UNDP Jobs - 26105- Consultant : Cost of Doing Business

Consultant : Cost of Doing Business - Women Entrepreneurship Draft Capacity Development Plan

Location :

Home-based with travel to Johannesburg (Twice)

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

31-Oct-2011

Application Deadline :

18-Oct-11 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 Working Days

Languages Required :

English French

Expected Duration of Assignment :

30 Working Days

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

UNDP Africa’s strategic vision places development for pro-poor growth and accountability at the centre of all UNDP-supported activities in the region, given the fact that lack of capacity in these areas remains one of the key challenges faced by Africa today in its efforts to achieve the MDGs. To achieve this goal UNDP has set itself the tasks of:

strengthening its strategic thinking and advocacy functions in line with the UNDP Strategic Plan and with Africa’s development agenda;
creating in-house capacity to translate corporate support goals into capacity development results;
providing support to UN reform and strengthening its partnerships with both UN and external development partners.

The UNDP regional project entitled, “Building African Capacity to Gain Maximum Benefit from Inclusive Globalization and Regional Integration” is in line with the first focus area mentioned above. The specific objectives of the project are to strengthen the capacity of African countries for increased participation in global trade and linking trade policies to poverty reduction, and having trade negotiations outcomes that reflect common African position. The project is an important component of a strategy aimed at making globalization work better for Africa, and congruent with the African Union’s vision of regional integration, high levels of growth and poverty reduction. Under the project, institutional capacities are strengthened in the area of research on trade issues and analytic work to inform trade policy formulation, enhanced outcomes that reflect common African position.

One of the main activities of the project is supporting the engendering of policies for increased participation of women in formal trade. For this purpose, one of the activity results undertaken was conducting a needs assessment for women entrepreneurs needs and formulating a capacity development plan for regional policy for enhancing the role of women in trade. The workshop was held from 15-17 September 2010 and was mainly consultative in approach with the overall outcome being better participation and contribution of women in all forms of international trade (both formal and informal).

The specific outcomes of the workshop were threefold:

Conducting a needs assessment and consultations with women entrepreneurs from all five RECs that the Regional Trade Project covers.
Producing a report which captured concrete recommendations by women entrepreneurs on how key areas in which they required capacity development.
Providing a platform for exchange of experiences. The workshop was a platform for women entrepreneurs to exchange experiences in their respective sectors.

The workshop identified five critical areas that pose challenges to women engaged in International Trade in Africa, which the Capacity Development Plan will focus on and these are:

Access to finance and productive resources
Access to international markets
Reducing the cost of doing business
Organization and advocacy skills with Government and other organizations like the United Nations
Issues related to Entrepreneurship

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall purpose of this initiative is to Draft a Capacity Development (CD) and Implementation Plan based on the outcomes of the needs assessment and recommendations of the workshop report (September 15, 2010).

This activity of the project intends to support engendering of policies for increased participation of women in formal trade. More specifically, the objective of this assignment is to develop a Capacity Development Plan Chapter on the Cost of Doing Business and how it affects women entrepreneurs. As shown above, this was one of the areas of concerns identified by the women entrepreneurs. Issues related to this topic included trade facilitation, concerns related to customs (including sexual harassment), product quality and standards, marketing, and trade negotiations.

Working closely with RBA’s Regional Trade Project, Gender, Capacity Development Teams and the lead consultant, the consultant will provide substantive analysis on the cost of doing business that affect women entrepreneurs in Africa. The workshop report of the needs assessment will be a major reference point to tap on the issues that were discussed in the workshop. The analysis will feed in to the development of the Capacity Development Plan for women entrepreneurs in Africa. Infrastructure related issues such as energy provision, communication, and transportation came up as specific challenges affecting women entrepreneurs.

The consultant will produce the draft chapter on Reducing the Cost of Doing Business that will be transformed to a Capacity Development Plan. In this area, some of the identified problem was stringent labour laws that prevent hiring, firing, and introduction of merit based promotions etc. Poor infrastructure also contributes to the cost of business for example, Communications, energy, transportation, etc. Moreover, Customs procedures including movement of people, goods and capital across borders are very stringent and business friendly.

The expected result of this initiative is to ensure the timely and high quality delivery of the following:

Presentation of an annotated outline of the chapter on the cost of doing business after the orientation meeting
Production of first draft of the chapter on the cost of doing business
Presentation of the preliminary findings at the validation meeting
Submission of the final draft of the chapter on the cost of doing business

Competencies

Excellent quantitative and qualitative research, communication (written and verbal), economics especially, International trade economics covering issues of trade facilitation and development concepts, experience in regulatory framework, especially related to the business environment.

Corporate Competencies

Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values (especially the approach that UNDP takes towards, gender, trade and human development);
Practices adherence to corporate rules, regulations and procedures
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies

Good knowledge, understanding, and some experience of international trade, entrepreneurship especially from the perspective of economics of gender (being able to look at the relevant issues from a strong gender lens).
Excellent facilitation, training, and analytical skills are required. Good skills for reporting and extracting necessary and relevant information are a must.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in economics, International Trade, social sciences, International law and Policy, business administration, and/or related disciplines.

Experience:

Five years of experience in International Trade area especially, trade facilitation.
Ability to use computers and office software packages and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages.

Language:

Fluency in written and oral English and French.