Vacancy Announcement
Trade Policy Advisor
for
the AfCFTA Support Programme
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a federally owned international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. GIZ has worked in Rwanda for over 30 years. The primary objectives between the Government of Rwanda and the Federal Republic of Germany are poverty reduction and promotion of sustainable development. To achieve these objectives, GIZ Rwanda is active in the sectors of Decentralization and Good Governance, Economic Development and Employment Promotion, Energy and ICT (Information and Communications Technology).
The African Union (AU), established as a unique Pan African continental body, was charged with the responsibility to coordinate and provide overall guidance for the negotiations on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The AfCFTA entered into force on May 30, 2019, and implementation is set to start in January 2021.
The trade advisor will be responsible for the setup of the technical advisory component of the project towards the AfCFTA Secretariat as well as Ghana as an African Union (AU) Member State. The project in support of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) works in close collaboration with the Department of Trade and Industries (DTI) of the African Union, AfCFTA Secretariat, Member States and partners such as UNECA, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and a large number of African actors to support the content of free trade negotiations in the areas of trade in goods and services, trade facilitation, customs cooperation as well as on the investment protocol. The project also works on industrialization, e-commerce, women in trade, value chains, special economic zones and other trade-related issues. The project is part of the GIZ portfolio with the African Union in Addis Ababa under the direction of the GIZ Liaison Office to the AU. Due to the continental relevance of its mandate and range of tasks, the project increasingly cooperates with global and other regional GIZ projects, for instance with the East African Community (EAC) and African member states.
For further information see GIZ African Union
Location: Kigali
Fixed term: January 2023
The trade policy advisor performs the following responsibilities:
A. Responsibilities:
- Support the bilateral partners in Ruanda in fostering their role in implementing the AfCFTA through technical advisory services on the member state level
- Close collaboration with AU Commission, the GIZ AfCFTA Support Programme Team (which the advisor is part of) as well as with RECs
- Manage short-term experts to undertake subject-specific research into areas of concern to Member State representatives participating in technical meetings throughout the key project component topics of trade in services, goods as well as the investment protocol.
- Technical advice and project coordination on various aspects of trade integration, including trade in goods, trade in services, trade facilitation, and stakeholder involvement and possibly also industrialization, value chain and other emerging topics
- Participate in the AfCFTA Team meetings and bilateral exchanges with AfCFTA advisors throughout the various project components and locations
- Work with other GIZ projects and be familiar with GIZ internal procurement processes
The trade policy advisor performs the following tasks
B. Tasks
- Support of the project and in particular the programme management in all areas of programme management; on all levels and all complexities
- Support the preparation of contracts, preparation of Terms of Reference and other project documents
- Work closely together with the technical advisors and head of component in following all steps and prepare all necessary documents for contracts
- Communication with potential consultants and contractors as well as partners
- Follow up all steps with GIZ HQ in Germany and Country Office of GIZ
- Support in the field of communication, public relations, preparation of fact sheets, including social media and websites
- Collecting necessary information from technical staff to prepare fact sheets and project briefs;
- Coordinating inputs for communication documents
- Support in setting up a monitoring system
- Support to comply with data protection regulations
- Be the liaison person with data protection unit in GIZ HQ
- Prepare and follow up all necessary steps to comply with data protection rules
- Support for the introduction of digital tools in the project
- Get familiar with all digital tools of GIZ and act as a mentor to all staff
- Documentation and follow-up of meetings with local and international companies
C. Required qualifications
Qualifications and Professional experience:
- Master’s degree in Economics, Law, or equivalent
- Fluent in written and spoken English. Fluency in French is an asset.
- Demonstrated experience of at least 4 years in trade policy, in e-commerce an advantage
- Solid understanding of regional and continental economic integration issues in Africa
- Experience in development cooperation is an asset
- Experience in working with AU or other regional organizations is an asset
- Flexibility to travel within the region
Other knowledge, additional competences
- Finely tuned organisational skills and ability to work on one’s own initiative
- Able to work under little supervision but at the same time being a real team player
- Persistent and focused on the tasks, but at the same time creative and open minded
- Excellent communication skills; experienced in communication on different levels and with different target groups (public and private sector)
- Very good working knowledge of ICT and computer applications (e.g. MS Office)
- Excellent knowledge of English, orally and written; fluency in German required (up to a level that documents of several pages can easily be understood and correspondence (emails, letters) and briefing notes can be prepared by the professional in good grammar and without a lot of proof reading).
Interested candidates should submit their application (motivation letter, updated CV, certificates and references) until 7th February 2021 at 4:00 PM, by e-mail to recruitment-rw@giz.de The email attachment (max. size 2 MB) should be a PDF file. Please quote the job title in the subject
GIZ is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified candidates. This includes the provision of reasonable accommodation, if needed, in order to participate in the job application and interview process and to perform essential job functions. Please, let us know if you have any particular requirements should you be invited for assessment/interview or that you wish us to take into account when considering your application. Women and persons with disabilities are particularly encouraged to apply.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for test and interview.
GIZ Office Rwanda
KN 41 St. / Nr.17, Kiyovu
P.O. Box 59, Kigali, Rwanda
GIZ Office Rwanda reserves all rights!!
