Summary of the assignment:
| Nature of assignment | Short term |
| Location | Desk work |
| Timeframe | 20 working days |
| Report to | Executive Director/CEO |
I. BACKGROUND TO THE EABC TRADEMARK EAST AFRICA PROJECT
The TMEA project, “Public‐Private Sector Dialogue (PPD) for Trade and Investment ‐ Regional and Country Programmes” mainstreams advocacy throughout TMEA’s project clusters – i.e. in transport and logistics, trade facilitation, customs & tax, standards and NTBs. The new approach presented and approved by the TMEA’s Board will foster closer collaboration across project teams and will contribute to results across all intermediate outcomes. The programme’s core objective is to enhance private sector organisations’ (PSO) capacity to proactively and positively influence decision‐making, to accelerate dispute resolution, to sustain political buy‐in, to increase commitment and to reduce overall programme risks in TMEA’s project clusters. This will 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.
II. 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 major stakeholders such as the EAC Secretariat, Organs, Institutions and National Governments and provides input in policy discussion while advocating for the 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.
III. RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
EABC in partnership with TMEA, is implementing interventions to enhance Standards efficiency and reduce costs through harmonization, equivalence and mutual recognition of standards and improving compliance through awareness.
EABC and TMEA recognise that an efficient and effective awareness about the EAC standardization process is a critical component for cross border trade in the region. A recent assessment by EABC through EAC border visits as well as consultative engagements with members of the business community including MSMEs observed;
- Very low stakeholder awareness about the relevance of standards and why they are critical in cross border trade,
- Weak linkages between the private sector and the standards-setting bodies
- Lack of effective communication by bureaus of standards on the requirements of the standard for the business community who engage in cross border trade and whenever there are changes in the standards processes.
EABC with support from TMEA intends to hire services of a consortium in the EAC region to develop a good practice manual and a video documentary for the business community especially cross border traders on standards. This good practice manual and documentary will be given out to cross border traders as well as used during training and sensitization workshops that EABC will be undertaking at the regional and national levels.
IV. DUTIES
- Develop and design easy to read and interpret materials on standardization in the EAC that will be distributed to the business community and used during workshops.
- Develop awareness material on technical specifications and codes of practice for industrial goods.
- Develop implementation guidelines for production/manufacture of industrial goods
- Develop procedures for importing /exporting industrial goods and agro-food commodities/products in the EAC
- Develop and design EAC standards video documentary on harmonization, the role of standards in cross border trade, why it matters to take part in standards development as well as comply with standards.
For the above duties, the focus should be on the current EAC 20 most traded products and EAC identified priority sectors i.e. Pharmaceuticals, Leather and Textiles.
- Present the good practice manual and video documentary to EABC.
V. DELIVERABLES
The key deliverables include:
- Inception report
- Draft manual and video documentary. The video should be in an editable format in English and Kiswahili with subtitles.
- Good practice manual and a video documentary on EAC standards
- A report from the assignment
VI. SCOPE OF WORK
The consortium will work in partnership with the EABC secretariat, its Focal points and sector associations in all the EAC Partner States.
The consortium will familiarize themselves with the EAC and EABC work on standards including all publications and relevant materials and review of all activity reports from EABC and EAC on standards development at the EAC regional level.
VII. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
A suitable consortium should hold the following qualifications and key competencies:
Lead Consultant:
- Academic and Professional Experience: A Master’s degree in, Agricultural or food sciences, Business Administration, International Trade, or any other relevant field is required.
- Work Experience: A minimum of ten (10) years’ demonstrable experience in standards development in the EAC
- At least 5 years’ experience in EAC standards development and harmonization processes
- Knowledge of EAC Integration is a must
- Languages: Fluency in oral and written English is required as it is the main EAC working language. Good working knowledge of Kiswahili will be an advantage.
- Additional Skills: Communications, experience in working with internet searches, online databases.
Support consultant (Video Documentary):
The support consultant should possess the following skills and competencies;
- Videography
- Sound understanding of video content development/design, production and distribution
- Communication (should possess a good command of English and Swahili)
- Nationality: The position is only open Nationals of any of the EAC Partner States, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan.
VIII. THE APPLICATION PROCESS
The technical and financial proposal must be submitted separately 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 to Develop a good practice manual and a video documentary for cross border traders on Standards”. The proposal should include current curriculum vitae, proposed methodology, work plan and a financial proposal.
The financial proposal should be protected with a password.
Applications close on (30th September 2020) 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.