Advisor Trade Policy AfCFTA at GIZ Ghana

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. ECOWAS has played a key role in the AfCFTA process.

Although the AfCFTA was negotiated by individual states, ECOWAS; Common External Tariff (CET) formed the basis for the customs negotiations of ECOWAS member states within the AfCFTA. In addition, the ECOWAS Commission supported its member states during the negotiations and played a key role in coordinating their positions in the negotiations. In doing so, it was able to build on various technical and capacity-building activities of the BMZ-financed trade project.

GIZ supports the AfCFTA negotiation process through technical support to the relevant AU organs.The project in support of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) works in close collaboration with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) of the African Union (AU) and partners such as UNECA, UNCTAD, 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, value chains, special economic zones, women in trade and other trade-related issues.

The project is part of the GIZ portfolio with the African Union (AU) 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

A. Responsibilities

The advisor is responsible for:

• Managing an area of responsibility that forms part of the AfCFTA programme objectives as well as regarding synergy activities with the ECOWAS project, team agreements and/or agreements with the two superiors (disciplinary with ECOWAS and technical with AfCFTA)
• Assisting project/programme initiatives to provide professional advisory services to and cooperate with a broad range of target groups
• Innovation and knowledge management

B. Tasks

• Facilitating a more systematic information flow between ECOWAS and AfCFTA/AU
• Finding and strengthening the linkages between AU Commission/AfCFTA, ECOWAS and ECOWAS Member States (keeping all levels informed on AfCFTA trade policy issues by either side, so as to support harmonization between both sides)
• Close collaboration with ECOWAS Commission, AU Commission, the GIZ AfCFTA Support Programme (which the advisor is also part of the team) and possibly also the AfCFTA Secretariat to be established as well as with other RECs (to share experience and best practices among RECs)
• Support the ECOWAS in fostering its role in implementing the AfCFTA though technical advisory services including supporting the ECOWAS Commission on negotiation the AfCFTA
• Outreach to ECOWAS Partner States on issues of regional economic integration
• Technical advice and project coordination on the key topics of the AfCFTA regional project such as aspects of trade integration, including trade in goods, trade in services, trade facilitation, investment policy and stakeholder involvement
• Participate in the AfCFTA and ECOWAS Team meetings and bilateral exchanges with AfCFTA advisors
• He/she reports on activities planned and conducted as well as outputs and results achieved to the head of the AfCFTA and closely coordinates with the head of the ECOWAS programme
• Plans and monitors the development and implementation of project plans and activities for his sub-component in close consultation with ECOWAS Commission and in line with GIZ rules and regulations;
• Deals with the design, preparation and implementation of regional workshops/meetings and other events on the AfCFTA at the ECOWAS level;
• Draft terms of references for short-term experts; hires and manages the short-term experts, including quality control of their outputs, in line with GIZ regulations;
• Assists with general project planning as demanded and develops project concepts including preparation, organization and moderation of planning exercises and their implementation, management, monitoring, quality management, evaluation, communication and documentation

Required Competencies

Academic qualification

• ECOWAS citizens with a minimum of Masters/MSc in economics, business administration, law or equivalent qualification in trade or a related fit.

Professional qualification

Required qualifications, competences and experience:

• Master’s degree in Economics, Law, or equivalent
• Citizenship of one of the ECOWAS Member States
• Fluent in written and spoken English. Fluency in French is an asset.
• Demonstrated experience in trade policy
• Solid understanding of regional and continental economic integration issues in Africa
• Experience in development cooperation is an asset
• Experience in working with ECOWAS and/or AU or other regional organisations is an asset
• Flexibility to frequently travel (mainly to Addis Ababa)
• Excellent language skills in English, French is an advantage
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work in a multilingual and multicultural environment.