VAC-11501 Technical Expert – Environment (Industrial Polymer Experience – MUST)

This TOR is being advertised only for talent pool building purposes, this is not a live role.

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager & overall Supervision of the Senior Program Manager. The incumbent will support our client to implement project activities in the country & provide technical support & advice to the project lead, in communication with the project HQ in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Technical advice & support to grant implementation:

• Support the grantees to understand strategic directions & technical features of the project & ensure high quality of the project implementation. This may include issues specific to pollution from the specific projects, emissions reduction, energy conservation, environmental & development of social management plan.

• Support the grantees to develop key guidance, templates & other management tools & instruments as required, to enhance the ability of project personnel & teams to plan & implement environmental management activities in their projects, such as environmental management frameworks, environment management plans or environment impact assessments, among others.

• Carry out environmental due diligence to grantees, contractors & suppliers prior to commencement of project work to ensure that the ones with unsatisfactory performance are not engaged.

• Support grantees to understand plastic waste characteristic & possible leakages to natural system.

• Support to organize training to the selected grantees to earn knowledge on properties of plastic waste & possible solutions to the specific types of the plastic waste.

• Support grantees to improve knowledge on plastic waste management; develop reports on comparison on national, international & product stands on key parameters relevant to the specific project.

• Deep knowledge on plastic waste issues in the country & possible solutions that could ease the plastic waste management issues in the country; understand the global trend of plastic treatment options & explore possibilities to implement innovative projects.

• Familiar with ISO / TR 23891 : 2020 & ISO 14001 & look for a possibility to adopt the standard to the local context.

• Identify possible risks that may be encountered by the grantees & assist to develop suitable mitigation measures.

• Thorough understanding on national policy related to plastic waste management & guide the grantees to assist government in framing plastic waste management in the local context & regional requirements.

Support grantees to technical documents for the operations of facilities:

• Provide technical advice, directions & a quality assurance framework within the region in relation to environment & sustainability.

• Support development of standard operations procedures for the facility supported through the PLEASE project & ensure the facility is managed as per the standard operations procedures.

• Provide technical inputs to develop standard operating procedure & facilitate obtaining validation from the respective national & regional counterparts.

• Explore distructive technology & estimate risk to the existing projects & develop mitigation measures.

• Provide support to conduct time & motion study & set up effective plastic waste collection system.

Explore new innovative idea & support to test the prototypes:

• Support grantees to develop new innovation & develop prototypes.

• Facilitate the grantees to test the prototypes.

• Support coordination with national universities & find out new trends of the research & interest of students & faculty members in the plastic waste management.

• Coordinate with research institutes or university to test samples of products produced at the facility.

• Review the test report & provide advice to the production process improvement if required.

• Support the grantee to seek possibilities to expand the project & diversity the products.

Support to reporting & grant monitoring & evaluation:

• Review technical reports & provide comments for improvements.

• Align skills & policies of the grantees with sectoral strategies that contribute to export growth, economic diversification & employment creation.

• Build & maintain an institution for continuous skills dialogue & support to implementation.

• Integration into broader technical assistance projects in the area of skills, trade, sector development & employment promotion.

• Assist grantees to develop write ups related to the project & related activities & ensure it meets international standards.

• Participate in QC / QA missions & provide technical analysis & advice.

• Support communications & knowledge management activities under the project.

This role works under the direct supervision of the Project Manager & overall Supervision of the Senior Program Manager.

• Master’s or equivalent in a relevant subject such as polymer science & polymer engineering, material engineering, environmental science, natural science, environmental engineering, sustainability or environmental management, processing engineering or biotechnology is required. An additional 2 years of relevant work experience in combination with a relevant bachelor’s or equivalent may be accepted in lieu of the masters degree.

• A minimum of 7 years of experience in polymer science & polymer engineering, plastic waste management at industrial scale, environmental management sector is required. 

• Research experience & relevant publication records are required.

• Familiarity with the national & international policy framework, standards & systems in plastic management is required.

• Experience in drafting of impact assessments & plans such as ESIAs, ESMPs & ESMF, etc. is an asset.

• Fluency in English is required.

• Knowledge of the local language(s) is an asset.

Team management experience is required for this role.

• Qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply for this role.

• This TOR is being advertised only for talent pool building purposes, this is not a live role.