National and Regional pilots on sustainable tourism and circular economy of plastics

Supporting the development of regional standards on sustainable tourism and capacity-building activities East Africa and Central Asia. This will include:

1. Building on work initiated by the One Planet Sustainable Tourism programme and the GO4SDGs team around development of regional standards on sustainable tourism, provide assistance to the tourism sector stakeholders in the East African region for further development and review of regional standards and criteria (indicators) on sustainable tourism. More specifically, this would entail close collaboration with implementing partners to: o Review the draft standards on sustainable tourism in East Africa by supporting the integration of feedback from tourism sector representatives in the region and by leading the work on the revision and alignment of draft standards and corresponding indicators with UN Tourism guidance on how to measure the contribution of tourism to the implementation of the SDGs. This work will be key to ensuring industry as well as institutional and governmental support to the regional standards within the context of the East African Community. o Build capacity of regional tourism stakeholders on the implementation and measurement of standards in contexts specific to a destination, type of operations, or business. This will be accomplished through the development of a training manual and the delivery of an in-person training workshop for future auditors (and trainers) that include field visits and audits to strengthen the practicality of the knowledge received.
2. Building on the series of trainings delivered to GTPI signatories on reuse models, deliver 2 online training sessions targeting accommodation providers in Central Asia, thus supporting regional GO4SDGs pilot on testing implementation and uptake of sustainable tourism practices and standards. 2. Organization and implementation of two pilot interventions including in-person trainings on the circular economy of plastics and support to local stakeholders for the implementation of concrete solutions to tackle plastic pollution.
3. Organization of two 3-day "train the trainer" and industry capacity-building workshops in two destinations (field audits incorporated into the trainings) targeted at 30 to 60 industry representatives per workshop, pending refinement and agreement with local stakeholders. This includes:

• Development of trainer and audit guidebooks tailored to the context of each of the two destinations.
• Organization of 3-5 audits (number of audits will depend on availability of businesses to be audited on dates of the trainings, their geographical position and willingness to commit to GTPI -if not yet signatory) in each destination.
• Prepare (agenda, stakeholder engagement) and facilitate one train the trainer and one industry capacity-building workshop in each of the two selected destinations on reduction of single use plastics and effective enforcement of existing plastic bans. The trainings will be also addressing issues related to the food waste reduction associated to the use of SUPs.
• Provision of direct support with the implementation of identified solutions to 5-6 (number of businesses receiving direct support will be conditioned to (and will depend on) their signature of GTPI and commitment to report results of implementation of learnings) stakeholders in each destination (businesses and local communities, based on needs identified after consultation with local stakeholders). The provision of bilateral support to tourism businesses will be conditional upon them committing to GTPI and reporting on the results of the solutions implemented within the framework of the bilateral support.
• This also includes working with local communities to develop communication campaigns targeting tourists to enforce plastic bans in both destinations. A brief outcome report will be produced, analyzing the lessons learned and providing recommendations for the replicability of such interventions.

The 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP on SCP), adopted by the international community at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in 2012, aims to support and scale up regional and national implementation of SCP with all relevant stakeholders. In December 2021, the UN General Assembly extended the mandate of the 10YFP until 2030, which was followed by the adoption, in October 2022, of the Global Strategy for SCP (2023-2030), now implemented through the One Planet Network, global programmes and initiatives. UNEP serves as the Secretariat of the 10YFP and, as per the Global Strategy, plays a strategic and coordination role in the One Planet Network Programmes. This includes the One Planet Network Sustainable Tourism Programme, led by UN Tourism, whose main objective is to foster and promote the implementation of SCP practices in the tourism value chains through various approaches and strategies, such as development of sustainable standards and certifications, capacity building, and mobilization of the sector around voluntary commitment frameworks. One of the key initiatives of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme is the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative (GTPI), which aims to unite the tourism sector behind a common vision of a circular economy for plastics. This is achieved by setting specific and measurable targets (of elimination of use of SUPs, introduction of reuse models and improvement of recycling rates), building the capacity of tourism sector stakeholders, and tracking the results of those targets' implementation. The initiative seeks to build a global network of empowered leaders within tourism businesses, business associations, civil society, local and national governments that will spread the knowledge and tools developed by the GTPI and its signatories. To support this, the Programme is organizing in-depth trainings, including 'train the trainer' sessions, that will help expand the network of experts and practitioners of the circular economy of plastics in the tourism sector. Tourism businesses are increasingly aware and engaged in initiatives and work aimed at implementing sustainable tourism. As an example, the GTPI has a pool of highly committed signatories, already piloting solutions related to the circular economy of plastics. Meanwhile, tourism businesses in East Africa and Central Asia, under the leadership of the GO4SDGs and One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme, have already embarked on a journey to develop sector-led regional sustainable tourism standards. The message from the tourism businesses is clear: they need expert guidance and in-depth capacity building on topics such as the introduction of reuse models to tackle plastic pollution (including in relation to food waste reduction), identification of country-specific indicators to implement sustainable tourism standards, and auditing of tourism businesses to identify issues and solutions specific to their operations (in relation to the topics mentioned earlier). For this, the One Planet Tourism Programme requires the support of a senior expert, having in-depth knowledge and experience in issues related to tackling plastic pollution and food waste in the tourism sector, development and implementation of sustainable tourism standards, and consequently the development of training for trainers and assessors on these topics. In this context, the 10YFP Secretariat is recruiting an international senior consultant to: - Build the capacity of regional tourism sector stakeholders in East Africa and Central Asia (focusing on businesses, business associations, and local authorities) around the development and implementation of sustainable tourism standards, including in terms of the implementation of audits and provision of trainings to assessors; - Build the capacity of tourism sector businesses and local authorities in two destinations on the reduction of the use of single-use plastics and food waste reduction. This will be achieved through the organization of trainings for businesses, "train the trainer" sessions, as well as field audits of businesses to strengthen the practicability of the knowledge received. This intervention will support efforts around the effective enforcement of legal "plastic bans”. - A brief outcome report will be produced, analyzing the lessons learned and providing recommendations for the replicability of such interventions