibility of UN-Habitat. This main objective can be broken down into two specific secondary objectives, which are:
• Improving in a participatory manner the legal, regulatory and institutional framework for urban development at the national level and in the city of Conakry in particular;
• Strengthen the institutional capacities and skills of stakeholders in the development and implementation of policy documents and urban and territorial planning through a participatory approach, taking into account the gender issue.
It is in this context that Guinea needs to adopt a new National Urban Policy (NUP). Indeed, since 1984, Guinea has not adopted a real urban policy to promote a coordinated and more coherent socio-spatial approach in public and citizen action in the urban space. Urban planning was done without a real common vision of what the different Guinean cities should be. Attempts that have been made so far have not always succeeded.
In fact, the approaches of the various Governments have more or less made it possible to lay the foundations for controlling the urbanization process without creating suitable conditions for structural transformation. The current appearance of cities in Guinea stems from a permanent interaction between stakeholders with very often divergent interests. Strong decision-makers have often influenced the dynamics of urbanization by developing tools and infrastructures that have made it possible to structure the urban fabric. This type of orientation, which is not backed by a sustainable institutional system, is very often ephemeral, thus giving way to the informal occupation of protected sites and the multiplication of urban disorders.
At the national level, the diagnosis produced by the Regional Office for Africa of UN-Habitat (ROAf) within the framework of this project confirms the macrocephaly of Conakry which continues and poses a risk for a balanced growth. This diagnosis also reveals that the aspects of urban planning that were considered in the National Housing Policy developed in 2012 remain relevant given the lack of a harmonious, consensual and participatory vision of this policy. It must be said that this document, far from being a real urban policy, was essentially only a letter of orientation for the activities of the Ministry of Urbanism, of Housing and Regional Planning (MUHAT).
Today, it is clear that the global and national perspectives, as presented in the diagnosis produced by ROAf, could facilitate the development and implementation of a NUP and its program of actions. This is why the Government of Guinea is committed to taking measures to augur a normalization of the situation and this through a reprogramming of the objectives and expected results of the SANITA Program. According to this diagnosis produced by ROAf, there are two central problems in Guinea: scarce and expensive decent housing and (ii) unharmonious and mortgaged urban development. This diagnosis also outlines a number of guidelines that should be considered if we intend to provide Guinea with a NUP, considered as "a coherent set of decisions based on a deliberate process led by the government". Its ambition should be to coordinate and rally the various actors around a common vision and objective oriented towards the promotion of a more transformative, more productive, more inclusive and more resilient urban development strategy in the long term. The association, participation and inclusion of the private sector, civil society and target populations in the design, implementation and financing of the various strategies and actions deserve particular attention.
In a non-exhaustive manner, eighteen (18) areas of strategic orientation are recommended in the diagnosis for the development of Guinea's NUP in order to address the situation of the sector. The main ones are: a) Strategic orientations related to the reorganization of the sector;
• Strategic directions related to land production and management;
• Strategic orientations specific to the cadastre;
• Strategic directions related to real estate production;
• Strategic directions related to building materials;
• Strategic directions related to urbanization;
• Strategic orientations related to the debate on the city;
• Strategic directions related to urban governance;
• Strategic orientations related to the financing of the sector;
• Strategic orientations related to the situation of women
• Strategic orientations related to urban-rural relations;
• Specific strategic directions related to COVID-19;
• Strategic directions related to capacity building;
• Methodological guidelines related to new global challenges.
It is in this context and, on the basis of all the above, that after the National Urban Forum of December 2019 which focused on the governance of institutions, sustainable urbanization and the opportunities for sustainable economic growth on the horizon 2040, and the series of forums organized in the eight (8) administrative regions of the country on the one hand, and the production of the diagnosis of urban development, the implementation of public policies and the challenges of sustainable urbanization on the n the other hand, UN-Habitat wishes to recruit a national consultant or a national consulting firm, for the preparation of the proposals for the national urban policy of Guinea, as well as its preliminary version.
Objective
The consultant's mission is to support the Government of Guinea and its partners in the formulation and implementation of mechanisms for the application of a national urban policy integrating the aspects relevant to the reorganization of the urban sector, to land production and management, cadastre, real estate production, building materials, urban and regional mobility, city-countryside relations, urban governance, capacity building, the debate on urbanization, legal instruments, financing, improvement of precarious housing, multi-stakeholder coordination, the situation of women, new global challenges (Agenda 2030 and New Agenda for Cities), COVID-19 and participation and sustainable urban development.
In general, the national consultant with the team that he will constitute will have to produce a report on an urban prospective and the options of political measures. It will produce Guinea's national urban policy document and its action plan.
Specifically, this consultation will have three deliverables: (1) a report on urban forecasts to guide options for future policy, (2) a national urban policy document (NUP) coupled with its implementation action plan ( draft version) and (3) the revised version of Guinea's NIP and its implementation action plan.
III. Methodology
For the mission, the consultant will use the diagnosis of urban development of the implementation of public policies and the challenges of sustainable urbanization in Guinea by UN-Habitat. He/She may call on other sources of documentation that he/she deems necessary. The various reports from the National Urban Forum of Guinea and forums across the country will be made available to him.
During this consultancy, he/she may continue to consult and/or seek certain insights from the stakeholders in the development of the NUP. He could do interviews. Desk research will be required to refine the quality of the reports. He/she will be called upon to analyze the data and especially to present reports to various national/local workshops. Thereafter, he/she will carry out analyzes and draft the various reports, in order to meet the requirements of this mission in its three specific objectives. With regard to the three objectives of the mandate of the national consultant, it will be necessary to: 1. Propose national urban policy options based on the analyzes of the urban forecasts and priority areas to guide the NUP identified during the National Urban Forum (NUF)
This mission will consist in analyzing the content and criticism of the priority themes (challenges) selected and the solutions proposed in order to identify at least three options for change including the advantages and disadvantages.
Urban forecasts will focus, among other things, on the problem of decent and available housing in Guinea, urban development, organizational strengthening and multi-sectoral coordination with a view to effective co-production of the city, good multi-stakeholder governance, rural and urban land, land use planning, the system of cities - transformation of the urban framework into an integrated and viable national economic space, industrialization and urban growth, major works and the rise of urban interaction -rural in different ecological areas.
The second part of this mission will also consist of:
• Analyze the regulatory and institutional planning tools and the implementation mechanisms to identify the political principles to be retained;
• Examine the geographic information systems (GIS) resulting from urban and territorial planning documents, in this case the National Housing Policy, the SNAT, the regional development and urban planning plans of eleven cities (regional capitals and secondary cities) and zoning plans in order to determine the models of construction of the systems of co-production and management of the urban framework,
• State, with local experts, the needs for capacity building and support advice to ensure the adoption and implementation of the NUP at the national, regional and local levels by the decentralized and decentralized services in partnership with the private sector and civil society actors.
• Production of the preliminary version of the national urban policy (NUP) of Guinea
• The preliminary report resulting from this reflection will be submitted to the network for opinion, then the project coordination team will consider the views of the reviewers with the aim of producing a second version of the report on policy options.
• During this phase, the consultant will have to meet with senior decision-makers from the private and public sectors. This will be under the leadership of the CTP and the DATU. At the end of this step, the preliminary version of the NUP should be produced. This will be the working document for the development of the final and definitive version of Guinea's NUP, which will be accompanied by the action plan for its implementation and the budget necessary for this purpose. The consultant is asked to propose with the policy document a plan for communication, monitoring and above all an evaluation mechanism for Guinea's NUP to be implemented.
• The final version of Guinea's NUP document including the implementation action plan (cost, communication plan, monitoring mechanisms).
• The consultant will be called upon to consolidate the draft document on the basis of comments from the validation workshop. He/she should be an important player in this workshop.
• Overall the tasks and responsibilities of the consultant are: a) Development of urban forecasts and urban policy options
• On the basis of the diagnosis already prepared by UN-Habitat and the NUF report, the consultant will have to highlight the prospects for the resolution of the difficulties that have arisen. It should consider the issues and challenges to be met in the context of improving the country's urban fabric. The different options of the NUP will therefore be consolidated in a document;
• Draft National Urban Policy of Guinea including a short, medium and long term action plan for implementation
• Once the NUP has been formulated, the consultant will have to propose common measures/actions to be adopted at national and local level for its implementation. Its measures will be deepened together with stakeholders through high-level political dialogues in order to develop an action plan that is realistic, executable and equipped with consensus-based performance indicators.
• The final version of Guinea's NUP
• This is the provisional document consolidated at the end of the validation workshop which will be sent to the Government for adoption.
• Supervision
The Consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Chief, Policy, Legislation and Governance section (PLGS) of UN-Habitat.

