Terms of Reference

Post Title:                    Urban Planner – Programme Support for West Africa, Consultant 
Project Title:               Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Human Settlements in the Sahel 
Department/ Office:     United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) 
Duration:                     Twelve (12) months 
Start:                           12th May 2025
Duty Station:               Dakar, Senegal

Background and justification 

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the agency for human settlements mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. The Regional Office for Africa supports African countries developing human settlements projects to address fast urbanization of the continent and achieve sustainable development by focusing on challenges faced by cities in Africa.

UN-Habitat in West Africa is expanding from 5 active country programmes in 2020 to 16 by the end of 2025 and has a fast-growing portfolio with a total of almost 80 million, that has a potential to grow much more in the future. To address the needs of the region, UN-Habitat is setting up a West African Hub in Dakar, Senegal, that will oversee the regional portfolio, providing technical, financial, and administrative guidance to the countries programme, as well as contribute to mobilize resources through new initiatives in the region. There is a high need to strengthen UN-Habitat’s activities for the region, to be closer to Member States and enhance programme delivery and resource mobilization.

UN-Habitat aims at strengthening the Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus in the region and to mobilize its spatial planning tools and multi-scaled territorial approach to understand the system of cities of the Sahel to help make the fast-growing Sahelian urbanization a more sustainable, inclusive, safe and resilient one. UN-Habitat is advancing on the preparation of a Strategic Spatial Action Plan of the Liptako Gourma area (SSAP-LG) and the Kano Agadez Corridor (SSAP-KA) under the leadership of the Governments. The SSAPs are intended to serve as a strategic territorial planning tool to enable the respective governments to make informed decisions on where to invest and why, to lay a solid foundation for the development of this transboundary region rich in human and natural resources, now weakened by conflict and population displacements.

The project Promoting a Multi-Scaled Territorial Approach: Strengthening Urban Resilience in the Liptako-Gourma Region to better prepare for Protracted Displacement is aligned with the Spatial Development Strategy for the Sahel (SDSS), concentrating on the Liptako-Gourma transboundary area shared among Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. The Liptako-Gourma is experiencing significant challenges due to rapid urbanisation, political instability, and increasing vulnerabilities because of conflict and climate change impact. To address these issues, the project aims to enhance urban and spatial planning and management capacities through the establishment of a spatial observatory in the Liptako-Gourma Authority (LGA).

Mauritania, one of the Sahelian countries, has experienced since independence (1960) rapid and uncontrolled urbanization due to the rural exodus caused by successive cycles of drought. As part of the strengthening of its housing and urbanization policy, the country has signed a Contribution Agreement with UN-Habitat to develop a new National Urban Housing Strategy. The project kickstarted end of 2023 and is still on-going, with the diagnostic of urban housing currently been finalized. There are on-going efforts in resource mobilization in Mauritania to promote an integrated territorial planning approach in the Hodh El Chargui region.
Freetown, the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, contributes to approximately a third of the country’s Gross Domestic Product despite housing only 15% of its population. The growth of the city was exacerbated by the 1991-2002 civil war. As consequence, the city has grown mainly in an unplanned way, and the infrastructure and built environment of the Central Business District (CBD) has fallen into a bad state of repair both caused and exacerbated by the relocation of many public institutions and businesses to safer and more amenable areas of the city. In response, Freetown City Council (FCC), the city of Zurich, and UN-Habitat have joined forces to implement a City-to-City Cooperation (C2CC) Programme focusing on the urban regeneration of Freetown's Central Business District (CBD). 
Support is needed within UN-Habitat’s Regional Office for Africa (ROAF) for managing the growing portfolio in West Africa, and undertaking the implementation of its activities in the Sahel including the finalization of the Spatial Development Strategy for the Sahel (SDSS) in its second phase, the implementation of the Liptako-Gourma spatial observatory, the elaboration of a National Urban Housing Strategy for Mauritania, and the implementation of the C2CC in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Activities and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision Senior Human Settlement Officer for West Africa (SHSO) and the Programme Associate for West Africa, the consultant will carry out the following duties and responsibilities:
 - Assist the Senior Human Settlement Officer (SHSO) in implementing the activities of the second phase of the project ‘’Inclusive, Safe, Resilient and Sustainable Human Settlements in the Sahel”, by coordinating and planning the activities, facilitating the recruitment processes, drafting content and report documents and providing technical support to the consultants;
- Preparation of the sub-regional and national consultations for the presentation of the SDSS and elaboration of the SSAPs (LG and KA);
- Assist the SHSO in implementing the activities of the project “Promoting a Multi-Scaled Territorial Approach: Strengthening Urban Resilience in the Liptako-Gourma Region to better prepare for Protracted Displacement” (UNDESA);
- Assist the SHSO in the resource mobilization efforts in the region, with a specific focus on Mauritania;
- Assist the SHSO in the implementation of the activities for the National Housing Strategy for Mauritania and provide technical support to the consultants;
- Provide guidance on the integration of projects under the scope of UN-Habitat’s programmes in West Africa in the Integrated, Planning, Management, and Reporting (IPMR) platform, including planning and monitoring;
- Assist the SHSO in establishing the UN-Habitat’s West African HUB, covering the portfolio and projects in the region;
- Provide inputs and contributions to concept notes and project documents, and guidance for the internal project validation procedure, as well as recruitment processes.

Deliverables

• Reports on the implementation of activities of the Sahel project second phase (SSAPs), including financial reports, ToRs, minutes, and revisions.
• Drafting of materials (including ToRs, letters, budgets…) for the planned sub-regional and national consultations to elaborate the Strategic Spatial Action Plan for the Liptako Gourma and the Kano-Agadez area.
• Reports on the implementation of activities of the project Multi-Scaled Territorial Approach: Strengthening Urban Resilience in the Liptako-Gourma Region to better prepare for Protracted Displacement (UNDESA).
• Drafting of materials for the planned workshops within the activities for the National Housing Strategy for Mauritania, including the Terms of reference and PPT presentations.
• Inputs and contributions to the diagnostic for the National Housing Strategy for Mauritania.
• Inputs and contributions to resource mobilization efforts in the region, with a focus on Mauritania, including coordination with the UNCT activities.
• Documents and materials for the implementation of the C2CC project in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
• Revision and finalization of the results framework for the C2CC.
• Inputs and contributions to the administrative processes (amendments, signatures, recruitment, payment requests…) related to the West Africa portfolio.
• Inputs and contributions to the quarterly reports to PRC Secretariat on the status of the monitoring of project in the IPMR platform
• Drafting of documents for submission to Project Review Committee.
• Drafting and inputs to the strategy for UN-Habitat in West Africa and the establishment of a West Africa hub, including ToRs, PPT presentations, and follow-up with HQ.

Qualifications/ Experience / Skills 
Experience

• At least 4 years of experience working in architecture, urban planning, project management, social science or related fields;
• Experience working on urban planning and resilience.

Skills

• Ability to work in team and individually;
• Capacity in research and information analysis;
• Good communication and writing skills;
• Proficiency in oral and written French and English is required.

Qualifications
Master’s degree in urban design, architecture, environmental studies, sustainable development or equivalent.

Please send your CV to Ms. Julia de Faria (julia.defaria@un.org), indicating: ‘’Programme Support for West Africa’’, before the 2 May 2025