UNDP Jobs - 56597- National Consultant - Assessment of Informal Waste

National Consultant - Assessment of Informal Waste Pickers in Jordan

Location :

Amman with frequent travel to Mafraq & Irbid, JORDAN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

11-Jun-2015

Application Deadline :

29-May-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 days

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

30 days

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

UNDP’s overall programme “Mitigating the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on Jordanian vulnerable host communities”

Since the beginning of 2013, the UNDP Jordan Country Office has been implementing a programme to improve livelihoods and create employment opportunities for host communities affected by the influx of Syrian refugees, as well as to enhance basic service deliveries through supporting the municipalities. The objective of this project, “Mitigating the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on Jordanian vulnerable host communities” is to support vulnerable Jordanians in the host communities of the Northern governorates of Irbid, and Mafraq.

The overall programme is designed to respond to urgent needs of crisis-affected people in a timely and efficient manner, with emphasis on Jordanians in host communities, to increase their absorption capacity and mitigating any possible tensions between Syrian refugees and hosting communities, through two pronged approach:

To invest in interventions for rapid employment creation and support to basic social services, that are geared towards sustaining stability, in particular in the Northern governorates of Mafraq and Irbid– Pillar I; and
To strive to translate this into longer-term gains and durable solutions to contribute to some of the issues addressed in national development plans and strategies, in particular with regard to sustainable employment creation, enhanced capacity for service delivery and local economic development – Pillar II.

Solid Waste Management project: Waste Pickers

Solid waste management (SWM) was identified as one of the highest priorities (identified by local actors and partners alike) that the crisis-affected municipalities are facing due to the influx of the Syrian refugees. Around 2.13 million tons of wastes are produced with already increasing by around 3 % annually, and it is estimated that an additional 10 % is added due to the influx of the refugees. UNDP will provide support to the Joint Services Council (JSC) in the Northern governorate of Irbid, to improve solid waste management at the Al Alakaider dumping site while offering durable solutions for improvement of social service delivery to the affected populations through ensuring that the assistance provided in the current context complements, governmental development efforts in linking to livelihoods and employment creation.

UNDP has recently conducted a value chain analysis on Municipal Solid Waste in the Governorates of Mafraq and Irbid, using a market-led approach in order to analyze needs and emerging opportunities of a selected number of high-impact sectors and sub-sectors related to municipal solid waste that are aligned with national priorities with the highest potential for employment creation in particular for the poor, as well as women and youth.

The assessment looks into waste pickers as the bottom of the value chain and also as important segment in the municipal waste chain. These are the waste pickers directly depending from the JSC recycling contractors: they are 35 to 50 in Al Ehsnyiat landfill and 15 to 30 in Al Akaider landfill, the difference being that due to the rehabilitation and expansion plans, the contract in Al Akaider was not awarded for 6 months, as well as the proximity of Zaatari refugee camp to the Al Ehsnyiat landfill. The recycling contractors operating in the landfills are directly employing these waste pickers, paying them daily wages. However, while the contract awarded by the JSC is official, such workers are not formally employed and thus no protection measures for their rights are in place and they do not receive any social security benefits from their work in addition to child labor practices.

Waste pickers origin and composition is different between the two landfills. In Mafraq, the proximity to Zaatari camp results in an increased number of women and refugees working in Al Ehsnyiat, including a relevant proportion (20 – 30%) of children under the age of 18. In Al Akaider, on the opposite, all waste pickers are Jordanian nationals, with only 2 Egyptians; most workers are aged 18 to 30 years old, and there is only one woman working on the site.

There are also street waste pickers and itinerant waste brokers. The itinerant waste brokers are the main driver for source segregation among commercial and industrial actors; they also prevent many objects entering the waste stream from households. They provide the link between generators and second hand goods markets, recovered spare parts workshops, and scrap dealers. Items that are widely re-used include fruit and vegetable boxes, household appliances, window and door fixtures. Itinerant waste brokers who own a truck usually buy all kind of materials and appliances, only limited by their own availability of cash and the loading capacity of their vehicles. A minority of them prefers to specialize in a single or reduced range of materials, such as cardboard, plastic sheeting (“nylon”), tires, or construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Some of these itinerant buyers are drivers hired by scrap dealers and brokers and paid by the day or by the number of rounds they make. Across the two governorates, there are several hundreds of these itinerant waste brokers; and together they account for the bulk of recovery activities occurring before waste is brought to street containers by households.

Street waste pickers, on the other hand, are the first resource recovery step once the recyclables (also referred to as khorda), enter the waste cycle. They usually work alone, in a very individualistic and territorial way; yet there are cases of two or more pickers working as a team, mostly among non-Jordanians and in particular among the Roma community. Plastics, cardboard, and metals are all recovered, with aluminum, copper, and bread given the preference for being lightweight and more profitable. Waste pickers are, on one hand, appreciated to a certain extent for their contribution on reducing waste quantities, with private actors, in particular manufacturers and recycling companies, being very well aware of the positive role they play. On the other hand, waste pickers are also perceived in negative ways. Many Jordanians consider working with waste to be ‘shameful, especially for those in direct contact with garbage. Also, a minority of residents are afraid that pickers will engage in criminal activities, and are ready to blame waste pickers whenever a theft occurs. While exact numbers are difficult to define, there are over 1000 street waste pickers in Mafraq city, the vast majority of who are Syrian refugees, while on the contrary they are mainly Jordanians in Irbid.

