Summary of the assignment:
| Nature of assignment | Short term |
| Location | Will vary depending on the source of data |
| Duration of the assignment | 21 Days |
| Reporting | To Executive Director/CEO |
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 TMEA as the lead implementing partner for the Private Sector Organizations.
ABOUT TRADEMARK EAST AFRICA
TradeMark (Trade and Markets) East Africa is an aid-for-trade organisation that was established in 2010, with the aim of growing prosperity in East Africa through increased trade. TMEA operates on a not-for-profit basis and is funded by the development agencies of the following countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, United States of America as well as the European Union. TMEA works closely with Regional Intergovernmental Organisations, like the East Africa Community, national governments, the private sector and civil society organisations.
TMEA, with an annual expenditure of approx. US$100 million, is now a leading aid-for-trade facility in the world.
The first phase of TMEA (2010-2018) delivered exceptional results which contributed to substantial gains in East Africa’s trade and regional integration in terms of reduced cargo transit times, improved border efficiency, and reduced trade barriers.
The second phase focuses on reducing barriers to trade and improving business competitiveness in a bid to deliver large-scale impact in job creation, poverty reduction and enhanced economic welfare.
TMEA is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with successful operations and offices in EAC-Arusha, Burundi (Bujumbura), Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), Democratic Republic of Congo (Bukavu), Ethiopia (Addis-Ababa), South Sudan, Uganda (Kampala) and Rwanda (Kigali). For more information visit website www.trademarkea.com
BACKROUND TO THE SAFE TRADE TRADEMARK EAST AFRICA PROJECT
Alarmed by the potential decline of trade in Eastern Africa, and resulting jobs and export losses due to Covid-19, many governments in the region have mounted special efforts to keep trade safely running along the main transport corridors to ensure that: people access goods affordably; that markets are well supplied; that traders can still operate despite movement restrictions and loss of incomes. East African governments have recognized an immediate need to mitigate the impacts of Covid-19 on trade for the good of the economies and their citizens.
As a result, TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) has created a US$20 million Safe Trade Emergency Facility (STEF) to support East African Partner States to undertake critical measures along the transport and trade routes that will ensure trade continues safely while protecting livelihoods. Transport and trade routes are believed to be major infection conduits for covid19 and present a significant threat to the entire region, disrupting health, the economy, and regional and national supply chains.
Among the components of the projects, there is having centralized data collection on trade flows and ensuring its availability to different stakeholders, regularly for transparency and settlement of emerging bottlenecks as well as support advocacy work by the private sector to ensure continued harmonized approach and quick intervention in addressing arising challenges to trade.
The implementation of the Safe Trade Emergency Facility will be undertaken alongside scaling up existing programmes, to capitalize on the emerging opportunities that build the region’s socioeconomic resilience. The programme will support trade continuing safely and unhindered, and protect the health of traders, trade officials and transport operators. The emergency programme combines short to medium-term interventions that are critical for the resumption of economic activity, food security and social stability, jobs, and economic recovery.
RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The deadly COVID-19 has spread rapidly since December 2019 creating a major global crisis and disrupting global supply chains. Governments have taken unprecedented containment measures underscored by social distancing to stop the spread of the virus. As a result, air travel dropped significantly, borders closed, factories have stopped production, and staying at home has become the norm.
Like many parts of the world, Eastern and Southern Africa have faced major disruption in trade, with manufacturing and key export sectors like horticulture and tourism recording a massive decline in the first few weeks. The flow of goods across borders has slowed down, as governments undertake physical distancing and transport operator testing measures along key trade and transport routes, as these are believed to be major infection conduits, Manufacturers have scaled back production leading to loss of jobs, logistics companies face labour shortages leading to constraints in accessing markets, and lockdowns may lead to the closure of small businesses.
However, in the midst of this and through several engagement with the private sector players, several export opportunities have emerged ranging across various sectors.
In manufacturing, for example, manufacturers have repurposed their production lines to produce the most essential items such as; sanitizers, face masks and medical equipment needed in the fight against the covid19 virus among others.
This, therefore, presented opportunities for the private sector not to only explore the local market for these items but also venture into regional and other markets given the scarcity of the essential especially during the onset of the pandemic.
Besides the trade in the essential items used in the fight against corona, the private sector also continued to trade in other commodities as the Partner States put in measures that allow the flow of goods and services across the region and beyond for business continuity and for economies to remain resilient.
