Mr. Siddique is an urban development expert with over 17 years’ experience in managing sustainable urban development technical assistance programmes across a range of multilateral institutions. His expertise is in the planning, management, and evaluation of complex multi-component, socio-economic development and poverty reduction programs in urban contexts, including in post-conflict and fragile states. He has proven experience in taking a project concept and growing it into a sustainable and scaled programme at national and regional levels working in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders.

“I look forward to bringing my experience and knowledge to UN-Habitat’s long-standing programme in Kosovo. Building inclusive, resilient, safe and sustainable cities and communities in Kosovo is essential to ensure a lasting peace and boosting shared prosperity. I look forward to harnessing the transformative potential of cities for a sustainable recovery by building partnerships at the local, regional, and national levels.”

– conveyed Mr. Siddique.  

Mr. Siddique’s programmatic expertise is chiefly in slum upgrading and affordable housing strategies, urban poverty assessment, municipal financing instruments, city-wide service delivery profiling, solid waste management, urban climate change mitigation and adaptation planning, participatory planning for informal livelihoods promotion and institutional strengthening programmes for improved urban governance.

Mr. Siddique was previously based in Bangkok, Thailand for over three years as an Economic Affairs Officer with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (UNESCAP) Sustainable Urban Development Section, where he coordinated intergovernmental support to Member States and cities in localizing the 2030 Agenda, Paris Agreement and New Urban Agenda. This entailed managing urban development capacity building programmes in over 24 countries, convening multi-stakeholder urban policy fora and authoring parliamentary documentation promoting the role of cities in achieving sustainable development with senior officials.

Before joining UNESCAP, Mr. Siddique was a Senior Urban Specialist for four years at the Cities Alliance based in Brussels, Belgium, where he managed a US$78million high-impact experimental urban portfolio with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which supported sustainable urban development technical assistance programmes in over 12 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. While at the Cities Alliance, he mobilized financing to set up its’ largest country programme and first ever global programme on resilient cities in the organization’s history.

Prior to joining the Cities Alliance, Mr. Siddique worked for nine years as Programme Specialist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) moving from New York to Sri Lanka and eventually Thailand. His primary role was to provide thought leadership for new urban development strategies and identify a range of strategic entry points for country and regional urban development programmes supported by strategic alliances between UN Country Teams, cities and the public and private sector.

Before joining the UN system, Mr. Siddique worked in microfinance at the Grameen Bank in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as special assistant to Nobel laurate and founder, Dr. Muhammad Yunus.

“I consider myself fortunate to have been given this opportunity to join a team with such a fine reputation. This position offers new and exciting challenges to me, all of which I am looking forward to.  Glad to be on board!” – said Mr. Siddique.

* For UN, references to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council resolution 1244(1999)