Consultancy – Review guidelines for child-friendly open public spaces in Sharjah, UAE, Remote

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, love

UNICEF Gulf Area Office (UNICEF GAO) supports the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and its line ministries and authorities to advance the rights of children under the framework of a Gulf Area Programme (2019-2023).

The Child Friendly City Initiative (CFCI), is an initiative that brings together a wide range of partners, advocates for governance approaches and participatory urban management promoting the realization of the rights of the youngest citizens. The CFC approach is one of the ways through which UNICEF addresses issues of child rights and protection in an urban setting. On the 2nd of May 2018, the Emirate of Sharjah, was recognized as a Child-Friendly City, marking it as the first city worldwide to be recognized by the new UNICEF CFCI guidelines.

Child-responsive urban planning is one of the main goals outlined in the Sharjah CFC action plan. Accordingly, UNICEF Gulf Area Office has been working extensively with Sharjah Child Friendly Office, in collaboration with key stakeholders in the Emirate of Sharjah stakeholders involved in planning, designing, transforming, building and managing the urban environment in a manner that ensures that Sharjah is a child-friendly and child-responsive city. To this end, a set of guidelines have been developed to ensure that future public spaces in Sharjah meet the needs of all children and families, regardless of their age, social background, ethnicity or abilities. The guidelines are based on the outcomes of the public space activities that UNICEF, UN-Habitat and Key stakeholders in Sharjah have been working on and aim to to identify, classify and explain the elements and stages of developing open public spaces that are child-friendly.  These guidelines will promote coordinated and sustainable development of open public space planning and facilitate the harmonization and standardization of open public space planning processes in Sharjah. The guidelines are aimed at stakeholders who are involved in the design, creation, use, implementation and ongoing maintenance and management of open public spaces i.e. developers, designers, community groups etc.

UNICEF is seeking a consultant to technically review the draft guidelines for child-friendly open public spaces and ensure that the guidelines are based on best available evidence and are developed in ways consistent with internationally accepted best practices and are compatible with Sharjah’s context and needs

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of this consultancy is to Technical review and assessment of the guidelines for child-friendly open public spaces in Sharjah.

Key tasks envisaged for the consultancy include the following:

1. Technical review and assessment of the guidelines for child-friendly open public spaces in Sharjah;
2. Conduct 2 consultation sessions with key stakeholders and urban planning experts in Sharjah;
3. Evaluate the applicability of the guidelines in line with Sharjah’s contextual considerations;
4. Provide high-level comments, recommendations specific inputs to finetune the current guidelines.
5. Revise the guidelines based on comments, inputs and recommendations.

The key deliverable include a comprehensive report including:

The key deliverables include:

1. A comprehensive report including:

a. Documentation of consultation sessions and interviews;

b. Comprehensive assessment of current guidelines; identifying strengths, gaps, limitations, and recommendations;

2. Updated guidelines for child-friendly open public spaces in Sharjah.

 

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

The  successful consultant is expected to provide all the necessary expertise to complete the assignment. He/she should possess the following knowledge and expertise:

• A minimum of a Master’s degree in urban planning, landscape design, architecture or engineering;
• Over 10 years proven experience in urban planning/landscape designing/architecture/engineering;
• Proven experience working directly with Child Friendly Cites or Child-Responsive Urban Planning is a must;
• Previous work with the government sector as well as UN agencies (preferably with exposure to the Arab/Gulf region);
• Very good communication and presentation skills with government and community members;
• Excellent knowledge of English languages. Knowledge of Arabic Language is a plus.

 

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

 

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

 

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.