Urban Planner

Result of ServiceIn partnership with the UN-Habitat country office team in Ivory Coast and ENSEA, the consultant will support the territorial analysis of Greater Abidjan, and the recommendations and action plan for Greater Abidjan. Work LocationHOME BASED Expected duration6 MONTHS Duties and ResponsibilitiesThe United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the agency for human settlements mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. UN-Habitat has been working in human settlements throughout the world, focusing on building a brighter future for villages, towns, and cities of all sizes. The Regional Office for Africa (ROAf) supports African countries developing human settlements projects to address fast urbanization of the continent and achieve sustainable development by focusing on challenges faced by cities in Africa. Across West Africa, urban areas are facing the combined pressures of population growth, climate change, and environmental fragility. Many coastal and secondary cities experience recurrent flooding, land degradation, and inadequate access to basic services, while others face the consequences of displacement, economic instability, conflict and fragile governance systems. Much of the population expansion has taken place outside or in the absence of official planning frameworks. As a result, large numbers of people satisfy their housing needs in informal settlements, often located in high-risk areas exposed to a range of hazards. Urban risks are exacerbated by the increasing severity and unpredictability of climate change effects. As a result, UN-Habitat has developed an extensive portfolio of work on Urban Resilience, Climate Action and Disaster Risk Reduction, including normative, policy-level and practical infrastructure interventions at the regional, national and city levels. In Senegal, UN-Habitat is advancing in the facilitating feasibility studies and resource mobilization for implementation of the City Resilience Framework for Action (RFA) in Bargny, a coastal municipality that faces recurrent flooding, coastal erosion, and tidal surges aggravated by sea-level rise and rapid informal urban expansion. Support is needed in the preparation and monitoring of the feasibility studies and in the resource-mobilization efforts for implementation. Additionally, across the Senegal River and Gambia River Basins, recurrent floods have increased in frequency and intensity due to changing rainfall patterns, land degradation, and reduced natural water retention, with devastating consequences in many urban areas. At the request of the UN Resident Coordinator to UN-Habitat, support is needed in developing a project proposal on integrated flood management and resilient recovery for the most affected urban centers across the basins. In Cabo Verde, resilience-building has become even more urgent following the August 2025 cyclone, which brought record-breaking rainfall and flash floods to several islands, severely damaging roads, bridges, health facilities, housing and water systems. In this context, support is needed in developing post-disaster recovery and resilience-building initiatives to strengthen national and local capacities to anticipate, mitigate, and recover from climate-induced shocks through the ‘Building Back Better’ approach, while identifying opportunities for replication in other Small Island Developing States (SIDS). In Ghana, rapid urbanization, limited infrastructure coverage, and growing exposure to climate hazards continue to threaten the sustainability of secondary and coastal cities. Urban systems demand better preparedness for climate-related hazards, evidence-based planning, integrated infrastructure solutions, and operational capacity-building of municipal authorities. In line with the country office priorities and ongoing initiatives, support is needed in formulating further urban resilience and climate adaptation initiatives that focus on flood prevention, urban heat mitigation, and sustainable solid waste management. In Nigeria, UN-Habitat is currently implementing two distinct projects that reflect the diversity of the country’s resilience and urban development challenges. The first is the EU Support for Internally Displaced Persons in Yobe, Adamawa and Kano States (SIDPIN), aiming to promote durable solutions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and their host communities through area-based urban recovery and resilience-building approaches. The second one is the Ekiti State Sustainable Urban Development Programme (ESSUDP), which aims to strengthen institutional capacity to address rapid urbanisation through a multi-scaled integrated territorial approach. Support is needed to provide technical guidance across both initiatives, ensuring that their environmental and resilience-building components are effectively aligned with UN-Habitat’s regional programming and sustainability goals. In sum, support is needed within UN-Habitat’s Regional Office for Africa (ROAF) to ensure the successful development and implementation of critical urban resilience projects across the West Africa region, including the design, formulation, and resource mobilization of projects across Cabo Verde, Senegal, Ghana, and Nigeria. These efforts require technical and logistical support to ensure that the tools and methodologies developed are effectively deployed and integrated into local, national, and regional efforts. The consultant will provide essential coordination and facilitation, working closely with key stakeholders to ensure that the outcomes are aligned with the broader UN-Habitat mandate of promoting sustainable urbanization and resilience in the region. This will also involve supporting strategic decision-making and engaging with multiple actors to promote local capacity for sustainable urban development. Activities and Responsibilities Under the direct supervision Senior Human Settlement Officer for West Africa (SHSO) and the Programme Associate for West Africa, the consultant will carry out the following duties and responsibilities: • Support the design and implementation of post-disaster recovery and resilience-building projects in Cabo Verde and identify opportunities for replication and scaling across other island and coastal contexts. • Contribute to the feasibility studies and resource mobilization processes for the implementation of the City Resilience Framework for Action (RFA) in Bargny, Senegal, including the identification of strategic funding opportunities. • Assist in the development of project proposals on integrated flood management and resilient recovery in the Senegal River and Gambia River Basins, ensuring alignment with regional adaptation priorities. • Provide technical support in drafting project documents on flood prevention, urban heat adaptation, and sustainable solid waste management in Ghana’s secondary and coastal cities, promoting cross-sectoral and climate-resilient approaches. • Support the implementation of the EU Support for Internally Displaced Persons in Yobe, Adamawa, and Kano States (SIDPIN) and the Ekiti State Sustainable Urban Development Programme (ESSUDP) in Nigeria, particularly their environmental and resilience-building components. • Provide guidance on the integration of projects under the scope of UN-Habitat’s programmes in West Africa in the Integrated, Planning, Management, and Reporting (IPMR) platform, including planning and monitoring. • Provide inputs and contributions to concept notes and project documents, and guidance for the internal project validation procedure, as well as recruitment processes. Qualifications/special skillsA Master’s Degree in geography, urban planning, architecture, social sciences, civil engineering, or related field is required. A minimum of 2 years working experience in social or urban development, resource mobilization, project management, international relations, social sciences is required. Experience working on urban resilience and climate change adaptation is required. LanguagesEnglish and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position, fluency in English and French is required. Additional InformationN/A No FeeTHE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.