Associate Programme Management Officer

The position is located in the Planning, Finance & Economy Section of the Urban Practices Branch (UPB) with the Global Solutions Division in Nairobi. The Global Solutions Division (GSD) is responsible for providing programmatic direction for UN-Habitat and is responsible and accountable for the programmatic delivery of the Strategic Plan. The Division leads the tools and methodology production and the integration of the various substantive competencies towards effective delivery of the Strategic Plan and the mandate of UN-Habitat. It provides substantive training to staff members and supports capacity development of Member States and partners.

The Urban Practices Branch (UPB) is the tools and methodology production and skills centre of the UN-Habitat, that develops normative guidance and cutting-edge tools through communities of urban practice. It provides technical and policy advice approaches and methodologies to MCOs/CO, government and partners and mainstreams them throughout the programme portfolio. It also ensures that the cross-cutting area of safety and the social inclusion issues of human rights; gender; children, youth and older persons; and disability are developed and mainstreamed across the Agency. The Planning, Finance & Economy Section (PFES) is responsible for coordinating the Agency’s substantive, normative and operational work on various dimensions of planning, finance and economy. The Planning, Finance & Economy Section aims to develop, document, pilot/test and disseminate planning policies, norms, standards, tools, methodologies, regulatory frameworks, operating procedures and practices at global, regional, national and sub-national levels in support of

• urban and territorial planning at all scales including urban design and public space design;
• urban finance (municipal finance and urban development/projects finance); and
• local economic development.

The Global Public Space Programme (GPSP) aims to improve the quality of public spaces and helps cities become more sustainable by providing policy advice, capacity development, knowledge sharing and support for public space regeneration and improvement. The overall goal is to support local governments in creating and promoting socially inclusive, integrated, connected, environmentally sustainable and safe streets and public spaces, especially for women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities. More concretely, the programme maps public spaces and works with cities to develop city-wide strategies and urban development frameworks. The position reports to the Manager of the Global Public Space Programme.

Responsibilities

• Support to the management of the Planning, Finance and Economy Section and Global Public Space Programme; facilitates Section/Programme wide activities and Section/Programme’s inputs to UN-Habitat wide activities; provides substantive support to development of the Section/Programme work plan; works with project managers and other colleagues for the monitoring of the Section/Programme workplan and activities; assist in organizing complex activities and events;
• Works with key partners to facilitate the development, implementation and evaluation of the Section/programme workplan and programmes; monitors and analyzes specific aspects of programme/project development and implementation; reviews relevant documents and reports; identifies problems and issues to be addressed and recommends corrective actions; liaises with relevant parties; identifies and tracks follow-up actions.
• Carries out basic research on selected aspects of projects, operations and other activities, etc., to include collecting, analyzing and presenting statistical data and other information gathered from diverse sources, particularly related to Sustainable Development Goals and other global agendas.
• Provides substantive support for policy coordination and evaluation functions, including the review and analysis of emerging urban planning and design issues and trends, participation in evaluations or research activities and studies.
• Assists in performing consulting assignments, in collaboration with partners, by planning facilitating workshops, through other interactive sessions and assisting in developing the action plan the partner will use to manage the change.
• Participates in survey initiatives; assists with design of data collection tools; issues data collection tools, reviews, analyzes and interprets responses, identifies problems/issues and prepares preliminary conclusions.
• Contributes to the preparation of various written and graphic outputs, e.g. draft background papers, analytical notes, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications, etc.
• Provides administrative and substantive support to consultative and other meetings, conferences, etc., to include proposing agenda topics, identifying and proposed participants, preparation of background documents and presentations, handling logistics, etc.
• Undertakes outreach activities; participates in the development of training workshops, seminars, etc.; participates in and makes presentations on assigned topics/activities, assist in the development of communication materials for the Section/Programme.
• Participates in field missions, including provision of substantive and administrative support, data collection, focus groups, planning and design charrettes, etc., in close coordination with UN-Habitat’s regional and country offices and by informing the Resident Coordinator’s office,
• Coordinates activities related to budget funding (programme/project preparation and submissions, progress reports, financial statements, etc.) and preparation of related documents/reports (pledging, work programme, programme budget, etc.).
• Contributes to the collection and analysis of data as well as identification of trends or patterns and provides draft insights through graphs, charts, tables and reports using data visualization methods for data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting.
• Performs other duties as required.

Education

• A first-level university degree in architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, geography or a related field is required. A first level university degree with two (2) additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is desirable.

Work Experience

• A minimum of two (2) years of progressively responsible experience in programme /project management in the field of urban development and/or in urban planning and design or related fields is required. Experience of work in planning department of the public administration or private sector is desirable One (1) year or more of experience in data analytics or related area is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is desirable. NOTE: “fluency equals a rating of “fluent” in all four areas (read, write, speak, understand) and ” Knowledge of” equals a rating of ” confident” in two of the four areas

Source: https://careers.un.org/jobSearchDescription/238682?language=en