SRO-SA Consultant Trade Strategy Expert – Trade in Services Kingdom of Eswatini

Result of Service ECA – the African Trade Policy Centre and the Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA) intends to recruit a national consultant to support country-level activities on the development of a national strategy for the AfCFTA to support implementation of this project in Eswatini. The consultant will specifically develop a national AfCFTA implementation strategy for trade in services, its action plan as well as the Monitoring and Evaluation mechanism.

Work Location Remote

Expected duration The consultant will be recruited for a period of 4 months.

Remuneration

. The consultant will be paid US$ 8000 in total, allocated according to the following product submission timetable:

- 30% after submission of a plan for the consultative process; a report of the results of the initial phases of implementation of the consultative process (at least one consultative workshop held to launch officially the elaboration of the strategy; some meetings held with high officials form public and private sector and CSOs) and a detailed outline for the AfCFTA document; - 40% after the presentation of the draft AfCFTA Strategy document - 30% after the receipt of the revised and final Eswatini AfCFTA Strategy document

Duties and Responsibilities Project: Deepening Africa’s Trade Integration through Effective Implementation of the AfCFTA

Project country: Kingdom of Eswatini

Background

The Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) signed in Kigali, Rwanda, on 21st March 2018 is a key milestone in Africa’s integration Agenda. The Agreement includes the Protocol on Trade in Goods, the Protocol on Trade in Services and the Protocol on Rules and Procedures on the Settlement of Disputes.

The AfCFTA is expected to be a key engine of economic growth, industrialization and sustainable development in Africa in line with the 2030 Agenda adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, and the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 for “The Africa We Want”.

For the AfCFTA to deliver the expected outcomes, priority actions must be undertaken in the short to medium term. Firstly, the ratification of the AfCFTA is critical. Efforts to support Member States in consensus-building to secure the ratification of the Agreement should be accompanied by strengthening the AfCFTA marketplace through continental policies on competition, investment and intellectual property rights. Secondly, there is a need to build on the political momentum behind the AfCFTA to support policy reforms that are aimed at implementing the Agreement as well as the required domestication. In this regard, it is critical for Member States to undertake deliberate actions and deploy necessary efforts through effective and integrated AfCFTA national strategies with a view to maximize the benefits of the Agreement while minimizing potential induced adverse effects. The strategies will be complemented by an effective monitoring and evaluation framework that will track progress on the implementation of the Agreement. Similarly, the strategies will be informed by regional commitments to economic integration and industrialization; as well as national policies and overarching strategies such as the National Development Plan (NDP)

As part of its role in providing technical assistance to Member States, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is leading the implementation of a project aimed at deepening Africa’s trade integration through domestication and effective implementation of the aspirations towards the AfCFTA. The main component of the project is to support pilot African countries to develop AfCFTA National Strategies and Action Plans for trade in goods and services. The national strategies and action plans are expected to identify where comparative advantages lie for each country for diversification as well as priority value chains to be developed in order to support economic diversification and maximize trade potential in the context of the Agreement. The key cross-cutting issues to be considered in the strategy and action plans include gender, environmental and climate change mitigation, technologies and the impact on the youth and other vulnerable groups.

The project acknowledges that trade liberalization policies will not achieve intended development goals if they are not designed and implemented without the adequate consideration of gender and other vulnerable groups. The liberalization of trade impacts men and women differently due to the different economic and social positions they occupy. Thus, developing a gender-sensitive approach is necessary to mitigate the negative impact of trade policies on women and enhance the positive outcomes for women which will strengthen the overall effectiveness of these policies.

It is in this context ECA – the African Trade Policy Centre and the Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA) intends to recruit a national consultant to support country-level activities on the development of a national strategy for the AfCFTA to support implementation of this project in Eswatini. The consultant will specifically develop a national AfCFTA implementation strategy for trade in services, its action plan as well as the Monitoring and Evaluation mechanism.

Services constitute the largest sector in the global economy, accounting for 70 percent of global GDP, 60 percent of global employment and 46 percent of global exports measured in value-added terms. The advancement in technology has resulted in international services trade becoming the new frontier for expanding and diversifying exports, providing significant opportunities for developing and least developed countries. Services sectors contribute on average fifty percent (50 per cent) to the GDP of African economies. Negotiations on trade in services have been conducted throughout the AfCFTA negotiation institutions for nearly two years now. The Protocol on Trade in Services is to be complemented by annexes as part of the built-in-agenda, and by schedules of specific commitments where Member States indicate sectors liberalized in their territory and regulatory framework for the services sectors. Regulations are the heart of services and thus it is imperative to undertake a study on the sectors to feed into the overall national strategy and implementation plan on the AfCFTA.

