Urban Data and Information Systems Expert

1. Draft agreement for data hosting service, draft urban observatory maintenance manual 2. Final agreement for data hosting service, final urban observatory maintenance manual 3. Final report with agenda for training session, deliver the training sessions, and provides attendance sheet

Remote

2 months

Background The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) has partnered with UN-Habitat to implement an Adaptation Fund project on “Increasing the resilience of both displaced persons and host communities to climate change-related water challenges.” Led by UN-Habitat, the project aims to improve the response to climate change impacts on the availability of water resources to displaced persons and their host communities in Lebanon and Jordan. ESCWA is responsible for implementing the regional knowledge management, advocacy, and communications component of the project. General Objectives Under this project, UN-Habitat Lebanon developed an urban observatory with several objectives: - To create a sustainable urban monitoring system for water and climate change impacts in support of local planning and management processes, linking data to policy, - To strengthen local capacity for the development and use of urban indicators that facilitate the collection of disaggregated data at district and cadastral/municipal levels and; - To promote local ownership of urban indicator systems and cultures of monitoring and assessment in the urban planning sector particularly in relation to climate change impacts on water quality and availability in urban contexts. As the “Increasing the resilience of both displaced persons and host communities to climate change-related water challenges” draws to a close at the end of June 2026, there is a need to support sustainability of the urban observatory for future use. This includes: -Ensuring the data is hosted on a secure and affordably maintained platform for a period of at least ten years (2026 to 2036). -Training concerned municipal and national ministry planning staff on how to update and maintain the platform. -Creating a manual in English and Arabic that describes in detail the process to maintain and update the urban observatory to ensure continuity. Duties and Responsibilities Under the supervision of the Project Coordinator and the overall supervision of the Climate Change and Natural Resource Sustainability Cluster Lead, the consultant's responsibilities are structured across three distinct phases to ensure comprehensive project coverage: 1- Identify and procure appropriate data hosting platform and prepare and finalize agreement for data hosting from 2026-2036, with all associated costs are borne under the consultancy and thus within the defined budget, ensuring that the services are provisioned in the name of UN-Habitat Lebanon and that the full administrative access, credentials, and control are granted and transferred to UN-Habitat Lebanon. 2- Develop user manual for updating and maintaining the urban observatory in English and Arabic that will allow municipal and national planning staff to periodically update the data platform. 3- Provide training to concerned municipal and national planning ministry focal points on how to update and maintain the urban observatory after the conclusion of the project.

A Master’s degree or equivalent in remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS), engineering (including environmental, agricultural, or related fields), information management, or related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in data science, data management, remote sensing and GIS, preferably in urban, territorial, or development contexts is required. Experience in designing and delivering training material on management of data platforms is required. A minimum of 2 years of work with international organizations and/or UN agencies is desirable. Essential experience includes demonstrated work in urban planning or urban data systems at either the municipal or national level is desirable. Experience in the design or implementation of urban observatories or indicator-based monitoring frameworks is desirable. Desirable experience encompasses Middle East and North Africa region exposure working for or in collaboration with national and municipal counterparts.

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in English and Arabic is required. Knowledge of French is desirable. Fluency equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand.

Not available.