CONSULTANT VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Issued on: 18 May 2017
ORGANIZATIONAL LOCATION: UN-HABITAT
DUTY STATION: Home-based, with mission as required
FUNCTIONAL TITLE: Consultant: Documenting good practices and Lessons – L&GLTN
DURATION: 2.5 months spread over 5 months
CLOSING DATE: 02 June 2017
BACKGROUND
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. It is the focal point for urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system. The agency supports national and local governments in laying the foundation for sustainable urban development.
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; Medium-Term Strategic and Institutional Plan (MTSIP) 2008-2013 and Strategic Plan 2014-2019.
The Land and GLTN Unit within UN-Habitat hosts the secretariat of the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN), which is a network of over seventy international institutions that was established in 2006 and since then has been working to promote secure land and property rights for all, through the development of pro-poor and gender appropriate land tools. The GLTN’s objective is to ensure that “International organisations, UN-Habitat staff and related land programmes/projects and targeted national and local governments are better able to improve tenure security of the urban and rural poor.” Phase 2 of the programme (2012-2017), seeks to build on the success of the first phase that came to an end in 2011. Phase 2 of the GLTN places emphasis on improving capacity and tools development towards the achievement of tenure security for all in both urban and rural settings. The Project has been implemented over six years with an approximate budget of USD 30 Million.
Phase 2 of the GLTN programme is coordinated by the GLTN Secretariat, which is housed within the Land and GLTN Unit of the Urban Legislation and Governance branch of UN-Habitat. The Secretariat is tasked with supporting the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the activities of the Network in collaboration with partners including at country level.
A Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the programme took place between October 2015 and October 2016. The purpose of the MTR was to establish the progress made in the implementation of the GLTN Phase 2 Programme for the period 2012-2015. The key objectives were to inform planning and decision making for the remaining period of the Phase 2 Programme and to provide recommendations for improving programme delivery.
The MTR reviewed the progress of the Programme including country level work, the strength of the Network and effectiveness of the governance arrangements. The final MTR report was produced in October 2016 and it came up with a set of recommendations for immediate and long term action in order to improve the programme delivery. The GLTN Secretariat, Steering Committee and the International Advisory Board reviewed the recommendations and agreed to implement the recommendation 1 for immediate action:
“…it is recommended that in the remaining 18 months under Phase 2, GLTN captures and demonstrates more compelling evidence of the impact of its work beyond its own sphere of control, i.e. the extent to which tool and capacity development contributes to behavioural change of target actors that will impact tenure security.”
In this context, GLTN Secretariat is recruiting a consultant to undertake the documentation of changes in policy, behaviour and attitudes that occurred as a result of development and implementation of tools and of capacity development interventions as well as lessons learnt during that process.
Purpose
The purpose of this consultancy is to collect best practices and evidence of changes in policy, behaviour and attitude among land stakeholders in relation to providing tenure security to the poor and vulnerable populations, as a result of capacity development interventions and implementation of GLTN land tools. This in turn will improve the understanding of mechanisms and impact of the programme and will improve programme design and management as the GLTN moves to Phase 3.
Objectives
- To conduct qualitative analysis of changes in policies, behaviour and attitudes among land stakeholders in relation to providing tenure security to the poor and vulnerable populations;
- To quantify these changes where possible;
- To collect success stories of changes in lives of targeted populations that resulted from changes in policies, behaviour and attitudes among land actors;
- To analyse mechanisms producing these changes, refine and track pathways of change (global, regional and country level) illustrating how GLTN interventions contributed to changes.
Scope
In terms of geographical coverage, the documentation will focus on both global and country levels. The country level documentation will focus on Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Zambia, where changes are expected to have happened building on the investment made and work done by partners, and where some data has been previously collected by the Secretariat and though the mid-term review of the GLTN Phase 2 programme.
In terms of thematic coverage, the documentation will focus on changes in attitudes and behaviour among various stakeholders in the land sector (e.g. local and national governments, donors, community leaders, etc.), brought about by the development and implementation of a number of GLTN tools.
These will be documented in a form of case studies/ best practices, particularly documenting actions done by stakeholders towards implementing fit-for-purpose land administration and other innovative pro-poor land administration and land management approaches that are aimed at improving tenure security for the poor and vulnerable populations. The purpose of this is to reflect on capacity development interventions of the GLTN, determine (show evidence) if increased capacity of stakeholders has led to a change in behaviour and attitude, and provide lessons that would inform a revision of the capacity development strategy for a GLTN Phase 3. Furthermore, case studies will also document, where applicable, any changes in peoples’ lives brought about by the change in behaviour and attitudes among land actors and decision makers.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The consultant will directly report to the Leader, Land and GLTN Unit or any authorised or designated staff. A task team will be established in UN-Habitat’s Land and GLTN Unit/GLTN Secretariat, which will supervise and be responsible for approval of the methodology and of the intermediate and final products of the documentation exercise. The GLTN Unit/ GLTN Secretariat will be responsible for providing and coordinating logistical support for the documentation consultant.
A reference group will be established for the purpose of this exercise with members of the GLTN International Advisory Board, GTLN Secretariat, key UN-Habitat staff and key partners at global and national levels. The reference group will contribute in the review of the inception report and draft documentation reports.
