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CONSULTANT VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Issued on: 31 July 2017
ORGANIZATIONAL LOCATION: / UN-Habitat Tunisia OfficeDUTY STATION: / Tunis, Tunisia
FUNCTIONAL TITLE: / Urban Analyst to Support City Profiling
POSITION / National Consultant
DURATION: / 6 months extended over 12 months (renewable)
CLOSING DATE: / 15 August 2017
I. BACKGROUND
Since 2011, Libya is marked by a very difficult transition, with dire consequences on the political, economic, social and humanitarian fronts. By March 2017, there were at least 256,615 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in various regions of Libya, including 53% children. The number of IDPs in Libya has doubled since 2014 with the intensification of fighting and tribal tensions in the south. This situation will protract with the destruction of homes preventing safe return of IDPs. The most affected areas with IDP arrivals include Benghazi, Misrata, Zintan and the Nafusa Mountain area, Warshafana, Zawiyah and various locations around Tripoli. Tawergha (near Misrata) is the only city where IDPs are currently returning but needs urgent recovery support given the extensive destruction suffered by the city. Libya also hosts an estimated 351,382vulnerable refugees, asylum seekers and migrants fleeing violence, weak economies and political turmoil in North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. These people face discrimination, marginalization and limited access to basic services, and some have been detained in harsh living conditions.
Living conditions of host communities are also affected as they have less access to education, affordable health care, electricity and other key social services. Furthermore, the escalation of violence is increasing the strain over basic services delivery by destroying public infrastructure, exacerbating an already inefficient services delivery system. Since 2011, the Libyan education system witnessed prolonged disruption and the damage to many school facilities. After 2014, half of the IDPs and returnees in the East do not send their children to school. In the north-east and south of the country, schools are hosting IDPs. In Benghazi, 73% of the schools are not functional and enrolment rates dropped by 50%. The country’s rate of school attendance by school-age children fell from nearly 100% to 82% nationally.
The Health system is also suffering destroyed, closed or overcrowded hospitals (20% of public hospitals are not functioning) and acute shortages of staff, essential medicine and supplies in addition to a surge in number of patients given the repeated crises. Around 1.9 million Libyans require humanitarian aid to meet their basic healthcare needs, with particular concern in Benghazi, Tripoli, Derna, Sirte, Al Jifarah, Al Kufrah, Wadi Al Hayat and Ghat. Moreover, around 44% of refugees and 33% of migrants do not have easy access to health facilities due to lack of documentation. Many are also enduring food insecurity challenges, and disruption of water supply, sanitation and electricity services. The south and the east are the most severely affected regions and the IDPs are considered as the most vulnerable, living in unfamiliar environment with limited coping capacities. The direct destruction of infrastructure by the ongoing fighting and the inefficient state management of the available networks are increasing the risk of a total collapse of state services provision, especially with the shortages of technical and financial means for the newly created municipalities to function efficiently.
To properly target humanitarian support, achieve stability, initiate recovery from conflict, and plan reconstruction in affected areas, it is vital to have in place a sufficiently robust evidence base upon which monitor the impact of the crisis on the population, including living standards and accessibility to basic services, and to plan and prioritise the needed interventions. This should be reliable, based on statistically sound methodology recognized by government and UN; area-based, in order to identify locations of greatest need and strategic importance; multi-sectoral with analysis that takes into consideration the inter-dependent relationships between sectors as is particularly the case in urban areas. A Rapid City Profiling system is envisaged, which collects and presents statistically sound data at city and neighborhood level through rapid data collection procedures and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping. The system will need to work at municipal levels, but should be suited for adoption by the Government of National Accord (GNA), where it is expected that the Ministry of Planning, through its Bureau of Census and Statistics and relevant line ministries will have an important function in data and knowledge management and sectoral analysis.
Rapid City Profiles: UN-Habitat’s Rapid City Profiles (applied in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine) provide spatial analysis of cities and neighbourhoods that take into consideration demographic changes as a result of forced displacement, and reviews the functionality of urban infrastructure and services, including water, sanitation, health and education that may be strained through rapid population influx, damaged due to conflict or neglected. Post Conflict Statistical data: UNFPA’s experience of the Iraq Knowledge Network undertaken in 2012 will be adapted for this Action. It provided the government and the humanitarian community with a common set of indicators that related to post conflict recovery that could also be incorporated into a future census. Combined Approach for Action Planning: By combining UN-Habitat’s city profiling and UNFPA’s post conflict statistical data; a sound, statistically robust baseline can be formed which can inform on key humanitarian needs and be used to develop – with relevant stakeholders, including municipalities, civil society, service providers and line ministries localised – action plans for stabilization and recovery. The combined approach, through involving the Central Statistics Bureau and developing indicators jointly with Central government, should facilitate the strengthened ownership of Government as well as UN partners, thus becomes a credible tool for joint planning. The product can also be more readily transferred to government, and can help place government in the centre of recovery planning.
