This position is located in UNEP’s Resources and Markets Branch, which leads work central to the global sustainable consumption and production agenda - delivering scientific, credible, innovative solutions to make sustainability central in government policy frameworks, business direction-making and in peoples’ lives. The Branch works through an extensive network of stakeholders to ensure sustainability solutions are applicable at all levels. 

The UNEP Textile Initiative provides strategic leadership and encourages sector-wide collaboration to accelerate a just transition towards a sustainable and circular textile value chain. UNEP’s work includes supporting and informing governments, such as through its Global Textile Policy Dialogue, assisting industry, particularly SMEs in developing countries, in shifting towards circular business models, scaling the use of industry standards for circularity, eliminating hazardous chemicals, while adopting a life cycle approach and addressing overproduction and overconsumption to redefine the fashion industry’s economic model. Underpinning all of this is support for evidence-based decision making through its thought leadership reports. 

The incumbent will work in UNEP’s textile team, located in the Resources and Markets Branch, Industry and Economy Division. This post is a full-time position, preferably based in the UNEP Office in Paris, France. 

The aim of this consultancy is to support the UNEP Textile Initiative in its support to governments in developing, implementing and monitoring circular economy policies in the textile sector. This includes support to the UNEP-facilitated global textile policy dialogue, which aims to be government-led, inclusive and to address various aspects of circularity in textiles, for a coordinated policy response on textiles (https://buildingcircularity.org/global-policy-dialogue-for-textiles/). It also includes support to the EU-funded InTex project, under which UNEP measures the potential impacts of different sustainable economic models in the textile value chain to support policy makers in informed decision making. 

Under the supervision of the Programme Officers in charge, the incumbent will have the following responsibilities: 

• Provide technical inputs and advisory to the development, implementation and monitoring of national textile circularity and sustainable strategies, road maps and policy frameworks, in close collaboration with UNEP Divisions and Regional Offices. This includes working with countries to identify policy instruments that UNEP can help deliver, reviewing and editing project deliverables related to policies and providing guidance to project implementing partners in developing countries on policy advisory 

• Contribute on the content development, delivery and roll out of national training workshops, roundtables, etc., which relate to textile strategies and policy frameworks; make presentations on assigned topics/activities 

• Draft knowledge products (papers, webinars, policy mapping, etc.) and consolidate findings from UNEP projects, such as the InTex project, in support of the global textile policy dialogue initiative 

• Lead the planning, content development, preparation of documents & presentations, and organization of events linked to the global textile policy dialogue (in-person/online, technical or ministerial events, etc.) 

• Support outreach, communication, and stakeholder engagement efforts to strengthen the global textile policy dialogue, including support to the UNEP policy podcast series 

• Support resource mobilization through the development of project concepts and proposals 

• Deliver reporting to donors, as required • Perform other duties as required