Consultant in beach litter monitoring in Sierra Lone

GRID-Arendal acknowledges the role that citizens play in monitoring plastic pollution. However, their approaches tend to differ, and may at times be unscientific. GRID-Arendal seeks to collaborate with organisations (Consultant) in Sierra Leone through which citizens can be trained in scientific ways of beach litter monitoring.

Application of citizen science in beach litter monitoring in Sierra Lone

GRID-Arendal acknowledges the role that citizens play in monitoring plastic pollution. However, their approaches tend to differ, and may at times be unscientific. GRID-Arendal seeks to collaborate with organisations (Consultant) in Sierra Leone through which citizens can be trained in scientific ways of beach litter monitoring.

Principal Responsibilities/tasks

• The Consultant is responsible for supporting GRID-Arendal´s efforts for citizen science in beach litter monitoring by:

o Identifying the case study site, preparing the site for monitoring, and hiring a team of researchers and research assistants

o Providing the needed ground logistics for the study, including transport services for the researchers and research assistants, facilitating training of researchers and research assistants, and facilitating the collection and transmission of data to GRID-Arendal; and

o Providing inputs into a report to be drafted by GRID-Arendal on the utility and scalability of the citizen science approaches for beach monitoring.

Professional qualifications

The preferred Consultant must be the government body mandated with monitoring of Sierra Leone’s state of the marine environment.

Send an offer to [email protected] and mark the e-mail with ´Consultant Sierra Leone´. You should expect to receive an email confirmation of your submission before the closing date.

Language (all communication with the client will be in English)

The foundation GRID-Arendal intends to enter into a consultancy agreement with Environmental Protection Agency of Sierra Leone as part of the Waste and Marine Litter project as described below

The tender is published as a letter of intent as GRID-Arendal Foundation considers Environmental Project Agency to be the only supplier of this expertise.

Marine litter and plastic pollution in the ocean is affecting ecosystems, economies and societies around the world. GRID-Arendal continues to play a part in documenting and providing information about the negative effects of plastic pollution and importance of global solutions to solve the challenge. In 2016, we launched the UNEP & GRID-Arendal report Marine Litter Vital Graphics. The report highlighted the scientific evidence of marine litter impacts on ecosystems. With an increasing focus on marine litter for the last years, the report has played an important role to effectively communicate the knowledge we have on the issue. Since the release of the report, GRID-Arendal has been engaged in various aspects of marine litter, from technical solutions for beach clean-ups to international policy development.