General
Description of assignment title
Climate Change and Urban Environment Assistant
Assignment country
Zimbabwe
Expected start date
08/09/2025
Sustainable Development Goal
7. Affordable and clean energy
Volunteer category
National UN Community Volunteer Part time
Host entity
UN-HABITAT ZWE
Type
Onsite
Duration
12 months (with possibility of extension)
Number of assignments
1
Duty stations
Harare
Details
Mission and objectives
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. UN-Habitat works with partners to build inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities and communities. UN-Habitat promotes urbanization as a positive transformative force for people and communities, reducing inequality, discrimination, and poverty.
Context
This position is located at UN-Habitat office in Harare that will be operated under the Regional Office for Africa (ROAF). The volunteer will be supervised by the Lead of the Urban Energy Solution Team of the Urban Basic Services Section (UBSS) of UN-Habitat in Nairobi. UBSS is responsible for proposing urban basic service solutions (water, sanitation, energy, mobility, waste management, drainage serves etc.) including normative, advocacy and operational activities. Lack of access to adequate, affordable, reliable, safe and environmentally sound energy is a severe constraint on sustainable development. Currently, 780 million people lack access to modern energy (electricity) to meet their basic needs. 2.4 billion people without access to clean cooking fuels. 75 % of the buildings that will be standing in Africa in 2050 are yet to be built and effort should be made to make these buildings green and environmentally friendly. Access to reliable energy improves productivity and wealth, as energy services are needed to pump water, to provide adequate sanitation, to improve basis infrastructure and services. UN-HABITAT’s Basic Services Section’s main focus is improving delivery of basic services (water, sanitation, waste management, mobility and energy) in African, Asia and Latin America, and promoting policy dialogue, information exchange, water education and awareness raising. UN-HABITAT is also in charge of the promotion of sustainable human settlements development that is environmentally sound. This is done through the promotion of low carbon interventions such as energy efficient design of building, renewable energy technologies and practices, and by assisting national and local governments in adopting building codes that are environmentally friendly. This assignment aims at providing support to the implementation of the Harare Sustainable City Initiative (HSCI), a project managed by UN-Habitat in collaboration with three main implementing partners: Zimbabwe Sunshine Group, Soberlife and Green building council of Zimbabwe. HSCI aims at showcasing good examples of integrated sustainable waste management, resource recovery from waste, urban renewable energy generation for productive uses, and mainstreaming energy and resource efficiency into building policies and building practices. HSCI will demonstrate tangible sustainable zero waste practices, clean energy solutions and energy efficiency principles to encourage replication and upscaling. The project main targets are the citizen of Harare with particular attention to the urban and peri urban poor. The main objective is: To provide better living condition to Harare citizens by increasing and improving their access to sustainable waste to wealth services, clean energy provisions and to promote energy and resource efficiency in Zimbabwe’s built environment. Specific objectives are: 1. To promote sustainable waste to wealth practices in the greater Harare. 2. To increase access to clean energy by the urban and peri urban poor in Harare; and 3. To achieve energy and resource efficiencies in Zimbabwe’s built environment.
Task description
Under the overall supervision of the Project manager- Harare Sustainable Cities Initiative, the Incumbent, shall assist in: – Knowledge management: Research on contemporary topics related to cities, climate change, and sustainable urbanization, with a view to support production of normative publications and project development. – Support in development of new projects with a focus on energy, waste and green buildings in Zimbabwe. – Assist in the implementation of UN-Habitat’s Harare Sustainable Cities Initiative. – Communication: Support the planning, preparation, and delivery of outreach and public events related to Harare Sustainable Cities Initiative such as speeches and talking points, training events, seminars and conferences, assist in communications, website and social media presence. – Support drafting of material and/or stories for external and internal audiences. – Other: Support tasks relevant to candidate and the Team, as jointly determined. TRAVEL Participate in missions to Harare, Zimbabwe related to waste management, energy access for the urban poor, energy efficiency in buildings and renewable energy, waste to energy and other relevant energy related activities organized by UN-HABITAT.
Eligibility criteria
Age
18 – 80
Required experience
No experience required
Nationality
Candidate must be a national or legal resident of the country of assignment.
Assignment requirements
Relevant experience
No experience required
Languages
English, Level: Fluent, Required French, Level: Fluent, Desirable Spanish, Level: Fluent, Desirable
Required education level
Bachelor’s degree in Currently pursuing or hold a degree in Urban Planning, Climate Change, Environmental Sciences or Management, Environmental Engineering, Energy engineering, geography, International Development, or similar relevant topics are required (bachelor’s or master’s degree candidate preferable).
Competencies and values
• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Creativity • Judgement and decision-making • Planning and organising • Professionalism • Self-management
Skills and experience
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the capacity to prepare comprehensive reports, deliver presentations, and facilitate workshops effectively. • Be computer literate in standard software applications (Microsoft Office Suite). • Have a demonstrated ability to successfully interact with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and beliefs, which includes a willingness to try and understand and be tolerant of differing opinions and views. • Applicants to the UN Habitat are not required to have professional work experience.
Area(s) of expertise
Architecture and settlements
Driving license
–
Other information
Living conditions and remarks
As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. National UN Volunteers are part of the malicious insurance plan. Persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. You can check full entitlements at the duty station at https://app.unv.org/calculator. The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos.
Inclusivity statement
United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements
Selected candidates for certain occupational groups may be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) in line with the applicable host entity policy
Scam warning
The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.
