Result of Service :The consultant shall, within the relevant timeframe, provide to the Sub-regional Office for North Africa of the ECA (ECA SRO-NA) training materials on qualifying women led businesses to export to African markets, in accordance with the approved methodological framework. The consultant shall conduct the workshops and make presentations to the Policy Dialogue and submit a final report within the timeframe to be agreed with ECA SRO-NA.
Work Location :North Africa
Expected duration :4 Months
Duties and Responsibilities :The ECA's mission is to deliver ideas and actions for an empowered and transformed Africa; informed by the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063. The ECA’s Medium-Term Program Framework (MTPF) 2022 – 2025, endorsed by the 2022 ECA Conference of the African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, outlines five new strategic directions which are: Advancing ECA's position as a knowledge institution that builds on its unique position and privilege to bring solutions to the continent's problems and take local solution to the continent; Developing macroeconomic and structural policy options to accelerate economic diversification and job creation; Designing and implementing innovative financing models for infrastructure, and for human, physical and social assets for a transforming Africa; Contributing solutions to regional and trans-boundary challenges, with a focus on peace security and social inclusion as an important development nexus; Advocating Africa's position at the global level and developing regional responses as a contribution to global governance issues. The Sub-regional Office for North Africa of the ECA (ECA SRO-NA) is located in Rabat (Morocco), and serves seven member states: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia. The main objective of the Office is to contribute to enhancing the employment creation environment in North Africa through strengthened economic diversification, fiscal management, and regional integration as well as a better economic inclusion of migrant workers. A key priority of the Employment and Skills for Development Section for 2023 and 2024 is to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises as engines of sustainable development in North Africa, with a special attention to female and youth entrepreneurship. Background Promoting women inclusion in the business and women's entrepreneurship represents as well as economic empowerment untapped potential and can play a key role in job creation and economic growth. In North Africa, where female labor force participation is among the lowest globally, women-owned businesses are confronted with major difficulties especially in accessing international markets, in part due to their lack of export capabilities. Enhancing their international market access is essential to raise productivity and improve their economic contribution and to reach a country's full economic potential. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), of which the Agreement was signed by the Heads of State of the African Union, in Kigali, Rwanda (20-21 March 2018), seeks to lower tariff and non-tariff barriers and harmonize trade rules between the signatory countries. In line with its commitment to improving SME competitiveness and sustainability, the ECA's SRO-NA launched a small and medium sized business program in 2023 targeting women-owned SMEs in Morocco. The initial phase of the program, initiated in partnership with EBRD (European Bank of Reconstruction and Development) included capacity-building workshops in eight regions—Marrakech, Rabat, Agadir, Tangier, Casablanca, Fes, Oujda, and Beni Mellal—aimed at enhancing export and digital capabilities of the selected enterprises. Approximately 350 women entrepreneurs had the opportunity to benefit from this program. Following the success of the initial phase, several North African countries have requested technical support from the ECA SRO-NA to roll out the SME program. Morocco has formally requested the ECA SRO-NA to develop and implement a three-year dedicated program aimed at boosting export and digital capabilities of women-led SMEs targeting the African market, with technical assistance from ECA SRO-NA and operationalized by AMDIE (Moroccan Agency for Export and Investment). Encouraged by the positive outcomes in Morocco, ECA North Africa plans to broaden the scope of the SME program in 2024 to include Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Mauritania, and Libya, with an added emphasis on sustainability practices. This expansion seeks to enhance both the competitiveness and sustainability of SMEs across the region. Libya, Mauritania, and Morocco have formally requested from ECA SRO NA to implement this second phase of SME program, focusing particularly on green practices. In this regard, ECA SRO-NA will organize five capacity-building workshops. These will include: • one workshop in Tunis (Tunisia) for Libyan women-led small and medium-sized enterprises, • one workshop in Nouakchott (Mauritania) for Mauritanian women-led enterprises, • three workshops in Rabat, Oujda and Marrakech (Morocco) for women led SMEs in partnership with EBRD. To further capitalize on the program's outcomes, the Office plans to organize a policy dialogue including the three countries involved. This dialogue aims to highlight the experience from each country and develop policy recommendations to strengthen small and medium-sized enterprises capabilities for a sustainable development in North Africa. This initiative seeks to consolidate the experiences and insights gained, promoting small and medium-sized enterprises to be engines of sustainable development in North Africa ECA SRO-NA will hire two international consultants to deliver the workshops: one international consultant will be in charge of the Morocco workshops (3) and the other international consultant will be in charge of the Libya and Mauritania workshops (2). They will both contribute to the policy dialogue that is scheduled to take place in Rabat (Morocco) after the completion of all five workshops. Objectives of the consultancy: The overall objective of the consultancy is to strengthen the export capabilities, improve the digital skills with a focus on climate adaptation measures and green practices of women-led businesses, with the aim of amplifying inter regional trade and encouraging structural changes within the business landscape. The capacity-building workshops are designed to enhance the export capabilities, digital skills and green practices of women-led businesses, creating new market opportunities for them. The consultancy encompasses the following: I- Five four-day training workshops which will address the following themes: 1. Market development strategies This component primarily focuses on mapping the African trade markets and guiding the country’s SMEs on identifying export opportunities within AFCFTA and potential markets within the region and the continent. A special emphasis will be placed on understanding the trade agreements that African countries have and strategizing ways to optimize the benefits derived from these agreements. The goal is to provide women-led SMEs with insights and knowledge that will enable them to make informed decisions, expand their market reach within the African continent, and capitalize on favorable trade agreements. 