Human Settlements Officer/Technical Supervision

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

UNOPS mission is to expand the capacity of the UN system and its partners to implement peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations that matter for people in need.  Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, UNOPS vision is to always satisfy partners with management services that meet world-class standards of quality, speed and cost effectiveness.

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the United Nations agency for cities and human settlements. UN-Habitat’s humanitarian work is guided by its Strategic Policy on Human Settlements in Crisis and the agency is a member of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC).  At the core of UN- Habitat’s work is UN-Habitat People’s Process and New Urban Agenda, which places participatory urban analysis, and planning as a central pillar of humanitarian response, recovery, and the rehabilitation of fragile cities.

UN-Habitat has been active in Iraq since 1996. After 2003, UN-Habitat was largely engaged in early recovery efforts, particularly supporting internally displaced persons (IDPs) through the provision of shelter and reconstruction solutions. Since then, the portfolio of UN-Habitat Iraq has expanded beyond emergency responses to include both humanitarian programmes, such as providing IDPs and returnees with shelter and water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure, and promoting urban recovery of areas affected by conflict, and developmental programmes that provide technical support to address durable solutions for IDPs and informal settlers and essential capacity building for relevant government institutions. UN-Habitat Iraq follows a multi-dimensional and coherent approach in tackling diverse urban issues. These range from emergency response such as providing safe and basic shelter for IDPs and returnees, to projects that aim to build and develop the capacities of local and national governments in planning and managing urbanization, to more theoretical endeavors including research and analysis on the dynamics of urbanization and the impacts of armed conflict.

The objective of this assignment is to provide technical supervision and inputs in project development and management, and coordinate and support ongoing projects in monitoring and reporting.

The incumbent reports to the Head of Programme and the Deputy Head of Programme/ UN-Habitat-Iraq.

The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS. 

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Deputy Head of UN-Habitat Iraq Programme, and/or his/her designate, the Human Settlements Officer will be assigned to UN-Habitat Erbil Office and be responsible for the following duties:

·         Providing technical and management support in human settlements analysis, needs assessments and project development and other activities, participating in field missions to carry out high level consultations and other activities aimed at development of human settlements policies and strategies for new programmes.

·         Provide technical supervision and inputs to bidding process, including preparation of the bid documents and Bill of Quantities as well as bid evaluation.

·         Conduct frequent field missions to supervise field activities and construction/rehabilitation works in liaison with UN-Habitat Field Engineers.

·         Ensuring an effective and efficient execution of an urban development project within the limit of the allocated resources, by providing appropriate technical support to projects through field visits, training and evaluation, coordination and monitoring activities related to environmentally sound urban infrastructure and services.

·         Assisting in the strengthening of inter-divisional collaboration to achieve better linkages between normative and operational support to better coordinate and support the implementation of the organization’s work programme. 

·         Participates in the development, implementation and evaluation of assigned programmes/projects; monitors and analyzes programme/project development and implementation; reviews relevant documents and reports; identifies problems and issues to be addressed and initiates corrective actions; liaises with relevant parties; ensures follow-up actions.

·         Performs consulting assignments, in collaboration with the client, by planning facilitating workshops, through other interactive sessions and assisting in developing the action plan the client will use to manage the change.

·         Researches, analyzes and presents information gathered from diverse sources.

·         Assists in policy development, including the review and analysis of issues and trends, preparation of evaluations or other research activities and studies.

·         Organizes and prepares written outputs, e.g. draft background papers, analysis, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications, etc.

·         Provides substantive backstopping to consultative and other meetings, conferences, etc., to include proposing agenda topics, identifying participants, preparation of documents and presentations, etc.

·         Initiates and coordinates outreach activities; conducts training workshops, seminars, etc.; makes presentations on assigned topics/activities.

·         Participates in or leads field missions, including provision of guidance to external consultants, government officials and other parties and drafting mission summaries, etc.

·         Coordinates activities related to budget funding (programme/project preparation and submissions, progress reports, financial statements, etc.) and prepares related documents/reports (pledging, work programme, programme budget, etc.).

·         Performs other duties as required.

Work implies frequent interaction with the following: Counterparts, officers and technical staff in the relevant Secretariat Units and UN funds and programmes and other UN specialized agencies, representatives and officials in national and local governments, non-governmental organizations and consultants.

Professionalism: 

Knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts and approaches relevant to particular sector, functional area or other specialized field.  Ability to identify issues, analyze and participate in the resolution of issues/problems. Ability to assist with data collection using various methods. 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.  Ability to apply judgment in the context of assignments given, plan own work and manage conflicting priorities.  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.

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

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.

Planning& Organizing:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in architecture, civil engineering, urban planning, project management or any other relevant field. A first level university degree in combination with relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum five years of progressive experience in areas related to human settlements, civil engineering, project or programme management and/or development, with at least two years of similar experience at the international level.
• Proven experience in supervision of civil engineering-related projects, projects/programme design and implementation with the UN or other international agencies is desirable.
• Experience in post-conflict areas is an added advantage.
• Proficiency in both spoken and written English is required..

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.