Qualifications/special skills
Competencies
Professionalism. Shows pride in work and in achievements; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges and remains calm in stressful situations.
Communication. Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed, Excellent drafting ability and communications skills, both oral and written; proven ability to communicate complex concepts orally; ability to prepare written reports that are clear, concise and meaningful. Good command of French and good knowledge of English. English and French are the working languages of the United Nations. For the consultancy, excellent proficiency in French and English, both verbal and written, is required.
Teamwork. Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.
Planning and organizing. Able to develop clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; identifies priority activities and assignments; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for contingencies in planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.

Skills: Candidate Skills: The consultant must :
• Be of Guinean nationality preferably;
• Have an excellent command of institutional reform and intersectoral coordination;
• Have the ability to organize and facilitate participatory meetings with the ultimate goal of working towards building consensus for policy discourse;
• Have the ability to work independently with a high degree of responsibility, flexibly and sometimes under pressure;
• Have good communication skills;
• Be able to write technical and project documents, in particular strategic documents;
• Have good judgment and excellent analytical skills and above all, the ability to plan and organize workshops.

Academic Qualifications:
• University degree (at least Master preferred) in a discipline relevant to the mission development and analysis of public policies, urban planning, urban policy, urban geography, architecture, engineering, urban governance, policy development and analysis, social science, related field or any other equivalent diploma. A first level degree with an additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.

Experience:
• Minimum of 7 years of professional experience in the field of urban planning, in particular on the development of public policies, on planning, urban management, on the economy of cities, regulations and legislation, services of base, urban governance, etc. is required;
• Have proven experience in the development of urban policies and institutional capacity building would be an asset;
• Have relevant work experience in developing countries and recognized work done previously for the United Nations is an advantage;
• Have relevant experience in public policy, decentralization, formulation of urban policies and have in-depth knowledge that can promote the combination of population growth and economic, social and environmental development is desirable.
Language: Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations. For the post advertised, fluency in spoken and written French is required. Knowledge of English will be an advantage.
Deadline:15 April 2022

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

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