UNDP Jobs - 61500- Technical Advisor on Management and Disposal of Po

Technical Advisor on Management and Disposal of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBSS) in Rwanda

Location :

Kigali, RWANDA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Dec-2015

Application Deadline :

26-Nov-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

50 calendar days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

50 calendar 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

Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyl’s (PCBs) has been demonstrated to cause environmental and health effects including cancer, as well as a variety of other adverse effects on the immune, reproductive, nervous, and endocrine systems. Due to PCBs' environmental toxicity and negative effects on human health, PCBs production was banned by the United States Congress in 1979 and by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) which was adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2004. The convention requires its parties to take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment.

In its efforts to manage POPs including PCBs, Rwanda ratified the Stockholm Convention in July 2002. The country also deposited a National Implementation Plan (NIP) with the Stockholm Convention in 2007 that outlined the National Action Plan for the management of POPs in the country.

In order to support the implementation NIP, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) provided funds with co-financing from Energy, Water and Sanitation Authority (currently Rwanda Energy Group Limited) and Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) to support the Management and Disposal of PCBs project in Rwanda. This project is implemented by REMA in collaboration with relevant government institutions. The project fits within the country’s evolving priorities associated with sound management of chemicals and environmental management initiatives. The project is consistent with the following UNDAP (2013 -2018) outcome: Rwanda has an in place improved systems for: sustainable management of the environment, natural resources and renewable energy resources, energy access and security, for environmental and climate change resilience, in line with Rio+20 recommendations for sustainable development.

The project has an overall objective of providing Rwanda with the tools to achieve effective compliance with respect to its convention obligations and to substantively minimize the environmental and health risks of PCBs, both locally and globally. The project has the following components:

Complete PCB inventory through enhanced cooperation with the Government bodies and equipment holders and selection of options for PCB disposal;
Legislative support to aid the operation of PCB management system;
Stakeholders and public sensitized, PCB equipment holders handle equipment in well informed and responsible manner;
Safe disposal of PCB equipment, oils and waste material.

Implementation of this project has a major global environmental benefit in the mitigation or elimination of risks associated with the release of PCBs into the environment and their subsequent global distribution with resultant ecological and human health impacts from the exposure to this chemical. In Rwanda, the project will greatly improve the management and disposal of PCBs stockpiles and waste while at the same time strengthening technical, regulatory and institutional capacity to handle PCBs.

Objective and Scope of the Work

The objective of this consultancy is to provide overall technical support and guidance to the management and disposal of PCBs to the national project team in REMA, UNDP Country Office and other stakeholders involved in the implementation of the project components. This will ensure successful realization of the project objectives in line with applicable international standards as prescribed by the Stockholm and Basel conventions, as well as other relevant rules and procedures related to the PCB identification, labelling, inventorizing, handling, packaging and storage, transportation and disposal .

Application procedure:

All interested and qualified international individual consultants may download the Individual Consultant Notice, Terms of Reference documents from UNDP Rwanda website at:

http://www.rw.undp.org/content/rwanda/en/home/operations/procurement/notices/

Candidates must only apply by sending the following documents to the only email address at offers.rw@undp.org

Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, if applicable, on how he/she will approach and complete the assignment.
Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided on by opening: http://www.rw.undp.org/content/dam/rwanda/docs/operations/Procurement/Notices/RW_operations_procurement_Letter.pdf.

Duties and Responsibilities

Specifically, the technical advisor will undertake the following major tasks:

Review the current progress of the implementation of the project components and advise on areas of improvement through preparation of a detailed implementation plan to guide the local team;
Assess the safety aspects of the PCBs temporary storage and recommend upgrading measures (if need be) so that to meet international standards;
Provide support and advise to the PCBs project team, Rwanda Standard Board (RSB) and UNDP on preparation of tender specifications for quantitative laboratory analysis of PCBs;
Provide technical and capacity building support to REMA, REG Ltd and RSB to sample, test and conduct quantitative lab analysis in order to determine the PCBs concentration (ppm) in the suspected PCBs contaminated transformers oil, water and soil;
Support development of specifications for the consumables (reagents) to be used by the laboratory for the quantitative analysis, for a tender to be conducted by UNDP;
Advise on the best applicable elimination and disposal method for pure PCBs (Askarel), and cross-contaminated PCBs oil, and equipment and decontamination of contaminated soil in Rwanda, by providing information on existing global practices, GEF Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP), and Stockholm and Basel conventions’ guidance;
Provide technical advice to UNDP and the PCBs project team on preparation of tender specifications for sourcing of a company to eliminate and dispose pure PCBs (Askarel) and contaminated PCB oil (above 10,000ppm) and equipment;
In parallel to the initial tender preparations for the pure PCB export, prepare strategic and management plan for decontamination and disposal scenarios for the oils and equipment cross-contaminated with PCBs (usually from 50 ppm up to 10,000 ppm), and discuss those with the project partners for appropriate decision-making process whereas the scenarios may include a rental of a decontamination/de-chlorination unit in case the inventory of such contaminated mineral oil is sufficient, or simply oil draining and re-filling with new oil with the subsequent waste material disposal via export to qualified High Temperature Incineration (HTI) hazardous waste facilities;
Provide technical support in the procurement evaluation during the review of the received tender bids and provision of further guidance to the local team in coordination with the MPU Chemicals RTA in Istanbul;
Support in contract management of the contracted company to undertake elimination and disposal of pure PCBs (Askarel), cross-contaminated PCBs oil, soil and equipment in Rwanda;
Review other consultants work for quality assurance of their products.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Ability to establish and maintain good working relations with colleagues in multi-cultural environment;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies:

Leadership

Capacity to engage with a wide audience of diverse background.

Technical Skills

Good understanding of knowledge management.

Communication

The consultant will have strong communications skills.

Teamwork

Ability to establish and maintain good working relations with colleagues in multi-cultural environment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Postgraduate or other advanced university degree (at least M. Sc. or equivalent) in the area of Chemistry, Chemical technology, Environmental or Electrical engineering, hazardous waste management (POPs, PCBs) or other related fields.

Experience:

At least 10 years of experience in hazardous chemicals/waste management and disposal, chemical laboratory (including PCBs) analysis, contaminated sites assessment and management, etc:
Of which at least 5 years in a supervisory role of technical experts and consultants in hazardous waste management activities with GEF funded projects in particular;
Thorough knowledge of the international benchmarks in legislation and management of hazardous waste, and specifically POPs;
International experience and good knowledge of principles of chemicals management (as related to the Stockholm Convention in particular) is an asset;
Demonstrated ability of analytical and report drafting work;

Language requirement:

Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English;
Working knowledge of French will be an added advantage.