Waste Management Officer

Details

Mission and objectives

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. UN-Habitat is the coordinating agency within the United Nations System for human settlement activities and in collaboration with governments is responsible for promoting and consolidating collaboration with all partners, including local authorities, private and non-governmental organizations in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular, Goal 11 of “Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, as well as the task manager of the human settlements chapter of Agenda 21 and focal point for the monitoring, evaluation and implementation of the New Urban Agenda adopted during the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III),held in Quito, Ecuador, in 2016.

Context

Waste Management Team, Urban Basic Services Section of UN-Habitat is mandated to improve the access to sustainable waste management services by improving policies and guidelines in partnership with local, regional and national authorities, enhancing enabling environment for promoting investments in sustainable waste management services with a focus on the urban poor and increasing coverage of sustainable waste management services in communities. The UNV will be based in the Urban Basic Services Section (UBSS) and collaborating with substantive sections in UN-Habitat (Regional Office for Africa) will provide project coordination and management support. The UN Volunteer will be guided by waste management team in his/her day to day assignments. The identified focus areas is the African Clean Cities Platform (ACCP) and other relevant waste management works.

Task description

Under the direct supervision of the Waste Management Expert in the Urban Basic Services Section (UBSS), and in collaboration with Regional Office for Africa (ROAF) , the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: • Assist in managing African Clean Cities Platform Secretariat (ACCP); • Answer queries and support ACCP member countries and cities to develop project concept notes; • Support in organizing ACCP assemblies, seminars and workshops and coordinate with partners; • Support in capacity development of ACCP members for Waste Wise Cities Tool application; • Create educational and advocacy materials to raise awareness on different topics related to waste management (e.g. 3Rs, E-waste, avoidable food waste, EPR, ESM, etc.); • Support other related activities for Waste Wise Cities (WWC) and support synergies between ACCP and WWC • Support project development of MSWM in Africa, in coordination with ACCP activities; • Supporting implementation of existing waste management projects and program in Africa including the collaboration with JICA experts and his activities; • Identify opportunities to develop innovative waste management projects to boost circular economy in collaboration with national and county governments, UN agencies and other relevant entities (UNEP, UNDP….); • Carried out assessment to identify needs for support on waste management interventions using existing tools (Waste Wise Cities Tool); • Contribute to the normative works in the sector of waste management by documenting best practices, lessons learnt across UN-HABITAT and across regions (Regional Office for Asia Pacific), in collaboration with relevant divisions (UBS, Innovation division); • Contribute to the expansion of the African Clean Cities Platform Platform and raise awareness for adhesion of mayors and counties; • Expand and maintain good partnership with stakeholders including international organizations, governments, development corporations, development banks, private sectors, etc.; • Share knowledge and good practices through ACCP activities; • Contribute to fundraising efforts to support waste management programs in Africa; • Any other duty that may contribute to more exposure to UN-Habitat’s engagement on basic services and environment protection. 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.