Consultant – Madagascar – Fact-finding Mission

Procurement: Consultant – Madagascar

Request for Proposal:  Consulting services for fact-finding mission in Madagascar

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM/GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR TRADE FACILITATION

 

1. Background

The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (the “Alliance”) is an initiative jointly hosted by the World Economic Forum, the International Chamber of Commerce and the Center for International Private Enterprise in cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

The Alliance brings together governments and businesses as equal partners to identify trade facilitation issues such as delays and unnecessary red-tape at borders, and design and implement targeted reforms that deliver commercially quantifiable results.

The Alliance’s work is designed to help governments in developing and least developed countries implement the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement. The Alliance is currently implementing projects in Brazil, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Senegal, Vietnam, Zambia, and a regional project in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is developing further projects in Costa Rica, India and Nigeria among others.

The Alliance is supported by the governments of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Denmark, and works with private sector partners from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the world’s largest multinationals such as DHL, FCA Group, Maersk, UPS and Walmart.

 

2. Assignment Background and Overview

The Alliance is conducting a diagnostic process in preparation for potential project scoping in Madagascar. To this end the Alliance needs to contract a consultant to conduct the activities set out below.

This consultancy work will require one week travel to Madagascar March 9 – 13, 2020 and then another one week of work to prepare and complete a diagnostic report. This diagnostic report must be in line with the Alliance’s specific template and be submitted by end of March 2020. This report will cover the following topics:

–        Executive summary

–        Country information

–        Economic situation

–        Political situation

–        Private sector landscape including key sectors for women entrepreneurship

–        Trade facilitation narrative

–        TFA status of ratification  & implementation

–        Relevant trade indices & analysis

–        Key stakeholders / NTFC

–        Trade facilitation support landscape

–        Stakeholder consultations (exploratory mission)

–        Risk assessment

–        Political risk analysis

–        Alliance compatibility assessment

–        Timeline and proposed next steps

–        Key contacts

–        Recommendations to Alliance Steering Group

It is expected that:

–        the diagnostic report will be about 25 pages long, including introduction, table and graphs

–        the total work will require about 10 working days (5 days for the mission and 5 days to prepare the diagnostic report).

The mission team will include experienced members of the Alliance team who will guide the work to be conducted. Prior to the mission, the consultant will participate in weekly preparatory conference calls with the mission team and review presentation materials.

 

3. Required profile

– Expert in international trade with specific experience in the domain of trade facilitation

– Experience in working in developing countries with a preference given to experience in francophone West Africa

– Ability to diagnose the local environment, identify trends, look for gaps and other observations about the trade facilitation landscape

– Understanding of the domain of aid-for-trade

– Ability to write reports in a concise way focussing on quality rather than quantity

 

4. Tasks of the consultant

The consultant will be required to:

– Participate in preparation of mission to Madagascar planned for late Q3 2019

– Take active part in the mission to Madagascar

– Record all meetings that will take place during the mission

– Propose additional stakeholders to interview if needed to ensure completeness of research

– Analyse data collected and draw conclusions and recommendations

– Undertake desktop research

– Write and submit a diagnostic report in line with Alliance specifications no later than end of March 2020 and make such revisions as may be reasonably requested by the Alliance management team

 

5. Deliverables

1 diagnostic report (approximately 25 pages based on established template)

 

6. Contract and selection process

Direct contract by World Economic Forum.

Please submit your proposal (financial proposal, statement of qualification, and a detailed CV) in PDF format to Marusa Godina (Marusa.Godina@iccwbo.org) by 10 February 2020. Include in the subject line: “Consultant – Madagascar.”

Please submit any questions in relation to this RFP by email to Marusa Godina (Marusa.Godina @iccwbo.org) and include in the subject line “Consultant – Madagascar RFP Questions”.