Mission and objectives

Since its inception in 1972, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been the global authority that sets the 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. UNEP’s mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, UNEP works through its divisions as well as regional, liaison and out-posted offices and a growing network of collaborating centres of excellence.

Context

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the United Nations system’s designated entity for addressing environmental issues at the global and regional level. Its 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. Within UNEP’s Industry and Economy Division (IED), the Resources and Markets Branch (RMB) supports public policies and private-sector initiatives that advance efficient, clean and safe industrial production methods while creating the enabling conditions for sustainable consumption within value chains in high-impact sectors. The RMB hosts the Secretariat of the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership (GGKP), an initiative led by UNEP, UNIDO, the World Bank, the OECD and GGGI that aims at facilitating the sharing, promotion and application of green economy best practices and impactful solutions, capitalizing on the knowledge and experience generated across the globe by those who are leading the transition through innovative policy instruments, business models and technologies, financing mechanisms and investments, as well as through international cooperation and technical assistance. GGKP has a particular focus on supporting knowledge sharing and accessibility within and across value chains. An emphasis of this work is ensuring not only the availability of the most relevant green and circular economy knowledge for each individual value chain stakeholder (e.g. corporation, SME, financier, policy maker, NGO, etc.) but also that this same knowledge is successfully applied to deliver targeted action. To understand what circular economy support is already being provided to value chain actors by development agencies, governments and NGOs and improve knowledge and experience exchange between such organisations, GGKP has established the Circular Economy Leaders’ Community. The objective of this community is facilitate knowledge and experience exchange between member organisations and ensure that outcomes of their work on circular economy are replicated and upscaled across value chains. To further expand the Circular Economy Leaders’ Community and enhance the level of knowledge and experience available to value chain actors, GGKP wishes to develop an extensive live mapping of all circular economy initiatives that have a focus on supporting more sustainable value chains.

Task Description

We are looking for 1 Online Volunteer to identify and analyze key circular economy initiatives delivered by development agencies, governments and NGO and which provide support to value chain actors. The assignment will include the following responsibilities • Mapping – Research information on development agency, government and NGO led national, regional and global circular economy initiatives covering support to value chain actors such as technical assistance, capacity building, tools, financial solutions, engagement, etc., with a particualr focus on those supporting businesses, especialy SMEs. • Classification – Organize initiatives by organisation type, sector and value chain focus, geographical priorities, target audience, types of support, funders, available knowledge, types of online platforms, etc. • Evaluation – Identify priority initiatives that could be champions within the Circular Economy Leaders Community for key value chain engagement and circular economy topics. • Gap Analysis – from the mapping and evaluation results, highlight value chains, regions, sectors, support types and target audiences that are under-represented by circular economy initiatives. Deliverables: • A comprehensive excel mapping report of circular economy initiatives • Short recommendation report highlighting priority initiatives that could be potential champions with the Circular Economy Leaders Community The average estimated workload is expected to include desk research of open-source development project databases and websites of national, regional and global circular economy initiatives, with emphasis on high impact value chains and a focus on circularity-based technical support. The Online Volunteer will have the opportunity to contribute to strategic partner collaboration within the United Nations system and gain experience in practical application of circular economy through international organizations’ development support.

Competencies and values

Living conditions and remarks