Urban Resilience Expert

The consultant contributes to the successful implementation and expansion of the City Resilience Global Programme by providing high-quality technical expertise, analytical support, capacity-building services, and programme development assistance to partner cities, territories, and institutions. The consultancy supports the achievement of UN-Habitat's objective of fostering inclusive, sustainable, climate-resilient, and risk-informed urban and territorial development by strengthening the capacity of public institutions, communities, and key stakeholders to understand risks, make informed decisions, mobilize resources, and implement integrated resilience and climate adaptation actions. The expected outcome is enhanced resilience capacity among local and regional governments, improved resilience planning and implementation, stronger multi-level governance mechanisms, increased access to financing opportunities, and the development of actionable strategies that contribute to the objectives of the New Urban Agenda, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Homebase

6 months

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations agency mandated by the General Assembly to promote socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. UN-Habitat works with national and local governments, civil society, academia, development partners, and the private sector to advance sustainable urbanization and improve the quality of life in human settlements worldwide. As the lead UN agency for sustainable urban development and human settlements, UN-Habitat plays a key role in supporting countries and local authorities to address increasing urban challenges, including climate change, disaster risk, environmental degradation, rapid urbanization, inequality, and vulnerability to shocks and stresses. Through its urban resilience programming, UN-Habitat promotes integrated, people-centered, and systems-based approaches that strengthen the capacity of cities and territories to anticipate, absorb, adapt, and transform in the face of current and future challenges. UN-Habitat's resilience work builds on global frameworks including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the New Urban Agenda, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, supporting local and regional governments in translating these commitments into effective action at territorial level. Recognizing that resilience challenges extend beyond administrative boundaries, UN-Habitat supports multi-level governance approaches that strengthen coordination among cities, metropolitan areas, regions, and national institutions. Its resilience interventions combine risk-informed planning, climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction, urban regeneration, nature-based solutions, governance strengthening, and inclusive stakeholder engagement to support sustainable territorial development. The programme works closely with local and regional governments, public institutions, civil society organizations, community groups, academia, and development partners to design and implement resilience-building initiatives. Attention is given to vulnerable populations, including women, youth, older persons, displaced populations, and other groups disproportionately affected by climate change, disasters, and socio-economic shocks. Main Responsibilities of the Urban Resilience Consultant: Under the direct supervision of the Head of the City Resilience Global Programme (CRGP), the consultant will provide technical support to the Programme and undertake the following tasks: Task 1. Implement the CRGP methodology and support technical operations with partner institutions, cities, and regions in collaboration with technical experts and focal points: - Review, reshape, and calibrate the methodology and analytical framework to the context of each city or territory. - Develop work plans and implementation strategy of the methodology with the partner local and regional governments. - Collaborate in the preparation of reports, including desk research, data analysis, writing, preparation of maps and diagrams, and report editing. - Facilitate stakeholder mapping and engagement processes to ensure inclusive participation of government entities, academia, civil society, and relevant technical partners. - Coordinate data collection, validation, and quality assurance processes with partner institutions. - Monitor implementation progress and identify operational risks and mitigation measures. Task 2. Provide knowledge generation, capacity building and technical expertise on urban resilience, disaster risk reduction, and climate adaptation: - Hold technical consultations, knowledge exchange and training sessions on urban resilience, territorial diagnostics and participatory planning. - Support and collaborate with project focal points and working groups/teams in the production of reports and planning of local activities. - Participate in institutional and policy dialogue sessions and support the development of relevant knowledge products. - Develop and deliver training materials, toolkits, and practical guidance documents for local stakeholders. - Capture and document lessons learned, good practices, and innovations emerging from project implementation. - Provide technical advisory support on integrating resilience, climate adaptation, and risk reduction considerations into local planning instruments. Task 3. Development of a cross-country comparative framework for NewMed 2030 project: - Develop the guiding steps for the analytical process to be utilized for producing city profiles under the NewMed 2030 framework. - Define the resilience targets and map out the indicators that will guide the analysis phase during the diagnosis. - Coordinate with CRPiT technical developer to align selected indicators and profile outputs. - Validate and document the incorporation of the framework with partner organizations. - Develop a comparative analytical methodology to assess resilience performance and trends across participating cities. - Establish indicators and criteria for benchmarking and cross-country learning. - Contribute to the design of data management and visualization approaches to support comparative analysis. Task 4. Development and dissemination of knowledge products: methodological guides, practical tools, and comparative reports for NewMed 2030 project: - Consolidate learnings from the project into a binational learning report. - Systematization of experiences and methodological guide. - Contribution to the refinement and monitoring of the NewMed2030 (phase 1) - Prepare technical briefs, policy notes, and dissemination materials targeting different stakeholder audiences. - Support the organization of knowledge-sharing events, webinars, and peer-learning exchanges. - Contribute to communication products highlighting project results, impacts, and lessons learned. - Develop comparative synthesis reports identifying regional trends, common challenges, and transferable practices. Task 5. Development of a Barcelona Resilience Profile and Recommended Actions for Resilience: - Development of roadmap and implementation strategy (including baseline data mapping and data collection strategy). - Full process implementation of the CRGP methodology with the Barcelona City Council. - Conduct technical workshops with stakeholders ensuring the engagement of relevant municipal representatives. - Development of interim reports, Resilience Profile, and Recommended Actions for Resilience and Sustainability (RAR-S) report. - Coordinate data collection and stakeholder validation processes required for profile development. - Support the prioritization and validation of resilience actions through participatory workshops. - Develop monitoring recommendations and implementation pathways for shortlisted resilience actions. - Facilitate alignment of proposed actions with existing municipal strategies and sectoral plans. Task 6: Support the head of the programme in proposal development, project formulation, and fundraising: - Contribute to the identification of funding opportunities and strategic partnerships. - Support the preparation of concept notes, project proposals, logical frameworks, workplans, and budgets. - Conduct background research and institutional mapping to support project formulation. - Contribute to donor reporting, project monitoring frameworks, and results-based management processes. - Support engagement with development partners, financing institutions, and regional networks. The expected results are: - Increased commitments to build local and regional level resilience. - Local and Regional Resilience assessments are conducted. - Key issues and challenges identified in linking early interventions in crisis-prone cities and regions to long-term sustainable development inputs. - Capacity is built in cities, territories, local and regional governments to develop and implement integrated local climate and disaster resilience action plans. - Crisis-prone cities and territories have enhanced capacity to develop and implement plans to increase their resiliency.

