Program: Organics Mobilized: Accelerating Social Transformation Towards Circular Bioeconomy

Start Date: August, 2026 

End Date: August, 2028

Program Background

The Organics Mobilized: Accelerating Social Transformation Towards Circular Bioeconomy project supports Armenia's transition toward sustainable organic waste and biomass management through integrated circular economy approaches. The project is implemented by the American University of Armenia (AUA) in partnership with UNDP Armenia under the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Food and Nutrition Challenge.

The project aims to reduce methane and other climate pollutants emissions from the organic waste sector by strengthening national and municipal capacities, improving source separation and valorization of organic waste, piloting decentralized circular bioeconomy solutions, promoting sustainable cold-chain technologies, and facilitating behavioral and institutional transformation through Living Labs and Learning Communities.

Objective

To lead the overall management, coordination, and implementation of the Organics Mobilized project, ensuring effective delivery of project outputs and outcomes in accordance with the approved project document, workplan, budget, donor requirements, and AUA policies and procedures.

Program Background

Waste Policy Armenia is a four-year program aimed at improving Armenia's waste management sector capacity to implement environmentally sound waste management practices through:

• Providing technical assistance to the RA Government in developing and adopting Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation for several priority waste streams in line with EU waste legislation and best practices (Program Component 1);
• Providing technical assistance to the RA Government in developing a national model for waste source separation and introducing it in pilot municipalities (Program Component 2);
• Building sector capacities to implement Components 1 and 2 and to scale up achieved results (Program Component 3).

The current phase of WPA was informed by market systems assessments conducted in 2021–2022, including analysis of dry recyclables in municipal solid waste, automotive acid batteries, and agricultural manure. As WPA prepares for a possible next phase, these analyses will be updated to identify the most critical systemic constraints and opportunities and to inform future programming.

Objective

To support the International Market Systems Analysis Expert and the WPA team by providing economic analysis of selected waste-related markets and contributing to the development of strategic recommendations for the next phase of the Waste Policy Armenia Program.