Kazakhstan – Terms of Reference – Consultant

Kazakhstan – Terms of Reference – Consultant
Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation/Center for International Private Enterprise

1. Background information

The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation is a public-private partnership for trade-led growth, supporting governments in developing and least-developed countries in implementing the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement. Alliance projects cut through red tape and end costly delays at borders by bringing together governments and businesses of all sizes as equal partners to deliver targeted trade reforms.

The Alliance is led by the Center for International Private Enterprise, the International Chamber of Commerce, and the World Economic Forum, in cooperation with Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). It is funded by the governments of the United States, Canada, Germany, and Denmark.

2. Assignment overview

The Alliance is starting scoping in Kazakhstan to support the identification, design and development of a trade facilitation project. To this end, the Alliance is constituting its project pre-scoping team and is looking for a consultant with IT and/or phytosanitary background toward the development electronic phytosanitary certification platform. Under the leadership of the Alliance’s Program Officer, the team will collaborate towards delivery of a pre-scoping report.

Pre-Scoping will focus on phytosanitary certification issuance procedure, which has been identified as a priority by the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan as a priority area of reform from paper based to electronic. Given the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic and the low penetration of vaccination rates in Kazakhstan, the scoping process will likely rely on virtual meetings. However, if conditions permit, selected experts may be asked to undertake an in-person mission to Kazakhstan lasting up to two weeks.

3. Duties, deliverables and required profiles

The key deliverable for this assignment will be the initial Pre-scoping Report, which will set out the parties consulted during scoping, key problem statement(s), the identified potential solution(s), and the initial feasibility statement(s) and risk analysis.

3.1 Phytosanitary expert– Role and Responsibilities

• Undertaking diagnosis and mapping on the current phytosanitary certification process and procedures;
• Providing active participation in all scoping meetings and events (whether virtual or in-person) and following up with key stakeholders to gather further information;
• Providing technical analysis and inputs pre-scoping report;
• In addition to the collection of qualitative data, where possible, collect and compile quantitative data to compellingly illustrate the time and cost savings moving from paper based to electronic certification that might be achieved in a project;
• The expert shall objectively assess and rank:

• • Inefficiencies (time and cost) generated by issue which could be reduced with intervention,
  • Level of local government buy-in, willingness to support and participate in project gearing toward solving issue, and capacity to provide necessary support/participation,
  • Level of local private sector buy-in, willingness to support and participate in project gearing toward solving issue, and capacity to provide necessary support/participation,
  • Where applicable, level of local Alliance donor mission buy-in, willingness to support and participate in project gearing toward solving issue, and capacity to provide necessary support/participation.

3.2 Phytosanitary expert– Qualifications

The expert will have:

• Minimum of 10 years of high-level experience in modernization and trade projects in developing and least developed countries
• Advanced degree in agriculture, IT, legal or related field
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills
• Significant experience working with stakeholders in Central Asia and understanding of the environment
• Ability to analyze and provide advice on complex problems
• Strong written communication and stakeholder engagement skills
• Ability to travel to Kazakhstan (health warnings permit)

3.3 Phytosanitary expert – Deliverables

• Pre-Scoping Report (or assigned parts thereof)

3.4 Estimated Level of Effort

• 10 days (80 hours) over 2 months

4. Evaluation methodology

Direct contract by the Center for International Private Enterprise. Candidates shall apply individually for a specific role outlined in this posting.

Please submit your CV(s), availability and proposed daily consulting rate in PDF format via email addressed to Program Officer Sousena Tefera (stefera@cipe.org) with CC (tradejobs@cipe.org) by 10 October 2021. Include in the subject line: “First-Last name – Kazakhstan”