Solid Waste Management and Project Implementation Expert

Result of Service

Lead the technical and operational assessment of solid waste management conditions in El Potrerillo Market, including identification of critical gaps, operational constraints, and implementation opportunities. • Lead the technical evaluation and selection process for organic waste treatment and valorization solutions, including assessment of technologies such as composting, biodigestion, anaerobic treatment, hybrid systems, or other feasible alternatives. • Supervise and coordinate implementing partners and technical contractors responsible for studies, designs, infrastructure implementation, operational pilots, and community engagement activities. • Ensure the technical quality, feasibility, and implementation readiness of all proposed solutions, designs, operational models, and infrastructure components. • Lead coordination and articulation processes with territorial stakeholders, public institutions, waste management operators, waste picker organizations, market associations, and community actors to support implementation and operational sustainability. • Facilitate participatory and interinstitutional processes required for the implementation, validation, and operationalization of waste management systems. • Coordinate and supervise implementation activities in the field, including monitoring of construction, installation, operational testing, pilot implementation, and commissioning processes where applicable. • Identify implementation risks, operational bottlenecks, institutional constraints, and stakeholder coordination challenges, and propose mitigation or corrective actions. • Support the development of operational sustainability strategies, including governance arrangements, institutional coordination mechanisms, financing approaches, and long-term operational planning Support technical capacity-building activities for municipal institutions, waste picker organizations, operators, and community stakeholders related to waste management and circular economy systems. • Provide technical support to additional solid waste management and urban basic services projects implemented by the UN-Habitat Andean Countries Hub, including technical reviews, implementation support, stakeholder coordination, and development of technical documentation. • Develop technical progress reports, implementation monitoring documents, technical recommendations, and final implementation assessments.