The National Strategy to Improve the Municipal Solid Waste Management Sector in Jordan, recently conducted and launched by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs also included a section on the formal and informal waste pickers through a survey on 80 waste-pickers in the city level; 50 formal waste-pickers in the landfill level; and 25 informal waste-pickers in the landfill level, coupled with 5 middlemen in the city level and 2 contractors in the landfill level.

Key Findings:

Informal waste pickers in the city level:

35 % of ages are 26-35 and Jordanians make up 88 % and Syrians are 4 %; 23 % of them suffer chronic health problems; 57 % of them live in houses and 39 % live in slums;
9 % of the waste pickers are self-employed workers.Waste-pickers working full time make up 85 %.
27 % working temporarily working as waste pickers, and 73 % working for a long time as waste pickers;
The average daily income of 46 % of the waste pickers is ranging between 11 to 15 JD per working day;
93 % of the waste-pickers sell the collected scrap materials directly to middlemen, where 65 % of the middlemen receiving and purchasing these materials having small scrap yards.
54 % of the interviewed waste pickers show their high willingness to be involved in waste-pickers’ cooperative.

Informal waste pickers in the landfill level:

All informal waste pickers interviewed are male and 88of them are Jordanians;
36 % is illiterate;
40 % of them live in houses, while 56 % of them live in slums. 69 % have access to sanitation and education services;
48 % of them get 16-20 JD per each working day, where 36 % get 11 to 15 JD per day;
All waste pickers use safety shows, while 72 % use gloves for picking the waste materials and only 12 % wear caps.

Formal waste pickers in the landfill:

Male make up 74 % and female make up 26 %; Syrians make up 20 %;
The daily remuneration of 92 % waste pickers is ranging between 11 to 15 JD/day;
70 % of the waste pickers are willing to be involved in any proposed waste-pickers’ cooperative. Their considerations and needs from such cooperative are to be integrated with social security programme; to get health insurance for his/her family members; to protect their life from any harm and support them to improve the work conductions at the site.

Based on these existing assessments on waste-pickers, UNDP aims to further look into their current situations and identify the concrete and practical entry points to integrate them in an organized livelihood activity.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective

The aim of the assessment is to examine the existing situation of waste pickers both inside and outside of the Al Akaider landfill, and identify entry points to support integration of waste pickers including cooperative development based on feasibility analysis.

The primary objective of the assessment is to understand the current situation of waster pickers both inside and outside the landfills including demographic and socio-cultural profile of waste pickers; health and living conditions of waste pickers, working condition of waste pickers, occupational characteristic, income and job satisfaction, and organizational structure and key actors, and legal/policy framework regarding waste pickers, based on the value chain analysis on municipal solid waste.
The study will identify opportunities and constraints, and potential models for the integration of waste pickers in and around Al Akaider landfill based on the lessons learnt and best practices applied internationally. It will provide recommendations on specific entry points/activities for UNDP to support the implementation of such model based on a SWOT analysis.

Research Methodology and Approach:

Mapping of actors: to identify existing business and legal operations and functions around waste pickers; operators and their linkages at the levels of individual waste pickers, middlemen/contractors, and industry.
Broad assessment quantifying and describing actors and waste, and waste-related products/activities volumes: to attach numbers to the maps-e.g. numbers of actors, it will be important to identify the volume of produce and the market shares of particular segments in the waste, in order to make the map for decision making and planning.
Analysis on the political and institutional and legal framework conditions around waste pickers enabling or hindering the integration of waste pickers.
Assessment on waste pickers inside and outside the landfills.It includes demographic and socio-cultural profile of waste pickers; health and living conditions of waste pickers, working condition of waste pickers, occupational characteristic, and income and job satisfaction.
Entry points of intervention to facilitate integration of waste pickers with defined implementation arrangement based on analysis on opportunities and constraints to the integration of waste pickers. In particular, it is crucial to understand how to upgrade the status, income, conditions of waste pickers. SWOT analysis should be conducted on the suggested entry points/activities, including, amongst others: Physical infrastructure; Technical barriers to process; Policy and regulatory impediments, administrative requirements.

Scope of Work:

Desk review for available literature;
Interview key players of both governmental (e.g. Municipalities, Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Industry and Trade etc.), private sectors and non-governmental entities (NGOs and companies who have ongoing activities);
Interview waste pickers both inside and outside the landfill
Interview middlemen and waste brokers, and contractors
Preparation of final report and presentation.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Leadership: Ability to persuade others to follow.
People Management: Ability to improve performance and satisfaction.
Communication: Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform.
Delivery: Ability to get things done.
Report and Brief Writing: Ability to prepare quality reports and briefs.

Technical/Functional Competencies:

Jobs and Livelihoods: Knowledge of livelihoods and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.
Economic Recovery: Knowledge of Economic Recovery concepts and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.
Entrepreneurship: Knowledge of Entrepreneurship in the developing world and ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.
Research: Knowledge of various programme information for research to provide recommendation and guidance to management.
Partnerships: Ability to engage with other agencies, donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships;
Knowledge Management: Ability to capture, develop, share and effectively use information and knowledge.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

A bachelor’s degree in economics, development, livelihoods and private sector development, social development, sociology/anthropology, gender in development or any related field. A master’s degree is a plus.

Experience

8 years of work experience in analysis of market, in particular value chain analysis; community and business network relationships; industrial processing; assessing industrial markets and pricing policies.
Experience in/with private sector is an asset.

Language Requirements

Fluency in English and Arabic.