UNDP Jobs - 70369- Provision of individual services of an expert to d

Provision of individual services of an expert to develop a Background Paper on Trade in Agriculture within the framework of SDGs in the Arab Region.

Location :

Beirut, LEBANON

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

03-Feb-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 working days from contract signature date but no later than 30 April 2017.

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

30 working days from contract signature date but no later than 30 April 2017.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

In partnership with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Trade and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) project aims to provide a contextualized understanding of the potential contribution of trade to sustainable and inclusive growth in the Arab region by establishing a conceptual and analytical framework and developing a monitoring mechanism that includes pertinent indicators to measure progress and identify challenges with policy implications. In this regard, trade is viewed as an effective instrument of promoting citizens’ well-being while tightening economic linkages among economies to enhance business and employment opportunities.
However, trade is becoming ever more challenging in a region that is witnessing increased militarization and where many of the Arab countries have been suffering from political crises and conflicts, or affected by on-going conflicts in neighboring countries since 2011. This difficult situation is further compounded by increasing protectionism in the global market and a deteriorating economic outlook in Europe, one of the main trading partners of the Arab countries. Despite this, in 2015 and 2016, Arab countries made important progress in deepening regional economic integration, such as conclusion of the Beirut Round of negotiations in trade in services, adoption of several measures of trade policy reforms by ECOSOC in the design of Arab Customs Union as well as upgrading performance of the current PAFTA, among others.
Amid these difficulties, it is important to initiate an informed discussion taking into consideration continuous efforts and rising challenges in strengthening economic cooperation in the region.
With this in mind, the project aims to achieve the following objectives:

Objective 1: Enhance analytical understanding and monitoring capacity on the linkages between trade and SDGs in the Arab region context;
Objective 2: Facilitate working-level exchange on trade and SDGs that would feed into an evidence-based policy dialogue and debate at the regional level.

It is also expected that the project helps to identify major baselines and potential indicators to support monitoring process of realization of SDGs in the region, with trade and trade-related measures. In one side, activities will look into how to mainstream trade for development and modalities of monitoring the progress of implementation of related measures at national and regional level. In another side, activities serve to collect strategic thoughts and suggestions from high-level policy makers, researchers, academicians and practitioners on the next steps to deepen Arab economic integration. Particularly, works by the project helps formulation of directions of mainstreaming trade for Arab countries in achieving the SDGs.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Trade and SDGs in the Arab Region Regional Project is aiming to produce analytical papers on the expected impacts of trade on the achievement of the SDGs. In particular, the project is looking to recruit a Trade Expert to produce a paper on Trade in Agriculture and the SDGs. The overall objective of the work is to research on and examine issues related to trade in agriculture within the SDGs framework in the Arab Region amid recent economic and political developments and current related-trade policies in the region
and growing populist skepticism about trade across the globe. Even though abundant literature has been produced on the linkages between trade and agriculture and the consequences of trade liberalization on agriculture, there is a need to revisit the pre-identified linkages by framing them within the framework of the 2030 Global Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Arab region.
Within the work plan of the Project, a number of analysis of economic activities with trade dimension, will be carried out in order to achieve substantive and evidence-based understanding of how trade mainstreams inclusive and sustainable development from economic, social and environmental perspectives. This analysis will also support design of public policies and programmes, which support better growth, decent jobs and more integrated Arab market that in turn, helps to alleviate poverty in the region through bringing about opportunities of businesses and income generation (SDG 1).
Agriculture has been identified as one of selected areas of analysis due to its importance to national economies of the large majority of Arab countries, particularly in the Mahgreb and Mashreq. By far, agriculture should be within a comprehensive conceptual framework as it relates not only agricultural production but also to trading of agro-products, processed agro-products as well as to the balance between activities aimed to enhance food safety and environmental requirements. Furthermore, agriculture, plays a key role in economic life of local communities that may not benefit much from gains generated by regional integration.
As such, throughout his assignment, the expert needs to conduct a quantitative and qualitative analysis to produce an assessment of the direct and indirect impacts of trade in agriculture on the SDGs in the Arab region context. This implies identifying the related SDGs, targets and indicators, indicating whenever needed the goal/target/indicator’s number. For example, within the 2030 Agenda, trade is expected to have an increasingly important role to play in “Ending hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture” (SDG 2), in particular, target 2.b aims to “correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets including by the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round”. By increasing returns to farm land and unskilled labor and real net farm incomes, trade will be also indirectly playing a role in alleviating poverty, i.e. SDG 1.
With these in minds, the project targets analysis of the potential that trade in agro products and its related sectors can bring to support the Arab region to achieve the SDGs The analysis – produced will serve as the background paper for more detailed discussions within the Trade and SDGs working group. The background paper submitted by the consultant should cover the following:

