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 enable large companies to be better prepared to support their suppliers in developing countries implement relevant and effective circularity actions, GGKP is aiming to improve connections and collaborations between technical assistance programmes and interested companies. This engagement effort alongside its extensive knowledge management and sharing capabilities will help GGKP in its efforts to transform access to knowledge into action on the ground. To assist this work, GGKP wishes to develop collaborations with sustainable business initiatives and coalitions, which need to be first identified and classified according to their areas of expertise, geographical focus and types of business members.

Task Description

We are looking for 1 Online Volunteer to identify and analyze key sustainable business initiatives and coalitions that promote sustainable business practices and value chain transformation across sectors. The assignment will include the following responsibilities · Mapping – Research information on voluntary business initiatives and coalitions (e.g. global alliances, industry commitments, multi-stakeholder partnerships, certification schemes) that support sustainability and circular economy practices. · Classification – Organize initiatives and coalitions by type (e.g. business led, commitment programme, government supported, etc.), sector (e.g., agriculture, manufacturing, retail, etc.), business member type, focus areas, geographical priorities, etc. · Evaluation – Identify priority initiatives and coalitions (and related contacts) that could be key collaboration partners for working and engaging with target large companies within specific value chains, in relation to their experience with sustainable supply chain efforts and related support to SMEs. · Gap Analysis – from the mapping and evaluation results, highlight regions, sectors and business types that are under-represented by relevant sustainable business initiative or coalitions. Deliverables: · A comprehensive excel mapping report of sustainable business initiative and coalitions · Short recommendation report highlighting priority initiatives and coalitions to explore collaborations with. The average estimated workload is expected to include desk research of national, regional and global sustainable business voluntary initiatives that are officially recognized by national or international institutions and websites of business coalitions over the course of the assignment duration, with emphasis on high impact value chains and a focus on circular economy. The Online Volunteer will have the opportunity to contribute to strategic private sector engagement 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