VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT                                                                                                 

                                                                                                       Issue Date: 13 July 2022

BACKGROUND

 The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. UN-Habitat will lead advocacy efforts to raise awareness of sustainable urbanization issues; provide evidence-based policy advice; build capacity; develop tools, norms and standards based on best practices; work on demonstration projects and provide assistance to national governments, local authorities and other public institutions responsible for urban issues. To enable it to meet the challenges and opportunities of 21st century cities and human settlements in a more holistic manner, and also to address one of the most important needs in developing countries, the UN-Habitat Regional Representation for Africa is working with member states to develop and facilitate the implementation of a more systematic integrated approach to fostering better urban living conditions without leaving anyone behind. The overall objective is to promote innovative solutions to address the root causes of poor urbanization. The inclusive approach to advancing structural transformation and the well-coordinated mechanism to generate sustainable and smart urbanization are central to efforts to improve access to decent and affordable housing in fragile, post-conflict and peaceful settlements.

The socio-political upheaval in the northwest and southwest regions began with peaceful protests by lawyers and teachers that stemmed from perceived discrimination and marginalization in the provision of essential services, particularly in the education and judicial systems. Despite efforts through consultative meetings, armed conflict broke out between the national army and secessionist groups. To date, according to the United Nations, this crisis has resulted in the displacement of 65,500 people to Nigeria (UNHCR, Nigeria: Registration of Cameroonian Refugees, June 30, 2021) and 712,800 within Cameroon. Of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) outside of the two crisis regions, 80 percent have taken refuge in the Western (162,726) and Littoral (80,925) regions (OCHA, IOM, and CHOI, MSNA August and September 2020).

The incumbent will work with UN teams, government institutions, the private sector, and civil society organizations, as appropriate, to ensure the protection and socio-economic integration of internally displaced persons and vulnerable host communities in the Littoral and Western regions of Cameroon. This position, located in Yaoundé, Cameroon, is coordinated by the Africa Regional Representation based in Nairobi, Kenya. Under the supervision of the Program Management Officer, the incumbent will spend time contributing to the implementation of the PBF project. The project manager will ensure that actions taken, and outputs are executed on time.

 RESPONSIBILITIES 

• The staff will be responsible for the coordination and implementation of all project activities in liaison with national and local partners in consultation with implementing partners.

• He/she will oversee the overall planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting, as well as the coordination communication, visibility and risk management while providing support or advisory services to local and national partners.

• He/she also participates in external meetings, supervision missions of partners and final evaluation. He/she will plan and lead the reporting of steering and coordination committees, and technical management groups.

• He/she will initiate and build partnership with public, private and social institutions in order to ease the ownership, build adequate mechanism for the exit strategy and set up system for co-finance of activities for planned and concerted sustainability of the project.

 More specifically, the national project manager will:

• Coordinate, plan and ensure timely implement of all activities of the peacebuilding project in the Littoral and West region.
• Ensure the timely monitoring and reporting of activities, meetings and missions undertaken by the team, implementing partners and the secretariat of the Peacebuilding fund.
• Prepare the planning, organization and reporting of the Programme Coordination Committee, the Technical Management Group, and consultation with local authorities.
• Initiate and supervise the production of final evaluation.
• Plan and lead the reports of the steering committees, coordination and technical management groups. 
• Monitoring and evaluation of the project in general through the production of data collection and data analysis tools.
• Production of quarterly, annual and final project reports according to the PBF reporting schedule.
• Oversee the joint planning of communication and visibility tools, and risk management plan with UN-Women, local and national authorities, Civil Society Organisations, and implementing partners.

 EXPECTED RESULTS:

 The overall expected results annually are:

• Detailed annual work plan indicating responsibilities of team members per outputs or activities
• A division of labour between UN-Habitat and UN-Women, and their respective implementing partners.
• A framework of engaging public, private and social institutions at local, regional and national levels including international organization to be part of the planning and co-financing ongoing projects.
• Quarterly narrative report including activities executed by implementing partners.
• Annual technical and financial reports with focus on progress vis-à-vis milestone and key indicators as provided in the baseline study.
• Comprehensive and illustrated reports of consultative bodies (committees, working groups, etc;)
• Annual report on communication-visibility, risk management, and sustainability initiatives.
• Baseline, internal evaluation, and external independent final evaluation report.

The national project manager will on a monthly base provide:

• Minutes and reports of meeting held with UN-Women, implementing partners, line Ministries, Local authorities, PBF Secretariat, and UN Resident Coordination Office, and other
• The technical and financial monitoring progress report of projects.
• The list of communication, visibility, partnership and sustainability initiatives undertaken. 
• The creation and co-management of implementation monitoring bodies.
• Progress reports of planned studies, local campaigns, community participation in local governance, conflict reduction and prevention initiatives.
• The draft terms of reference and agenda of planned Steering Committee meetings (two per year).
• The schedule, draft terms of reference and agenda of Technical Committee meetings
• Internal evaluation of the project after one year.
• The draft staff, consultant and implementing partner’s evaluation report to ease their payment. 
• Joint planning and risk management plan and monthly report.

Timeline:

01 August 2022 - 31 July 2023 (12 Months)

COMPETENCIES

 Professionalism: Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to operate effectively across organizational boundaries and the ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity. Experience in mentoring staff and in coordinating their work. Demonstrated ability to manage a land program and related issues in a very volatile environment and able to reorient the program in a very innovative direction. Demonstrate ability to prepare projects documents and funding proposal and ensuring that their implementation meets all partners' expectations, including both donors and national partners. Have a sound skill in urban development challenges and decentralization in Cameroon.

 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 informedExcellent written and oral presentation skills in English. Ability to communicate complex interventions in a clear language and convincing narratives.

Planning and Organising: Pursues clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; Identifies priority activities and assignments; Adjusts priorities as required; Allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for work plan completion; Foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; Monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; Uses time efficiently. 

Accountability : Takes ownership of all responsibilities and commitments; Delivers outputs for which one has responsibility within prescribed time, cost and quality standards; Operates in compliance with organizational regulations and rules; Supports subordinates, provides oversight and takes responsibility for delegated assignments; Takes personal responsibility for his/her own shortcomings and those of the work unit, where applicable.

QUALIFICATIONS

 Education:  A Master's degree in urban planning and development, urban engineering and social sciences or in a related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Professional Experience: A minimum of eight (08) years of relevant work experience in the areas of urban planning & urban development issues; United Nations country team activities;  experience in working with internally displaced persons from conflict areas in own country, refugees and institutional capacity building is required. A record of research and reports documenting the ability to analyze technical information and to have excellent writing skills, i.e. to write clearly and concisely is desirable. Experience in working on humanitarian, peace and development nexus in Africa is desirable.

Skills

Skills in urban development and analyzing of local authorities’ response to COVID19 and management of Internally Displaced Persons in Cameroon is required.

Language:  French and English are the working languages ​​of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in written and oral French and English is a requirement.