Duties and Responsibilities

Working under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the ECA SRO-SA the national services consultant is expected to work in close collaboration with various stakeholders at national, regional and global levels involved in developing a strategy for the services sector.

Specifically, the consultant for trade in services sector will;

i. Produce a national AfCFTA trade in services Implementation Strategy, its Action Plan and its Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanisms for Eswatini, which will be integrated into the final National AfCFTA Implementation Strategy for Eswatini. ii. Work with a team that includes a national trade in services expert, and a trade and gender expert. iii. Collect relevant national data on the service sectors – Business services, Communication services, Construction and related engineering services Distribution services, Educational services, Environmental services, Financial services, Health and social services, Tourism and travel related services, Recreational, cultural and sporting services, Transport services, Other services not included elsewhere, to be used in the development of the Eswatini National AfCFTA Trade in Services Implementation Strategy and Action Plan with nominated champions for specific deliverables and timeframes; iv. Assess the capacity and competitiveness of the services sector in Eswatini and its connectedness with other regional and international service providers; v. Identify specific regulatory barriers to trade in the twelve priority services sectors –

(a) Business services, (b) Communication services, (c) Construction and related engineering services, (d) Distribution services, (e) Educational services, (f) Environmental services, (g) Financial services, (h) Health and social services, (i) Tourism and travel related services, (j) Recreational, cultural and sporting services, (k) Transport services, and (l) Other services not included elsewhere

vi. Review commitments made at multilateral and regional levels to identify how services liberalization under the AfCFTA can exceed existing commitments; vii. Conduct a survey on laws, regulations and administrative practices in the priority sectors and their sub-sectors; viii. Collect data on the legal and regulatory environment in each of the priority sectors and their sub-sectors; ix. Advise on the required legal and regulatory environment on the priority sectors for full implementation of the Agreement; x. Assist the country in establishing and operationalizing a National Committee on Implementation of the AfCFTA to ensure meaningful participation of all stakeholders in the development and implementation of the national AfCFTA Implementation Strategy; Specifying/identifying the Committee’s capacity building needs for technical support. xi. Collaborate with the consultant on trade in goods, the ECA and the relevant Ministries/Agencies on all project activities at country level, working closely with all the stakeholders involved in the project including government officials, the private sector, vulnerable groups, youth, women entrepreneurs, civil society organizations and the academia; xii. Integrate gender and youth dimensions through disaggregated data and key relevant gender indicators in the study on the services sector; xiii. Timeously submit the study on the services sector, reports of stakeholder consultations, reports of data collection, and a compendium of all policies, laws and regulations in electronic copy and categorise the documents by name, data of issuing, issuing institution and a few additional information on the law and regulation according the agreed methodology; xiv. Integrate the analysis and findings of Eswatini’s defensive and offensive interests in the trade in services sectors of: Business services, Communication services, Construction and related engineering services, Distribution services, Educational services, Environmental services, Financial services, Health and social services, Tourism and travel related services, Recreational, cultural and sporting services, Transport services, Other services not included elsewhere into the National Strategy and Action Plan; xv. Recommend the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) mechanisms of the Strategy; Ensure quality, and timely delivery of the project outputs at national levels; and xvi. Assist with any other ad-hoc requests within the context of the project.

Deliverables

The deliverables from this assignment will include:

i. An inception report outlining the understanding of the task, issues to be addressed, methodology and sources of information. An annotated outline of the National Strategy and Action Plan as well as a list of references should be included in the inception report; ii. Reports of the national stakeholder consultation forum for the National AfCFTA Implementation Strategy and Action Plan; iii. Verbatim report of the data collection processes; iv. A draft version of the Eswatini AfCFTA National Implementation Strategy and Action Plan including Monitoring and Evaluation mechanisms to be circulated to stakeholders for comments; v. A powerpoint presentation of the Eswatini AfCFTA National Implementation Strategy and Action Plan to be made at a national validation meeting to be organized in Eswatini in consultation with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Trade; and vi. A final version of the Eswatini AfCFTA National Implementation Strategy and Action Plan in both electronic form and printed versions.

Qualifications/special skills Academic Qualifications: Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or above) in Economics, Law, International Trade, Development studies or related fields is required. Experience: - a minimum of seven (7) years of proven experience in trade policy formulation, regional integration and development, the services sector or related areas in Eswatini; - experience in the area of planning and strategy development; design of strategies for implementation of economic policies of Eswatini; and - Familiarity with data analysis using statistical packages is an asset. Language: Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations. For this project, 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.