Duties and Responsibilities
Background The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations agency mandated by the General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities, with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. In October 2016, at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), Member States adopted the New Urban Agenda, an action-oriented framework that sets global standards for sustainable urban development and guides how cities are planned, managed, and lived in. Through partnerships with governments and other stakeholders, UN-Habitat advances sustainable urbanization, inclusive governance, climate resilience, and access to adequate housing, land, and basic services. UN-Habitat toegtehr with UNHCR is implementing the EU Operational Support to the IGAD Platform, a regional programme covering Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, and the IGAD region. The programme seeks to strengthen institutional and community capacities to respond to forced displacement and return movements while promoting climate-resilient, inclusive, and sustainable development solutions. The programme focuses on strengthening governance systems, supporting housing, land and property rights, empowering communities, and improving access to climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable services. South Sudan continues to face complex humanitarian and development challenges driven by displacement, climate shocks, rapid urbanization, and institutional capacity constraints. To support the effective implementation of the South Sudan component of the regional programme, UN-Habitat seeks to engage a qualified National Project Manager to provide administrative, operational and programme support, including coordination of project schedules, meetings, missions, financial and procurement processes, documentation, reporting, and stakeholder engagement activities. The assignment will contribute to UN-Habitat's mandate of promoting sustainable urban development and durable solutions for displacement-affected communities through effective project planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting, stakeholder engagement, and partnership coordination, ensuring timely delivery of project results in accordance with UN-Habitat and donor requirements. This position is based in Juba, South Sudan, within the Regional Office for Africa and the Sub-Regional Unit for Horn and Eastern Africa. Under the direct supervision of the International Project Coordinator based in Nairobi, the National Project Manager (Individual Contractor) will be responsi-ble for the following: Strategic Leadership and Partnerships • Support the implementation of the South Sudan component of the European Union (EU) Operational Support to the IGAD Platform, ensuring alignment and coordination with the regional, Sudan, and Ethiopia components to achieve timely delivery of overall programme objectives. • Represent UN-Habitat in programme and partnersahip coordination meetings in close collaboration with the International Project Coordinator. Coordinate and supervise the UN-Habitat project team in South Sudan, ensuring effective project implementation through strategic and technical planning, regular workplan review, quality assurance, and timely follow-up on project activities,milestones and budget compliance. • Report regularly to UN-Habitat Headquarters and the International Project Coordinator on project progress, key activities, challenges, lessons learned, and emerging opportunities to enhance the achievement of project outcomes and outputs. • Liaise and maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders, including representatives of the European Union Delegation, IGAD, UNHCR, IOM, government counterparts, and other partners, to strengthen coordination, donor engagement, and collaboration in support of project goals. • Monitor project performance and provide technical guidance to ensure compliance with donor requirements, UN-Habitat standards, and programme objectives. • Coordinate with government counterparts, UN agencies, implementing partners, consultants, and other stakeholders to support effective project implementation and partnership engagement. Portfolio Development and Resource Mobilization • Promote and advocate for UN-Habitat’s mandate, programmes, and strategic priorities in South Sudan, representing the organization in inter-agency coordination forums, technical work-ing groups, and partner platforms. • Establish and maintain relationships with national and state government counterparts, fos-tering policy dialogue, institutional collaboration to support programme implementation and sus-tainable development objectives. • Support UN-Habitat’s portfolio in South Sudan by identifying funding opportunities, donor mapping and research, monitoring calls for proposals, and contributing to resource mobilization efforts in line with organizational priorities and strategic country programme objectives. • Draft high-quality concept notes, project proposals, and programme documents, incorporating technical evidence, stakeholder inputs, and contextual analysis to strengthen programme design and enhance fundraising opportunities. Field Coordination and Technical Support • Coordinate and oversee field missions in Aweil and other project locations across South Sudan, ensuring effective area-based coordination with government counterparts, communities, humanitarian and development partners, while providing strategic, operational, and logistical support for the successful implementation of project activities. • Translate, validate, and analyse field mission findings, transforming data and stakeholder feedback into actionable recommendations, technical inputs, and programme documentation to inform evidence-based planning, decision-making, and project implementation. • Facilitate stakeholder consultations, technical workshops, capacity-building trainings, coordination meetings, and field missions, including the preparation of agendas, briefing materials, presentations, meeting minutes, and mission reports to support effective engagement and knowledge sharing. • Support the development, review, and finalization of evidence-based reports, technical guidelines, normative products, and knowledge resources, ensuring quality assurance and alignment with UN-Habitat methodologies, standards, and programme objectives. • Provide substantive technical support to project monitoring, evaluations, surveys, assessments, documentation of lessons learned, identification of best practices, and dissemination of knowledge products to strengthen programme effectiveness and impact. Perform other related duties as required.
Qualifications/special skills
Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in architecture, civil engineering, urban and regional planning, economics or physical sciences relevant to development and management of human settlements or a related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. At least five (5) years of relevant professional experience in project management or support to project management within humanitarian, development, recovery, resilience, or displacement-related programmes is required. Experience working with government counterparts, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, implementing partners, and community representatives is required. Experience related to durable solutions, protection, housing, land and property rights, local governance, climate resilience, or community-based programming is desirable. Experience working in South Sudan and/or a similar humanitarian and displacement-affected context is required.
