Housing, Land and Property (HLP) Programme Specialist

Functional Title: Housing, Land and Property (HLP) Programme Specialist

Project: Emergency infrastructure and communal land tenure (3 projects)

Number of Positions: 1

Duty Station: Kabul

Contract Duration: 8 Months

Level of Contract: IICA-2

Start date: From: 05/2022

To: 31/12/2022

Organizational Setting:

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), is the UN agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable town and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. This post is located in the UN Habitat Regional Office for Asia and Pacific (ROAP) at Kabul duty station.

UN-Habitat Afghanistan

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, has been working within Afghanistan since 1992 with funding support of USAID, Japanese and Australian Governments, EU, CIDA, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Kingdom of the Netherlands and several other bilateral donors and multilateral donors. During this period, its programme has expanded to include a wide range of human settlements initiatives, from humanitrian emergency support to small-scale neighbourhood level improvement schemes to municipal scale governance reforms.

Emergency infrastructure and communal land tenure project

The August 2021 fall of Afghanistan’s government has caused a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan’s cities. Over half a million people have been displaced by conflict in 2021; many have sought refuge in the relative safety of cities. In this context, critical government functions have ceased, resulting in lifesaving municipal services being suspended. In addition, as development aid has been withdrawn, the incomes of urban dwellers have declined, while the cost of food and other essential items have increased dramatically. The unfolding crisis in Afghan cities is occurring in a context of underlying vulnerabilities, including infrastructure deficits, insecure livelihoods and pervasive tenure insecurity. Most at risk are displaced people in informal settlements, with women, disabled and ethnic minorities being particularly vulnerable.

UN-Habitat’s community-centered People’s Process is a proven and effective to reduce vulnerability at scale in the Afghan context. Since 1992, UN-Habitat has partnered with communities in informal settlements to reintegrate displaced urban Afghans into sustainable settlements. The People’s Process delivers support for the urban displaced through Community Development Councils (CDCs) and Gozar Assemblies (GAs). UN-Habitat-community partnerships centre participatory spatial planning to enable communities to identify and implement priority service and infrastructure investments to support their socioeconomic development. Through the People’s Process, the incumbent will support a community-centered approach to secure tenure, upgrade basic services and infrastructure for highly vulnerable displaced people living in urban informal settlements in the cities of Kabul and Herat. In doing so, the incumbent will support the implementation of activities that meet the immediate needs of vulnerable urban residents and contribute to sustainable development and peacebuilding.

Housing, Land and Property Rights Taskforce

UN-Habitat cooridnates the Housing, Land and Property Task force (HLP-TF) together with UNHCR and NRC within the humanitarian cluster system in Afghanistan. The HLP-TF as a part of the Afghanistan Protection Cluster brings coordinates humanitrian agencies working on HLP issues to facilitate a systematic approach to housing, land and property rights protection of displaced population, and other persons other at risk persons. The HLP-TF aims to achieve its objective by a) improving access to land, b) strengthening security of tenure and adequate housing c) addressing HLP disputes and strengthening access to civil documentation and d) ultimately the durable solutions of the displaced population.

Reporting Relationships

Under the overall supervision of the Country Programme Manager and Senior Human Settlements Officer, the Housing, Land and Property (HLP) Programme Specialist will undertake the following tasks and activities:

Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities:

1) Programme development:

• Lead the development of UN-Habitat HLP programme portolio through stragetgic planning and resource mobilisation.
• Identify synergies and develop programmes that link HLP and other key UN-Habitat programmatic areas, including People’s Process Cash-for-Work and settlement uprgading, climate resilience, and safe cities initaives.
• Develop and maintain relationships with key funding partners to ensure the continuity of HLP and other UN-Habitat programmes.
• Coordinate with UN-Habitat Regional Office for Asia Pacific and HQ in the development of regional progammes incorporating HLP and UN-Habitat priorities
• Ensure that UN-Habitat Afghanistan programme portfolio forward SGD 11, the New Urban Agenda and UN-Habitat’s domains of change.
• Develop concept notes and project propsals to respond to emegerging funding opportunities and forward UN-Habitat’s programmatic priorties at country, regional and global scales.
• Develop knowledge products that report on UN-Habitat Afghanistan country programme activities and explore new areas of programming for resource mobilisation and advocacy.

2) Programme management:

· Lead in the day-to-day technical and financial management of programme work planning, budgeting, procurement, and monitoring of project activities in the field;

· Lead the effective and efficient execution of programme activities by working in close collaboration with the relevant institutions and project teams in Kabul and Herat.

· Support the recruitment, retention and capacity development of staff, ensuring at least 30% programme staff are female;

· Lead in results-based reporting on activities and outputs in line with donor requirements;

· Support to ensure results-based monitoring and evaluation efforts in all project locations and for the programme duration.

3) HLP Taskforce coordination

· Act as Coorinator for the Housing, Land and Property Taskforce (HLP TF), a sub-cluster of the Afghanistan Protection Cluster on behalf of UN-Habitat in accordance with the IASC guidelines on cluster leadership and accountability;

· Support the Task Force for an effective and inclusive HLP-TF with increased participation actors at the national and regional levels to develop improved HLP and durable solutions response strategies and programmes to meet the HLP needs of the displaced population in Afghanistan;

· Coordinate the development of HLP-TF position papers, policy submissions and advocacy products;

· Participate in the OCHA-lead processes including the production of the HNO, HRP, AHF allocations; ICCT, HCT and other national coordination mechanisms/working groups set up in Afghanistan.

4) Contribute to UN-Habitat’s support to partners:

• Identify and foster opportunities for improved programmatic collaboration with community-based organisations, UN, NGO and other civil society partners;
• Coordinate capacity development activities on programme components and technical guidelines;
• As a member of Senior Strategic Management Team of UN Habitat, contribute in development and consolidation of the UN-Habitat portfolio.

Perform other duties and responsibilities which are within the expertise and experience as may be required by ROAP and Country Programme Manager in support of the activities of the agency and programme.

Competencies

Professionalism: Ability to identify and resolve budgetary problems and identify sources for data collection. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; 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.

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; tailors their language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Planning& Organizing: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently. developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client

Qualifications

a) Education:

At least a Masters’s degree (PhD preffered) in urban planning, geography, law, land adminstration or related field. A first level university degree in combination with 2 additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

b) Experience:

At least seven (7) years of experience in: 1. Planning and delivering complex urban humanitarian and development programmes, including significant experience in land sector programming; 2. Experience working in the humanitarian cluster system and familiarity with reporting and funding structures; 3. A track record of developing concept notes and securing funding for humanitarian and development projects; 4. Experience of writing and publishing policy briefs and other best practice knowledge products; 5. Prior experience with UN-Habitat or other international organisation working on urban humanitarian and development issues, including significant experience in the field.

c) Language:

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required.