Internship Mapping Urban Trends And Footprint

Background World Vision International operates in around 12 countries in the region of Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia[1],[2], through different offices spread across the region.   Compared to Africa and Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe countries are urbanizing at a slower rate. Nonetheless, data from retrieved from the World Bank[3] and the UN[4] shows a relatively rapid increase in the rates of urban populations in MEER between 2011 and 2050. The data shows that some countries are urbanizing faster than others and those are Albania and BiH (25% increase in each), Romania (34%) and Afghanistan and Pakistan (24% each). A critical look at those numbers indicates that soon enough those countries will start to face the negative implications of urbanization if the latter is not well managed. In addition to rapidly urbanizing countries, some of MEER countries already have high percentages of their populations residing in urban areas. Those are Lebanon (87%), Gaza[5] (74%) and Armenia (64%). Those countries are currently hosting high rates of urban populations that have migrated due to diverse reasons to towns and cities and might be facing challenges related to their migration and a wide set of issues to be addressed. The outcome of this urbanization in MEER is obvious in the number of issues that have emerged as its result. Those issues are: Informality, illegal housing and increasing slums  High insecurity of labor and income / (youth) unemployment Large informal economy in cities Child labor / street children in cities Limited participation of urban poor / vulnerable groups in governance processes & local level decision making Poor infrastructure and access to basic services Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons settling in urban communities in dire living conditions   Discrimination against minorities and refugees Social exclusion of institutionalized children – especially in Eastern European countries Conflict, crime and violence resulting from different types of fragmentations and high fragility of MEER context Environmental and health hazards If the urban sprawl had been managed more properly, those issues would have not been prevalent in the MEER countries.     With the exception of Lebanon office which has been piloting urban programming since 2009, other countries in MEER have had very limited experience in urban programming (both in terms of footprint as well as in term of applying innovative approaches that are better suited to the urban environment vs. the traditional programming model / approach that WV developed for addressing rural poverty). Focus of urban programming in the region has been targeted toward sector based interventions in education and child protection as primary sectors of focus. Although insecurity of labor and youth unemployment are among the most pressing urban issues in the region, leading to increased urbanization; WV urban programming is not big on economic development. In addition to this, although 4 offices in the region are considered to be operating in fragile contexts (Lebanon, JWG, Pakistan and Afghanistan) with high vulnerability to (if not prevalence of) man-made as well as natural disaster, resilience is not prioritized in urban programs. And lastly, from available information on urban footprint, there is no clear picture whether the existing urban projects/programs are addressing most vulnerable groups (refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, minority groups, etc.).   The main problem with urban programming is that there is no single accepted definition for an ‘urban’ context. The terms ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ are defined by each national government, and thus depend on the particular context of a country. National definitions of ‘urban’ are usually based on population size and density, the proportion of non-agricultural jobs and government administrative boundaries. However, other characteristics should also be considered when defining an ‘urban’ area for WV programming. Physical, economic, human, political and environmental factors come into interplay to define the dynamics of an urban context. If at least one of the factors is present, then the context could be considered urban. An increase in any one of these factors will usually mean that urbanization is increasing. ‘Peri-urban’ areas can be defined as areas currently outside the urban boundaries that show increasing signs of urban characteristics.   Over the past years, WV started programs in areas that were considered rural or peri-urban in MEER. With urbanization quickly happening, some of those program areas could have developed into more urbanized contexts while they are still considered rural / per-urban in our internal definitions. Purpose To better understand the urbanization trends and issues in countries where WV operates in MEER as well as to reassess the actual urban footprint of the organization in order to inform regional and country offices’ strategies. Expected outcomes Complete an overview of urbanization  in MEER (3 sub regions: Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia) Ascertain each country’s national definition of ‘urban’ context, boundaries and features Reassess the current WV programs across the rural urban continuum in relation to respective national urban definitions Reassess WV's emerging urban footprint corresponding to each country’s national definition of ‘urban settings. Propose recommendations to inform regional and country offices’ strategies and resource allocation across the rural urban continuum Process This internship should be completed through: -          Desk review -          Primary information collection from WV offices in MEER   No travel is required from the intern. Expected deliverable 10 to 15 pages urban landscape report (excluding appendices) covering the expected outcomes Qualifications Masters degree in urban sociology, international development, urban studies, public health or any other relevant field. Timeframe Up to 3 months starting January 2015. Remuneration This is an unpaid internship – however, stipend could be provided. Contact person Aline Rahbany, urban learning hub lead in WV MEER Email: aline_rahbany@wvi.org [1] Lebanon, Jerusalem West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Armenia, Albania, Kosovo, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) – in addition to countries where Syrian crisis response is happening [2] Region referred to as MEER throughout this document [3] http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS/countries?display… [4] http://esa.un.org/wup2009/unup/index.asp?panel=1 [5] Excluding West Bank and Jerusalem as data was not available