The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations programme working towards a better urban future. Its mission is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all.

Mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1978 to address the issues of urban growth, it is a knowledgeable institution on urban development processes, and understands the aspirations of cities and their residents. For forty years, UN-Habitat has been working in human settlements throughout the world, focusing on building a brighter future for villages, towns, and cities of all sizes. Because of these four decades of extensive experience, from the highest levels of policy to a range of specific technical issues, UN-Habitat has gained a unique and a universally acknowledged expertise in all things urban. This has placed UN-Habitat in the best position to provide answers and achievable solutions to the current challenges faced by our cities. UN-Habitat is capitalizing on its experience and position to work with partners to formulate the urban vision of tomorrow. It works to ensure that cities become inclusive and affordable drivers of economic growth and social development.

In October 2016, at the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development – Habitat III – member states signed the New Urban Agenda. This is an action-oriented document which sets global standards of achievement in sustainable urban development, rethinking the way we build, manage, and live in cities. Through drawing together cooperation with committed partners, relevant stakeholders, and urban actors – including at all levels of government as well as the private sector – UN-Habitat is applying its technical expertise, normative work and capacity development to implement the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 – to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

The New Urban Agenda sets out a shared vision for cities and other human settlements towards strengthened climate action responses and an improved urban environment. Member States recognize the unprecedented threats to cities and human settlements from unsustainable consumption and production patterns, loss of biodiversity, pressure on ecosystems, pollution, natural and human-made disasters, and climate change and its related risks, undermining the efforts to end poverty in all its forms and dimensions and to achieve sustainable development.

Furthermore, the UN-Habitat strategic plan for 20210-2023 focuses on 4 domains of change (DoCs). The 3rd DoC “Strengthened climate action and improved urban environment” focuses on the intersection of cities and other human settlements with climate and the environment. It addresses the resilience, adaptation and mitigation actions for the development of sustainable cities through curbing the impact of climate change, creating new economic opportunities and improving liveability in cities and other human settlements. 

UN-Habitat Regional Office for Arab States (ROAS) and country offices (COs) consider water scarcity and climate change as a priority issue that cuts across all projects and programs with its counterparts and other UN partners to achieve SDG goals related to environment and climate change. Future support will be linked to national SDG prioritization, both horizontally and vertically, by defining environmental challenges and developing a planning methodology to build up climate change resilience-especially at the subnational level-as well as enhancing social cohesion and improving people’s livelihoods and wellbeing. Moreover, UN-Habitat along with other UN agencies in Jordan have identified water scarcity and climate justice as overarching priorities for 2021 and beyond. Hence, UN-Habitat has ambitious plans to deliver climate change-related water projects including the Adaption Fund (AF) project in Jordan and Lebanon.

The project titled “Increasing the resilience of both displaced persons (DPs) and host communities to climate change-related water challenges in Jordan and Lebanon” aims to support the development of a comprehensive response framework to climate change-combined with the Syrian crisis-especially in an urban context. The overall aim of this project is to better respond to climate change impacts and vulnerabilities in the context of the Syrian crisis in both countries. This is done by demonstrating what concrete adaptation measures respond to the needs of both DPs and host communities, and especially women and youth, while avoiding any tension over resources and employment opportunities. Now in its tenth year, the Syrian crisis has had a profound humanitarian, socio-economic, and political impact on the population in both Syria and its neighbouring countries. In recent years, millions of people have been displaced and migrated from Syria. According to a study by UNHCR, Lebanon and Jordan are ranked the largest and second largest refugee-hosting countries in the world compared to the size of their national population, with 173 and 89 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants, respectively. This has placed unprecedented strain on the country’s economy, infrastructure, and public services.

The project will focus on supporting a sustainable water management approach, by reducing water use of unsustainable sources-by means of reducing water losses and increasing water use efficiency-and by increasing water supply of sustainable sources-via supporting water harvesting and promoting the use of non-conventional sustainable water resources. The approach also includes promoting innovative, low cost and sustainable techniques (more information on these techniques is available upon request and are included in the full/final proposal) and establishing urban-rural linkages-as water challenges also impact agriculture and livelihood security. The project identifies DPs as the most vulnerable group due to socio-economic challenges and their dependence on often water-vulnerable sectors, especially the agriculture sector, that could affect affordability to access water in the target areas. However, the project also recognizes increased tension between DPs and host communities and the needs of vulnerable Jordanians and Lebanese. Therefore, assessment and planning processes and capacity building activities will target both DPs and host community groups to avoid and even reduce any tension over scare resources and job opportunities.

