Queremos difundir un llamamiento urgente en relación al reciente terremoto sufrido por Ecuador: se necesitan urbanistas con experiencia, cuyo idioma de trabajo sea el español (pero que tengan también conocimientos de inglés) para trabajar en la reconstrucción de las áreas afectadas por el terremoto. Agradecemos también que contribuyáis a dar la máxima difusión que podáis a este mensaje.

La llamada procede de la ONU y Cruz Roja Internacional, y se ha vehiculado a través del Royal Town Planning Institute (Asociación Inglesa de Urbanistas) y, en el caso de España, de la AETU (Asociación Española de Técnicos Urbanistas). Quienes estén interesados en participar pueden enviar un email a aetu@aetu.es o llamar directamente al teléfono de AETU (93 304 33 22).

De momento, os podemos adelantar los términos de la contratación (en inglés):

Consultant: Urban Planning

ORGANIZATIONAL LOCATION: UN-Habitat

DUTY STATION: Quito (or affected secondary cities), Ecuador

FUNCTIONAL TITLE: Urban Planning Consultant

DURATION: initially 30 days (with possible extension up to 3 months)

START OF CONTRACT: ASAP

REPORTING ARRANGEMENT: The Consultant will work under the supervision of the UN-Habitat representative in the country, working closely with the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing and the cities officials of affected cities

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck coastal provinces of north-west Ecuador on 16 April. The most affected areas are the provinces of Manabi, Esmeraldas, Santa Elena, Guayas, Santo Domingo and Los Ríos, for which the Government has declared a “state of emergency”. Manabi is the worst-affected province; one of its cantons – Pedernales (population 55,000) – has been declared a “disaster zone” to which access is limited. As of 21 April, 587 people are reported dead, 155 are missing and 8,340 are injured. More than 1,125 buildings are destroyed and more than 829 are damaged, including 281 schools. Additionally, 25,376 people are in collective shelters. Many roads, bridges and other key infrastructure were damaged resulting in logistics and communications challenges in some areas. It is estimated that approximately 720,000 people have been affected by the earthquake and require assistance, out of over 7 million people living in the six affected provinces.

The Ecuador Government has expressed the desire to ensure that from day 1, the response to the crisis helps strengthening the longer term resilience of the affected cities and contributes to better and more sustainable urbanization, in line also with the objectives of the Habitat III Conference, planned in Quito from the 14-16 October 2016.

Objective

The specific objective of this consultancy is to provide technical and strategic urban planning support to the earthquake response led by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing. A mid-level consultant with relevant expertise in the area of work and in crises affected countries is required.

Expected Outputs

1. Based on a quick analysis of the pre- and post-crisis urban dynamics, provide advisory services to inform response strategies in affected cities that take into account the ongoing displacement and reconstruction trends, coping mechanisms of affected populations and other key urban stakeholders (ex. local private sector), existing plans, regulatory frameworks, existing governance and financing mechanisms and existing capacities to manage and guide response, recovery and reconstruction.
2. Provide a simple analytical framework that allows city governments and local urban planners, to qualify the status of affected neighborhoods, identify critical measures to be taken in the short term, and recovery options.
3. When needed, participate to the Shelter Cluster Group in providing technical inputs on assessment tools, urban/neighborhoods planning and design;
4. Provide guidance to revisit and adjust existing urban development strategies in view of setting affected cities on track for more resilient and sustainable urbanization, focusing on early decisions to be taken and a road map going forward, including critical urban planning tasks, regulatory measures and financing options.
5. Provide scenarios, drawings and sketches for neighborhoods enhancement with DRR features and produce advocacy information for safer neighbourhoods and communities.
6. Identify further capacity needs to sustain the response and the urban planning efforts.

COMPETENCIES

Professionalism: Knowledge of concepts and approaches relevant to urban crises, urban resilience, urban fragility, humanitarian principles, and humanitarian response mechanisms, and capacity development.  Capacity to establish in an urban context links between emergency/recovery/development phases.

Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to communicate across different socio-cultural environments.

Teamwork: Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to operate effectively within multi-cultural environments, local governments, the UN wide system and INGOs and with all levels.

Creativity: Offers new and different options to solve problems or meet client needs.

EDUCATION

Advanced University degree (Masters or similar) in a field deemed relevant to the subject areas covered by these Terms of Reference such as urban planning and design, international development, international relations or similar social sciences field. A first-level university degree in combination with two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND WORK EXPERIENCE

• Minimum 8 years of previous working experience with international development agencies or international NGOs is required, in one or more of the following areas: technical and management support in responding to complex emergencies, working with local governments, in urban areas in particular.
• Experience with the UN system and knowledge of its architecture and coordination mechanisms.
• Demonstrated skills in both conceptual and practical analysis of complex urban issues and in report writing and producing clear, concise and well written facts and arguments

LANGUAGE SKILLS

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations. For the post advertised, excellent proficiency in spoken and written Spanish is required.

OTHER SKILLS

• Proficient in use of Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point
• Ability to work under difficult circumstances and short deadlines.