Project Management Support - Senior Analyst(Urban Planning)

Background Information - Ghana Multi Country Office (GMCO)

Background Information – Country Specific

The Gambia has one of the fastest urbanisation rates in sub-Saharan Africa, with the GBA already accounting for 68% of the total population. This has resulted in several environmental and socio-economic problems including deforestation, soil erosion, pollution and waste generation, as well as stress on health, education and employment services.   These have been exacerbated by the lack of an urban masterplan for Banjul (which has not been updated for nearly 20 years) and the absence of a planned response to the growing economic activity of the city. Likewise the absence of an updated cadastral map and insufficient data on taxable properties in the Greater Banjul Area has resulted in the municipalities being able to collect only a small portion of their potential revenue from property taxes. With inadequate funding available from the central government, there is increased pressure on the municipalities to explore innovative revenue generation mechanisms to effectively deliver basic services.

Despite these challenges, the investment climate in The Gambia is growing in attractiveness to investors and is expected to improve with accelerated investments via the next prospective flagship project of the Port Expansion and the current opening of the new trans-Gambian bridge. It is imperative that the city has the proper instruments in place to prepare for increased urbanization, traffic flows and vulnerability to climatic change.

 To respond to this potential and address these issues, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has affirmed its support to the Government of The Gambia for the development of a comprehensive, digitized master plan for the Greater Banjul Area.  The overall aim of the Greater Banjul Area: Sustainable Urban Development Programme 2020-40 (GBA-SUDP) is to put in place innovative mechanisms to support an increase in local revenue generation and collection, improve the delivery of basic services and roll out the decentralised approach as stated in the National Development Plan (2018-2021). The project can be defined in two main service lines (a) Urban Master Plan Development and (b) Technical Assistance to institutional capacity development; covering 6 main outputs:

1. A digital masterplan for the Greater Banjul Area, integrating the Port and linking it with the immediate area of Barra Esau (opposite the River Gambia) 

2. 5-year urban development investment plans for the 3 municipalities in Greater Banjul Area

3. Study tour to Senegal for knowledge exchange

4. Technical Assistance (TA) and capacity building, including training for Banjul City Council (BCC), Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC), Brikama Area Council (BAC) and the Ministry of Land and Regional Government (MoLRG).

5. Institutions’ (Gambia Port Authority, BCC, KMC, BAC, and MoLRG) staff trained in project management

6. Procurement of ICT and office equipment to support the facilitation of municipal management

The Project Management Support- Senior Analyst (Urban Planning) will support the team with the formalisation of the Greater Banjul 2040 urban plan. After 18 months of data collection and stakeholder engagement, the raw data needs to be arranged and presented in a user-friendly format understandable to non-specialized audiences. The Analyst will support this process by:

• Leading the formulation of specific chapters of the urban plan alongside other team members

• Ensuring the integrity of the final document by reviewing other team members’ production

The Analyst must be results-oriented towards the delivery of Output 1; a team player, ready to support the Project Manager and the team in the delivery of the overall project objectives, in particular: 

Urban planning: 

• Analyse urban planning data provided by the Gambia-based team.

• Synthesize and finalise specific chapters of the urban plan, including narrative production and diagrams.

• Review all chapters for consistency and completeness, track and address repetitions.

• Ensure adequate and consistent usage of specialised vocabulary.

• Build the document’s bibliography and verify adequate referencing.

• Ensure correct grammar and spelling.

Reporting and Communication:

• Provide timely and comprehensive inputs to the monthly progress report as relevant.

• Participate in online project-level coordination meetings as relevant.

Procedures:

• Comply with Project Document Archive as required by the UNOPS Organisational Directive.

• Contribute to work planning, monitoring and adaptation of work plans for effective delivery tracking and project reporting. 

Knowledge Management:

• Participate in the relevant UNOPS Communities of Practice.

• Actively interact with other relevant communities to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices.

• Share knowledge of past experience that may enrich the impact of project activities.

• Incorporate lessons learned from others in project activities.

3. Monitoring and Progress Controls

The Urban Planning Analyst’s performance will be measured against the following criteria:

• Timely reporting on progress of tasks assigned

• Effective and timely deliverable production as per the project implementation plan

• Satisfactory quality of urban planning outputs

A.  Education

• Advanced University Degree in Urban/City Planning, Regional Planning, Urban Development, Geography, International Development, Communication or other relevant disciplines. 

• University Degree (bachelor’s degree / first level) with a combination of 2 additional years of relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree

• A relevant combination of academic credentials and/or industry certifications and qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the university education. 

B. Work Experience 

• Minimum 2 years of professional experience in urban or regional planning is required.

• Demonstrated report writing experience is required.

• Previous experience working with UN Agencies or other international development partners is an asset.

• Previous experience working with local governments is an asset.

• Knowledge of Sustainable Development and SDGs is an asset;

C. Language Requirements

• Full working knowledge of English is required. 

• Knowledge of another official UNOPS language is an asset.

• Contract type: International Individual Contract Agreement (I-ICA)
• Contract level: I-ICA 1/ ICS 9
• Contract duration: 5 months (full time)

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• Banjul is a family duty station
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  
• This assignment is Home- based. An individual contractor may be hired on a home-based ICA when he/she is not expected to work in any UNOPS office or work location (A UNOPS work location shall mean an office space provided by UNOPS or by the client for whom UNOPS is engaging the individual contractor, or a work location such as a construction site or other location where UNOPS requires the individual contractor to perform his or her services), or is only expected to do soon an intermittent basis (i.e. the individual contractor will mainly work away from a UNOPS work location). 
• Candidates are required to attach copies of previous work reports to demonstrate their ability to undertake this assignment
  
  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

Africa Region

AFR helps ensure that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between projects across the entire region.