Against this background, EABC Secretariat does not have enough data to ascertain the level of export opportunities that emerged in terms of values and volumes and therefore seeks to hire the services of a consultant to undertake a market intelligence on export opportunities during this period of the pandemic. This will also necessitate the provision of projections for those opportunities that the EAC private sector could venture into going forward and post covid19. The focus of this market intelligence study should be but not limited to the top 20 EAC most traded products.
To fully understand the level of export opportunities that come up during this period, EABC will be undertaking this market intelligence study with support from TradeMark East Africa under the Safe Trade Programme.
SCOPE OF WORK AND DUTIES
To achieve the desired objectives of the consultancy, the technical proposal should detail how consultancy will be conducted. The technical proposal should also contain a work plan and a stakeholder engagement plan which explain how the assignment will be undertaken in line with the timeframe. Finally, the technical proposal will include a methodology that meets both the scope of work and deliverables described in the Terms of Reference (ToR). The main activities of the Consultant are but not limited to:
- Analyze the shift in the top 20 most traded products in the EAC during the pandemic highlighting the emerging top products that were not in the pre-covid EAC top 20
- Identify the shifts in trade of the EAC top 20 goods, main drivers of these shifts (in relation to the supply chain, import and export destinations, etc), any emerging top products and their potential for growth during and post Covid-19 and implications for sector prioritisation. Identify linkages with regional and Global Value Chains and in the context of the AfCFTA;
- Assess and explore the export opportunities pre and during covid19 including new destinations that arose.
- Assess the performance of EAC trade-in values and volumes for the 20 most traded products to make an informed analysis the consultant will track and make comparison of the same data for the period 2019,
- Develop policy recommendations to guide EABC advocacy work on export growth initiatives putting into consideration lessons from covid19. This would include investments required to boost the production of emerging products.
- Provide a shortlist of products/sectors that the region (targeting TMEA/EABC’s countries of operation) could focus on looking at both short- and long-term opportunities and highlight key recommendations for the development of these sectors.
- Identify policy and regulatory constraints and incentives needed to spur exports during pandemics such as Covid19 and taking into consideration the AfCFTA and EAC frameworks.
- Examine the readiness and capacity of EAC (national governments if possible) to accommodate emerging products and innovate within their current policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks
- Support presentation and validation of key findings with key stakeholders across the region to secure the buy-in of proposed interventions (can be done online)
DELIVERABLES
The key deliverables include:
- which among other things will contain the detailed work plan for carrying out the scope of work, proposed methodology and research instruments. There will be an inception meeting between EABC, TMEA and the consultant after the submission of the report.
- : The report will cover the Consultant’s final findings, after feedback from EABC Secretariat and other key stakeholders
- which will contain a summary of recommendations for EABC further advocacy work
Note: Reports must be delivered to an acceptable level of quality including: validity, completeness of data, clear and concise language, all files provided in editable formats (no PDF’s), images provided in JPG format and all data collected is submitted in raw format (excel or CSV).
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
A suitable candidate should hold the following qualifications and key competencies:
- Academic qualifications: Master’s Degree in, International Trade/Economics, Statistics, Econometrics, Business Administration and any relevant field
- Work Experience: A minimum of ten (10) years’ demonstrable experience in conducting research and an understanding of the EAC Trade trends.
- Proven track-record in related assignments with specific emphasis in export led growth initiatives demonstrating experience in designing, implementing supporting trade development programmes in the EAC region .
- Proven experience in application and use of statistical analysis tools. Full year data sets for 2020 to be able to compare with 2019 will be needed.
- 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.
- Additional Skills: Excellent computer skills (Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel), Email, analytical tools/software for data analysis, experience in working with internet searches, online databases, and data retrieval) are required.
- Nationality: The position is only open to Nationals of any of the EAC Partner States, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
| Evaluation | Maximum |
| A minimum of ten (10) years’ demonstrable experience in conducting research and an understanding of the EAC Trade trends. | 15 |
| Undertaking related assignments with specific emphasis in export-led growth initiatives demonstrating experience in designing, implementing supporting trade development programmes in the EAC region | 20 |
| Proven experience in the application and use of statistical analysis tools | 5 |
| Adequacy of the Proposed Methodology and work plan in responding to the TORs | 15 |
| Academic and other professional Qualifications: Master’s Degree in, International Trade/Economics, Statistics, Econometrics, Business Administration and any relevant field | 15 |
| Overall total score | 70 |
| Financial Quotation | 30 |
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 undertake an external market intelligence study on export opportunities for the Top 20 EAC exported products during and post covid19”. The proposal should include the current curriculum vitae, proposed methodology, work plan.
The financial proposal should be protected with a password.
Applications close on (10th April 2021) 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.
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