Consultant – Development of the Training Companion at UN Human Settlements Program

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT Issued on: 25 July, 2016

ORGANIZATIONAL LOCATION: UN-HABITAT

DUTY STATION: Nairobi, Kenya

FUNCTIONAL TITLE: Consultant – Development of the Training Companion on the implementation of the 3-pronged approach to sustainable urban development

DURATION: 3 months

CLOSING DATE: 8 August 2016

BACKGROUND
UN-Habitat is the United Nations programme working towards a better urban future. Its mission is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all.
UN-Habitat advocates a data-driven integrated urban management and urban planning practice that simultaneously adopts the implementation of (1) an urban/spatial plan that addresses density, land use, streets and public spaces, and the definition of public and private domains through urban design; (2) a legal plan that contains the rules of land subdivision and land occupation, as well as the regulatory frameworks governing planned urbanization; and (3) the financial plan to mobilize resources for its realization. The City Prosperity Initiative, herein referred to as CPI, is the backbone of data and information to sustain evidence-based propositions and well-informed monitoring of the implementation of the new approach, herein referred to as the Three-Pronged Approach (3PA).
The 3PA is a tool focused on practical implementation aimed at supporting urban practitioners, decision makers and policy makers to address challenges of urbanization and help their cities to adopt a development path towards planned urbanization. The 3PA advocates for increased cross-sectoral synergies, delivery-focused partnerships, and streamlined and effective procedures. It promotes participation throughout the integrating planning process and inclusiveness with respect to the outcomes.
The CPI has been created by UN-Habitat to support local and national governments’ efforts to compile reliable and timely information to inform problem analysis and decision-making to foster urban prosperity for all and sustainable urban development. The CPI also enables UN-Habitat to implement global monitoring, adaptable to national and local levels, which can provide a general framework to allow cities, countries, and the international community to measure progress in their own sustainable development efforts and identify existing constraints.
With the overall aim of enhancing institutional capacity of national and local governments to plan, manage, and monitor policies and address the challenges of the New Urban Agenda, UN-Habitat’s Capacity Development Unit (CDU) is running the project “Capacity Development in the New Urban Agenda” that entails the production of didactic and problem-solving oriented tools to enhance knowledge and skills about the 3PA and the CPI methodology. This project is part and parcel of UN-Habitat efforts to develop human resources and institutional capacity for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and promote a paradigm shift in addressing urbanization challenges in the developing world. The integration of CPI with 3PA aims at the development of a new approach led by data and indicators to sustain an integrated and transformative way of addressing urban problems in the developing world.
A working paper has been produced, which explains the 3PA and CPI concepts and provides the foundation for the design of a training programme. The associated training guidelines provide the general structure for different modalities of training and recommend existing UN-Habitat toolkits to address the capacity needs of different target groups. In the long run, the Project aims to foster multiplication of these tools via training of trainers and subsequent capacity development initiatives.
The objective of this consultancy is to develop the “Training companion” of the 3PA, which will comprise the course handbook, course training sessions outlines, case studies, references and notes to trainers and users of the companion, among other sections. The Training Companion is the tool to deliver training on the “Implementation of the principles of Planned Urbanization” and accompany interactive learning and other learning initiatives.
For this consultancy, the incumbent will draw on the Working Paper on the Principles of Planned Urbanization, the Training Guidelines already produced, as well as the Global Urban Lecture delivered by Dr. Joan Clos . The Training Companion will include all the didactic material needed to develop skills and knowledge of specific target groups, raise awareness about the 3PA and the CPI, and incur a culture of multi-disciplinary approaches to address urbanization challenges and facilitate making use of UN-Habitat tools to fulfil cities’ own development commitments.
The Training Companion will introduce the 3PA and CPI concepts, provide training methodologies and case studies to illustrate the applicability of these approaches, for three groups of audiences (See 3.1 section below). Though the choice of training methodology will vary depending on the audience and training duration, in general it should remain interactive, problem-solving and result-based. The trainer encompasses all the different roles in an adult training environment, such as coordinator, lecturer, facilitator, mediator and pedagogue. Trainees will develop their skills and knowledge, be empowered to contribute, bringing their own knowledge and experience to the training environment and further refine their know-how in using the 3PA and CPI in their work.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Task 1: Background work.

