Associate Land & Peacebuilding Officer (Area-Based Development)

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the United Nations 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.

The Grand Bandundu region (provinces of Kwilu, Kwango, and Mai-Ndombe) is facing a complex crisis driven by the Mobondo armed conflict, land-based intercommunity tensions, internal displacement (IDPs), and reduced opportunities for agrobusiness. Competition over arable land, forests, and water resources has intensified, triggering localized violence and disrupting food systems. Host communities, vulnerable families, and displaced populations require urgent aid alongside medium-term solutions for territorial stability and job creation. In response, the Government of DRC recently adopted a new Land Law and a Territorial Development Law, which decentralize land management and mandate participatory, area based development plans. The UN Joint Vision on Police and Justice Reforms emphasizes community policing, land dispute resolution mechanisms, and access to justice as pillars of sustainable peace. UN-Habitat is now establishing a land information system, facilitating police-community dialogues, and piloting area based development plans in selected territories hosting IDPs and affected by the Mobondo crisis. This UN Volunteer Associate will directly support the design of an integrated spatial development plan with a financial mechanism to boost the humanitarian peace development nexus in cities and human settlements hosting migrants, IDPs, and vulnerable host communities – while promoting inclusive digitalization.

Under the direct supervision of the UN-Habitat Project Manager of Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention Initiative, the UN Volunteer Associate will undertake the following tasks: - Support the development of an integrated spatial development plan for selected territories in Grand Bandundu, incorporating land use mapping, conflict sensitive planning, and identification of sites for job creation (e.g., agro processing, small scale trade). - Assist in designing a financial mechanism (local investment fund or micro grant scheme) to support youth and women led livelihoods, linking humanitarian aid (food security, shelter) with early recovery and medium term territorial development. - Contribute to police community dialogue sessions as part of the joint UN police and justice reform agenda, documenting local land disputes and supporting referral path-ways to legal aid and alternative dispute resolution. - Participate in the roll out of a land information system at territory level, helping collect and digitize customary and formal land rights data, with attention to displaced populations and vulnerable families. - Support area based assessments in IDP hosting settlements, identifying pressure points on natural resources and proposing inclusive digital solutions (e.g., mobile mapping, basic e governance for land registration). - Collaborate with humanitarian, peacebuilding, and development actors (OCHA, UNDP, MONUSCO, IOM, FAO) to ensure coherence between the area based development plan and ongoing aid operations. - During the first month, finalize a detailed work plan with the supervisor, including regular check ins and performance feedback.