Kenya: Consultant- Best Practices and Decentralization,(Nairobi, Kenya),Deadline:10 December 2014

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Issued on: 1 December 2014

ORGANIZATIONAL LOCATION:UN-Habitat

DUTY STATION:Headquarters, Nairobi

FUNCTIONAL TITLE:****Consultant- Best Practices and Decentralization

DURATION:6 weeks extended over 3 months (January – March 2015)

CLOSING DATE:****10 December 2014

BACKGROUND
UN-Habitat, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. It is the focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system.
UN-Habitat envisions well-planned, well-governed, and efficient cities and other human settlements, with adequate housing, infrastructure, and universal access to employment and basic services such as water, energy and sanitation. To achieve these goals, derived from the Habitat Agenda of 1996, UN-Habitat has set itself a medium-term strategy approach for each successive six-year period. The previous and the current strategic plans, Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan (MTSIP) 2008-2013 and Strategic Plan 2014-2019. Further as rationale of this project, the Commission on Human Settlements, at its 17th session in 1999 and its 18th session in 2001 decided that the documentation of best practices should be expanded to include examples of good policies and enabling legislation. The decision was further endorsed in paragraph 63 of the Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millennium, adopted by the General Assembly at its special session in June 2001.
The project on Identification of Best Practices, Policies and Enabling Legislation in the Local Delivery of Basic Urban Services links to the MTSIP focus area 1: Effective advocacy, monitoring, partnerships, focus area 2: Promotion of participatory planning, management and governance, and Focus Area 3: Environmentally sound basic urban infrastructure and services.
The goal of the project was to support local and national governments in selected countries of priority for the Spanish cooperation to elaborate sustainable urban development priorities with special emphasis on urban governance to be achieved through a more balanced distribution of responsibilities and resources amongst the different spheres of government and thanks to better planning and efficiency of the public administration.
The project had six different components:

Component 1 – Phase II of the National Dialogues on urban governance to two additional Latin American countriesComponent 2 – Analysis of the sustainable urban development network from the point of view of best practices, policies and enabling legislationComponent 3 – Technical assistance on urban and socio-economic planningComponent 4 – Consolidation of a group of Ministries and High Authorities on sustainable urban developmentComponent 5 – Supporting municipal urban planning through decentralized cooperationComponent 6 - Consolidation of UN-Habitat activities in Spain

UN-Habitat is undertaking this evaluation of the project in order to assess to what extent the overall support and technical assistance of UN-Habitat has been relevant, efficient and effective, and sustainable. The sharing of findings from this evaluation will inform UN-Habitat and key stakeholders, including partners, and member states, on what was achieved and learned from the project.

The evaluation will be conducted over a period of three months, from January to March 2015.

The evaluation shall be independent and carried out following the evaluation norms and standards of the United Nations system. A variety of methodologies will be applied to collect information during the evaluation. These include review of documents relevant to the project, key information interviews and consultations, including focus group discussions, and field visits.

RESPONSIBILITIES
The International Consultant has overall responsibility for producing the deliverables according to the quality standards of UN-Habitat for evaluation reports.
Among the deliverables expected, there will be

Inception Report with Evaluation Work plan;Evaluation Reports Drafts;Final Evaluation Report not exceeding 40 pages not including annexes. Final

report should be delivered in both English and Spanish.
Compliance with United Nations Evaluation Group standards and UN-Habitat evaluation report format is expected. Examples of evaluation reports are available from the website of the UN-Habitat Evaluation Unit: (http://www.unhabitat.org/evaluation).
Full details of the evaluation are provided in the attached Terms of Reference.
COMPETENCIES
Professionalism: Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter. Good research, analytical and problem-solving skills. Conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.
Communication: Excellent and effective written and oral skills. Ability to present information in a concise and accurate manner, proven ability for preparing comprehensive documents and reports.
Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals. Solicits input by valuing others ideas and expertise and is willing to learn from others.
Planning & Organizing: Proven ability to plan, coordinate and monitor own work and that of others. Ability to work under pressure and uses time efficiently. Identifies priority activities and assignments, adjust priorities as required.
EDUCATION
Advanced academic degree in political sciences, social economy, governance, local public administration, reform of the state, or similar relevant fields.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Extensive evaluation experience and experience in working with projects/ programmes in the field of decentralization, urban development, local governance, and urban basic services.
The consultant should have proven ability to present credible findings derived from evidence and present conclusions and recommendations supported by findings. Experience and familiarity with public administration in various parts of the world is an asset.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Excellent English and Spanish are required. The consultant must be fully competent in both languages.
OTHER SKILLS

Specific knowledge and understanding of UN-Habitat and role in supporting the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.Recent and relevant experience in working in developing countries.Integrity, sound judgment, analytical skills, networking and interpersonal skills, and proven report writing skills.

REMUNERATION
Payments will be based on deliverables over the consultancy period. There are set remuneration rates for consultancies. The rate is determined by functions performed, qualifications, and experience of the consultant. The remuneration will be paid as per agreement.

Applications should include:

Cover memo (maximum 1 page)Summary CV (maximum 2 pages) or P11, indicating the following information:Educational Background (incl. dates);Professional Experience (assignments, tasks, achievements, duration by years/ months);Other Experience and Expertise (e.g. internships/ voluntary work, etc.);Expertise and preferences regarding location of potential assignments;Expectations regarding remuneration.

All applications should be submitted to:
Ms. Lucy Waikwa-Omondi
UN-Habitat Evaluation Unit
Email: lucy.waikwa-omondi@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: 10 December 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