The GLTN Secretariat will be responsible for obtaining comments on the draft reports from the reference group. The consultant will be responsible in integrating inputs into the required reports in collaboration with GLTN Secretariat. Under this management arrangement, the consultant will be responsible for the following;
- Inception workshop
This task will take place before the data collection starts. The consultant will conduct a workshop with relevant stakeholders to determine precisely which projects to target in each of the countries and at the global level. This task will also involve a refinement of the research questions to suit each particular project that will be analysed.
- Literature review
This task will involve a desk review of the existing documents that have documented experiences and lessons from the GLTN programme implementation. These will include: individual country strategies (to get understanding of expected accomplishments), reports from the TSLI-ESA project, country reports, GLTN reports, publications on tool implementation at country level, publications and other documents by GLTN partners, etc. The desk study will produce a brief synthesis report of GLTN documentation. Based on this synthesis, the consultant will identify gaps in information that exists in the secondary data sources and will determine what primary data needs to be collected in the field.
- Data collection in the field and case study research
In order to fill the identified data gaps, to verify data obtained through desk study and to document good practises, primary data collection through field visits will be conducted in selected target countries/project sites. The overall sampling framework for primary data collection will be agreed upon in collaboration with the GLTN Secretariat during the inception workshop.
The literature review and the field work will attempt to answer the following key research questions:
- What was the problem being addressed?
- Which population was affected and how?
- What intervention(s) were done to address this?
- What has changed after the intervention(s), both among land actors and affected population?
- Development of GLTN Pathways of Change
Based on findings and data collected though the above tasks, this task will involve an analysis of different variables that led to desired changes or that prevented them. Based on these lessons learnt, an evidence based pathway of change will be developed, which would inform the development of the GLTN Phase 3.
Approach and Methodology
A consultant will propose and develop detailed methodologies for each of the research tasks. The methodologies to be used in the field work and case study research could include semi-structured interviews with key informants from implementing partners, local authorities and other relevant stakeholders as well as a series of focus groups discussions with specific target groups (including women and youth). Semi-structured interviews will also be conducted with GLTN partners and the Secretariat.
Outputs
The consultant will produce the following outputs
- Inception report (max 10 pages), including a detailed description methodology to answer the research questions as well as proposed source of information and data collection procedure. The inception report will also indicate the detailed schedule for the tasks to be undergone (work plan), the activities to be implemented and the deliverables. The inception report should be made available to GLTN Secretariat one week after the signing of the contract.
- Draft documentation report – A draft documentation report (30 pages, excluding executive summary and annexes) will be made available to the GLTN Secretariat 3 (three) months after the approval of the inception report. GLTN Secretariat will share the draft report with the members of the IAB and provide comments to the consultant 2 (two) weeks after the submission of the draft report by the consultant.
- Final documentation report – A final documentation report (maximum 30 pages, excluding executive summary and annexes) will be made available to the GLTN Secretariat 2 (two) weeks after providing the comments on the draft report to the consultant. GLTN Secretariat will share the final report with the members of the IAB and provide comments to the consultant 2 (two) weeks after the submission of the draft report by the consultant.
COMPETENCIES
Professionalism: Knowledge of concepts and approaches relevant to the land sector including land administration and capacity building. The ability to conduct independent analysis, identifying issues, formulating options and making conclusions and recommendations is of essence.
Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.
Planning and organising: ability to work under pressure, establish priorities and plan coordinate own work plan, use time efficiently and apply judgement in the context of competing deadlines.
Client Orientation: Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identifies clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; monitors on-going developments inside and outside the clients’ environment to keep informed and anticipate problems; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client.
EDUCATION
- A Master’s degree or higher in one of the following fields: social sciences, international development, land, agriculture, urban development, or a field directly related to the assignment. A relevant university degree combined with at least 10 years of relevant professional experience can be accepted instead;
EXPERIENCE
- At least 7 years of experience in conducting research, both qualitative and quantitative, in the field of international development, at global, regional and country level;
- Experience on monitoring and evaluation of multi-year program
- Knowledge of the Theory of Change and experience in documenting outcome level changes;
- Experience working in a multi-cultural environment/context and with country level experience;
- Good analytical skills;
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Proficient in English with excellent verbal and written communication skills. Knowledge of French will be considered an advantage.
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 and experience of the consultant. The fees will be paid as per agreement.
How to apply:
Applications should include:
• Cover memo (maximum 1 page)
• CV in the PHP format, accessible through the INSPIRA website (inspira.un.org) Please note, if using INSPIRA for the first time, you need to register in order to activate your account, which will allow you to log in and create a personal History Profile.
• The PHP should be attached to the application as a PDF file.
• Summary CV (maximum 2 pages), 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
• Cover memo (maximum 1 page)
Please also 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
All applications should be submitted to:
Mr./ Ms. Isidora Markicevi
UN-HABITAT
P.O. Box 30030, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya
Email: [email protected] with Subject heading as Application, Consultant: Documenting good practices and Lessons L&GLTN Phase 2 Program
Deadline for applications: 02 June 2017
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: [email protected]
More Information
- Job City Nairobi
