UNDP Jobs - 50304- Consultant to Prepare and Deliver Regional Trainin

Consultant to Prepare and Deliver Regional Training on HW Identification and Classification for Custom Officers

Location :

Cairo, EGYPT

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

09-Oct-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Basel Convention on the control of trans-boundary movement of hazardous waste and their disposal (BC) was adopted in 1989 and entered into force in May 1992. Egypt has been a party since 1993. The core objectives of the convention focus on: minimizing transboundary movement of hazardous waste, reduction of its generation, and as appropriate disposal near its sources. Parties to this convention are obliged to effective implementation of such objectives through establishing the necessary measures for controlling trans-boundary movement of hazardous waste and the development of criteria for environmentally sound management of this waste.

Article 14 of the Basel Convention provides the basis for the establishment of regional support centers to assist Parties to this convention in achieving its objectives. The core functions of the Regional Centers are to promote environmentally sound management of hazardous waste through Training, Capacity building, Technology Transfer, Information sharing & exchange, Consulting services, and Awareness-raising programmes.

The conference of parties of the Basel convention adopted decision VI/9 to establish the Basel Convention Regional Center in Egypt (BCRC-Egypt) for Training and Technology Transfer for Arab States. The Government of Egypt has signed the framework agreement with the Secretariat of the Basel Convention for the legal establishment of the center, and it is now hosted by Cairo University.

Inadequate hazardous waste (HW) management in most of the 22 Arab countries served by the BCRC-Egypt generates considerable public health and environmental problems, including contamination of soil and water. It also prevents the countries of the region from meeting their obligations under the Basel Convention. The Government of Finland has previously supported the BCRC-Egypt through the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 2006-2010 to develop the institutional capacity of the Center and explore the challenges concerning hazardous waste in the Arab countries.

The overall objective of this project is improving the environmentally sound management of hazardous waste and regional cooperation in controlling trans-boundary movements of this waste between the Arab countries. The purpose of the project is to develop BCRC-Egypt into a sustainable regional knowledge and service centre on hazardous waste issues for the Arab countries, as well as to consolidate the achievements of the previous phase of the project.

The project is again financed by the Government of Finland and the Implementing Partner responsible of project activities and outputs will be BCRC-Egypt. BCRC-Egypt is now looking to contract an International Consultant to design, supervise and conduct a 3-days Regional Training on HW Identification and Classification for Custom Officers. The training shall be conducted in English language.

Duties and Responsibilities

Increasing the knowledge of the participants of the basic principles of the Basel Convention (for example the waste import and export procedures, waste identification and classification and the duty to return illegally trafficked waste);
Getting familiar with various inspections and enforcement methods and strategies;
Increasing the collaboration in the region by sharing good practices and experiences and considering mechanisms to facilitate cross-border cooperation in the region;
Identifying the role and responsibilities of the law enforcement agencies involved in monitoring transboundary movements of waste;
Providing options to establish and /or improve inter-agency collaboration at national level between all involved law enforcement agencies responsible for monitoring waste movements and management;
Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of inspection and enforcement actions by gaining knowledge on risk and threat assessments and profiling.

Specific Tasks to be performed by the Consultant

Identification of training needs and training agenda. The consultant will assist BCRC-Egypt in identifying training needs, drafting and circulating the training agenda based on information on the training participants which will be communicated by BCRC-Egypt.

Preparation of the training material. The training material will be prepared in due time before training start. Tentatively, the training material should be delivered at least one week in advance before training. It will contain both multimedia presentations (computer slides, hyperlinked electronic text as necessary) as well as 3 hardcopies of the relevant material to be distributed during the training. In the course of the development of the training materials, the information received by BCRC-Egypt on training needs will be duly taken into account to ensure that the training fits the specific training needs of the participants.

Preparation of materials and methodology for assessing training effectiveness; as one of the main difficulties of training is to ensure its effectiveness, a methodology for the evaluation of the training effectiveness will be established and submitted for approval of BCRC-Egypt before start of the training. This will include: a preliminary test, based on questionnaires with closed-ended questions specific for each training topic; a final test, based on desk exercises based on real cases as well as questionnaires; and a feedback form to be distributed to the participant for evaluating the trainers and for providing suggestions for improvement of the training. The evaluation material will be prepared along with the preparation of the training materials, however it will be obviously released only at starting of training activities.

Conducting Training and Training Content. 2 sessions, around six hours each, of classroom training shall be delivered.

Assessment of training effectiveness, including the performance of the trainers. Based on the outcome of the preliminary and final tests and exercitation, and adopting the methodology approved by BCRC-Egypt for training evaluation, the training effectiveness will be assessment. The assessment will include: quantitative increase in the level of knowledge of the participants, before and after the training, based on the analysis of closed-ended questionnaires; capability of the trainee to address e-waste issue and to elaborate e-waste policies, as from the exercitation outcome. On the side of trainer evaluation, the scoring and areas of weakness / strength will be assessed based on the analysis of feedback forms returned by the participants to BCRC-Egypt.

Reporting and certification. A final training report shall be delivered after training closure. It will include the preparatory material, training material, outcome of training need assessment based on questionnaire delivered before the training, assessment of training effectiveness, assessment of trainers performance, proposal for further improvement, and attendance sheets. A training participation certificate will be prepared by the consultant and released by BCRC-Egypt to all the participants who have attended all the three days training and who have participated and passed in tests and exercitation.

Deliverables of the Consultancy:

Training workshop plan and agenda;
Training materials;
Three days Training workshop;
Workshop Report including test and assessment results.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies:

Conceptual thinking and analytical skills;
Good communication, technical, presentation and writing skills;
Computer literacy.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

An advanced degree (Masters or PhD) in environmental management and/or policy with a specific focus on the training topic.

Experience:

At least 10 years of work experience in the environment related training.

Language:

Excellent English communication skills;
Working knowledge in the Arabic language is an asset.

Note:

Please make sure that your application contains the following sections: CV, motivation letter, training proposal and financial proposal.