2. Access to finance including green initiatives and Product development. In this component, significant emphasis will be placed on leveraging available local, national, regional, continental, and international finance initiatives including Identification of adequate sources of green finance to fund climate mitigation measures, to facilitate the expansion of female-owned firms into international markets. The program will offer insights into the diverse finance options accessible for women-led SMEs. It will also provide women-led business owners a comprehensive guidance on producing exportable products. The focus will encompass vital aspects such as planning, sourcing, costing, compliance with norms and quality standards including sustainable standards and norms, as well as advice on ensuring product quality, effective packing, and other product-specific tips. The aim is to equip them with the essential knowledge and skills to create products that meet international export. 3. Digital capabilities of women led businesses export activities: In this component, a primary focus will be dedicated to the strategies for digitalizing exporting activities through various means such as digital platforms, digital marketing, and leveraging digital tools to enhance export products. The workshop should present effective methods and tool to integrate digital technologies into export operations, equipping women-led businesses with the skills and knowledge to thrive in the digital landscape. 4. Climate adaptation and green practices: This component will introduce basics of climate change and it’s impacts on SMEs, its causes, effects and importance to address them by SMEs, identify adequate climate adaptation measures to respond to these impacts, present business cases for climate adaptation measures to guide SMEs in formulating their climate adaptation strategy. He should also provide business case of climate change measures dedicated to SMEs. II- A Regional Policy dialogue between the Three (3) countries targeting policymakers from each country with the following objective: • To raise awareness of participants regarding the multifaceted challenges that women SMEs are facing in the North African region, enhance their knowledge about an enabling environment allowing for a greater uptake of women SME’s. This workshop aims to assist participants in identifying the key components of competitiveness from a business perspective across export within AFCFTA, digitalization and adaptation measures to climate change. • Strengthen policy makers capabilities to identifying strategies and policies designed to foster a conducive environment for women led SMEs both at the national, regional and international level. Focus will be on the topics of export, AfcFta, digitalization and adaptation measures to climate change, climate finance initiatives and sustainable finance currently being discussed in international fora. Scope and tasks of work Under the guidance of the Director of ECA SRO-NA, and the direct supervision of the Section Chief of the Employment and skills for Development section in charge of the project, the international consultant in charge of Libya and Mauritania workshops will develop training material for each country and conduct one capacity building workshop for participants representing women-led businesses in Libya, one capacity building workshop for participants representing women-led businesses in Mauritania. The consultant will also make presentations during the Policy dialogue to showcase the Two (2) countries' specificities and experiences. To carry out this task, the consultant will: 1. Develop the training materials according to each component defined in the section above and adapted to the specific country business environment. 2. Provide business cases of exporting SME’s including through digital platforms. 3. Provide business cases of SMEs climate adaptation measures. 4. Conduct the two workshops. 5. Provide a final report after completion of the workshop in Libya and Mauritania. 6. Make presentations for the Policy Dialogue 7. Respond to any other ad-hoc request in the context of this project. Anticipated deliverables and implementation schedule: The following deliverable is expected: • All training materials delivered 10 days before starting the workshops and at the end of all the workshops. • Conducting one workshop in Tunis for the Libyan representatives. • Conducting one workshop in Nouakchott for the Mauritanian representatives • Report of the workshops 7 days after completion of each workshop. • Final Report including recommendations at policy level. • Delivering presentations during the Regional Policy Dialogue The plan and concrete deadlines for the deliverables will be discussed and decided in consultation between the consultant and ECA SRO-NA.
Qualifications/special skills :Advanced university degree (master’s at least) in economics, business administration or related fields is required. A first-level university degree in combination with two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. A PhD degree is an advantage. A minimum of 5 years of experience in development and management or trade research, work and/or analysis is required Experience in trade negotiations in North Africa and/or Africa is desirable Experience with United Nations or International or regional organizations is an advantage
Languages :English and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat. For this consultancy, Fluency in both French and Arabic is required.
Additional Information :Not available.
No Fee :THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

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