UNDP Jobs - 74144- International consultant for provision of a Backgr

International consultant for provision of a Background Note on Rules of Origins and the Impact of Trade Costs.

Location :

Home based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

29-Aug-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Up to 15 working days.

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Up to 15 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

In partnership with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the project of Trade and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims to provide a contextualized understanding of the potential of contribution of trade to sustainable and inclusive growth in the Arab region. It aims to develop a conceptual and analytical framework, as well as a monitoring mechanism that includes pertinent indicators to measure achieved progress and identifies challenges.
The project has been designed based on the appreciation that trade is an effective instrument for promoting citizens’ well-being and tightening economic linkages among economies for more businesses
opportunities and employment. This calls for equality and sustainability of policies and operational measures in securing access to assets, capitals, and international trade to promote inclusive growth for all social groups.
Trade and regional economic integration, the promotion of regional economic linkages, and active engagement into global production and value chains, will be essential to achieve the SDGs. Within the project’s objectives, a Trade and SDGs Working Group will engage in a structured discussion to identify these linkages in mainstreaming trade for development while taking into account mandates by Arab Leaders at their 3rd and 4th Socioeconomic Summits in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Such informed discussion shall take into consideration continuous efforts and rising challenges of progressing economic cooperation in the region.
Despite many challenges, in 2015 and 2016, Arab countries made substantial progress in deepening regional economic integration, such as through the conclusion of the Beirut Round of negotiations in trade in services, adoption of several measures by ECOSOC in the design of Arab Customs Union as well as upgrading performance of the current PAFTA. These have been supported by works and contribution of the technical teams of UNDP and other international and regional stakeholders in factoring trade as an element of cooperation and policy coordination beyond the traditional understanding.
With this in mind, the project aims to achieve the following objectives:
1. Objective 1: Enhance analytical understanding and monitoring capacity on the linkages between trade and SDGs in the Arab region context.
2. 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. The envisaged activities will look into how to mainstream trade for development and to adopt modalities of monitoring the progress of implementation of related measures at national and regional level. These will also serve to collect and guide strategic thoughts and suggestions from high-level policy makers, researchers, academicians, and practitioners on the next steps to deepen Arab economic integration. The works to be produced by the project are expected to help mainstreaming trade for Arab countries in the relevant efforts to monitor and implement the SDGs.

Duties and Responsibilities

Two significant challenges in efforts of Arab economic cooperation, among others, relate to the application of Rules of Origin and significant costs of moving goods across borders. The latter is understood to cover several areas; within the scope of the assignment, the focus will be on logistics costs, comprised primarily of transportation costs and related ones such as handling, storage, and warehousing costs. These two subjects are the target of the background note.
Based on various technical analysis by regional commissions, the League of Arab States, by several Arab countries and by the team of UNDP/AfTIAS, current Rules of Origin (ROOs) under PAFTA are perceived to be more restrictive than necessary. As such, it does not meet the “merit test” nor “economic test” in the design of a responsive trade policy. Consequently, among other factors, it leads to limited use of PAFTA ROOs by Member States; instead, Agadir countries resort to use Agadir ROOs while other countries simply do not apply PAFTA ROOs as the compliance costs become prohibitive. Up to present, some ROOs for sensitive products (few dozens of these) are not finalized.
A background note would be drafted to discuss key features of current ROOs and address a number of challenges in operational modalities and practical procedures in achieving the goals of trade liberalization and promotion of productive capacities across countries under PAFTA at the first instance. On the one hand, more importantly, it will elaborate on how to use ROOs in a way to ensure benefits from trade liberalization, among Arab states, to be accrued to manufactured or produced goods originating in the region. This background note should elaborate on aspects to be improved in PAFTA ROOs from the trade integration perspectives in promoting more utilization by the private sector, par example, requirements for effective simplicity and openness of ROOs while taking into account international practices in the 21st century.
An important part of the background note will discuss aspects of trade logistics and identify potential areas for improvement aimed at: i) Improvement of the competitiveness of goods and services of Arab countries in broad; ii) Contribution to promotion of linkages among Arab countries in leveraging on advantages such as use of Arabic as well as proximity in business and cultural understanding.
The expert is required to conduct a limited quantitative analysis (using available statistics) to help with clear understanding of what could be achieved in coming years as the target of improvement.
For additional information, please refer to ANNEX I – Terms of Reference

Competencies

Functional Competencies:
Language proficiency in both written and oral English and Arabic is required.
o Corporate
• Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’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.
o Functional
• Background knowledge about the SDGs, United Nations and UNDP;
• Strong analytical and synthesis skills;
• Ability to work independently and achieve quality results with limited supervision and within tight schedules;
• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills;
• Ability to write in a clear and concise manner;
• Good teamwork and interpersonal skills;
• Flexibility and ability to handle multiple tasks and work under pressure;
• Excellent computer skills especially Word, Excel and Power Point.
o Leadership
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and to provide credible leadership;
• Demonstrated intellectual leadership and ability to integrate knowledge with broader strategic overview and corporate vision;
• Demonstrated flexibility in leadership by performing and/or overseeing the analysis/resolution of complex issues;
• Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of development experience.
o Managing Relationships
• Demonstrated well developed people management and organizational management skills;
• Excellent negotiating and networking skills with strong partnerships in academia, technical organizations and as a recognized expert in the practice area.
o Managing Complexity
• Ability to address global development issues;
• Demonstrated substantive leadership and ability to integrate knowledge with broader strategic, policy and operational objectives.
o Knowledge Management and Learning
• Ability to strongly promote and build knowledge products;
• Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information and best practices from within and outside of UNDP;
• Provides constructive coaching and feedback;
• Demonstrates a strong capacity for innovation and creativity in providing strategic policy advice and direction.
o Judgment/Decision-Making
• Mature judgment and initiative;
• Proven ability to provide strategic direction to the project implementation process;
• Independent judgment and discretion in advising on handling major policy issues and challenges, uses diplomacy and tact to achieve result.

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:

Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in Economics, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Sciences, Development Studies or related field;

Years of experience:

5 years of relevant work expertise

Technical experience:

Proven track record in applications of e-Commerce and FinTech, public-private dialogue, and mainstreaming trade for development;
Understanding of Sustainable Development Goals is desirable;
Ability to meet deadlines and prioritize multiple tasks.

How to Apply:

1. Read the additional information and annexes on teh UNDP lebanon website at http://www.lb.undp.org/content/lebanon/en/home/operations/procurement/

2. The consultancy is open for all international consultants who meet the selection criteria and propose a competitive fee. Interested consultants are requested to apply only through this UNDP jobs portal.

Submissions through any other media will not be considered.

The application must include the P11 uploaded as word or PDF file to the UNDP job site.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.