Trade Facilitation West Africa Program - Program Manager
Location : Burkina Faso
Type of contract : Short-term consultancy (STC) contract

The World Bank Group (WBG) received funding from the EU, the Government of the Netherlands, and USAID to design and implement a new regional trade facilitation program in West Africa. The initiative, called ‘’Trade Facilitation West Africa (TFWA) Program’’, aims to facilitate the movement of goods and vehicles along six priority corridors : Abidjan-Ouagadougou, Tema-Ouagadougou, Cotonou–Niamey, Dakar-Bamako, Lome–Ouagadougou, and Lagos–Kano-Niamey. TWFA activities are being implemented across three components : 1) support to regional trade facilitation measures, in coordination with ECOWAS and UEMOA ; 2) support towards improvement of selected corridors, primarily from a logistics & transport standpoint ; and 3) support to small-scale cross-border traders, especially women.

Given the various thematic areas the TFWA program works in, the program’s focal points within ECOWAS and UEMOA must coordinate internally across several departments and with Member States. Within UEMOA, support of TFWA related activities requires coordination centered under the Trade Directorate. Given the additional needs for dedicated resources within the RECs to support the TFWA program implementation activities, TFWA is recruiting a Program Manager to support the implementation of TFWA activities and provide support to assist UEMOA’s internal coordination of TFWA related activities, with UEMOA Member States and also coordination with ECOWAS.

Responsibilities :

Under the guidance of and in collaboration with the TFWA program coordinator for UEMOA and other TFWA team members, the Program Manager will work directly with UEMOA’s Trade Department and perform the following duties to support the implementation of the TFWA program.

• Coordinate with UEMOA and its relevant departments to ensure that UEMOA remains highly engaged in the TFWA program activities, and are provided opportunities to plan, review and provide comments on TFWA program related proposed activities, progress and documents such as terms of reference, concept notes, reports and so forth.

• Stay up to date on the UEMOA priorities, programs and engagements internally, with ECOWAS, by Member States and by development partners as relevant to the TFWA program and in trade facilitation in general.

• Support the implementation of TFWA activities, including the development of regional mechanism for monitoring and evaluating the quality of service standards of border agencies (including release times) and the identification of key performance indicators (KPIs) for all border agencies

• Assist in the preparation, organization, delivery and reporting of meetings, seminars and workshops

• Other duties as assigned by the designated UEMOA TFWA program coordinator and TFWA program leads in consultation with UEMOA.

Selection Criteria

• Master’s degree in Trade, Management, Transport, Economics or any related subject.

• Previous working experience that aligns with the roles of the position described above with experience working with UEMOA highly desirable.

• Excellent inter-personal skills, ability to maintain excellent working relation with a multi-disciplinary team.

• Excellent communicational (both verbal and oral).

• Excellent organizational, management skills where formal program management experience is highly desirable.

• Fluent in French with a strong working knowledge of the English language

Interested candidates should submit a CV in English mandatory (French version can be added as well, but optional) to Ms. Evelyn Ayivor at eayivor@worldbank.org by no later than March 12th, 2021, copying Ms. Benedicte Meille (bmeille@worldbank.org) and Ms. Rose Tiemoko Kabran (rtiemoko@uemoa.int).

Duration

The selected candidate will be offered an initial period of 60 days. The consultation can be extended depending on the business needs and the performance of the Consultant with the potential maximum period of 150 days during the fiscal year of July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.

The World Bank Group is committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, culture, and educational background.

Individuals with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.