EOI - Empanelment of Consultants / Subject-matter Experts for UrbanShift Country Project

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About the Organization

The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) is India’s premier urban think tank, shaping the urban narrative since 1976. NIUA bridges the gap between research and practice to promote balanced and constructive transformation. The institute drives solutions that go beyond theoretical frameworks, reshaping ideas and fostering actionable initiatives that deliver tangible impact on the ground.

As the first port of call for international agencies, NIUA facilitates transformative actions by nurturing collaborations and driving cutting-edge solutions for Indian cities.

About the Proposal

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded UrbanShift Country Project aims to demonstrate lowemissions, resilient, nature-based, inclusive, sustainable urban development in Indian cities; and support scale-up nationally of the knowledge created and learnings from the Project. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) as the executing agency, is implementing the Project in the partner cities of Pune, Surat, Puducherry and Agra. The objective of the project is to demonstrate low emissions, resilient, nature-based inclusive, sustainable urban development in selected cities and support scale-up nationally. The Project would provide technical assistance and investment for undertaking the following activities in the partner cities:

• Evidence-based sustainable and integrated planning approaches;
• Investmentsin low emissions, resilient, Nature-based Solutions(NbS) and mobility;
• Innovative financing solutions for cities; and
• Knowledge management and capacity development: Knowledge products, good practices and tools would be made available to national, state and city authorities as well as other stakeholders through the National Urban Learning Platform (NULP).

The Project will also focus on enabling gender mainstreaming practices and processes through the inclusion of gender expertise, stakeholder consultations with women, adoption of gender- responsive planning and budgeting processes and mandatory gender assessment of all urban development projects.

The key focal areas of work in the partner cities are as follows:

• Pune and Agra: Integrated spatial planning for compact development and low-emission resilient green transit corridors
• Surat and Puducherry: Integrated spatial planning for resilient coastal zones and low-emission mobility development

Empanelment of Consultants / Subject-Matter Experts (smes):

To further the Project activities, the Project Management Unit (PMU)-UrbanShift Country Project at NIUA wants to empanel the Consultants / SMEs to undertake short-term assignment(s) under the following categories:

• Urban Transport Planner, with expertise in Transit-oriented Development (TOD), Non-motorised Transport planning, Street Design Guidelines and electric mobility.
• Environmental Expert, with experience of assessing impact (GHG emission reduction, environmental sustainability etc.) of projects/ actions
• Urban Planner, with expertise in Geographical Information System
• Marine Ecology Expert, with expertise in coastal biodiversity 5. Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Expert, with experience of integrating climate actions in master/ development plans of cities.
• Urban Finance Specialist, with experience of development of innovative and diverse financial mechanisms including development of business models for scaling-up sustainable urban solutions.
• Institutional/ Governance Expert, with experience of institutionalising integrated project governance structures, inter-departmental coordination processes, etc. and documenting the resulting benefits.
• Infrastructure Expert, with experience of implementation of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in coastal areas.
• Information Technology Expert, with experience of web solutions, design and maintenance. Landscape Architect, with expertise in floral biodiversity of coastal areas.
• Landscape Architect, with expertise in floral biodiversity of coastal areas.
• Gender Expert, with experience of preparing Gender Action Plans, generating data and mapping the gender implications at the city level, piloting gender-responsive practices and solutions, and providing capacity-building support to enable gender-responsive inclusive planning.
• Communication and Knowledge Dissemination Expert, with experience of strategising the scaling-up of project outcomes and dissemination of knowledge content nationally.
• Habitat Specialist, with expertise in aviary design for birds and other species. Urban Heat Mitigation Expert, with experience of developing Heat Mitigation Strategy and Action Plans for cities.
• Urban Heat Mitigation Expert, with experience of developing Heat Mitigation Strategy and Action Plans for cities.
• Transit-oriented Development (TOD) Expert, with extensive experience in developing guidance documents, policies, strategies, etc. to make TODs implementable in Indian cities.
• Public Bicycle Share (PBS) System Expert, with extensive experience in assessing the demand and evaluating the viability of PBS systems, designing implementation (deployment and operation framework) of PBS, etc.
• Electric Vehicle (EV) Expert, with extensive experience in facilitating adoption of EVs in cities, developing strategies to integrate charging infrastructure with the land use planning process, etc

Scope of work

• Provide technical inputs, undertake research, review technical documents, etc. related to UrbanShift Country project activities.
• Support onboarding of consulting firms/ individual consultants for undertaking various tasks/ assignments/ projects under the UrbanShift Country project. The empanelled SME would be engaged in preparing/ reviewing the Request for Proposals (RfP) of such works, specifically the Terms of Reference and the Scope of Work. The SME would also be responsible for the technical review of work submitted by the consulting firms/ individual consultants for its comprehensiveness and technical competency.
• Participate in meetings or field visits and make presentations, as requested by the PMU – UrbanShift, NIUA.
• By mutual agreement, undertake any other project-related work as assigned by the PMU – UrbanShift, NIUA.

Eligibility

• Your organization must be an established legal entity (for-profit, not-for-profit, social business, NGO, INGO). 
• Your organization should have a presence or willingness to build a presence in one of the three countries of implementation (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon). This could take the form of a country office or other permanent presence, subsidiary, long-term operations or partnerships in the country.
• Your innovation addresses at least one of the above-mentioned priority areas related to pressing challenges faced in the climate adaptation space of the country of implementation. 
• Your innovation must be at least in the seed stage. Solutions that are still at the idea, research or early pre-seed stage are not eligible.
• Your innovation should have a clear pathway to scale, adequate resources and a proposed plan to implement during the six-month Sprint Programme with the available funding. 
• Applicants are expected to have strong intentions to collaborate with relevant humanitarian stakeholders, build relationships with the country offices, and connect with the innovation ecosystems.
• Interventions classified as Category A based on the environmental and social sustainability framework indicating a high risk of irreversible adverse impacts, will not be accepted. For further details on risk categories, kindly refer to WFP's environmental and social sustainability framework, specifically paragraph 23 on page 8.

How to Apply

Applications, including a Cover Letter (stating the suitability of the applicant for the said position), CV (as per Annexure 2), Undertaking to provide services (as per Annexure 3), Selfattested undertaking that the candidate is not blacklisted (as per Annexure 4) and abovementioned supporting documents in PDF format, shall be submitted by email to urbanshift.pmu@niua.org and hr@niua.org notlaterthan December 31, 2025, 17:00 hrsIST. T

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