Community Mobilizer

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. The UN-Habitat Afghanistan country office is part of the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP). The position is located in Kabul provinces, Afghanistan.

Learning from the experience in the last 30 years and recognizing the realities of the current context in the country, UN-Habitat in Afghanistan designs and implements projects in settlements of all sizes, putting the needs of people first, targeting the most vulnerable and meeting local needs by focusing on area-based and community-driven outputs. The portfolio currently covers projects ranging from humanitarian responses to supporting recovery and meeting basic human needs. UN-Habitat collaborates closely with the UN country team as well as with technical and financial partners in Afghanistan, in alignment with the UN Strategic Framework for Afghanistan (UNSFA) and the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plans (HRNP).

Afghanistan is experiencing a continuous humanitarian crisis, with over half a million people in the need of humanitarian assistance. Many people are displaced due to climate change, internal displacement or massive returns from neighbouring countries, and many have sought refuge in the relative safety of cities, which are growing rapidly. The number of people living in unplanned, underserviced and informal settlements, including in risk prone areas, is increasing and living conditions as well as access to services is inadequate. The unfolding crisis in Afghan cities, which is accelerated by climate change impacts and natural disasters, is occurring in a context of underlying vulnerabilities, including infrastructure deficits, insecure livelihoods and pervasive tenure insecurity. Most at risk are displaced people in informal settlements, with women, disabled and ethnic minorities being particularly vulnerable.

UN-Habitat applies a participatory and community-driven approach, using participatory spatial planning and action planning processes to enable communities to identify and implement priority service and infrastructure investments to support their socioeconomic recovery processes and creating an enabling environment for durable solutions. UN-Habitat's community-cantered “People's Process” is a proven and effective approach to reduce vulnerability at scale in the Afghan context. UN-Habitat builds upon its long tradition of partnering with with communities in informal settlements to create sustainable and safe settlements, improve living conditions and adequate livelihood opportunities to those most in need.

Vulnerable households and drought affected communities living in informal settlements lack basic services that exposes them to protection risks. The need to assist such households has been exacerbated by the worsening security situation, forced returns, economic shocks, and the increased severity of natural disasters. Considering the high cost of shelter repairs, and the already negative net income of households, reconstruction and recovery process comes at a high cost that may not be affordable for most people. These challenges are exacerbated by the limited involvement of female humanitarian workers.

The incumbent will support implementation of the Provision of shelter repair support and seasonal winter

assistance to vulnerable households affected by recent floods in Kabul province project to ensure that the required outputs are achieved in line with the work plan.  He/She will have the following duties and responsibilities:

1.Development of a training manual on community mobilization and shelter repair in line with the People’s Process and Provision of shelter repair support and seasonal winter assistance to vulnerable households in Kabul provinces.

2.With support of project officer and project engineer, conduct training for community and ensure they understand the programme objectives and implementation modality. 

3.Supporting community on documentation process including finance and procurement.

4.Develop a system for quality assurance of community-based initiatives of the sub project and support project engineer and project GIS associate to implement technical shelter and seasonal winter assistance activities in the project locations.

5.Monitor and ensure that community consultation, meetings, training, demonstration activities, area mapping, community action, hazard mapping plan and capacity building of the community are done on a timely basis as per the agreed standards.

6.Identifying the social related issues in the project area and providing possible solutions to the field teams.

7.Discuss project activities regularly with local communities and beneficiaries and receive their feedback on the activities.

8.Maintain good liaison with the local authority’s district level, project partners and communities.

9.Conduct regular field surveys and assessments; map information and ensure documentation and identify and document good practices/lessons learned; bring to the attention of project officer and recommend solutions.

10.Prepare weekly monitoring reports based on standard formats for submission to the project officer and prepare monthly progress reports on community mobilization and training submission to project officer.

11.Ensure adherence to UN-Habitat operational policies, procedures and standards of conduct and perform any other task assigned by the supervisor(s).

Professionalism:  Ability to identify and resolve budgetary problems and identify sources for data collection. 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. Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

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.

Planning& Organizing:  Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.