Background

Jordan is facing an increasing number of urban challenges compounded by the flow of migrants and refugees. Approximately 85% of Syrian refugees are living in non-camp settings, primarily in the northern governorates. Therefore, in line with Jordan’s local priorities in managing the country’s urban challenges, UN-Habitat will be optimizing ongoing efforts that aimed to support the Government of Jordan to harness the benefits of its urbanization and mitigate any negative effects. This will be facilitated by a number of initiatives including but not limit to the development of a sustainable, inclusive and evidence-based National Urban Policy (NUP) for Jordan, multi-stakeholder engagement in urban governance, institutional capacity development measures for improved urban services delivery in camps and non-camps settings, enhancing social cohesion through public space design, climate change adaptation and mitigation in urban areas, disaster risk reduction, evaluation of country policy processes and exchange of experiences and knowledge.

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. The NPC works under the overall guidance and supervision of the Regional Representative for Arab States. He/She coordinates with the UN Resident Coordinator and relevant HQ substantive branches to ensure alignment of the work programme with UN-Habitat’s Strategic Plan.

Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities:

The National Programme Coordinator (NPC) will be responsible to promote UN-Habitat mandate and managing projects operations in Jordan viz à viz the relevant institutions of the respective governments, in addition to non-government entities including civil society and private sector. The NPC will be part of the UN Country Team in Jordan, working closely with a wide variety of local, national and international partners to implement the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals.

 

UN-Habitat Representation:

Participation in UN system activities and other coordinated initiatives:, The NPC will represent UN Habitat inthe United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Jordan and the Security Management Team, and will contribute to UN common strategic planning through his/her active involvement in the United Nations Sustainable Development Framework 2018-2022 (UNSDF) and supporting the Government of Jordan to achieve the relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

NPC will provide leadership to Jordan country office in building urban programming capacity, formulate urban initiatives through the development of national urban policies, strategies and frameworks. He/She has to ensure an integrated and demand-driven approach that combines refining urban planning and design frameworks, providing infrastructure upgrading policy and technical guidance, implementing pilot projects for learning-by-doing, mainstreaming innovations through testing technology solutions and engaging multi-stakeholders to transform Jordan’s urban landscape.

 

Activities would include, inter alia:

  • Formulation and updating of the Habitat Country Programme Document (HCPD) and implementing the Host Country Agreement;

  • Support the updating of UNSDF documents by provision of inputs to the Common Country Assessment (CCA), Strategic Framework, Humanitarian Needs Overview and Humanitarian Action Plans, UN Development Assistance Framework and related documents to ensure New Urban Agenda issues and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 11 and other relevant SDGs are adequately reflected;

    •    Provide a programmatic link with National Development Plan and Jordan Response Plan to the Syrian Refugees (2020-2022)

    •    Negotiate with focal Ministries to get the New Urban Agenda issues prominently in their governments’ national development plan;

    •    Participate in the formulation and implementation of multilateral programming instruments to ensure that Government key sectorial concerns and priorities are adequately reflected, to bring to bear UN-Habitat substantive knowledge and potential contribution, and to strive to place UN-Habitat within the framework of the programming instruments.

     

    New Urban Agenda and Global Campaign:

    •    Serve as in-country liaison officer for UN-Habitat, particularly with reference to implementation of the New Urban Agenda and UN-Habitat Strategic Plan 2020-2023 and advocacy of the norms and principles of the UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign;

     

    Project and Programme Management:

    •    Contribute to project development, negotiations, implementation and monitoring of the activities, programmes and Projects related to the urban sector, good urban governance and urban management, affordable housing, rural-urban linkages and local economic development. Prepare briefing notes. Draft concept notes and project documents for Programmes/Projects design and liaise with donors to mobilize project resources with the support of the Regional Office;

    •    Identify specific requests (policy, technical and information assistance) from key governments and partners and coordinate responding to it with UN-Habitat Regional Office;

    •    Manage new and ongoing UN-Habitat supported Programmes/Projects. Strengthen liaison and communication with active UN agencies in the country as well as government counterparts, and the UN-Habitat Regional office to ensure partnership for effective delivery;

    •    Coordinate the agenda and support all visiting UN-Habitat experts and associated missions. Follow up on actions recommended or agreed during visiting missions and ensure documentation of mission’s activities in timely reports;

    •    Supervise and coordinate country staff and consultants’/experts’ involvement in Programmes and Projects implementation and ensure that reports and deliverables are of the required standard and are prepared and submitted in time;

    •    Advise Regional Office on recruitment and procurement of consultants, experts and services necessary to ensure effective country projects and programmes delivery.

     

    Coordination with UN-Habitat Partners:

    •    Identify and promote partnerships, programme opportunities, resource mobilization and extension of operational/organizational support to all UN-Habitat activities on sustainable settlements and urbanization.

    •    Strengthen linkages and information flow between UN-Habitat and local partners and correspondents through representation, liaison, networking, and attendance at meetings. Provide adequate and informed feedback to UN-Habitat Regional Office;

    •    Represent Habitat in international, regional, and national workshops and conferences hosted in by the country and overseas when delegated by the Senior Human Settlements officer or Director of ROAS. Provide adequate and relevant information feedback to UN-Habitat Regional Office and Headquarters.

    Knowledge management and information dissemination:

    •    Disseminate information including the Campaign materials, Habitat publications and global commitments and decisions on human settlements issues conjunction with the Information Office;

    •    Coordinate and provide information and materials for partners to organize the World Habitat Day event on yearly basis.

    Work implies frequent interaction with the following: national counterparts, UNDP country offices and other UN agencies through the UNCT, Human Settlement Officers in ROAS, Units, Branches/ Regional Managers, Programme Support Division and other units at Headquarters.

Competencies

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:

  • Urban Governance, Planning, and Development

Knowledge of Urban Governance, Planning, and Development and ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.

 

  • Land Use, Land-use Change and Forestry

Knowledge of ecosystem-based climate change risk management 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.

 

  • Disaster Risk Management

Knowledge of disaster risk management concepts and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.

 

  • Crisis Assessment

?Ability to use methods, tools and regional analysis to determine impact of various elements for crisis and post crisis 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.

 

  • Local Governance

Knowledge of local governance systems and institutions, decentralizations policies and laws, basic service delivery and recovery planning and ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.

 

  • Project Management

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

 

  • Social Cohesion

Knowledge of methods and experience of supporting communities to achieve greater inclusiveness, more civic participation and creating opportunities for upward mobility. 

 

  • Partnerships

?Ability to engage with other agencies, donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships.

 

  • Resource Mobilization

Ability to identify and organize programmes and projects to implement solutions and generate resources (definition is unclear and not well linked to the stated competency).

 

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

Advanced university degree in architecture, urban planning or any other social science fields (engineering, geography, urban/ municipal planning, public or business administration, environmental sustainability); A first-level university degree in combination with additional two  years of qualifying experience will be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience: 

  • Over fifteen years of field experience in formulation and implementation of human settlement or relayed programmes and projects is required;
  • Conceptual analytical and evaluative skills to conduct independent research and analysis, including familiarity with and experience in the use of various research sources, including electronic sources on the internet, intranet and other databases is required;
  • Providing policy and technical assistance to national/ state and city governments or related fields is required.
  • Familiarity and hands on experience with new urban reforms and UN developmental system reforms or related fields is required.

Language Requirements: Fluency in oral and written English and Arabic language is essential.

Others: 

  • Proficient in Word, Excel, Email, Internet and preferably programme management applications. Knowledge of GIS is an advantage.
  • Previous experience with other UN agencies is an asset.