Local Project Officer – ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation

Location :	Ha Noi or Lao Cai/Sapa Town, VIET NAM
Application Deadline :	08-Sep-20 (Midnight New York, USA)

Type of Contract :	Individual Contract
Post Level :	International Consultant
Languages Required :	English
Duration of Initial Contract :	9 months from September 2020 to 7 June 2021
Expected Duration of Assignment :	up to a maximum of 110 working days

Background Organizational Context The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the agency for human settlements and sustainable urbanisation. It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. Leading efforts to advance UN system-wide coherence for sustainable urbanisation, UN-Habitat is playing a key role implementing the Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in September 2015 as well as the New Urban Agenda (NUA) adopted in Quito, Ecuador in October 2016. Founded in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, was established with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration, aiming to promote collaboration and cooperation among Member States, as well as, to advance the interests of the region as-a-whole. Today, there are currently 10 Member States: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam, forging ahead together towards the achievement of ASEAN Community Vision 2025. Since 2008, UN-Habitat and the ASEAN Secretariat have engaged in a variety of UN and ASEAN Secretariat engagements. Most notably, UN-Habitat has been developing a new generation of sub-regional programmes which target all or selected ASEAN countries, especially in the area of cities and climate change. Meanwhile, the Bangkok Office of UN-Habitat is increasingly engaged in knowledge programmes with fellow UN agencies, on issues of migration, health, resilience and urban data in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda. About the project Half of the 600 million people in the ASEAN region already live in urban areas and by 2025 a further 70 million people in ASEAN will be city dwellers. Seeking to address this 'mega-trend' of urbanization, the ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation Strategy (ASUS) was launched at the 22nd ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) Meeting in November 2018, as one of the initiatives under the 'Sustainable Infrastructure' strategic area of the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC) 2025. Nearly one year after its launch, the ASUS and its two accompanying toolkits remains key to raising the standards of living of the citizens of ASEAN, enhancing shared prosperity of cities and regions, as well as strengthening climate action and resilience. In this regard, the period between 2020-2021 will be crucial to accelerating the implementation of the ASUS, with a special emphasis on small to medium-sized cities and intermediate cities, which are witnessing most of the growth in the ASEAN region over recent years and which will continue to exhibit significant upward population and economic trends. As such, the accelerated implementation of ASUS will provide ASEAN cities with the opportunity to prioritize actions to achieve sustainable urbanisation, while implementing practical activities customised to their unique city contexts, designed to raise the standards of living of those within ASEAN which lie at the core of the New Urban Agenda and ASEAN Community Vision 2025. Towards this end, the ASUS has been disseminated to city networks in ASEAN, with many cities in each of these networks sharing common priorities and concerns. While some technical support is provided through the various city networks in ASEAN, further resources are needed to help cities develop credible action plans and/or financially viable project proposals. As part of this project, an implementation plan integrating several initiatives and intended to accelerate sustainable urbanization during the period of January 2020-June 2021 (Phase 1) could support the achievement of the expected ASUS outcomes by 2025, with a second phase of intensified action at the local level between 2022 to 2025. In summary, these initiatives and proposed key outputs in Phase 1 includes:

Technical advisory support to 8 selected pilot cities within ASEAN established as leaders in ASUS implementation in developing high-quality proposals within the ASUS Framework;
Organisation of an ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation Forum bringing together diverse stakeholders from across ASEAN and supporting the development of improved urban policies;
Research and development of a report detailing the 'State of Urbanisation in ASEAN'.

Duties and Responsibilities Key Responsibilities The Local Project Officer - ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation, will be responsible for the coordination of project development and management of the project in the city location. The regular tasks include: City Technical Support

Conduct of preliminary background assessment to understand the needs and capacity of the local government partner and areas which the proposed intervention is intended to address.
Coordination with National, local Authorities and key stakeholders to perform participatory and consultative city diagnosis and action plan development in each selected ASEAN pilot city;
Preparation of the technical proposals in alignment with specifications outlined by UN-Habitat and ASEAN requirements, based on relevant documents and materials provided;
Analysis of technical proposals to include areas not limited to (i) Definition of the Intervention
(ii) Aim and Objective of the Services (iii) Context and Rationale (iv) Scope and Deliverable of Services (v) Strategic Impact and Risk Assessment and (vi) Implementation;
Support peer-to-peer exchanges between ASEAN pilot cities regarding the proposed interventions
Provide information to the dedicated lead author for the Report on State of Urbanisation in ASEAN including support in the identification of subject matter experts.

Meetings Coordination

Support in-country arrangements for project review and follow-up missions;
Support the city-specific contribution to the ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation Forum and associated events;
Coordinate document preparation, compilation and dissemination to meeting participants and key stakeholders including National, local Authorities and Local Project Officers;
Support research information in support of project materials and activities and assist with translations, interpretation and other support to the Project Team Leader as required.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Regular monitoring and reporting on all project activities with partners and stakeholders to ensure a high quality of outputs being delivered within the agreed upon time frame;
Support scoping studies and data collection to evaluate the interventions within the local strategic context and helping to address the feasibility, potential impact and any barriers;
Supporting the mainstreaming of gender, environmental and social issues into the project activities and carrying out social and gender analyses across all project deliverables.

Institutional Arrangement The project will place a Local Project Officer in each of the selected ASEAN pilot cities. Under the overall guidance of the UN-Habitat Regional Representative, Regional Office of Asia and the Pacific, and with direct supervision of the Chief of UN-Habitat Bangkok Office supported by the Project Team Leader - ASEAN Sustainable Urbanisation. In each country, the UN-Habitat Country Office will help assess the performance of the Local Project Officer and provide inputs to substantive activities. Duration of Work The duration of assignment will be from 7 September 2020 to 7 June 2021 over 9 months (part time). The maximum no. of working days is expected to be 110 days. Duty Station The assignment is based in Ha Noi or Lao Cai /Sapa Town, Viet Nam as a duty station with domestic travel expected along with the possibility of international travel in the South-East Asia region. Competencies Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Technical Competencies:

Analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to process, analyse and synthesise complex, technical information;

Proven ability to support the development of high quality knowledge and training materials, and to train technical teams;
Proven experience in the developing country context and working in different cultural settings.

Communication:

Communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.

Professionalism:

Capable of working in a high pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
Excellent analytical and organizational skills.

Teamwork:

Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
Focuses on results for the client;
Welcomes constructive feedback.

Required Skills and Experience Education:

An Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in urban and/or regional planning, urban economy, sustainable development, geography, sustainable urbanization or human settlements (10 points); OR
First level university degree (Bachelor) with additional two years relevant and progressive experience in the fields may be accepted in lieu of the post-graduate or Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) (10 points).

Experience:

A minimum of 3 years' progressive and relevant work experience in economic development, urban development and program management, preferably in the field of human settlements in the context of Viet Nam (20 points);
Working knowledge and experience in the technical area of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Systems is considered as highly desirable (20 points);
Understanding of key national stakeholders and partners relevant to the area of sustainable urbanization in the context of Viet Nam (10 points);
Work experience in either the United Nations or ASEAN, and general knowledge of UN or ASEAN rules and regulations are an advantage (10 points);
Experience developing technical proposals at the city level (10 points).

Language requirement:

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in both English and Vietnamese is required (20 points).

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