- An advanced university degree or equivalent professional qualification in urban and regional planning, urban studies, urban geography, architecture, or a related field is required. - A first-level university degree in one of the above fields, combined with two additional years of qualifying professional experience, may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. A minimum of four (4) years of experience is required in developing resilience strategies, guidelines, toolkits or policies for effective urban environments, in liaising with private and governmental authorities, other national/international institutions and NGOs, and in working within diverse urban environments. Previous experience in projects related to urban planning, resilience, climate risk, disaster risk, or territorial analysis is required. Ability to work with minimal supervision and with good sense of initiative to keep the head of the programme regularly informed of progress is required. Good communications, reporting and representation skills are required for the position. Experience in the Mediterranean or MENA region, particularly Lebanon or Morocco, is an asset. Experience in Spain, particularly Catalunya, and Latin American countries is an asset. Excellent computer skills in Microsoft Office, spreadsheets, and other software packages required. Familiar with and committed to the goals of International Organization is desirable. Ability to work with minimal supervision and with good sense of initiative to keep the supervisor regularly informed of progress is required. Good teamwork and drive for results is desirable. 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 is desirable Express enthusiasm and willingness to continue learning new skills and share experiences with other members of the team is desirable Willing to take responsibility, act professionally at all times, and make sure tasks are fully completed is desirable

- Fluency in spoken and written English is required. - Knowledge of other UN languages would be an additional asset. - Knowledge of Arabic and/or Spanish is desirable.

Not available.