Kenya: Consultant: Human Rights Advisor,(Nairobi),Deadline:19 November 2014

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VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Issued on: 05 November 2014

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ORGANIZATIONAL LOCATION:**UN-Habitat

DUTY STATION:Nairobi, Kenya

FUNCTIONAL TITLE:Consultant: Human Rights Advisor

DURATION:February – December 2015 (11 months)

CLOSING DATE:19 November 2014

BACKGROUND
Human rights are at the heart of the work of the United Nations. Promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion is one of the principles and purposes of the United Nations.

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. Further, as part of the UN family, UN-Habitat is mandated to respect, promote, and protect human rights in its activities.

UN-Habitat promotes the stronger commitment of national and local governments as well as other relevant stakeholders to work towards the realization of a world with economically productive, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable cities and other human settlements.

UN-Habitat integrates the human rights framework through sustainable urban development activities under the following four strategic areas:

Strengthening already existing practical and integrated tools and good practices, as well as other guidance and training material on human rights mainstreaming to development programming and managing for results;Strengthening research, debates, training, and consultations;Strengthening policies and programmes as well as the overall UN-Habitat project cycle;Strengthening engagement with human rights mechanisms.

Housing and Slum Upgrading Branch
The Housing and Slum Upgrading Branch (HSUB) is currently charged with advancing the human rights mainstreaming agenda for UN-Habitat. The Branch works normatively to improve access to shelter for the world's poor and other vulnerable groups, particularly in developing countries and countries in transition. This is done through three units: Housing Unit, Slum Upgrading Unit, and Community Development Unit.

In addition to its human rights mainstreaming activities, the Branch and its units are implementing a large number of programmatic areas of expertise to contribute to the realisation of the Right to Adequate Housing for All, within the framework of the Global Housing Strategy to the Year 2025. (i) Housing policy including housing delivery systems, slum upgrading and slum prevention; (ii) Participatory slum upgrading and prevention; (iii) Housing rights; (iv) Sustainable housing, building materials and construction technologies, (v) Housing finance and economy; and, (vi) Community development, housing diversity and culture.

RESPONSIBILITIES
Against the above-background, and under the overall guidance of the Branch Coordinator of the Housing and Slum Upgrading Branch and the direct supervision of the Housing Unit Leader, the incumbent will carry out the following tasks:

Assist in ensuring substantive UN-Habitat representation in relevant human rights fora, including relevant inter-governmental and inter-agency processes.Coordinate relevant human rights meetings and prepare background materials, notes, and act of follow-up activities, as required.Assist the Housing and Slum Upgrading Branch in supporting the Senior Management on policy dialogues, representational and advocacy issues including with the UN Development Group’s Human Rights Mainstreaming Mechanism (UNDG-HRM),Support collaboration with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) under the auspices of the joint UN Housing Rights Programme as well as UN-Habitat strengthened engagement with UN human rights monitoring mechanisms including the Universal Periodic Review.Carry out research, compile and support preparation of relevant background and briefing material for policy discussions on specific topics of relevance to human rights and development.Assist in the overall management, coordination and implementation of programme components. This includes: development of overall Programme Document and associated work plans/budget, contribute to strategic planning; preparation of progress reports; compiling relevant information; and identifying and synthesizing best practices and lessons learnt directly linked to Programme objectives.Assist in planning and preparing training events and training materials on human rights for UN-Habitat staff.Assist in partnership building efforts with other UN Agencies, bi-lateral and multilateral organizations, and civil society institutions involved in human rights and development.Support and organize events and consultations and prepare relevant background papers.As appropriate, contribute to broader Housing and Slum Upgrading Branch and inter-branch initiatives.

COMPETENCIES
Key competencies of the assignment:
Familiarity with the UN human rights machineries
Familiarity with the concepts of human rights mainstreaming and the Human Rights Based Approach to Development Programming
Knowledge of issues affecting vulnerable and marginalized people
Experience in drafting UN-related meeting notes and reports
Excellent research, analytical, writing and editing skills; excellent oral and presentation skills in English
Prior experience in organizing global/regional events, meetings, or other collaborative events etc
Corporate competencies:
Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN and UN-Habitat
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

EDUCATION
Master’s degree in international law/international human rights law or other relevant discipline (with human rights focus)

WORK EXPERIENCE
A minimum of 2 years of relevant work experience in the field of human rights policy, research, and advocacy
Solid experience in project/programme management
Prior UN/UN-Habitat experience would be an asset.

LANGUAGE SKILLS:Fluency in English is required. Fluency in other UN languages is an advantage.

OTHER SKILLS:
Promotes knowledge management in UN-Habitat and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example
Networking skills to engage with key partners and institutions working on development, with strong advocacy skills to manage a partnership platform
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities

REMUNERATION
Payments will be based on deliverables over the consultancy period. Instalments will be made on a monthly basis, equally broken down over the 9 month duration of the consultancy. There are set remuneration rates for consultancies. The rate is determined by functions performed and experience of the consultant. The fees will be paid as per agreement.

APPLICATION GUIDANCE
Please consider the following questions when formulating your expression of interest/proposal:

How would you approach the task of mainstreaming human rights within a UN agency, fund or programme?What do you consider to be the key substantive topics/policy areas regarding human rights/housing rights as it relates to sustainable urban development?If case studies of best practice of mainstreaming human rights in sustainable urban development are to be described, how would you go about selecting, analysing and documenting these?

Interested applicants should send (email preferred):

A concise ‘expression of interest’ letterTechnical proposal, specifying how the project would be approached and with a financial proposalFull CV as well as UN P11 form (the United Nations standard personal history form available upon request or via: http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?typeid=24&catid=435&id=3867)Copies of, or references to relevant publications previously prepared by the applicant;All applicants are required to first register and upload the necessary information onto UN-Habitat e-roster: http://e-roster.unhabitat.org/

All applications should be marked “human rights” and submitted to:
Channe Lindstrøm Oguzhan
Associate Human Settlements Officer
Housing and Slum Upgrading Branch
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
UN Avenue Gigiri, UN Complex, Block 3 South - 3rd Level
P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Email: channe.oguzhan@unhabitat.org

Please also copy Christophe.Lalande@unhabitat.org and Helen.Musoke@unhabitat.org

Please be advised that since April 15th 2010, applicants for consultancies must be part of the
UN-HABITAT e-Roster in order for their application to be considered. You can reach the e-Roster
through the following link: http://e-roster.unhabitat.org/

Deadline for applications: 19 November 2014

UN-HABITAT does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. If you have any questions concerning persons or companies claiming to be recruiting on behalf of these offices and requesting the payment of a fee, please contact: recruitment@unon.org

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