International Consultant on enhancing capacities in Logistics and Transportation to facilitate trade and fast-track the implementation of the AfCFTA in Eastern Africa at UNECA – United Nations Economic Commission for Africa: (Deadline 13 May 2022))

International Consultant on enhancing capacities in Logistics and Transportation to facilitate trade and fast-track the implementation of the Af CFTA in Eastern Africa at UNECA – United Nations Economic Commission for Africa: (Deadline 13 May 2022)

Result of Service

Ultimately, this project shall enhance the capacities of MS/RECs (public & private sector) in logistics and transportation to facilitate trade and fast-track the implementation of the AfCFTA in Eastern Africa. At the end of the assignment the consultant will have produced the following deliverables:

-Inception report including research approach and detailed work plan
-Draft Policy brief on best practices on inland waterway and lakes transportation
-Final draft policy incorporating comments from ECA-SRO-EA and from the validation workshop;
-Roundtable discussion report including summaries and key recommendations;
-Technical training report including training materials

Work Location

KIGALI

Expected duration

The consultant will be recruited for a period of 5.5 months from June to October

Duties and Responsibilities

Background and Justification

The Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA/SRO-EA) is established as one of the five sub-regional offices with the mandate to promote economic and social transformation in the continent by a) Collecting information to prepare the country and sub-regional profiles that include risk analysis for member states b) Contributing to and promoting the results of ECA’s policy-oriented research; c) Providing policy advisory services to member States, regional economic communities and sub-regional development operators to promote regional integration and sub-regional initiatives; d) Serving as facilitators of the integration activities of organizations of the United Nations system operating within the sub-region; e) Strengthening the capacity of members states, RECs and other stakeholders for policymaking in favor of structural transformation, industrialization, and sustainable development. ECA’s Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa covers the following 14 member states: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, DRC, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, and Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda.
As part of an effort to address the challenges of Intra-African trade, and the need to come up with strategies to improve the situation, the African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government in January 2012 adopted an Action Plan for Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT). Additionally, The Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was signed at the 10th Extraordinary Summit of the AU Assembly on 21 March 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda.
The Action Plan for BIAT identified 7 priority program Clusters which include Trade facilitation and the development of trade-related infrastructure. The elimination of trade barriers through improved trade facilitation and improved trade infrastructure will further reduce the cost of doing business in Africa. Additionally, the AfCFTA agreement will reduce tariffs among member countries and cover policy areas such as trade facilitation.
Integration of this region, however, remains affected by sub-optimal connectivity in different modes of transportation and their weak interlinkages. This contributes to keeping the cost of transport and the costs of trading high in the region, as indicated by the private sector surveys conducted by ECA and EAC in 2020 in Eastern Africa;
It is against this background, that the ECA SRO-EA seeks to recruit an international consultant to carry out a number of activities aiming at improving logistics, bringing down the high cost of transport and trade in Eastern Africa.

Objectives and Duties and Responsibilities:
This consultancy aims to enhance the capacities of MS/RECs (public & private sector) in logistics and transportation to facilitate trade and fast-track the implementation of the AfCFTA in Eastern Africa.
The work will be supervised by the Integration and AfCFTA Cluster of the Subregional Office for Eastern Africa (SRO-EA/UNECA). The consultant will work under the overall guidance of the Chief of the AfCFTA Cluster. The International Consultant will carry out the following duties:

1) Conduct research and comparative analysis of global best practices, case studies, and innovations in relevant ‘waterway and lakes transportation solutions;
2) Develop a holistic multi-sector stakeholder implementation framework for member countries;
3) Organize the validation workshop;
4) Submission of the final report to relevant MS officials;
5) Research, coordinate, organize, and facilitate a virtual roundtable discussion;
6) Develop training materials and conduct the training for 2 days for each session (for Anglophone and Francophone), for personnel in ports, shipping, and logistics functions, from the public sector, private sector, and RECs/IGOs;
7) Produce and disseminate the training report.

Outputs/Work Assignment:

• Policy brief on best practices on waterway and lakes transportation;
• Regional conferences for roundtable discussions on challenges, barriers, and opportunities on the waterway and lakes transportation solutions organized
• Technical training on the cost-effective waterway and lakes transportation solutions organized.

Qualifications/special skills

Academic Qualifications: A Master’s Degree or equivalent in economics, statistics, international trade, engineering or development studies is required. A doctorate degree in the specified fields is an advantage
Experience: A minimum of ten years of experience in trade analysis , logistics or related field
Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations. For this consultancy, fluency in English (both oral and written) is required.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

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