Transparency and Traceability Specialist

Result of ServiceThe Chemicals and Health Branch of the Industry and Economy Division leads UNEP's sub-programme on Chemicals, Waste and Air Quality. UNEP’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 and implementation of the United Nations Environment Assembly and Governing Council resolutions. The Knowledge and Risk Unit of the Chemicals and Health Branch promotes scientific approaches and knowledge for the sound management of chemicals including through implementation of United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) resolutions and Global Environment Facility (GEF) projects. The Knowledge and Risk Unit gathers, compiles and analyses state of the art information and data, including through monitoring activities, inventories and assessments, to allow policymakers to make informed decisions on the sound management of chemicals and waste. UNEP is leading the GEF-8 Integrated Programme (IP) on supply chains titled “Eliminating hazardous chemicals from supply chains”. This is a full-size project (FSP) for which the Knowledge and Risk Unit is executing the Global Coordination Project, “Global Replication to Eliminate Hazardous Chemicals from Supply Chains,” (GEF ID 11177). The Transparency and Traceability Specialist Consultant will develop knowledge products that identify, assess, and recommend options and technologies for enhancing transparency and consistency of information on hazardous substances in the fashion and construction supply chains. Work LocationHome-based / Working remotely Expected duration175 days over 9 months Duties and ResponsibilitiesUnder the overall supervision of the Chief of Chemicals and Health Branch, Industry and Economy Division, and the direct supervision of the Officer-in-Charge, Head of Knowledge and Risk Unit, Chemicals and Health Branch, the Consultant will be responsible for the following duties: • Develop a workplan and annotated outline - Annotated outline, methodology, and proposed outline of the knowledge product. - Detailed workplan of activities. • Conduct a desk review and prepare a summary of initial findings - Compile and analyze literature, reports, regulations, and initiatives related to hazardous substances, transparency tools, and supply chain traceability. - Review initiatives, platforms, and technologies relevant to hazardous substance transparency and traceability in fashion and construction. - Review best practices and lessons learned from other sectors where relevant (e.g., electronics, food). - Present a summary of the desk review, stakeholder insights, and initial mapping of technologies. • Mapping and technology assessments - Identify existing and emerging tools/technologies for hazardous substance transparency and catalogue digital and non-digital tools (e.g., databases, chemical classification systems, blockchain platforms, QR/product labels). - Assess their feasibility, scalability, and applicability to fashion and construction. - Provide a situational analysis of how the use of this form of technology is progressing, noting regional implementation challenges. • Stakeholder consultations/ engagement - Conduct interviews or focus groups with relevant stakeholders (governments, industry associations, technology providers, financial institutions, NGOs). - Gather perspectives on practical usability, challenges/barriers to adoption and opportunities for improving transparency. - Regularly exchange and coordinate with the GFC work on indicators and the measurability structure to avoid duplication of efforts. • Analyse findings and prepare draft report - Compare tools/approaches, highlighting trade-offs and synergies. - Identify barriers and enabling factors for adopting technologies and approaches (regulatory, financial, social, technical). - Identify enabling factors for scaling (interoperability, cost-efficiency, user-friendliness, incentives). - Develop options for improving transparency and data consistency, including policy, technological, and market-based solutions. • Final knowledge product/ report - Update draft report and structure to present options, technologies, and strategies for improving transparency and consistency. - Provide a prioritized set of actionable recommendations and strategies for different stakeholder groups (governments, private sector, financiers, NGOs) on scaling effective transparency measures and supporting policy coherence and industry adoption. - Propose next steps for piloting or scaling promising solutions. - Ensure the report is well edited. • Executive summary - Prepare an executive summary for the report. • A summary presentation for dissemination and consultation. Qualifications/special skillsAdvanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in a field related to environmental sciences, engineering, industrial design or material science. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. At least 5 years of relevant work experience in applying environmental science, materials science, engineering, or industrial design principles to supply chain transparency, material traceability, and information management solutions. Experience working on or developing digital traceability technologies such as digital product passports, blockchain, or material databases is required. Demonstrated experience working on regulation and compliance related to labelling and transparency is an asset. Experience working on fashion, textiles or construction topics is desirable. Experience developing knowledge products with the UN is preferred. LanguagesEnglish is the working language of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency in oral and written English is required. Fluency in oral and written in Spanish and French is desirable. Additional InformationNot available. No FeeTHE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.