The project will promote the replication and upscaling of the demonstrated techniques and approaches, within and beyond Jordan and Lebanon, and will demonstrate how water resources can be assessed, planned and managed more efficiently at the municipal level (i.e. establish urban-rural linkages) and sustainably (by mainstreaming climate change and gender in municipal master plans).

Reporting Line:

The Climate Change Project Coordinator will work under the direct supervision of the Regional Project Manager and the Head of UN-Habitat Jordan Country Office and will directly report to them.

Core Competencies:

•             Leadership:

Plans and acts transparently, actively works to removes barriers; Creates awareness of substantive opportunities and risks among others; Navigates complex circumstances thoughtfully and is solution minded

•             Innovation:

Creates new and relevant ideas and leads others to implement them; Integrates diverse contributions to formulate coherent approaches; Aligns innovation to service delivery components; Manages prototype / pilot efforts and seeks feedback.

• People Management:

Models high professional standards and motivates excellence in others; Coaches team members to appropriately share knowledge across teams; Addresses conflicts in a timely, sensitive manner; escalates to leadership when appropriate; Recognizes members of the team for their efforts and successes; Optimizes individual and team abilities.

•             Communication & Relationship Management:

Gains trust of peers, partners, clients by presenting complex concepts in practical terms to others; Persuades others to embrace new ideas, even when controversial; Empathizes with client perspectives and needs and communicates messages with the clients’ experiences in mind; Creates opportunities for developing new client relationships.

•             Delivery:

Critically assesses value and relevance of existing policy / practice and contributes to enhanced delivery of products, services, and innovative solutions; Anticipates constraints and identifies solutions; Expands capacity of team to deliver on time, on target, and within organizational standards; Ensures high quality of work in terms of both substantive depth and adaptive relevance to client needs; accepts responsibility for implementation / team deliverables / client satisfaction consistent with organizational standards; Exhibits thorough organizational awareness of UNDP’s approach to client service delivery and integrity and accountability; Exhibits sound judgment and the ability to make reasonable decisions in complex situations.

Technical Competencies:

• Climate Change (General)

Knowledge of climate change Including climate change international regime) and ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.

• Climate Change Adaptation

Knowledge of climate change adaptation concepts and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.

• Climate Change Mitigation

Knowledge of climate change mitigation concepts and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.

• Risk Assessment

Knowledge of risk assessment concepts and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations

• Displaced Communities/Populations

Knowledge of displaced communities/populations issues and solutions and ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations

• Sustainable Development

Knowledge of sustainable development concepts, principles and issues and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations, covering the economic, social and environmental dimensions.

• Project Management

Ability to plan, organize, and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.

• Stakeholders’ management

Ability to manage multiple stakeholders and balance often contradictory expectations, building and maintaining relationships

• Communication

Ability to effectively communicate intensions and requirements to internal and external stakeholders

• Team building

Ability to work effectively with diverse groups of professionals towards common goals

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, water management, urban development, environmental studies, or any related development field is required; Advanced university degree in combination with three years of qualifying experience will be accepted in lieu of the first level university degree.

Experience:

• Over five years of progressively responsible experience with Bachelor’s degree (or 3 years with Master’s degree) of progressively responsible experience in managing development projects with in managing development projects with a focus on climate change adaptation or sustainable water management or related area is required.
• A solid understanding of climate change challenges and the impact of conflict and displacement in the Arab region is required.
• Experience working in international development/ humanitarian sector, especially in the United Nations System is desirable.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English as well as Arabic (both oral and written) is required. Knowledge of another UN language is an advantage.

Others:

• Technical reports writing skills and a high-level of computer literacy. Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). Good personal organization, interpersonal and communication skills is required.
• Good knowledge of the local context including Impact of Syrian crisis, water scarcity, agriculture practices, climate impact on communities and the environment is required.
• Good knowledge of Jordan National Determined Commitments to the UNFCC, and Climate Change related references and norms is required.
• Good knowledge of Climate Change Adaptation practices and applied projects is required.
• Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; and remains calm in stressful situations is desirable.
• Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately, asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication is desirable.
• Demonstrates openness in sharing information; and keeps people informed is required.
• Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; and supports and acts in accordance with final group decisions, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position is desirable.
• Actively seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks; and shows willingness to learn new technology/ies is desirable.