II. SCOPE OF WORK
The objective of this assignment is to assist UN-Habitat Libya programme with the initiation and development of the Rapid City Profiling. Data and analyses already available through other programmes and through this assignment relevant studies should be complemented and analysed, with additional field work inside Libya (through field researchers and analysts). It will build on data produced by UNFPA for the Humanitarian Needs Overview, earlier key informant data provided by ACTED-REACH and sectoral assessments undertaken by World Banks and UN Agencies, and displacement monitoring by IOM. The following specific objectives are considered:
- Multi-sectoral, Urban Information Analysis and Monitoring Framework and System (UIAMFS) established and accessible to municipalities, national partners, humanitarian and recovery actors.
- Urban information management system established for ongoing monitoring, to be eventually maintained and updated through relevant local and national institutions
- Evidence base for recovery planning purposes established in cities of interest, validated through concrete sampling methodology. (Six City Profiles and Four Neighbourhood profiles.)
III. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Under the direct supervision of the UN-Habitat Head of Libya programme (based in Tunis), and in collaboration with the Libyan Ministry of Planning, UNFPA Libya, as well as close coordination with other concerned UN agencies and NGOs, the Consultant should fulfil the following duties and responsibilities:
i. Assess and identify the baseline data sets and base-maps in the six cities in collaboration with the GIS and mapping analyst. This will be through desk review of pre-crisis studies and information that includes:
o Urban typologies of neighborhoods
o Housing typologies (for example: formal attached multi-story, individual villas, old city, towers…).
o Land-use /land Cover (Educational, health, industrial, commercial, governmental, green areas, solid waste transit stations and landfills, electricity substations; facilities, religion, transport & com, touristic, historical sites, etc)
o formal/ informal residential.
ii. Prepare and adapt the Assessment Tools based on the urban functionality assessment tools undertaken in other countries by UN-Habitat to align with indicators agreed for Libya, and testing.
iii. Develop the templates for City Profiles: Prepare and conduct training for data collection on urban functionality (with backstopping from other UN-Habitat programme in the region). This will include one training in Tunis on urban functionality assessment to the city leaders and technical staff. In addition to at least one training in six target cities on city profiling tools and methodology, including household data collection and urban functionality assessment. Participants to include municipalities, universities, civil society organisations and data collectors.
iv. Produce the Urban Functionality Assessment in six cities/ municipalities including Benghazi, Al Jifara, Al Kufrah, Awbari, Sirte and Sebha. To examine the impact of the crisis at the neighbourhood level from a multi-sector perspective, including: access, displacement trends, damage to buildings and housing stock, damage to infrastructure (roads, electricity), impact on services (water, sewerage, waste, health, education, etc.) and markets. The process involves in each city:
o Obtaining current estimates of population and displacement aggregated by administrative and neighbourhood boundaries
o Satellite based damage analysis in collaboration with the GIS and Mapping Analyst
o Damage verification through observation and informant interviews in inaccessible locations
o Field assessments on current status of infrastructure and services using three categories: functional, non-functional, and affected, through local interviews including with service providers, and by observation; aggregating results at neighbourhood level.
o Consultations with key humanitarian sectors.
v. Support the finalization of the six city profiles and four selected neighborhood profiles combining satellite-based analysis and the field-based functionality assessment and findings of household data (by UNFPA) to provide multi-sectoral, spatially aggregated analysis of the impact of crisis in cities, and to identify priorities for action
IV. DELIVERABLES
According to the above described duties and responsibilities, the National Consultant will support the production of the six city profiles and four selected neighbourhood profiles. To achieve the objectives listed above, the assignment will entail:
i. Elaboration of Inception Report including proposed Work Plan and Timeline for the implementation of the three stages;
ii. Development of the Urban Information Analysis and Monitoring Framework UAMF;
iii. Development of the Urban Information Management system established for ongoing monitoring, to be eventually maintained and updated;
iv. Production of the Six City Profiles and Four Neighborhood profiles.
VI. TIME FRAME
The assignment will be on part-time basis, covering 6 months extended over the period of 12 months. A detailed timeline should be submitted with the Inception Report.
VII. COMPETENCIES
The following qualifications are required:
o Minimum 15 years of working experience with relevance in urban development and spatial analysis;
o Relevant working experience in developing countries (Preferably in post crisis context) and recognised works produced during previous UN assignments;
o Relevant experience in urban information analysis, information management, urban planning and design, urban policy formulation, and sound knowledge in aligning spatial analysis and demographic movements with economic, social and environmental development;
o Capability to organise and facilitate participatory meeting with the ultimate goal of working towards building consensus for information analysis and priorities identification;
o Ability to work independently with a high degree of responsibility, in a flexible manner and often under pressure;
o Good communication skills;
o Ability to write technical reports to reflect the comprehensive urban diagnosis of the profiling work;
o Sound judgment and excellent analytical skills, ability to plan and organise workshops.
VIII. EDUCATION
o Advanced university degree (Master or PhD) in urban planning, urban policy, urban geography, architecture, engineering, or a related field.
IX. LANGUAGE SKILLS
o Proficiency in spoken and written English, and Arabic.
Interested candidates should submit their cover letter, resume and duly filled P.11 form* for the position:
To: UN Habitat Tunisia office, Email:
Subject: “Urban Analyst to Support City Profiling”
The deadline for applications is the 15 August 2017. Please refer to the title of the position in the e-mail subject. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. A written test may be conducted to assess the candidates in addition to an interview.
*P.11 form can be downloaded through: https://www.un.cv/anuncios/P11_Personal_history_form.doc