Durable Solutions Programme Manager

Mission and objectivesUN-Habitat’s mandate within the United Nations system focuses on sustainable urbanization, housing, and improving the lives of people in settlements of all sizes – including in crisis settings. The agency works to ensure urbanization has a positive social, economic and environmental impact on people’s lives – and to prevent urbanization from exacerbating inequalities and vulnerabilities, overburdening infrastructure, and increasing fragilities to climate and environmental risks. Guided by the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda, UN-Habitat’s approaches are people-centered and anchored in international human rights standards.

ContextAfghanistan is facing multiple crises due to the impacts of drought and floods, and rapidly increasing poverty and food insecurity. Since the Taliban takeover of government on 15 August 2021, the operational and programmatic context for the UN system in Afghanistan has changed significantly. Learning from the experience in the last 20 years, and recognizing the realities of the current context, the UN in Afghanistan has outlined the need for an integrated, innovative and highly agile approach, one that puts people first, targets the most vulnerable and meets local needs by focusing on saving livelihoods, but also aiming for addressing basic human needs and, more than ever, taking climate change into account. Evidence shows that while Afghanistan is still a mostly rural country, it is turning into a highly urbanizing context, with a rapid increase of people moving to urban areas due to climate change as well as displacement. This has led to an overall increase in urban population and a rapid expansion of informal settlements. Since September 2023, an increasing number of returnees from neighboring countries have been forcibly returned to Afghanistan, adding up to the high number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in protracted situations. The increased number of people puts an immense strain on already scarce resources and fragile essential services in the areas of return or (re- )integration, intensifying the vulnerabilities of both the returnees and the displacement-affected communities. In order to (re-)integrate displaced people, Durable Solutions need to be advanced in an integrated approach. UN-Habitat, aiming to improve living conditions for all people in vulnerable situations, advocates and implements a two pronged approach: supporting displaced people with high level of vulnerability at household level, but also improving living environments and access to (basic and social) services or livelihood skills by applying an area-based approach - aiming to create an enabling and safe environment for all people living in a location. The Durable Solutions Programme Manager will support the advocacy, design, planning and implementation of Durable Solutions programmes implemented by UN-Habitat under the Special Trust Fund for Afghanistan (STFA) and other funds, but also support further programming and resource mobilization on this topic. S/he will represent UN-Habitat in different Durable Solutions Working Groups and support colleagues working in the different locations in Afghanistan on this topic. Where applicable, there will also be coordination with UN-Habitat’s HQ and regional teams. He/she will work closely with all project teams in the UN-Habitat Afghanistan Office and will assist the UN-Habitat team to strengthen the visibility of UN-Habitat’s approaches for supporting people to advance towards Durable Solutions.

Task Description• Collaborate with the Country Programme Manager , international and national Team Leaders to plan, prioritize and sequence project activities for Durable Solutions projects effectively. • Manage the overall implementation of Durable Solutions (DS) Projects across the office, working closely with programme, financial, administrative and technical teams and providing oversight. • Draft and provide substantive inputs to the design and development of concept notes/project proposals, advocacy papers and other pieces on durable solution to displacement. • Develop (annual or bi-annual) workplans and budgets for Durable Solutions projects, ensuring alignment with results & resource frameworks and in collaboration with other teams. • Maintain oversight of project deadlines and reporting requirements, in coordination with the M&E team and in accordance with donor specifications. • Provide relevant training and capacity building to the teams on DS approaches. • Support the M&E and the comms/advocacy team with best practices and lessons learned from the projects for organizational sharing and learning, inc. HQ level. • Prepare and support period, quarterly and/or annual report on the DS component and as required by donors and UN-Habitat’s regional or HQ teams. • Act as technical focal person to Durable Solution coordination within the UN Durable Solution Working Group at national level, and support teams in the region representing UN-Habitat. • Actively engage with other national and sub-national Durable Solutions actors (inc. other UN agencies in a joint programme) to identify gaps and enhance synergies in programme implementation. • Contribute to building partnerships with key actors for advocacy and resource mobilization; • Participate in inter-agency programming processes, including joint needs assessments. • Ensure facilitation of knowledge building on durable solutions approaches within the UN-Habitat team. • Carry out any other tasks assigned by the Country Programme Manager

Competencies and values• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Commitment and Motivation • Planning and Organizing • Professionalism • Work in Teams

Living conditions and remarksAfghanistan is a hardship duty station with volatile security. Living and working conditions for International UN volunteers in UN-Habitat are similar to the living conditions of all other internationally recruited staff members. International UN volunteers are provided with safe accommodation in an extensive compound in Kabul with good infrastructure and amenities. There are number of security measures to be complied with, such as the Areal Security Risk Management Plan before moving into any accommodation. In accordance with UNDSS security guidelines, UN-Habitat provides guidance and information during the initial security briefing upon arrival in the mission area and at the designated duty station.