• Induction and orientation meeting: The consultant will meet with the supervisor and the task manager, Capacity Development Unit, either via Skype, teleconference, or in person if possible, at the beginning of the consultancy. This meeting aims to outline the consultancy in more depth and provide the background to the project, and highlight the expected outcomes. It provides an opportunity to reach a common understanding on the tasks.
• Inception report: The consultant should produce a concise inception report that will include a review of the working paper, the Global Urban Lecture of Dr. Joan Clos, training guidelines and supporting literature, including but not limited the Draft New Urban Agenda of Habitat III and the Agenda 2030 with specific attention to the SDG11 on cities and human settlements. The inception report will describe how the consultant intends to carry out the assignment, illustrating how the Working Paper and the Training Guidelines will be translated into a practical and skill-development capacity development module(s) and sessions. The report should be clear and concise and not be more than 10 pages. It should also outline any changes to the initial timeline as agreed at the commencement of the consultancy.

Task 2: Production of training material

• Case study research

The consultant will undertake research and seek case studies that illustrate the application of the 3PA in cities. The starting point will be cases referenced in the Working paper and recommendations provided in the Training guidelines, as well as inputs by UN-Habitat’s regional and country offices.
Case studies will be presented on a template to be supplied by CDU and should be accompanied by presentation material, such as power point presentations, videos or other interactive learning instruments to be used during training sessions, as well as bibliographic references and sources used.

The case studies should exemplify the integration of each component of the 3PA.

• Draft training packs

The consultant will develop a complete draft training pack with differentiated modules to address the needs of specific target groups as follows:

• City leaders and decision makers. For training courses that are unlinked to any on-going projects, they are short (1 day) and require significant follow-up in order to harvest the potential interest in further training and/or technical cooperation activities. Main training objectives are to develop and/or improve participant’s understanding on the CPI and the integration of the three components of the 3PA – to design, to finance, to regulate – and to stimulate the formulation of evidence-based and multidisciplinary approaches. Such training package is designed to address needs expressed by UN-Habitat partners.
• Urban Practitioners and Technical Cadre of Municipalities and Non-Governmental Organizations that deal directly with problems of urbanization. The training courses have a longer duration and broader curriculum focusing on specific elements of the 3PA approach in cities, neighbourhoods, slums, old port areas, inner city decay, etc. A maximum of a 5-day workshop format is common. It may be closely connected with the first module for decision makers and address specific needs of practitioners/technical staff (e.g. designing, financing and regulating the neighbourhood development) as much as municipal leaders (e.g. Mayors, chief planner, CFO, CLO overseeing this process and embedding it within the larger urban development strategy).
• General audience. Aiming to equip new generations of urban actors with proven tools and evidence-based strategies for better/planned urbanization, an online capacity development package will be produced. It will blend elements of self-paced learning i.e. the Global Urban Lecture Series with reference literature and online exercises.

Each training pack will include annotated background materials and reference to the case studies, indicating where they serve the learning process. The learning packs will also include;

• An outline of the training pack depicting its goals, learning objectives, outcomes and target groups.
• Indications about capacity needs assessment for each training audience.
• Course Outline and course Structure. Narrative and Draft programme/agenda of the training activity;
• Draft outline of each session including title, duration, content, learning objectives and expected outcome, recommended and compulsory reading;
• Trainer’s guidance notes;
• Background, references and case studies (see section 2.1) supporting each of the sessions.
• Practical exercises, simulation exercises to support the learning sessions and allow for application of particular tool and skills/competencies.
• Case studies (references, sources, presentation, learning objective) (see 2.1 above)
• Power point presentations following agreed templates, structure and size (number of slides). Visual aids may include videos and other training support materials.

Tasks 2.1 and 2.2 will be submitted to UN-Habitat for review.

• Progress report: Mid-way through Task 2 the consultant should submit a two-page progress report. It should contain an outline of the progress achieved so far, and, more importantly, it should outline major obstacles or areas where further support from the Supervisor is required.

Task 3: Peer review, finalisation of training packs and final submission

Task 2 reports and material submitted to UN-Habitat will be reviewed and commented upon by an expert panel. The panel will provide comments and recommendations for improvement of the material within two weeks after its receipt. The consultant will improve the material as per comments received.

• Production of final training material: The consultant will incorporate comments and suggestions raised at the peer review, and those provided by UN-HABITAT staff. He/she will refine the draft case studies and training packs and prepare the final and complete versions.

