Vacancy Announcement

Junior Advisor for “Supporting a sustainable waste management and the circular economy” Programme (WCE) 

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a federally owned international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. The GIZ Office in Kigali covers GIZ’s portfolio in Rwanda and Burundi. GIZ Rwanda/Burundi implements projects on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Union and other commissioning authorities in the following priority areas: Sustainable Economic Development; Good Governance; Climate, Energy and Sustainable Urban Development; Digitalization and Digital Economy; and regional projects in the Great Lakes Region.

The Waste and Circular Economy (WCE) project aims to enable public and private actors to implement circular economy practices in Rwanda’s waste sector. It is part of the Rwandan-German Climate and Development Partnership that was signed by the Environmental Ministers of Rwanda and Germany in March 2022.

Providing good economic data and giving advice on economic conditions for solid waste management is among the key expertise that is being needed for the further improvement of the Waste Management in Rwanda. Therefore, the project is currently working for example on studies on full cost accounting and recovery for municipal solid waste management in districts (meso level) on business models for waste companies (micro level) but also on cost factor on national WM structures (macro level). These interventions are derived from the Rwandan National Integrated Solid Waste Management Strategy as well as the Circular Economy Strategy and are carried out together with Ministry of Environment (MoE), the Ministry of Infrastructure (MININFRA) and selected cities.

To support the implementation capacities of the project and to build up expert resources in Rwanda the project is seeking for a junior economist. The WCE explicitly aims to promote women, as such please note that female applicants are preferred. With offering a half year Juniors Advisor contract the WCE project is providing the opportunity for young graduates and professional beginners to gain a foothold in the development sector and for collecting knowledge and experiences in an international professional working environment.

GIZ would like to recruit the candidates for the position of Junior Advisor for “Supporting a sustainable waste management and the circular economy” Programme.  

Location: Kigali

Fixed Term: 01.05.2024- 30.11.2024

Position: 1

The Junior Advisor performs the following responsibilities and tasks:

A. Responsibilities

The Junior Advisor is supporting the WCE project in developing, accumulating, adopting and disseminating knowledge, data and skills for economics in Waste Management and Circular Economy in RWA, e.g., on:

• economic data for solid waste management, e.g., costs of waste management infrastructures, operations, follow up costs, etc.
• studies on full cost accounting and recovery
• transition costs for updating structures,
• economical aspects of legislation for WM and CE
• environmental transaction costs
• monetary aspects of EPR systems, etc.

Further on the Junior Advisor is

• supporting in activities on private sector cooperation
• supporting activities with financial intermediaries on topics related to waste management, recycling and circularity

Whenever possible the junior advisor will be supported to carry out tasks independently and in own responsibility to enhance the professional skills.

B. Tasks 

1. Coordination and monitoring

The Junior Advisor:

• assists with recording and documenting the results of activities, especially those on private sector cooperation and support
• assists with planning, coordinating and documenting meetings, workshops, seminars and other project activities with a focus on technical aspects
• assists and coordinates short-term experts assigned to projects/programmes in completing their tasks

2. Research 

The Junior Advisor:

• prepares and carries out research projects aimed at providing economic data (developing survey instruments, field trials, training field staff, organisational preparation in the field, collecting and analysing data) as part of monitoring and reporting duties
• conducts desk research wherever needed on topics relating to waste management and circularity in Rwanda and the larger region

3. Knowledge management  

The Junior Advisor:

• assists in drawing up reports for the project’s political partner
• organises and ensures up to date project documentation and manages the project’s data management system

4. Implementation of project activities 

The Junior Advisor:

• co-leads the project’s activities on economic data
• supports the activities on private sector support and cooperation
• co-leads awareness activities promoting circular economy in Rwanda
• supports the coordination of the project’s short-term experts
• facilitates and moderates community meetings and workshops

5. General obligations 

The Junior Advisor:

• is pro-active and willing to learn fast
• represents the interest of the GIZ-assisted measure and always acts on its behalf
• carries out important tasks for the project/programme, even if these are not explicitly cited in the job description

6. Other duties/additional tasks 

The Junior Advisor:

• assists other experts, if necessary, as translator Kinyarwanda – English
• performs other duties and tasks at the request of management

C. Required Qualifications, Competences and Experience Qualifications 

Qualifications

• Recent university degree in economics OR comparable study tracks

Professional experience

• Less than 2 years of experience (e.g. an internship or similar) in circular economy and/or waste management
• Understanding of business cases on circular economy and waste service provision
• Understanding of the stakeholder landscape of Rwanda’s waste sector

Other knowledge, additional competences

• Strong affinity to environmental and waste topics.
• Strong willingness to gain and adopt knowledge on circular economy and waste service provision to be able to develop economic models in these areas
• Working knowledge of MS Office
• Fluent in Kinyarwanda and English
• Experience of project management and research experience in an area related to the project’s/programme’s requirements is desirable
• Willingness to learn on the job and ability to deal with constructive feedback