Consulting Engineer – Civil & Structural at UN-Habitat Jobs in Kenya

Consulting Engineer – Civil & Structural at UN-Habitat Jobs in Kenya 

 Expected Duration

• 4 months

Duties and Responsibilities

• Background  Kenya’s a population of 48 million is rapidly urbanizing at the rate of 4.3% per annum and national population growth rate per annum is 6.8%) and is exerting tremendous pressure to natural resources such as land and a variety of services.
• Thirty two percent (32%) of the total population already resides in urban areas, and close to 0.5 million people move into towns and cities every year, cause considerable strain to the existing infrastructure and available limited livelihood opportunities generating an increasing number of urban poor.
• This manifests itself in the form of overcrowded settlements with residents with inadequate access to housing, water, sanitation, and energy services living in degraded environments worsened by non-existent solid waste management.
• These circumstances hinder meaningful local economic growth and development.  
• To promote local development and respond to the above challenges, Kenya adopted a devolved system of governance under the 2010 Constitution and established 47 Counties in 2013.
• To deepen devolution and strengthen the capacity of Counties to deliver services, the Urban Areas and Cities Act of 2011 provides for the formation of Municipal Boards.
• Over 59 Municipal Boards have since been established.
• Government of Kenya is implementing large urban development programmes such as KUSP, KISIP that amongst others are building the capacities of the newly formed Municipal Boards to deliver services. Considerable investment is still needed to get the Municipal Boards fully operational.  
• The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities.
• It is the focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system. Institutional and human resources capacity building are at the core of its mandate.
• The Agencies discharges its duties globally from Nairobi, Kenya.
• Both UN Habitat and Government desire therefore to see UN Habitat have a bigger footprint in the country and demonstrate its value addition in the country it is headquartered.  
• UN Habitat provides its technical and other support to Kenya through the UN Habitat Country Office for Kenya located in the Regional Office for Africa. As part of strengthening and making the UN-Habitat Kenya Country Office fit–for-purpose, including increasing the human resource capacity to enable the Office provide substantive support to the Government of Kenya to respond to the above challenges, and accelerate the implementation of the country programs, UN-Habitat requires the services of a Consulting Engineer - Civil & Structural.    

The Go Blue Project:   

• The Go Blue Project Result Area 2 is titled “Connecting People, Cities and the Ocean: Innovative Land-Sea Planning and Management for a Sustainable and Resilient Kenyan Coast” and is jointly implemented by UN-Habitat and UNEP.
• The Project aims at enhancing land-sea planning and management by addressing key socio-economic and environmental challenges while stimulating benefits from the blue economy.
• By promoting the economic growth of coastal urban residents and the preservation of coastal and marine resources, the Project seeks to assist in the nation's transition to a sustainable blue economy.  
• Objective  The objective of this Terms of Reference is to identify a suitable Consulting Engineer – Civil & Structural to supervise, within the agreed quality, budget, and timeline, the implementation of “Beautification, Rehabilitation and Construction Works at King Fahd Hospital Seafront, Lamu Island, Lamu County, Kenya” described in the enclosed Request for Expression of Interest (EOI) dated 27 September 2023.  
• The Works and Location  Construction of Lamu Waterfront Public Space is an intervention that seeks to contribute to the Go Blue Project Outcome on “improved environmental, social and economic benefits for communities and cities through pilot implementation of integrated land-sea plans” since through it, the local communities in Lamu will be conserving and protecting the waterfront while at the same time deriving livelihoods from the public space.
• Further, the intervention is transforming part of the Lamu waterfront into a blue economy infrastructure that supports existing green transport culture and local heritage, complements the two landing sites and promotes market access for fish processing and vending.
• This transformation will involve participatory site planning, culture and heritage-sensitive designing and sustainable construction.
• Street furniture and related urban amenities will be installed in the public space that measures 0.467Ha located near King Fahd Hospital leading to the upgrading of the space.  
• Specific Works to be carried out by the Consulting Engineer - Civil and Structural - will include the following:  
• Reviewing the Scope of Works (SOW) including the site plans, conceptual designs, detailed working drawings, Bill of Quantities (BOQ) and Technical Specification, which have been prepared by Lamu County technical teams (Departments of Lands, Physical Planning, Urban Development and Public Works and Fisheries and Blue Economy, and the office for the Governor) and providing expert inputs that align the Scope of Works to existing engineering standards.  
• Supervising the building construction works upon selection of the building contractor and handing over of the project site to the building contractor.  
• Ensuring that the building construction works are aligned to the approved Scope of Works including the site plans, conceptual designs, detailed working drawings, Bill of Quantities (BOQ) and Technical Specification.  
• Attending and participating in periodic and regular meetings for project construction convened by UN-Habitat for purposes of reporting, monitoring and evaluation.  
• Reporting line  The Consulting Engineer – Civil & Structural will report directly to the Program Manager, Go Blue Project and will deliver the below outputs:
• Output 1: Supervision, Quality control and Management Report.
• Output 2: Project Closure Report.

Qualifications/Special Skills

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in civil & Structural Engineering is required.  Must have registered with Engineering Board of Kenya (EBK) as a Consulting Engineer.  
• A minimum of 7 years of work experience in civil and structural engineering is required.  Experience in supervising similar or related project is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations.  
• For this position, fluency in oral and written English and Swahili is required.

No Fee

• THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

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