Background

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 helps the urban poor by transforming cities into safer, healthier, greener places with better opportunities where everyone can live in with dignity. It works with organizations at every level, including all spheres of government, civil society and the private sector to help build, manage, plan and finance sustainable urban development. UN- Habitat established the Data and Analytics Unit (DAU) under the Knowledge and Innovation branch as a specialized statistical unit in charge of global monitoring of the Habitat Agenda and other agendas with an urban linkage. DAU has more than 20 years' experience in the collection, analysis and production of urban data at the world level and in specific cities. In line with UN-Habitat's mandate, DAU is working to a) Improve the capacity of countries and cities to access relevant information, setting global standards in the design analysis and collection of urban data, and supports the translation of data/information into policy formulation; b) Guide methodological developments of the urban related indicators and targets used by the international development community to monitor global progress towards implementation of the NUA and the urban SDGs; c) Improve worldwide urban knowledge base by supporting governments, local authorities and civil societies in the development and application of policy-oriented urban indicators, statistics and other urban information. The Data and Analytics Unit is currently leading SDG 11, the NUA monitoring and overall guidance and support for urban trends monitoring at the global level. As postulated in the SDG monitoring framework, the structures for data collection, and the resulting data should be disaggregated across several thematic areas – gender, age, persons with disability, and location variables. Additional activities include applying the national sample of cities approach and the degree of urbanization methodology as the recommended approach for defining cities, urban and rural areas. The monitoring tasks for these two global agendas have now been consolidated through the Global Urban Monitoring Framework (UMF), which covers 77 urban-level indicators. The Greater Busia Metro (GBM) is a vital cross-border economic zone shared by Kenya and Uganda. Informal women and youth traders (IWYTs) play a significant role in local economies but face insecurity in land tenure and limited access to formal trading spaces. To strengthen evidence-based planning and support tenure reforms, the project includes a dedicated data pillar focused on observatory development, data collection, spatial analytics, and digital monitoring. This work will directly inform policy, planning, and infrastructure investment. UN-Habitat’s Data and Analytics Unit (DAU) will oversee this process in close coordination with regional office for Africa, Busia local authorities, statistical offices, and community-based organizations.

Purpose

UN-Habitat seeks the services of a consultant to lead the development and implementation of the data components and urban observatory system for the "Harnessing Property Rights: Building Resilience of Local Government and Women and Youth Informal Traders in Greater Busia Metro" project. During the project inception phase (June – December 2025) the baseline data collection tools have been developed, baseline data products currently under production, UMF facilities data collected, Urban observatory roadmap and governance plans development. However, The Urban Observatory is yet to be set up and certification remains undone. In the next 12 months monitoring and evaluation frameworks that promote inclusive urban governance and cross-border economic resilience will be embedded with KPIs for Observatory; UMF indicator matrix for GBM localized and baseline, targets, disaggregation established; online data portal set up; geo-visualizations that support policy recommendations implemented as well as capacity building and data collaboration and visibility.

Duties and responsibilities

The consultant would work under the direct supervision of the project manager and in close collaboration with the Data and Analytics Unit (DAU). He/She will perform the following duties and responsibilities

1. Urban observatory framework

• Design and implement governance (steering committee, host institution, roles, MoUs/data‑sharing agreements) and obtain GUO‑Net certification.
• Institutionalize mission, vision, objectives, action plan, including observatory costing and resource mobilization strategies.

2. Indicator development & data strategy

• Design a data collection and integration plan, ensuring disaggregation by gender, age, and spatial dimension.
• Localize the UMF indicator matrix for GBM and define baselines, targets, disaggregation (sex, age, disability, location).
• Identify and define a core set of indicators aligned with land tenure security, market dynamics, spatial planning, gender equity, and informality and ensure alignments with the Global urban monitoring framework.
• Support setting up an online data portal with APIs, open‑data policy, and role‑based access; deploy interactive dashboards and map services.

3. Data platform development and geospatial analysis

• Develop or coordinate development of an interactive, GIS-enabled dashboard.
• Integrate geospatial data with housing, economic, and planning datasets.
• Support application of geospatial analysis models such as hotspot mapping, land use change detection, proximity analysis, and spatial clustering to inform evidence-based decision-making.
• Produce geo-visualizations that support policy recommendations, market space allocation, and tenure interventions.

4. Capacity building & stakeholder engagement

• Design, Facilitate and deliver trainings (GIS, indicator production, dashboarding, data governance, data use in planning and policy.) for local government and WYITs.
• Facilitate multi‑stakeholder data collaboratives (government departments, academia, private sector, CSOs) and peer‑to‑peer learning.

5. Monitoring, evaluation and reporting

• Develop and embed an M&E framework with KPIs for Observatory use on output and outcome monitoring.
• Produce monthly technical reports and a final implementation report on the data and analytics process.
• Produce an annual State of GBM report (progress toward SDG 11/NUA; policy options; investme

• Design and implement governance (steering committee, host institution, roles, MoUs/data‑sharing agreements) and obtain GUO‑Net certification.
• Institutionalize mission, vision, objectives, action plan, including observatory costing and resource mobilization strategies.
• Design a data collection and integration plan, ensuring disaggregation by gender, age, and spatial dimension.
• Localize the UMF indicator matrix for GBM and define baselines, targets, disaggregation (sex, age, disability, location).
• Identify and define a core set of indicators aligned with land tenure security, market dynamics, spatial planning, gender equity, and informality and ensure alignments with the Global urban monitoring framework.
• Support setting up an online data portal with APIs, open‑data policy, and role‑based access; deploy interactive dashboards and map services.
• Develop or coordinate development of an interactive, GIS-enabled dashboard.
• Integrate geospatial data with housing, economic, and planning datasets.
• Support application of geospatial analysis models such as hotspot mapping, land use change detection, proximity analysis, and spatial clustering to inform evidence-based decision-making.
• Produce geo-visualizations that support policy recommendations, market space allocation, and tenure interventions.
• Design, Facilitate and deliver trainings (GIS, indicator production, dashboarding, data governance, data use in planning and policy.) for local government and WYITs.
• Facilitate multi‑stakeholder data collaboratives (government departments, academia, private sector, CSOs) and peer‑to‑peer learning.
• Develop and embed an M&E framework with KPIs for Observatory use on output and outcome monitoring.
• Produce monthly technical reports and a final implementation report on the data and analytics process.
• Produce an annual State of GBM report (progress toward SDG 11/NUA; policy options; investme