Background

C40 is a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world's leading cities, who are working to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis, and create a future where everyone, everywhere can thrive. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using a science-based and people-focused approach to help the world limit global heating to 1.5°C and build healthy, equitable and resilient communities. Through a Global Green New Deal, mayors are working alongside a broad coalition of representatives from labour, business, the youth climate movement and civil society to go further and faster than ever before.

C40's team of 400+ staff is based in offices in London, in New York, Johannesburg, Singapore, Delhi, Rio de Janeiro, Copenhagen, Beijing and Paris, and individual staff based across 25+ different locations.

The strategic direction of the organisation is determined by an elected Steering Committee of C40 mayors, which is chaired by Mayor Sadiq Khan of London and Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr of Freetown. Three-term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the C40 Board of Directors, responsible for operational oversight. A regionally diverse management team, led by Executive Director Mark Watts, leads the day-to-day management of C40. C40's three core strategic funders are Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation and Realdania.

Our international staff work with the C40 network under the leadership of city governments to deliver this mission. Using a data-driven approach, our team identifies and promotes the exchange of proven programmes and policies developed by cities; provides world-class research, technical expertise and access to key partners to deliver new programmes and policies with cities; and communicates cities' individual achievements and collective leadership.

Diversity Statement

C40 is committed to supporting and promoting equity and diversity and creating an inclusive working environment for everyone. We believe that when people with different life experiences are involved in decision-making, we deliver better.

We believe having a diverse workforce ensures we connect better with all the different communities and people affected by the climate crisis. This enables us to make better decisions which lead to better outcomes in the work we do through increased creativity, productivity, greater global impact alongside a broader perspective and approach to our work.

We welcome applicants that are diverse in terms of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity and perspective. Our goal is for C40 to be an environment where everyone, from any background, can flourish and can be themselves whilst contributing to our mission. If you identify as a person with a disability, we work to provide reasonable appropriate measures and any additional support needed to provide an equitable working experience. If you are living with a disability, chronic illness or neurodiversity please inform us, to provide you with the proper assistance in the application process.

C40 promotes a work culture where staff can input to improve equity, diversity and inclusion through staff-led groups and formal forums. We know that creating our ideal working environment is a learning process and we are committed to the ongoing effort.

Regional Approach

Core to C40's value and effectiveness is an ability to be responsive to the needs of all C40 cities and focus services and support on the areas of greatest opportunity for city action and climate impact - both at the individual city level and across our regional and global networks. Our regional management structure further enables C40 to leverage relationships between peer cities and technical and financial partners regionally and globally and to be more responsive to local needs and conditions.

To manage these efforts, C40 Regional Teams are positioned in seven regions: Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Southeast Asia and Oceania, East Asia and South & West Asia.

In Africa in particular, the Regional Director of Africa is based in Tshwane and acts as the ambassador for the region, to ensure that the organisation can deliver effectively at a regional level considering specific geographic, cultural, language and other differences. A Deputy Regional Director for Africa, supports the Regional Director with managing the city engagement and relationship building in the region, and she is based in Addis Ababa. The Head of Implementation for Africa is then based in Cape Town, South Africa and she manages and oversees all technical work in the region. Although the City Adviser, Waste and Methane-Freetown will report directly to the Head of Coordination and sit within the Freetown Co-Chair Office they will also be embedded within this regional team and report to the Head of Implementation for Africa for tasks and activities.

The Project

Currently, organic waste (food waste and other biodegradable waste) comprises between 50 and 60% of the total municipal solid waste generated in African cities, and this organic waste is responsible for up to 40% of city greenhouse gas emissions, primarily as methane emitted from landfills and dumpsites. In terms of city powers and transformational potential, action to reduce organic waste disposal represents an immense opportunity to reduce methane emissions and deliver significant local benefits on public health and sanitation, job creation, etc. According to the latest IPCC Report, addressing methane emissions is the single fastest and most effective way to address current global warming, and African cities have a unique opportunity to contribute to this global mission by implementing sustainable waste management systems and improving the way organics are managed.

With this project “Transforming waste management in African cities to reduce and avoid methane emission from municipal solid waste”, C40 will empower cities to have a better understanding of their waste management systems to take ambitious steps to reduce current and future methane emissions. C40 will work with city leaders to deliver the most impactful waste management priorities captured in their respective and relevant plans, while also building technical, institutional and operational capacity in the supported cities. With this project C40 will begin working to dramatically reduce current and future emissions by strategically engaging political leadership in the selected cities.

The project will provide participating cities with the preliminary tools needed to establish sustainable waste management systems and the foundational requirements to put them on a pathway towards a future without waste. Cities will be supported to focus on closing collection gaps, improving residual waste disposal solutions, phasing out organics from disposal and on creating and upskilling jobs. The project will accelerate action by engaging mayoral commitment and fostering regional leadership, and by changing local perceptions of waste management across the region. This project will bring a methane reduction and avoidance focus to C40's waste activities in Africa, and with locally based staff will be supported by C40's Global and Regional Waste Technical Advisors, and city activity will be supported by and feed into the best practices of cities across C40's global membership.

Scope

The City Adviser, Waste and Methane will primarily support the city of Freetown to identify and implement key waste-related actions to reduce current and future emissions from the solid waste sector and will also work on scaling up the solid waste management engagement in Freetown and in Sierra Leone in general including subnational and national government and other identified stakeholders.

The City Adviser, Waste and Methane will deliver this by strategically engaging existing strategic plans and political leadership, build and engage with new relevant political leadership at the city, subnational and national level , while also building technical, institutional and operational capacity in the supported city or the state for the transition to zero waste pathways.

