The ultimate service of the consultancy is to contribute to the delivery of “Output 3: Training package and digital tool for NbS and EbA”. This will in turn contribute to strengthening the delivery of UN-Habitat’s Subprogramme 3 on climate action and improved urban environment and flagship programme on resilient settlements for the urban poor using biodiversity as a new entry point.
Home Based
The consultancy will be home based on a full-time basis for a period of 3.5 months starting March 2022.
Background to UN-Habitat
The UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations agency responsible for urbanization and human settlements, mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. UN-Habitat helps the urban poor by transforming cities into safer and healthier places with better opportunities. It works with organizations at every level, including all spheres of government, civil society, private sector and the Habitat Agenda Partners.
Background to Consultancy
The Global Solutions Division (GSD) at UN-Habitat headquarters is responsible for providing programmatic direction for UN-Habitat and is responsible and accountable for the programmatic delivery of the strategic plan. The division leads the tools and methodology production and the integration of the various substantive competencies towards effective delivery of the mandate of UN-Habitat. It provides substantive training to staff members and supports capacity development of Member States and partners.
As the world tackles the current pandemic and the climate emergency, the sixth mass extinction of wildlife on earth is accelerating. Though often addressed in silos, the climate change and biodiversity crises are intertwined. The loss of biodiversity reduces the resilience of both the planet and people and narrows our response options for defeating climate change.
Today, over 50 per cent of the world’s population live in cities, a figure expected to rise to over 65 percent by 2030. One of the greatest challenges for climate change adaptation is building resilience for the close to one billion urban dwellers who live in informal settlements. With increasing trends of urban expansion, there is urgency to act now, using cities as catalysts to create more sustainable, resilient, and just societies. While more than 60 per cent of the area projected to be urban in 2030 has yet to be built, it is important that cities plan their growth considering conservation of the world’s biodiversity.
UN-Habitat believes that the spatial dimension of biodiversity conservation intersects with the location of informal settlements. The current rate of city expansion, lack of planning, land management and housing strategies in the global south (especially in LDCs and SIDS) pushes the most vulnerable urban poor into informal settlements. Informal settlers often reside on sites unattractive for development due to susceptibility to climate hazards and disaster risks while penetrating the periphery of ecological assets that serve as natural carbon sinks. Nature-based solutions (NBS) and Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in partnership with the urban poor can thus lower the pressure points through reduced heat island effects, improved flood retention, stabilized erosion prone land, which stimulates socio-economic security, and in particular food security for the urban poor. This brings the triple dividend of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, protecting ecological assets and biodiversity, and effectively adapting urban poor communities and the built environment to climate change.
UN-Habitat’s project “An integrated approach to strengthening climate action, improved urban environment, and resilient settlements for the urban poor” supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, aims at enhancing capacities and tools available to support Member States in achieving ambitious climate change goals that promote biodiversity and ecosystems protection and build climate resilience for the urban poor.
It is composed of five interrelated work packages, including - Coordination Mechanisms for the implementation of Biodiversity Solutions for Resilient Informal Settlements; Knowledge and Partnerships for the Biodiversity, NBS, EbA, green infrastructure, and informal settlements nexus; Integration of NBS in selected countries, and the development of a Framework for Urban Vulnerability Atlas.
This assignment will contribute to the capacity-building component of the project: “Nature-based solutions – tool finalization for global use in LDCs, digitalization and dissemination”.
Objectives
This assignment consists in transforming the existing methodology and associated materials developed by UN-Habitat, including training materials on “Urban Ecosystem-based Adaptation: Building climate resilience of urban systems” into a fully-fledged, flexible and modular training toolkit. This toolkit will be designed to be easily accessible and useable for in-person, online facilitated and online self-paced delivery. This will include a self-paced online course hosted on the UN-Habitat Learn platform.
The innovation and e-learning component will be key to this toolkit, as the e-learning opportunity is the more reliable approach to the uncertainty caused by the lasting COVID-19-related travel restrictions, and an opportunity to disseminate and scale-up key information and messages. It further allows for easier replication in other SIDS and LDCs as participants would be given access to UN-Habitat’s e-learning management system.
Duties and Responsibilities
The consultant will report to the Programme Management Officer and team at the Capacity Development and Training Unit (CDTU) will be responsible for supervising and guiding the selected consultant in each step of the process. The consultant will apply instructional design expertise to develop the training toolkit on “Urban Ecosystem-based Adaptation: Building climate resilience of urban systems”, which will comprise elements for in-person, online facilitated and online self-paced learning using multi-media forms of delivery.
More precisely, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:
• Design the full concept paper for the training toolkit including the approach and all necessary components for in-person, online facilitated and online self-paced delivery, based on the existing training materials and in consultation with the project team. The concept paper will clearly present the target audience and learning objectives of the training toolkit, and how the different elements can be combined for the in-person, online facilitated, or online self-paced delivery of the training.
• Analyze the existing methodology to define learning objectives, structure the toolkit and facilitate consultations amongst the project team to validate the technical/substantive approach.
• Take stock and analyze the offering of existing online courses provided by other organizations in the thematic area to avoid duplication and suggest linkages to relevant content throughout the training where applicable.
• Based on the above, finalize the “offline” component of the toolkit, utilizing available materials and methodologies developed by UN-Habitat and adding missing parts of the training package. This component will be used for both in-person and hybrid sessions in countries.
• Design the “online facilitated” component of the toolkit: Adapt the offline components for online facilitated sessions.
• Design the “online self-paced” component of the toolkit: Design the digital structure of the toolkit. Prepare an outline of the e-learning course, with detailed structure and content descriptions of the various parts/modules. Individual modules may include text, images, interactive functionality, videos and/or interviews with the project team and partners involved in the implementation of the methodology. This component will be produced in close collaboration with UN-Habitat’s digital learning expert.
• Both the “offline” and “online” components will be aligned, in terms of learning process and content.
Academic Qualifications: A master's or advanced degree in instructional design, pedagogics, development studies, urban planning, international relations, environmental studies, communications or related field is required. First degree with two additional years of experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.
Experience: 1. A minimum of ten years’ experience of relevant professional experience in the design and management of training materials and e-learning courses, management of Learning Management Systems (LMS), preferably Moodle is required.
2. Experience in instructional design and creation of training materials for the development and sustainable development sector required, experience with designing training materials related to issues related to urban issues in the global South, climate adaptation and urban resilience is highly desirable.
3. Demonstrated experience in project management with the proven ability to work independently and meet deadlines is an added advantage.
4. Proven experience working within a multi-cultural environment, and capacity to work in a team, to manage projects for specific target audiences from start to end and to deliver concrete products based on tight timelines is desirable.
5. Ability to research industry best practices and to identify emerging trends for possible application to the context of international organisations is desirable.
Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat.
For this consultancy, fluency in oral and written English is required. Fluency in other UN languages is an added advantage.
Competencies
Professionalism: Ability to plan and prioritize effectively during heavy workload periods; ability to report on work; a critical thinking approach; ability to adapt to the demands of varied audiences.
Communication: Excellent written and spoken communication skills.
Teamwork: Strong interpersonal skills; ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with colleagues within and outside the organization
THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.