Sustainable Textiles Specialist

Volunteering Environment

Contract

This is a UNV International Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as International UN Volunteer. It is normally internationally recruited only. More about UNV International Specialist contracts.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. UN Environment's mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action.

UNEP’s Industry and Economy Division provides solutions for economic decision-makers and helps change the business environment by offering platforms for dialogue and cooperation, innovative policy options, pilot projects and creative market mechanisms. Textiles being one of UNEP’s high-impact sectors under the PCP on circularity, the One UNEP Textile Initiative provides strategic leadership and encourages sector-wide collaboration to accelerate a just transition towards a sustainable and circular textile value chain. It has outlined the imperative for the fashion sector to become radically and rapidly transformed to become circular and encapsulates and aligns all UNEP work on textiles to do so.

Under the direction of and reporting to the Textiles Lead Programme Officer, within the Consumption and Production Unit of the Resources and Markets branch of the Industry and Economy Division, the Sustainable Textiles Specialist will undertake the following activities: • Support implementation of the One UNEP Textile Initiative, including representing the One UNEP Textile Initiative in calls/meetings with UNEP colleagues working or planning to work on textiles, as well as with external organisations, including within the UN, with the textile industry, industry associations, and other organisations. • Apply UNEP’s eco-innovation methodology in textiles, both with industry (especially SMEs) and governments in developing countries (including for instance Kenya, India, Viet Nam), including providing training modules on the eco-innovation methodology to implementing partners, SMEs, or policymakers, reviewing eco-innovation reports such as policy analyses and SME assessments. • Identify opportunities for potential collaboration and represent the One UNEP Textile Initiative in in-person meetings with UNEP colleagues based in Nairobi • Support UNEP’s work across areas including chemicals in textiles, fashion marketing, and textile standards.

In undertaking these duties, the Sustainable Textiles Specialist will establish and maintain relationships to support collaboration with other UNEP teams working on textiles, as well as technical staff across UNEP and in UN as well as representatives in national governments, international organizations, consultants, and NGOs.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to: • Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day). • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country. • Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities. • Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publica-tions/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc. • Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers. • Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/Expected Outputs

The Sustainable Textiles Specialist will be expected to contribute to One UNEP Textile Initiative indicators, including increasing the number of textile companies and industry standards and initiatives shifting practices and/or norms towards sustainability. The Specialist will help stakeholders understand and apply the eco-innovation methodology to their context (e.g., the needs of an SME versus the needs of a national-level policymaker) to enable the implementation of circular business models and the adoption of circular products. They will, through their understanding of the textile value chain developed through the application of the eco-innovation methodology, have developed an in-depth understanding of the textile sector, and be able to build and leverage networks in the sector, identifying areas of synergy for potential partnership and collaboration.

· Professionalism: Ability to identify issues, formulate opinions, make conclusions and rec-ommendations; shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional com-petence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commit-ments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations; takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspec-tives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

· Planning and organizing: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appro-priate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.

· Communication: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly inter-prets messages from others and responds appropriately; proven interpersonal skills; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors lan-guage, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing infor-mation and keeping people informed; good spoken and written communication skills, in-cluding ability to prepare clear and concise reports; ability to conduct presentations, artic-ulate options and positions concisely; ability to make and defend recommendations; ability to communicate and empathize with staff (including national staff), military personnel, vol-unteers, counterparts and local interlocutors coming from very diverse backgrounds; ability to maintain composure and remain helpful towards the staff, but objective, without showing personal interest; capacity to transfer information and knowledge to a wide range of differ-ent target groups.

· Genuine commitment towards the principles of voluntary engagement, which includes sol-idarity, compassion, reciprocity, and self-reliance; and commitment towards the UN core values.

relevant fields of which at least two years of progressively responsible experience in sustainability in textiles.

• Knowledge of chemicals in textile products, fashion communication and marketing, textile standards, or other sectoral work is highly desirable. • Experience with project management, or concurrent priority management is desirable. • Candidates must be able to demonstrate they are organized, reliable, and efficient. An understanding of how to work effectively as part of a team, and a willingness to learn and grow professionally by taking on new competencies and remaining abreast of developments in the statistical analytics field is essential. Proven ability to work effectively with a wide range of various actors is also required. As well, UNEP highly values creativity and innovative thinking, coupled with a problem-solving mindset.

The Republic of Kenya is an equatorial nation on the coast of East Africa, neighboring Somalia, Ethio-pia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Indian Ocean. Kenya has two levels of Government; National Government and 47 sub-national Governments called Counties. Counties are further divided into sub-counties. Kenya is a multi-party state with Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Kenya’s popula-tion of more than 40 million is growing at an annual rate of 2.2%. The country’s GNP per capita esti-mated at purchasing power parity (PPP) is $975, and the GNP is growing at an average rate of 0.1% an-nually. More than 26% of Kenya’s people live below the international poverty line of $1 per day. Ken-ya’s main food crops are “maize, wheat, pulses, roots and tubers.” (FAO). Nairobi is a modern metro-politan city where most basic goods and services, health facilities, public transport, telecommunication and banking services and educational facilities are readily available. The city is widely connected through its main airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the smaller Wilson Airport. Air transport is also available to many up-country destinations. The city is home to some 3,000 UN person-nel mainly attributed to the fact that it serves as the headquarters for both the UN HABITAT and UNEP. The socio-economic and cultural background of the immediate society the UNV would be living and working in is diverse and prevailing security conditions at the place of assignment is modest. The topo-graphic and climatic features of the assignment location is highland cool and warm tropical climate.

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Added 1 month ago - Updated 3 hours ago - Source: unv.org