Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Clean Air and Blue Skies Asia Exchange Project

The Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) Center is actively seeking 2 dynamic young professionals from the Philippines to participate as an exchange fellow for the Clean Air and Blue Skies Asia Exchange Project. The project generally aims to strengthen the capacity of institutions engaged in air quality management (AQM) in Asia through participatory exchanges.

One young professional from the Philippines will be sent to Sri Lanka to work with the Clean Air Sri Lanka as Air Quality Management Specialist, on behalf of the CAI-Asia Center, to undertake the following activities for a period of 10 months (November 2009 - August 2010):

Review air quality management (AQM) situation, policies and action plans of Sri Lanka through available literature and interviews with key individuals and institutions at the forefront of AQM movement in Sri Lanka;

Study the initial operations of the Vehicle Emission Testing (VET) program, identify implementation strengths and challenges and make recommendations based on regional/global best practices;

Work with the exchange participant from Phase 1 in the transfer of knowledge and skills needed for effective implementation of VET program to the VET Project Office staff and other stakeholders through publishing articles/reports and face-to-face interactions;

Conduct a the walkability survey in urban areas with high-people traffic within Colombo and consolidate results from the preliminary assessments;
Disseminate results of the walkability survey to stakeholders through a forum to be held in Sri Lanka and mass media (including internet);

Initiate the piloting of the Air Quality (AQ) Scorecard and assist the host country in implementing a concrete project/ case study that contributes to an existing air quality action plan or related plan;

Coordinate with different institutions based in Sri Lanka and assist in collecting monitoring data relevant in the conduct of a national emission inventory in regular interaction with the current Sri Lankan participant posted in Hong Kong Polytechnic University for technical inputs;

Jointly prepare a technical paper with current Sri Lankan participant in Hong Kong (e.g., compatibility of ambient air quality standards with source emissions standards in SL through air quality modeling tools).
The criteria for selection of the candidate are as follows:



Must be 22-35 years old
Must have a degree in science-related field
At least 3 years experience in AQM, with exposure to emissions inventory development and air quality modeling
Preferably with a demonstrated ability of writing technical reports and popularizing the findings
Experience and skill in multi-stakeholder interaction with NGOs, government officials, international institutions, business groups, etc.
Must have IT skills and computer literacy

Another young professional from the Philippines will be sent to Nepal to work with the Clean Air Network - Nepal (CAN-N) as Environment Researcher, on behalf of the CAI-Asia Center, to undertake the following activities for a period of 10 months (November 2009-August 2010):

Familiarize self with local AQM and public transportation situation, policies and action plans of Nepal through available literatures and personal interaction with primary individuals and institutions at the forefront of AQM movement in Nepal;
Train youth networks and/or CAN-N members on walkability survey and conduct the walkability survey in areas with high-people traffic within Kathmandu;
Gather and analyze data for the Air Quality (AQ) Scorecard for Nepal;
Disseminate results of the walkability index and air quality scorecard to stakeholders through various dialogue, fora, promotion in mass media (including internet), and other promotional materials;
Assist in building the membership base of CANN to create a critical mass of supporters;
Assist the host country in implementing a concrete project/case study that contributes to an existing air quality action plan or related plan (e.g., work with the youth network to study health impacts of air pollution);
Regularly coordinate with Nepal participant posted in Hong Kong Polytechnic University for any data that may be needed to conduct air quality modeling;
Jointly prepare a technical paper with current Nepal participant posted in HK on a common interest and strong expertise (e.g., sustainable urban transport of Kathmandu, a case study on source apportionment using air quality modeling);
The criteria for selection of the candidate are as follows:

Must be 22-35 years old.
Must have a degree in environmental management, transport planning or science-related field, with strong background on air quality management programs
Preferably with a demonstrated ability of writing technical reports and developing public awareness tools and implementing training programs
Experience and skill in multi-stakeholder interaction with NGOs, government officials, international institutions, business groups, etc.
Must have good research skills and computer literacy

The qualified candidates shall attend a preparatory course for the international posting for three weeks starting October 1 to be held in Bangkok, Thailand.

Posting in Colombo, Sri Lanka and Kathmandu, Nepal is expected to start immediately after the preparatory course. All international roundtrip tickets, accommodation and visa fees shall be provided for all travels within the exchange period.



Please send your CV with complete contact information to blueskiesasia@ gmail.com on or before

31 July 2009 (Friday).



Women are highly encouraged to apply. The age requirement for women is 22-40 years old provided all other criteria for selection are met by the candidate.



Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.



Best regards,




Chee-Anne Guzman

Glynda Bathan

Project Coordinators