The City Adviser, Waste and Methane will support city teams through training, cross-city knowledge sharing, engaging consultancy support and one-on-one support to design relevant sectoral actions and help overcome barriers to delivery.

The City Adviser, Waste and Methane will be expected to liaise with city and sub national focal points and with expert sectoral teams within the city and in Africa as well as C40 (e.g. C40's Waste team) contributing towards programmatic goals and KPIs.

The City Adviser, Waste and Methane in coordination with the Waste Technical Adviser will work with Freetown to define the technical requirements of tendered expertise that will provide additional support to Freetown, overseeing the quality and applicability of consultant outputs and ensuring they meet C40 and cities' high quality standards.

The postholder will facilitate political attention and engagement, will ensure that all relevant contacts are updated and managed in the C40 database, will also explore alignment with C40's Leadership Standards, relevant network engagements and commitments to appropriate pathways.

The ideal candidate will have background and experience in city government and understand the synergies with sub-national and national government policies and regulations and their impact on decision making management process, The candidate should have an excellent understanding of how cities governance works (e.g. develop policies and implement projects), and will be familiar with the economic and political context of the city and co-dependencies with sub-national and national government. Experience on environment, climate or waste management policy or projects is a plus.

The City Adviser, Waste and Methane will work within the Freetown City office or a government office location finalised in coordination with the city/sub-national government. They will work directly with city and sub-national government teams, and will be a key part of the C40 Africa Regional Team, working closely with the Regional Director, Head of Implementation, Regional Waste Technical Adviser, Head of Waste Strategy and colleagues across the region and global C40 teams to engage Freetown in the implementation of the climate action plan, focusing on helping identify and implement key waste actions to significantly reduce current and future emissions from waste.

The City Adviser, Waste and Methane will need to be an experienced and proactive individual, able to manage their work independently and make the most of a complex portfolio in a high-profile area of C40's work. They will join a team of dynamic C40 staff and will be connected to leading cities around the world. They need to be passionate about working to find practical solutions to climate change, particularly around organic waste and methane reduction.

Responsibilities and Deliverables:

•  Manage project delivery by working with both the city and the C40 Africa Regional team and Waste team to refine programme outcomes, KPIs, identify barriers for action implementation, propose technical and political solutions and develop implementation roadmaps for priority waste actions to guide programme delivery.
•  Develop an implementation strategy for the priority waste activities.
•  Manage city engagement and relationship while supporting technical, institutional, and operational capacity in the city.
•  Help the city to identify and implement key waste actions to significantly reduce current and future emissions from waste.
•  Support the mapping and prioritising actions from city strategic plans for the waste sectors, and collecting information across city teams, plans and budgets.
•  Build meaningful and sustainable partnerships with key actors in each city and support improving multi-level governance relations internally between government levels.
•  Support city teams through training, cross-city knowledge sharing and one-on-one support to design relevant sector actions and help overcome barriers to implementation work.
•  Lead the delivery of workshops, seminars or webinars on relevant topics, ideate and develop knowledge papers or articles
•  Lead stakeholder engagement processes and other technical consultation processes in accordance with C40 best practice and relevant to the local context, as well as C40's existing suite of resources and tools. Scope sector-specific technical assistance and consultant support in collaboration with colleagues and city officials, including drafting RfPs. Manage consultants and provide technical oversight of consultant outputs, to ensure quality assurance that meets C40 and the cities' standards of work.
•  Lead reporting on progress and impact, and provide good practice examples for local and global utilisation. eKljCOv C0zk14
•  Providing frequent internal updates on the city's political, social, and economic context.
•  Liaising with external partners working on relevant issues. This will also include engagements with business, NGOs, CBOs, NPOs, youth organisations, etc. or other stakeholders identified.
•  Detailed deliverables schedule will be provided.

Required Experience:

•  Extensive experience related to political science, environmental management, climate policy, waste management, urban planning, or sustainability.
•  Demonstrable significant experience of at least 10 years working with or for a government in programs or projects in the relevant sectors, especially aligned with other policies like climate action plans.
•  Experience working in policy design and/or project preparation, preferably in subnational governments.
•  Experience in network creation, good interpersonal skills, negotiation skills, stakeholder engagement, relationship building, and multi-level collaboration is highly desired.
•  Excellent analytical capabilities and ability to work in a multicultural setting.
•  Experience managing external consultants, especially as it relates to technical requirements and quality assurance.
•  Knowledge regarding the development, implementation and/or evaluation of waste strategies and actions in the region, including social and economic considerations is desirable
•  Knowledge regarding the development of sector-specific roadmaps and/or business cases, including social and economic considerations
•  Strong interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills, combined with excellent fluency in English and ability to write technical materials and documents in these languages.
•  A proven track record of working remotely and independently.

Other Requirements: Applicants must already have the right to work in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Moderate travel may be required as part of the role.

Term: Fixed until the 31st March 2026

Location: Freetown

Consultancy fee: USD 48,744 per annum (for the contract term)

Please note that this is a consultancy opportunity, therefore the successful individual will be liable to pay their own taxes, in accordance with relevant legislation in Sierra Leone. The compensation offer is an all inclusive and no other benefits will be available under this type of contract.

Application Process: Closing date for applications is Friday, 3rd May 2024 at 5.00pm GMT. C40 reserves the right to close this consultancy opening before the closing date for applications so please do submit applications (CV and Cover letter) early.

To learn more about the work of C40 and our cities, please visit www.c40.org, follow us on Twitter @c40cities and like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/C40Cities.

For any queries about this consultancy, please contact careers@C40.org