Trade liberalization in agro products within PAFTA and challenges in achieving the SDGs;
Trade in agricultural products and alignment of concerned public policies such as industrial, trade and development policies (applicable to processed agricultural products);
Contribution of agriculture development and trade-related activities to support development of local communities in function of SDGs;
Overview of export-led development model in agriculture in the Arab countries and its linkages to economic diversification.
Trade in agriculture and environment;
Public policies adopted by Arab countries to promote agriculture and suggestions of its synchronization with economic and trade policies;
Trade in agriculture and market access, included documentation of non-tariff barriers.

Furthermore, the paper is expected to offer an overview of national development strategies highlighting the Arab countries’ agricultural trade policies including the status of agricultural subsidies, applied tariffs and other trade barriers, and the quality requirements and niche markets under the ‘fair trade’ of raw and processed agricultural products, among others. The paper should also examine how these national development strategies are related to enhancing regional economic integration via strengthening trade and agriculture networks, while taking into consideration the de facto status of bilateral, regional and multilateral trade negotiations in agriculture in the Arab region that is marked by increasing conflict(s) and becoming less stable.
The expert should initially carry out a series of discussions/consultations with UNDP staff and map the key documents and focus areas related to the subject of study. Towards the end of the assignment, the expert is expected to submit a 12/15-page a draft policy paper based on (1) the latest five years statistics and trade data in agriculture, (2) the latest updates on national policies by Arab countries in promoting trade in agricultures; (3) brief overview of main regional and global trade negotiations in agriculture, (4) potential linkages of these policies to the SDGs framework, (5) relevant regional and global factors affecting global trade in agriculture and economic integration in the Arab region. The seven topics specified above should also be addressed.
Furthermore, the expert is responsible of producing a final version of the paper by incorporating feedback received by the Trade and SDGs Working Group. The final analytical product is expected to provide a clear understanding of status of trade in agriculture with a focus on its impacts on SDGs in the Arab region, which could feed into evidence-based policies and suggestions on the next steps to make trade in agriculture an engine and contributor to Arab economic integration.
The paper should be properly referenced using the Harvard system or other academic conventions.

For additional information, please refer to ANNEX I – Terms of Reference

Competencies

Functional competencies:

In-depth knowledge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;
Published at least 5 articles in academic journals and/or research papers with international or regional organizations.

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Kindly refer to the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice and all related Annexes by visiting the below link:

http://www.lb.undp.org/content/lebanon/en/home/operations/procurement/

Please make sure to submit all the requested documents/information; otherwise, your application will be considered incomplete

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Advanced university degree or equivalent in Economics, Development Studies or other relevant fields.

Years of experience:

At least 10 years of relevant working experience and at least 5 years of professional research experience covering trade and agriculture in the Arab Region;
Extensive experience in and knowledge of issues related to economic integration, trade and inclusive growth;
Previous experience working for the UN is a plus;
Considerable knoledge of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture and other related-trade issues.

Language requirements:

Language proficiency in both written and oral English is required. Fluency in Arabic is an asset.

Kindly refer to the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice and all related Annexes by visiting the below link:

http://www.lb.undp.org/content/lebanon/en/home/operations/procurement/

Please make sure to submit all the requested documents/information; otherwise, your application will be considered incomplete