Summary of the assignment:
| Nature of assignment | Short term |
| Timeframe | 5 days |
| Reporting | To Executive Director/CEO |
| Date | 1st August 2022 |
- BACKGROUND TO THE EABC TRADEMARK EAST AFRICA PROJECT
The East Africa Business Council implements the “Public‐Private Sector Dialogue (PPD) for Trade and Investment ‐ Regional and Country Programmes” project supported by TradeMark East Africa (TMEA). The project mainstreams advocacy throughout TMEA’s project clusters – i.e. in transport and logistics, trade facilitation, customs & tax, Standards and reduction of non-tariff barriers (NTBs). It’s core objective is to enhance private sector organisations’ (PSO) capacity to proactively and positively influence decision‐making, accelerate dispute resolution, sustain political buy‐in, and increase commitment which will in-turn increase trade and investment in the EAC. The Regional and Country Programmes will contribute to core TMEA corporate results outlined below:
- Reduce transport (road, rail, and air) cost and time along transport corridors by 10% and increase efficiency in private sector logistics services provision
- Enhance Customs and other trade‐related agencies efficiency (25% reduction in time to process trade documentation) through integrated trade management systems and greater inter‐agency collaboration.
- Reduced tariffs, taxes, and levies by 5‐8% overall (including sub‐national) reduce exemption regimes, CET, and increase import/export tax incentives
- Enhanced efficiency of Bureaux of Standards, reduce related costs and time by 10%, reduce counterfeit and sub-standard goods by 20% through enhanced inter‐agency collaboration and improve private sector compliance.
- Resolve 30% of all reported NTBs along TMEA project clusters within a year.
- Catalysing a 10% increase in exports annually, 93,000 direct jobs and $425m additional investment after seven years in targeted sectors in the EAC under the Compact and TLCs through increased investment incentives.
- ABOUT EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS COUNCIL
The East African Business Council (EABC) is the umbrella body of the Private Sector in the East African Community (EAC). It brings together national private sector umbrella bodies, manufacturers, employers, bankers, insurance and transporters associations, chambers of commerce, corporates, and medium and small enterprises from the entire East African region.
EABC’s mandate is to represent and promote the interests of the EAC business community, provide value-added services that enhance trade and competitiveness, and to participate actively and positively influence legal and regulatory formulation to improve the business environment. EABC works with the majorstakeholders such as the EAC Secretariat, Organs, Institutions and National Governments and provides input in policy discussion while advocating for implementation of resolutions at the national level aimed at increasing intra-regional trade.
For effective implementation of the Regional PPD programme, EABC was selected by TradeMark East Africa as the lead implementing partner for the Private Sector Organizations.
- RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
One of the EABC-TMEA project goal is to strengthen the visibility, credibility and external communication achievements of the project. To improve the awareness of the EABC-TMEA project, EABC with support from TMEA intends to hire services of a consultant to support writing of impact stories and opinion pieces of EABC-TMEA Public‐Private Sector Dialogue (PPD) for the Trade and Investment project.
a) Identify opportunities presented by project results highlighting efforts towards improving the lives of East Africans through trade and trade facilitation; and build a compelling narrative and an image showing that this has improved trade competitiveness and enhanced East Africa’s regional integration.
b) Write and submit high quality content for reports, articles and stories that demonstrate how EA citizens are benefiting from the PPD project.
DUTIES
• Familiarize with her/himself with EABC-TMEA Public‐Private Sector Dialogue (PPD) for Trade and Investment project
• Interview beneficiaries and key stakeholders
• Support writing impact stories and opinion pieces
• Guide on the publicity / distribution plan of the impact stories and opinion pieces
SCOPE OF WORK
The key deliverables include:
• The consultant will work with EABC to identify impactful stories presented by prospects arising from the project, highlighting how ordinary EA citizens are benefitting. Identify and interview individuals or groups at the grass roots who are benefiting or will benefit from the project’s interventions, e.g. women traders at the borders, SME’s etc. Working with the communication department, use these articles and stories to demonstrate to investors, partners and the general public in EA and internationally the success of EABC-TMEA’s partnership in promoting trade.
• The consultant will submit the written text and high-quality images for each story that clearly capture following:
• 1. Situation
• 2. Interventions
• 3. Results or expected results
V. 4. IMPACT ON INDIVIDUAL’S PROSPERITY METHODOLOGY
The consultant will work in partnership with EABC secretariat, its focal points and sector associations in all the EAC Partner States.
The consultant will conduct face to face interviews with partner/ grantee teams, TMEA project/ programme teams and other stakeholders as identified.
The consultant will generate draft content for reports, articles and stories of a business and human-interest nature on the project and results and ensure that the reports, articles or stories are edited to comply with journalistic ethics and EABC editorial objectives.
Consultant will take photos of the projects, people or sites as appropriate, ensuring they attain model release rights.
The draft written material is then then shared with the relevant programme and project teams for veracity and accuracy.
The consultant includes all amends before sending the article/ report and images to the EABC point of contact for final approval.
VI. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
A suitable candidate should hold the following qualifications and key competencies:
a) Academic and Professional Experience: Degree in Mass Communication / Journalism or any other related field.
b) Experience: At least 7 years’ experience in development of impact stories and opinion pieces
c) Knowledge on EAC Integration is a must.
d) Languages: Fluency in oral and written English is required as it is the main EAC working language. Good working knowledge of French and Kiswahili will be an advantage.
e) Nationality: The position is only open Nationals of any of the EAC Partner States, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan.
TECHNICAL & FINANCIAL EVALUATION CRITERIA:
| Technical Evaluation: | Maximum |
| A minimum of 7 years’ experience in development of impact stories and opinion pieces; | 10 |
| Knowledge of EAC Integration: Must demonstrate strong knowledge of EAC integration, | 10 |
| Experience in delivering five similar assignments at the regional level (preferably EAC) | 20 |
| Approach and Methodology : Proposed methodology and approach focusing on how the assignment will be conducted | 20 |
| Academic qualifications: A degree qualification in any of the following fields Mass Communication or any other relevant field is required. | 10 |
| Total technical score | 70 |
| Financial Evaluation (Financial Quotations) | Maximum |
| Fees | 30 |
| Total Financial Score | 30 |
| Overall Score | 100 |
- THE APPLICATION PROCESS
All proposals should be addressed to;
The Executive Director / CEO
East African Business Council (EABC)
Ninth Floor, Mafao House, Old Moshi Road
P. O. Box 2617
Arusha, Tanzania.
Email: director@eabc-online.com with a copy to procurement@eabc-online.com clearly marked “Consultancy on Support-Writing of Impact Stories and Opinion Pieces on EABC-TMEA Public‐Private Sector Dialogue (PPD) for Trade and Investment Project”.
The proposal should include current curriculum vitae, proposed methodology, work plan.
The financial proposal should be protected with a password.
Applications close on (19th August 2022) at (5.00 p.m.).
EABC is an equal opportunity employer thus recruitment is on merit and with no regard to one’s age, colour, gender, marital status, disability or impairment, race, or creed.
Canvassing shall lead to automatic disqualification.
Environmental aspects will be taken into consideration.
END
