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Consultant – Madagascar – In-country support

Request for Proposal:  Consulting services for in-country support

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. 

  

  1. Assignment Background and Overview

The assignment will be divided in a pre-scoping phase and a scoping phase. The second phase is contingent on the outcome of the first phase.  

In each phase, the objective is to provide local coordination and management of activities to support the successful and efficient outcome of each phase.  

Phase 1 – 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  based in Madagascar  to coordinate diagnostic activities and subsequent local follow-up.  

This consultancy work will require part time assistance (between 20% to 50% depending on the month) over a period of three months starting in March 2020. 

During this phase, the consultant is expected to: 

  • Represent the Alliance in-country and manage day-to-day activities  
  • Introduce the Alliance to relevant stakeholders and organise meetings with  government agencies and private sector stakeholders involved in  or concerned by trade facilitation.  
  • Nurture and maintain relationships with government officials, private sector representatives, relevant diplomatic mission representatives and non-governmental organizations to build stakeholder buy-in for a future Alliance project. 

Phase 2 – If the Alliance decides in its sole discretion to proceed with scoping a trade facilitation project, in addition to continuing Phase 1 activities, the Consultant will also be expected to:  

  •  Prepare technical scoping visits . This may include visits to several cities and logistics centers across the country such as ports and airports 
  • Prepare a scoping report highlighting all meetings, main discussions and participants 
  • Develop a report including all project options based on the scoping process, dialogues with public and private sector stakeholders, and the overall assessment of the trade environment in Madagascar. 

Phase 2 will require part time assistance (50%) for a minimum period of three months.  

 

  1.  Tasks of the consultant

The consultant will be required to as a minimum: 

  • Conduct onsite preparation work towards in-country missions by the international Alliance team. This requires identifying stakeholders to meet, setting up meetings and assisting with local logistical support during the missions.
  • After missions have been completed, conduct necessary follow-up with local stakeholders to sustain dialogue and interest from the trade community.
  • Work closely with the Alliance team in preparing project documents.
  • Advise Alliance team on any new developments in country either political, commercial or trade which may affect project development in any way.
  • Prepare monthly and quarterly progress reports highlighting the activities conducted, challenges faced, propose solutions, and monthly and quarterly objectives.
  • Prepare, maintain and follow up on meeting minutes 
  1. Required profile
  • Minimum of 5 years of working in the trade environment in Madagascar either within government or private sector 
  • Ability to analyse the trade environment in Madagascar, identify trends, look for gaps and other observations about the trade facilitation landscape 
  • Understanding of the domain of aid-for-trade 
  • Ability to successfully manage logistics in-country when Alliance teams visit for the purpose of scoping and project development. 
  • Ability to cultivate and nurture working relationships with both the public and private sector. 
  • Experience working both independently and in a team-oriented, collaborative environment is essential.
  • Strong written and oral communication skills in French and English  
  1. Other details

Direct contract by World Economic Forum. 

Please submit your résumé, cover letter and per diem rates in USD in PDF format to Marusa Godina (Marusa.Godina@iccwbo.org) with  the subject line: “Consultant in-country – Madagascar.” 

Application deadline: 28 February 2020. 

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 in-country – Madagascar RFP Questions”.