National Project Officer-Urban Planning & GIS Specialist

Background

UN-Habitat is the United Nations programme working towards a better urban future with a mission of promoting socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all. It is present in Ethiopia since 1998.

While providing its support to sustainable urban development in Ethiopia, UN-Habitat has developed a guiding document called UN-Habitat Country programme for Ethiopia (2016-2020). Building on global frameworks such as SDG 11, the New Urban Agenda and Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP II), the country programme is organized around four pillars:  Urban Regional Planning, Urban Resilience, Housing and Urban Basic Services, Urban Monitoring and Research Advocacy. It also considers cross cutting issues such as Awareness Raising - Participatory Approach Capacity Development - Technical Advice - Policy Support. Subsequently, UN-Habitat and the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (MUDHo) have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding in February 2018 which provides a legal framework to implement the UN-Habitat Country programme.

The country’s first large-scale industrial park has been recently established in Hawassa, the fastest growing city countrywide, with a population of 350,000 people and a growth rate of 4%. The Industrial Park Development Corporation (IPDC) opened the first phase of the Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP) in July 2016. Since then 37 sheds were rented to investors, while 15 additional sheds are under construction.

Since most of future workers will come from the region surrounding Hawassa, according to a recent study commissioned by DFID, the housing demand will increase exponentially, with 6,000-7,000 workers expected by December 2017 and 35,000-40,000 workers expected by 2021.

A number of development partners, in collaboration with the industrial park tenants are already working on infrastructure to support the park and its integration with the city. However, the current initiatives are focused on delivering worker accommodation in the short term and there is not yet any clear donor support focused on (i) a longer term housing strategy for Hawassa city; (ii) broader hard and soft infrastructure considerations including access to basic/social services and infrastructure, public spaces, etc.; or (iii) dedicated support to the city on issues of integration and cluster development planning.

Hence the key issues to be addressed mainly concern the urban (and cluster-regional) planning of the city under this new industrial scenario, as well as the imminent and future housing and solid waste management challenge.

Under this project, UN-Habitat plans to provide technical expertise to Hawassa’s City Administration, which is responsible for land use planning and management in the areas surrounding the HIP.

The aim is to progressively create sufficient local capacity and to reinforce coordination with the HIP, IDPC, the regional government and other concerned stakeholders. 

Specifically, UN-Habitat’s role will be to station technical experts in Hawassa with a view to build adequate capacity on-the-job to cope with the urbanisation impacts of the industrial park.

This will be done by promoting an integrated city cluster development approach. In particular, adequate spatial and urban planning is considered to be the right entry point to address the housing and waste management issues in an integrated manner.

Objective of the Assignment

The objective of this assignment is to provide technical and on-job capacity development on GIS and related issues to the planning department of the Hawassa City Government in the framework of the elaboration of Hawassa’s structure plan.

Under the overall supervision of the UN-Habitat Programme Manager for Ethiopia and the direct supervision of the Urban Planner/Team Leader and project leader based in Hawassa, with the support from the UN-Habitat Regional Office for Africa (ROAf) and in close collaboration with UN-Habitat thematic branches, national and local counterparts as well as Development Partners, the incumbent of the post will have to fulfil the following duties and responsibilities:

• Support the structure plan team in Hawassa in their urban planning, geoprocessing, cartographic and GIS related activities;
• Support UN-Habitat’s team and the structure plan team to collect, compile, spatialize, analyse and interpret spatial data;
• Organize and support training and capacity development activities related to urban planning, GIS, cartography and data analysis;
• Collaborate with UN-Habitat’s experts from thematic branches and report to the urban Planner/Team Leader and the UN-Habitat Programme Manager for Ethiopia;
• Support the Urban Planner/Team Leader on the preparation of progress reports regarding the implementation of the project, especially related to urban planning, cartography and GIS issues;
• Support communication and liaising with donors, IPDC, government partners and other key stakeholders related to the project;
• Attend meetings and networking activities related to Hawassa structure plan and UN-Habitat’s mandate in Hawassa and SNNP region;
• Perform any other tasks requested by the Urban Planner/Team Leader and UN-Habitat’s Programme Manager for Ethiopia.

• Strong command in GIS software such as ArcGIS, QuantumGIS, etc;
• Ability on geo-processing, geo-referencing, land use classification, orto-rectification and other GIS techniques;
• Ability to conduct interviews, surveys and other data collection techniques;
• Capacity to analyse, interpret, spatialize and synthesize information;
• Ability to work independently with a high degree of responsibility, in a flexible manner and often under pressure;
• Good communication and writing skills;
• Proficiency in both oral and written English.

• Master degree in urban planning, GIS or engineering.
• Minimum of 5 years of working experience at national and international levels, with relevant previous experiences related to Urban planning, GIS and related issues;
• Working experience in the planning sector or related to urban planning activities and projects;
• Working experience in the African continent, particularly in Ethiopia, is an asset;
• Previous experience in the UN system is an asset.

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