Task 4: Testing and Delivering the Training Module

UN-Habitat will organize a workshop to pilot-test the training material with a group of experts. The consultant will support the running of a workshop with the following tasks;

• Enhancing the training packs, sessions, presentations and case studies to be presented in the workshop: Prepare the training materials for testing and discussion. The Consultant is expected to travel to the location of the workshop and be in charge of the training delivery. Travel costs are to be covered by UN-Habitat and are not included in the current contract.
• Evaluation and Assessment of the results and learning outcomes with the participants attending the module: The consultant is expected to make an oral and written evaluation of the training module and its various components in order to depict the relevance and value of the training. This will bring a series of advice or recommendations on how to improve and refine the training module.
• Refine and improve the training module for the ultimate final & improved version: The consultant will incorporate all the comments, advice and recommendations raised in the workshop into the ultimate version of the training materials.

The consultant shall produce the following deliverables:

• Induction meeting summary (max 2 pages)
• Inception Report (max 10 pages)

2.1 Case Studies report. At least eight, one case study in each of the areas recommended in the Training Guideline (templates to be provided by UN-Habitat).

• Draft Training packs, as specified in section 2.2 above, which will be circulated for comments. The packs will include presentations/sessions according to agreed template, structure and number of slides to be used on each session.
• Progress report as specified above.
• Submission of the revised case studies and training packs, which will incorporate all the comments from the draft report.
• Testing & delivering the training packs in a workshop organized by UN-Habitat in a location/venue to be defined.
• Report on the proceedings of the testing workshop, including the evaluation/assessment and feedback provided by workshop participants.
• Ultimate version of the training packs and case studies, incorporating all the comments and suggestions derived from the testing workshop and assessment exercises.

The evaluation will be conducted in line with the Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN system and the United Nations Evaluation Group Norms and Standards.

COMPETENCIES

Professionalism: Knowledge and understanding of urban planning practice and multi-disciplinary approaches to sustainable urbanization. Know-how of data management and development indicators.
Proven capacity to deliver quality results on time, and demonstrate quality in written material.

Communication: The consultant should speaks and write clearly and effectively; listen to others; tailor language, tone, style and format to match audience, as well as possess facilitation skills to encourage participation.

Planning & Organizing: The consultant will be able to develop clear targets that are consistent with agreed strategies; identify priority activities; adjust priorities as required; allocate appropriate amount of time and resources for completing the work; foresee risks and allow for contingencies when planning; he/she should be able to monitor and adjust plans and actions as necessary to use time efficiently.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education
Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Urban Studies (in planning, economy, legislation, housing) or Development Studies with experience in urban development is required. A first level university degree in combination with qualifying experience can be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work experience

• Experience in developing normative training and knowledge products, ideally related to urban planning.
• Experience in the design, implementation and management of urban strategies in developing countries.
• Demonstrated ability and understanding of international best practice standards for capacity building and training for urban stakeholders in developing countries.
• Demonstrated ability to represent information visually in training materials.
• Experience with adult-learning and design and implementation of training courses.

Language
For this consultancy, excellent spoken and written English is required, including demonstrated writing and editing skills. Fluency in other UN languages is an advantage.

Excellent facilitation and communication skills are desirable.

REMUNERATION
Payment will be disbursed in four instalments upon successful completion of the following deliverables as outlined in this ToR.

Task

Due date

Amount

Submission of 1.1 (induction meeting report) and 1.2 (inception report)

6 September, 2016

$3,000

Submission of 2.1 (Case Studies report), 2.2 (Draft Training packs) and 2.3 (Progress report)

4 October, 2016

$7,000

Submission of 3.1 (Revised case studies and training packs), 4.1 (Testing & delivering the training packs in a workshop), 4.2 (Report on the proceedings of the testing workshop and evaluation)

1 November, 2016

$5,000

4.3 Submission of ultimate version of the training packs and case studies

15 November, 2016

$2,000

TOTAL

$17,000

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.
• Technical proposal, specifying how the project would be approached
• Copies of, or references to relevant publications previously prepared by the applicant;

As of September 2014 all applicants are required to register and submit their applications online at the UN Inspira portal at: http://inspira.un.org.

All applications should be submitted to:

Ms. Naomi Mutiso-Kyalo
UN-HABITAT
P.O. Box 30030, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya
Email: Naomi Mutiso-Kyalo@unhabitat.org

Deadline for applications: 8 August 2016
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

http://unhabitat.org/principles-of-planned-urbanization-dr-joan-clos-exe...