Waste and Sustainable Construction Expert

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Result of Service

Toolkit, knowledge and capacities enabling a circular economy in the contruction and building sector, linking Waste Management and Construction Sector

Work Location

Home Based

Expected duration

4 months

Duties and Responsibilities

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the 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 Urban Basic Services Section of UN-Habitat is mandated to improve the access to urban basic services, including sustainable solid waste management by collecting data on municipal solid waste management, improving policies and guidelines in partnership with local, regional and national authorities, creating an enabling environment for promoting investments in sustainable waste management with a focus on the urban poor and increasing coverage of sustainable waste management services in communities. Waste Wise Cities UN-Habitat launched Waste Wise Cities (WWC) on World Habitat Day in 2018 with a call to action to cities and local governments to tackle the global waste management crisis and supports them in moving towards a circular economy through promoting 5Rs (Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle). Waste Wise Cities has four key action areas: 1) knowledge and good practices sharing; 2) waste data and monitoring; 3) advocacy and education; and 4) project finance and bankability support. WWC aims to support cities and local governments in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals related to waste and as well as in implementing the New Urban Agenda. Currently WWC has 170 member cities worldwide, as well as over 30 Affiliates. Together with other partners they form the Waste Wise Network. Waste Wise Cities Tool: waste assessment and monitoring methodology for SDG indicator 11.6.1 Many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their targets directly relate to waste management. These include: access to basic services (Target 1.4), eliminate dumping to improve water quality (Target 6.3.), municipal solid waste management (Target 11.6), food waste (Target 12.3), chemicals and hazardous waste, including e-waste (Target 12.4), recycling (Target 12.5), and marine litter (14.1). UN-Habitat is the custodian agency of SDG Indicator 11.6.1 “Proportion of municipal solid waste collected and managed in controlled facilities out of total municipal solid waste generated, by the city” and launched its monitoring methodology as “Waste Wise Cities Tool” (WaCT) in 2021. The tool was applied to many cities since its launch, collecting municipal solid waste data on the ground and facilitated the action planning for improved solid waste management in cities. CiCoSA - A waste wise approach to sustainable building and construction in Sub-Saharan Africa UN-Habitat is implementing CiCoSA project with support from Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, with the aim to strengthen the sustainable building and construction (SBC) sector by applying circular economy and low-carbon principles to the housing value chain, improving access to affordable housing and reducing the ecological footprint of cities. This project looks at SBC from the ‘waste management angle’ by applying the 5Rs (Reghink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) to the sector, which is promoted by UN-Habitat Waste Wise Cities programme. The project will create CiCoSA (Circular Construction & Housing in Sub-Saharan Africa) online action kit consisting of research products and good practices, policy recommendations and an implementation guide on waste wise approaches to sustainable building and construction in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the second part of the project, CiCoSA will be disseminated in Kenya and Namibia and stakeholders supported in its application. These countries were selected due to the importance of affordable housing, including SBC, on the national agenda, as well as the engagement of UN-Habitat with these countries. Reporting to the Programme Management Officer, Urban Mobility and Solid Waste Management and in consultation with Associate Officer, Solid Waste, the Waste and Sustainable Construction Expert will be responsible for the following duties: • Finalization of the following sections of CiCoSA online action kit including: o Waste management challenges (including MSW, Construction and Demolition waste and agricultural waste) in Sub-Saharan Africa and opportunities for material circularity. o Opportunities (job creation through creation of circularity, environmental benefits of recycling) and risks of recycled materials (e.g. environmental pollution during and after the recycling processes) o How waste wise approach could be guiding principle for Sustainable Building and Construction in Sub-Saharan Africa o Why decision makers should look into solutions (waste reduction, job creation and access to adequate housing) o Good practices and case studies o Policy recommendations based on the above • Develop CiCoSA implementation guide on waste wise approaches to sustainable building and construction in Sub-Saharan Africa focusing on: o Challenges and opportunities in housing and waste sector in Sub-Saharan Africa o Step by step guide on how to implement and apply waste wise approaches to sustainable building and construction in the region • Align the online action kit and implementation guide with the UNEP Construction Project and sub- working group called Circular Built Environment • Present above deliverables at Reference Group Meeting and summarise feedback as a report • Finalize CiCoSA online action kit and implementation guide reflecting the Reference Group Meeting feedback • Prepare, organize and conduct two trainings on CiCoSA online action kit (one for Kenya – in person; one for Namibia - online)

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Statistics, Chemistry, Environmental Management, or in a closely related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. A minimum of 8 years’ experience in solid waste management or a related field with extensive knowledge and experience in waste data collection is required. Excellent writing and communication skills and ability to analyze data is required. Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) is required. Experience in the United Nations or other international development agencies is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in written and oral English is required. Knowledge of French would be an asset. Working knowledge of other UN official languages is desirable.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.