Macro Planning Coordinator At UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a full-time position within UNHCR Sub-Office, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

The Position will be within UNHCR’s Technical Support, which is based in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. This exciting position is a unique opportunity to gain experience in not-for-profit branding as well as experience working within the UN system.

UNHCR is a global organization dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. We are in over 134 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.

Title: Macro Planning Coordinator

Duty Station: Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Duration: Initially 6 months (with the possibility of extension)

Contract Type: UNOPS, IICA-3 (equivalent to P-4)

Closing date: 11 May 2022

Start date: 1 June 2022

Organizational context:

Following an outbreak of violence in Rakhine State in Myanmar on 25th August 2017, more than 650,000 Rohingya fled across the border into the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh, joining the over 200,000 Rohingya refugees who resided in two refugee camps and many makeshift settlements.

Currently there are 923,179 Rohingya refugees residing in 34 camps.

The speed and scale of the recent influx exhausted the capacity of the two existing refugee camps and over-whelmed both, local authorities and existing humanitarian actors, present in the area. Arriving refugees settled in a spontaneous and haphazard manner and makeshift shelters mushroomed along roads and on any available land in the Ukhiya and Teknaf areas. The severe congestion of the area is presenting risks and challenges in terms of access to services and protection. The lack of proper spatial planning allowed construction in environmentally sensitive areas, such as in riverbeds and on hill slopes, and caused deforestation, soil degradation, and loss of biodiversity. This in turn has affected the refugees’ health and physical safety, e.g. flooding, landslides and fire. Many shelters are of poor quality and constructed in a manner inappropriate to withstand natural hazards – in an area which is prone to

cyclones and flooding. Improvements are needed to increase access to services and to enhance the protective environment of the site.

The influx of 2017, prompted the Government to expand the official Kutupalong refugee camp beyond the Kutupalong and Balukhali makeshift settlements, thereby creating a ‘mega site’ which constitutes the world’s largest refugee camp in terms of population size while only occupying approximately 12 km of land.

During the first years after the influx the humanitarian actors focused on the implementation of mitigating measures to avert major disasters during the yearly monsoon and cyclone seasons. Assuming the possibility that the settlements in Ukhiya and Teknaf will remain in existence for several years to come, a comprehensive spatial strategy is necessary to ensure that current and future interventions support the sustainability of the settlements. Overall spatial planning including location, delivery and management of basic services; living conditions including public space and natural areas; and disaster risk reduction, need to be reviewed and improved

At the same time, the needs of the host communities, particularly in areas shared by host and refugee communities, must also be addressed. For any response to be sustainable buy-in by local authorities such as the Urban Development Directorate and Cox’s Bazar Development Authority (UDD and Cox DA, respectively) is needed

Duties and responsibilities

UNHCR continues to support larger scale aspects of the spatial planning work in the humanitarian response. This includes a strong engagement within the Site Management / Site Development Sector (SMSD) where site planning currently resides, the Shelter/ NFI Sector, and the Energy and Environment Technical Working Group, specifically to convey a holistic perspective linking construction and infrastructure development with environment and rehabilitation in sectoral strategies for the densely populated camps. This includes but is not limited to the following key activities:

· Coordination and Technical Assistance for the MSP

· Update/Revise the Macro Settlement Plan (MSP) and coordinate the on-going activities in line with Macro Settlement Plan (MSP) with UNHCR and IOM planners, in collaboration with partner agencies and relevant local authorities, to ensure support and to coordinate more broadly the activities within the settlements.

· Develop incremental upgrading and re-planning strategies for the Rohingya settlements, to improve the safety and well-being of communities while enhancing the natural environment and its biodiversity: establish a core infrastructural network, promote environmental rehabilitation for the restoration of a blue-green network, reprogramme and rationalize density and service provision.

· Develop guidelines in response to most common natural hazards and disasters (flood, slope failure, fire incidents, etc.) in line with MSP.

· Promote climate action into spatial planning and infrastructure development activities and embed climate change mitigation and adaptation measures into the development of the MSP, supporting the adoption of nature-based solutions (NbS) and green development approaches.

· Promote gender mainstreaming and contribute to devising more effective ways of implementing a gender- and child-sensitive agenda in settlement planning and development.

· Define strategic priorities and spatially coordinate initiatives, and support their translation into smaller scale implementation projects, in alignment with strategic outcomes and inter-sector priorities.

· Incorporate key aspects relevant to the surrounding district level planning, to ensure the infrastructure investments and environmental rehabilitation intervention have correlation with the wider host community and institutional context.

· Coordinate and provide spatial planning support to SMSD Sector, Shelter/NFI Sector, E&E TWG, UNHCR and IOM site planners, among others, and support the provision of technical guidance to the Site Planning / Site Development working group.

· Advocacy, Participatory Planning and Capacity Building

· Ensure stakeholder engagement and inclusion of participatory processes in the spatial plan development process, in particular with relevant local authorities and specifically the RRRC and CIC offices.

· Plan and conduct relevant capacity building critical to environment conservation and rehabilitation, green infrastructure planning, sustainable land use and spatial development, for technical and non-technical staff of UN Agencies, Implementing Partners, National and International NGOs and Government Authorities.

· Support the active involvement of refugee and host communities in the spatial planning activities, through community consultations, information sharing, ensuring an age, gender and diversity approach.

· Sustain a continued dialogue between field staff and partners, agencies, and local government to monitor ongoing activities against plan.

· Conduct workshops with field staff and partners to mainstream the MSP and ground it on field knowledge.

· Advise on possible improvements of the current Sector coordination structure to possibly align with normal structures, roles and technical capacities.

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required:

Field(s) of Education

University degree in urban planning or other similar and appropriate disciplines with courses on physical planning, infrastructure development, environmental engineering, or related fields

Work Experience

· Minimum 8 years of progressively relevant professional working experience in the related field and preferably with some years in developing countries.

· Knowledge of UNHCR standards and including consideration of cross sectorial issues related to protection, environment, WASH, Housing Land and Property (HLP) etc.

· Experience of spatial planning in emergency contexts, liaising with municipalities, government authorities and communities.

· Experience of spatial planning across scales with a focus on participatory approaches

· Capacity to work with multi sectorial teams, with cultural sensitivity to the specific needs of the persons of concern.

· Willingness and ability to work in hardship environments.

· Computer literacy in MS Office and other relevant software to produce digital maps, site plans (AutoCAD, Infraworks 360, QGIS etc…), layout and technical drawings.

· Expertise in UAV usage for site mapping is an added advantage

· Excellent working knowledge of English is essential.

· Knowledge of Bengali is advantageous.

Language Requirements:

• Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.

Core Competencies:

• Accountability
• Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Teamwork & Collaboration
• Commitment to Continuous Learning
• Client & Result Orientation

Managerial Competencies:

• Managing Performance
• Judgement and Decision Making
• Leadership
• Managing Resources

Cross-Functional Competencies:

• Analytical Thinking
• Technological Awareness
• Stakeholder Management

Location:

The successful candidate will be based with the team in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.

Conditions:

The initial duration of contract is for 12 months, to align with our budget year 2021/ 2022 proportionally. This is a full-time role with working hours starting from 8.00am to 5.00 pm Sunday to Thursday (40 hours per week).