Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia (CIGZambia): Urban Planning Expert / Project Lead

Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia

Position: Urban Planning Expert / Project Lead – Support to the Solwezi Integrated Development Plan (IDP) Committee in Preparation of the Solwezi IDP

Location: Solwezi, Zambia (consultant must be based in Solwezi)

Start Date:  April 2020

Contract Duration: 3 months, with the possibility of extension

About Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia (CIGZambia)

CIGZambia is a facility that provides high-quality independent technical advice and assistance to Zambian government bodies and private sector organizations engaged in projects/programmes that help harness the potential of Zambia’s cities and towns to act as drivers for economic growth and job creation. CIGZambia is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID).

The overall programme objectives are:

• increasing urban productivity;
• improving inclusive access to urban economic infrastructure services;
• increasing investment into urban economic infrastructure services; and,
• enhancing national and regional integration between cities.

About the role

CIGZambia is recruiting an Urban Planning Expert with strong project management and capacity building skills to be the Project Lead (“Project Lead”) for the provision of technical support to the Solwezi Integrated Development Plan (IDP) Committee in the preparation of the Solwezi IDP. The Project Lead will oversee a team of Experts and will be the link between CIGZambia and Solwezi IDP stakeholders, including Ministries, Provinces and Government Spending Agencies, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), businesses, special interest groups and development partners.

The Project Lead must have a strong understanding of the local context, government administrative and planning procedures, legislative and regulatory frameworks, and political economy, including risk profile of the IDP region.

Project Responsibilities

The Project Lead will develop a public consultation and communications strategy to ensure effective implementation of the IDP Planning Programme and facilitate the preparation of the three IDP reports: (1) Planning Survey and Issues Report, (2) Development Framework and (3) Implementation Plan. This includes the following responsibilities:

Guiding Solwezi IDP Committee processes

• Day-to-day project management support to the Solwezi IDP Committee and local stakeholders including: activity scheduling, defining a Detailed Work Plan and clear milestones, and ensuring deliverables are completed at agreed times;
• Working with the IDP Manager to initiate and organise IDP progress reviews;
• Reporting/recording the IDP process and keeping records of events for CIGZambia;
• Quality assurance and control of all Solwezi IDP processes and deliverables.

Managing the CIGZambia IDP Expert Team

• With support from CIGZambia’s Programme Management Unit, identify and manage a locally based Local Government/Municipal Finance and Urban Planning expert team in preparation of a Capital Investment Programme, Local Authority Financial Plan and Local Area Plans;
• Oversee the collection of data/information by field enumerators.

Capacity building

• Responsible for all matters related to capacity building, skills transfer and training of IDP Committee and Task Teams.

Preparation and presentation of IDP reports

• Prepare the initial outline and text for the Planning Programme and three IDP reports (i.e. Planning Survey and Issues Report, Development Framework, and, Implementation Plan and M&E Framework), with reference to the approved IDP guidelines;
• Facilitate IDP Committee workshops and meetings to develop IDP reports;
• Assist the IDP Committee in preparing the three Solwezi IDP Reports in Draft and Final versions, following the approved IDP Guidelines;
• Work with the IDP Manager and IDP Committee to present the final IDP to key stakeholders, including Council management, for validation.

Immediate Requirement

The Project Lead will be based in Solwezi to engage full-time with key stakeholders in the development of the Solwezi IDP. The Project Lead will work with the IDP Manager and interdisciplinary IDP task teams to identify and collect new and missing data/information from stakeholder institutions and communities. The Project Lead will have strong analytical and computer skills including design of appropriate methods and tools for data collection, processing and analysis, synthesis and presentation of results to key stakeholders.

Key Qualifications

• Master’s Degree Urban and Regional Planning, Development Economics, Geography, Urban Economic Development, or related field;
• Minimum of 10 years’ work experience in urban planning and development;
• Demonstrated skills in urban planning, spatial/land use planning, and socio-economic and environmental data collection, processing and analysis (quantitative and qualitative);
• Knowledge and experience facilitating IDP processes, preparing IDP Reports and familiarity with the Urban and Regional Planning Act (2015) and IDP guidelines;
• Demonstrable skills in GIS, Spatial Data Analysis, and Remote Sensing techniques;
• Experience in data analysis, programming and cartography and using statistical software, such as Stata and SPSS;
• Experience facilitating participatory planning processes and leading interdisciplinary teams of stakeholders and thematic experts in IDP processes;
• Demonstrable experience in managing client relations and team management;
• Demonstrable experience in leading, coordinating and motivating consultant teams;
• Willingness to take responsibility for delivery by the team of project outputs in a timely way and to the required standard;
• Experience coordinating the preparation of project reports;
• Proven capability in the project management of technical assistance consulting engagements;
• Membership in the Zambia Institute of Planners (ZIP) is desirable.

Applications:

Please send your CV to [email protected]. For the CV to be considered, the subject line in email must be completed as follows: Project Lead for Support to the Solwezi IDP Committee – Candidate Last Name, First Name 

Deadline for Applications:

Monday 13th April 2020