Work Location

Bogotá, Colombia

Expected duration

3 months

Duties and Responsibilities

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities. UN-Habitat is the focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system. UN-Habitat works with partners to build inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable cities and communities. UN-Habitat promotes urbanization as a positive transformative force for people and communities, reducing inequality, discrimination and poverty. San Juan de Pasto occupies a position of profound ecological and strategic significance, situated at the convergence of three highly climate-sensitive macro-regions: the Andes mountains, the Amazon Basin, and the Biopacífico corridor. While this unique geographic placement establishes the city as a vital urban hub within an area of exceptional biodiversity, it also renders its urban ecosystems and infrastructure acutely vulnerable to climate variability and environmental degradation. UN-Habitat’s Multilayered Vulnerability Assessment (MVA, 2025) exposed severe, overlapping risks that had previously gone unaddressed due to fragmented data and limited surveillance capacity, isolating the Guachucal Stream and El Potrerillo Market as the city’s most critical urban hotspots. Among these, El Potrerillo represents an unprecedented concentration of environmental and human vulnerability, generating approximately 12 tons of solid waste per day. Due to historical deficits in solid waste management infrastructure, a significant portion of this waste is inadequately processed, leading to recurrent drainage blockages, severe localized flooding, and elevated exposure to vector-borne diseases. These compounding systemic failures directly undermine public health, degrade surrounding ecosystems, and erode the human dignity and economic stability of the market's most vulnerable populations, specifically informal vendors, low-income families, and frontline waste pickers. To address these interconnected crises, this initiative offers a comprehensive, circular economy model that moves beyond traditional, reactive sanitation measures. The proposed project will begin with a granular diagnosis of waste generation dynamics to establish a tailored recovery plan, directly informing the design, construction, and equipping of the city’s first dedicated Sorting and Recovery Center for Organic and Inorganic Waste. This infrastructure will be coupled with the formalization and institutional strengthening of local waste picker organizations, transforming informal workers into recognized partners within the green economy and securing dignified livelihoods. The initiative is technically and institutionally ready for immediate deployment, backed by explicit prioritization from the Urban Resilience Action Plan (URAP) and the MVA, alongside strong execution commitments from the Municipal Government of Pasto and local recycling cooperatives. Purpose El Potrerillo Market is a critical, high-risk food hub in San Juan de Pasto that generates 12 tons of waste daily (96% organic), causing severe drainage blockages and recurrent flash floods over the canalized Guachucal Stream. With less than 10% of this waste recovered, the resulting environmental degradation and health hazards disproportionately impact vulnerable female vendors and informal waste pickers working in precarious conditions. In response, this project introduces an integrated circular economy intervention aligned with Japan's Human Security framework and Colombia's Basura Cero policy. It will establish a detailed waste diagnosis, construct Pasto's first dedicated Sorting and Recovery Center for organic and inorganic composting, and formally strengthen waste picker organizations. Backed by strong local government and community commitment, the initiative leverages a closing window of opportunity to mitigate disaster risks, improve public health, and create a scalable model for regional urban resilience. Duties and Responsibilities a.) General activities: • The consultant will be responsible for keeping the HUB Coordinator informed and having to obtain validation of his/her activities in the full project cycle. b.) Development: • Provide technical leadership, project management, implementation oversight, and territorial coordination for the “Pasto Emergency Action for Resilient Settlements” project, particularly activities related to the selection, design, implementation, and operationalization of organic waste management solutions in El Potrerillo Market. The consultant will lead and supervise the technical process for the evaluation, selection, validation, and implementation of the most appropriate organic waste management and valorization solutions for El Potrerillo Market, considering technical feasibility, operational sustainability, territorial conditions, stakeholder capacities, environmental performance, and financial viability. • The consultant will provide strategic and operational guidance throughout the implementation cycle, including planning, coordination, execution monitoring, quality assurance, risk management, and stakeholder articulation. The consultant will supervise and technically coordinate implementing partners, contractors, and technical service providers involved in waste characterization activities, technical studies and designs, infrastructure implementation, equipment installation, operational pilots, capacity-building activities, and community engagement processes, ensuring that all technical proposals, implementation activities, and operational models comply with project objectives, UN-Habitat standards, environmental requirements, and municipal operational conditions. • The consultant will lead coordination and articulation processes with territorial stakeholders and institutional actors, including the Municipal Government of Pasto, Veolia–EMAS, Empopasto, Corponariño, waste picker organizations, market vendor associations, community organizations, technical partners, academic institutions, national and local government entities, donors, and cooperation partners. The consultant will facilitate participatory and interinstitutional coordination processes to strengthen stakeholder ownership, operational sustainability, and territorial implementation capacities related to waste management systems and circular economy approaches. • The consultant will support decision-making processes regarding technology selection, infrastructure alternatives, operational models, phasing strategies, implementation approaches, and financial and governance arrangements. The consultant will monitor implementation progress, identify operational bottlenecks and risks, and propose corrective measures to ensure timely and effective execution of activities. Additionally, the consultant will provide direct technical supervision during implementation phases, including field verification of infrastructure, operational systems, equipment installation, and pilot activities. • The consultant will coordinate implementation schedules, technical reviews, and validation processes between implementing partners, local stakeholders, and UN-Habitat. The consultant will also support the development of implementation roadmaps, operational manuals, sustainability strategies, scaling approaches, and institutional strengthening actions. Participation in technical meetings, missions, workshops, and field visits as required by project coordination will also be expected. • In addition to the Pasto project, the consultant will provide technical support and expertise to additional solid waste management, circular economy, urban resilience, and urban basic services initiatives implemented by the UN-Habitat Andean Countries Hub, including support in technical reviews, implementation processes, stakeholder coordination, and development of technical documentation and knowledge products related to solid waste management and circular economy initiatives. • The consultant will deliver technical reports, implementation progress updates, risk assessments, and strategic recommendations as required by UN-Habitat and will follow the instructions and requirements of the project coordinator and the Andean Countries Hub coordinator. Knowledge Management: • The consultant must know the processes, procedures, and standards of the organization, to ensure an adequate quality of the activities described above according to the standards of the organization. • Propose formats and procedures that allow the efficient implementation of the Agency's projects. • The consultant must know the file system of the projects and ensure their proper maintenance, accessibility for all officials and the proper updating. • Design methodologies for the systematization of good practices and knowledge, related to the implementation of the projects and cooperation activities of the UN-Habitat Colombia Office. • Support the formulation of substantive documents linked to the thematic lines of action of UN-Habitat Colombia. • Prepare reports and other documents related to meetings, missions and activities developed by the national UN-Habitat Office. • The consultant will carry out research activities to facilitate the exchange of information, knowledge and best practices on the sustainable urban development issues set out in the Agency's mandate. • Collect information on the urban status in the Andean Countries that serves as an input both for the identification of new project opportunities and for the implementation of the subscribed projects. • Support monitoring of UN-Habitat's implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Target 11 dealing with sustainable cities and communities. • Identify strategic allies for the implementation of the New Urban Agenda in Andean countries. • Manage knowledge networks for the dissemination of the methodologies and documents generated by the agency and for the construction with strategic allies of new knowledge on topics related to sustainable urban development.

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Solid Waste Management, Environmental Management, Circular Economy, Urban Environmental Management, Sustainable Development, Project Management, or related fields is required. A first degree in areas related to Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Waste Management, Urban Infrastructure, Industrial Engineering, Project Management, or related fields is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. Additional training or certifications related to organic waste treatment systems, circular economy, climate resilience, infrastructure implementation, or municipal waste management is desirable. A minimum of (Seven) 7 years of progressively responsible professional experience in solid waste management, environmental infrastructure, circular economy, urban resilience, or urban basic services projects is required. Experience in the implementation and operationalization of solid waste management systems or environmental infrastructure projects, not limited to conceptual, policy, or regulatory work is desirable. Experience supervising implementation processes, contractors, implementing partners, infrastructure deployment activities, or operational pilots is desirable. Experience coordinating territorial stakeholders, local governments, public utilities, community organizations, and multi-stakeholder implementation processes desirable. Experience in project management, including implementation planning, coordination, monitoring, supervision, and risk management is desirable. Experience in organic waste treatment systems, composting facilities, biodigesters, waste valorization systems, or circular economy infrastructure is desirable. Experience working in Colombia or Latin America is desirable

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, English and Spanish is required. Knowledge of another UN Official Language is desirable.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE 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.