Chemicals of Concerns in Products Analyst

The UN Environment is the United Nations systems 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. The overall objective of the UN Environment's Economy Division is to encourage decision makers in government, local authorities and industry to develop and adopt policies, strategies and practices and technologies that promote sustainable patterns of consumption and production, make efficient use of natural resources, ensure safe management of chemicals and contribute to making trade and environment policies mutually supportive. It promotes the development, use and transfer of policies, technologies, economic instruments, managerial practices and other tools that assist in environmentally sound decision making and the building of corresponding activities (http://www.unep.org/dtie/).

The Chemicals and Health Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme, Economy Division leads UN Environment’s subprogramme on Chemicals, Waste and Air Quality. UN Environment’s programme of work centers around assistance to countries and multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) secretariats to assist in technical-scientific issues related to priority chemicals. It has been promoting, inter alia, reduction of mercury and alternative mercury-free technologies in order to support countries in ratification and meeting their obligations under the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

The Knowledge and risk unit is a technical partner of a GEF funded project “Global best practices on emerging chemical policy issues of concern under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management”, over the period 2019-2022.

Scope of support: Knowledge and risk unit, Chemicals in products (GEF SAICM funded project – component 2).

The ICA will work with the knowledge and risk Unit of the chemicals and waste Branch. This post is located in UN Environment – Economy Division at the Geneva duty station.

The ICA will support the unit in identifying chemicals of concern under the component 2 of the project “Global best practices on emerging chemical policy issues of concern under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management”, with a particular focus on electronics, buildings and toys sectors, and support activities of the project to phase them out. The ICA will also explore the linkages with other areas of work, in particular with sustainable/green chemistry practices in the context of the Chemicals in Products (CiP) Programme.

Under the supervision of the Programme Officer and under the overall guidance of the head of unit, the ICA will have the following responsibilities:

In support of output 2.1: identify chemicals of concerns in the 3 sectors

The ICA will work on identifying, selecting and prioritizing chemicals of concern, in the light of the GEF SAICM project and how the information will feed into the next activities on procurement, etc

1.       Buildings:

1. Review of chemicals in insulation materials, coatings, carpets, furniture. Coordinate with Usetox analysis and results.
2. Support in the Development of a global information hub on roll-out of alternatives by the building sector, to be integrated into the CiP Platform 

2.       Electronics:

1. Identify subcategory of products, and chemicals of concerns in these sub-category, that the project would focus on.
2. Assist in Reviewing of low and middle-income countries (LMIC) legislative and regulatory approaches for prohibiting the use of CoC, including transposition of Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS).
3. Support the Consolidation of a diverse range of tools and ecolabels on green electronics, focusing on how they treat CoC and further defining a common set of technical specifications for purchasing electronics products, based on global harmonized label or list. This would include a study on Chemicals Management Common Criteria Standard for electronics to develop a voluntary consensus standard would be developed leveraging existing corporate level chemicals management criteria found in standards globally. It would provide a “baseline” of corporate chemicals management activities and would prompt a discussion on the differences between sector approaches to chemicals management, as illustrated in VCS standards, and how sectors can learn from each other.

3.       Toys.

1. Support Review of toy safety policies and regulations, including testing for CoC where relevant, in LMIC importing toys from China
2. Support the development of training and audit package for first steps toward phase out of CoC in toys, developed in cooperation with existing membership organizations including toy associations with standards and processes to align with existing toy safety regulations (e.g. EU, US)

In support of output 2.2:

4.       Train and consult on regulatory and compliance approaches for toys and electronics sectors

1. Support a pilot toy manufacture auditing and chemicals reporting tools for Chinese toy manufacturers who are currently using CoC. Audit results and reports published on CiP platform;
2. Assist in organizing  sustainable toys multi stakeholder workshop, targeting manufacturers, retailers and governments in key low and middle-income countries (LMIC) import markets, to review legislation, share data on product testing and recalls, propose networks/ modalities to promote common standards;
3. Support the organization of International electronics regulations/ RoHS consultation: bringing together electronics producers and countries using RoHS, with the objective to further explore how the regional studies can be used to develop an industry-supported international voluntary consensus standard for circular electronics

5.       Explore linkages with sustainable chemistry / Chemicals in Products Programme to ensure synergy, and further support the GEF funded SAICM project results outreach.

1. Contribute in Identifing organizations and initiatives at the regional and global level to scale up and disseminate the results of the project
2. Help to identify and mobilize local, regional or international co-funding opportunities.
3. Assist to prepare briefs with opportunities for collaboration
4. Knowledge sharing, networking and exchange in regional/international events
5. Selecting and compiling best practices, cases, lessons and best practices
6. Support the team in Consulting with implementing partners, agree on technical collaboration and develop plan of action and monitoring system, in line with the project’s workplan.
7. Support preparation of Interim Report to donor
8. Undertake any other tasks as per request of the Programme Officer/Unit Head.

Impact of results

• Knowledge and capacity of the national stakeholders developing NAPs improved
• Technical quality of the developed NAPs enhanced
• Communication and cooperation between counties developing NAPs and other key stakeholders boosted
• Knowledge management and information exchange strategy and implementation for the NAP and GEF GOLD projects improved

a. Education

• Required: Advanced university degree in one of the following areas: environmental management, industrial/chemical/environmental/process engineering or a related technical field. 
• A first-level university degree in combination with additional 2 years of qualifying, experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

b. Work Experience

• A minimum of 2 years relevant work experience in project management and administration, communications and training / capacity building preferably in a multicultural setting is required.
• Relevant experience at international level related to chemicals management is required.
• Demonstrated experience developing technical and information tools for stakeholders is desired
• Experience working within a partnership setting and governmental focal points is an asset
• Experience providing technical advice on environment, chemicals management, responsible production, and/or sustainable consumption and production is an advantage
• Experience in a developing country and countries in transition context is an advantage
• Prior knowledge of working in UN System is an advantage

• Good technical understanding of issues related to sound chemicals management, sustainable chemistry, in particular chemicals in products, and chemicals of concern, in the building, electronics and toys sector.
• Ability to build relationships with key strategic partners
• Planning and organization skills
• Excellent inter-personal and communication skills
• Excellent communication skills, including excellent written and verbal command. 
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment

Travel: to be arranged by the substantive office as needed

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

This position is based in Switzerland and the contract fee is not exempt from Swiss laws, including but not limited to laws regarding taxation, social security, accident and health insurance.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.