Director, UN-HABITAT, D-1

Position description

Org. Setting and Reporting

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

This position is located in the United Nations Human Settlement Program in New York. The incumbent will be under the overall supervision of the Deputy Executive Director, and in close coordination with the Chief of Staff. The incumbent will be responsible for directing and enhancing the capacity of UN-Habitat New York Office in providing substantive support to the General Assembly and inter-governmental bodies. The incumbent will also be responsible for planning and organizing UN-Habitat’s involvement in inter-agency activities and advise on UN Reform; and undertake the programmatic and administrative tasks of the New York Office.

Responsibilities

Within the delegated authority, the incumbent will be responsible for the following duties;

• Directing the work of the office, by providing intellectual, strategic, and operational leadership in planning and implementing the office’s activities;
• Identification of issues and events of relevance to UN-Habitat and through interaction with concerned Divisions and Branches at Headquarters, ensure their proper coverage;
• Oversee the planning, implementation and evaluation of programs and initiatives and presenting UN-Habitat’s views policies, strategies, and priorities as appropriate in the inter-governmental bodies and interagency processes;
• Ensuring effective resource allocation and budget management for projects;
• Directing coordinated approaches to assist the inter-governmental bodies in promoting integrated follow up to the outcomes of major UN conferences, focusing on the UN-Habitat Agenda and relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), working closely with the substantive secretariat and the Headquarters and to promote complementarity, coherence, and synergy;
• Promoting the system-wide implementation of intergovernmental policies on operational activities for development through greater interaction between the United Nations Human Settlements Program and the UN system;
• Contribute to the formulation of the overall strategies, policies and operations of UN-Habitat and formulating recommendations on possible follow up to policy issues and reporting to relevant counterparts at Headquarters as appropriate including their potential impact on UN-Habitat normative and operational activities;
• Represent UN-Habitat at high-level meetings, conferences and events and advocating for sustainable urban development;
• Advise the Executive Director and the Deputy Executive Director in ensuring a systematic follow-up to and monitoring of the General Assembly and other Commission’s relevant resolutions, decisions and conclusions including through the harmonization of their work programmes and agendas and in promoting UN-Habitat position;
• Undertake the programmatic and administrative tasks necessary for the functioning of the New York Office, manage and guide the staff;
• Leads team members efforts to collect and analyze data and provides insight to identify trends or patterns for data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting. Ensures that everyone can discover, access, integrate and share the data they need;
• Act as a focal point for North America.

Competencies

• PROFESSIONALISM: Knowledge and understanding of UN intergovernmental processes. Ability to negotiate with high-level Government, multi and bilateral technical and funding agency officials. Proven capacity to motivate and manage a multi-national team of staff. Ability to present and debate in public fora and events the main policy and substantive messages related to the development issues identified with the Programme’s work. Familiarity with UN policies, procedures and practices, including those relevant to technical cooperation projects. Ability to analyze and interpret data in support of decision-making and convey resulting information to management. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations;
• COMMUNICATION: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly, interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed;
• LEADERSHIP: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow; anticipates and resolves conflict by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participations of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrated knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing;
• JUDGEMENT/DECISION-MAKING: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; gathers relevant information before making a decision; takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organizations; determines that the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; makes tough decisions when necessary;
• TEAMWORK: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Economics, Business Administration, Political Science, Urban and Regional Development, Social Sciences, or related areas is required;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. A PhD is desirable;
• Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is desirable.

Work Experience

• A minimum of Fifteen (15) years of progressively responsible work experience in policy and operational work on development issues is required;
• Experience working on governance, planning, human security or policy related issues in the area of human settlements is required;
• Experience with international or intergovernmental organizations at senior level is required;
• Experience with the intergovernmental machinery of the UN in particular with General Assembly, its main committees and subsidiary organs or in similar international organization is desirable;
• Experience in preparing programmatic reports for the review of intergovernmental or expert bodies is desirable;
• Experience in liaising with United Nations Member states or other inter-governmental bodies is desirable;
• Experience in data analytics or related area is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position advertised, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official United Nations language is desirable.

Application instructions

Please be sure to indicate you saw this position on tendersglobal.net