Project Coordinator – French Technical Assistance Facility to the African Union (H/F)
Département Gouvernance économique et financière – GEFI > Pôle Économie, Secteur privé, commerce
Mis en ligne le : 13/01/2022
A long term project coordinator will be recruited to support the implementation of the French Technical Assistance Facility to the African Union (The Project or the Facility). The phase I of the Project started in July 2020 and will end in July 2022, when a phase II will start for another two years of implementation.
The recruited coordinator will work on both (i) the end of the implementation of phase I and (ii) the ramping up and implementation of phase II.
The coordinator will be based in the premises of the African Union Commission (AUC) in Addis Ababa and will be responsible of the following general duties:
- Ensure the secretariat of the steering and technical committees or any other governance bodies set up for the implementation of the facility;
- Support the identification, formulation and validation of the needs to be submitted to the steering committee;
- Ensure quality of dialogue between the relevant AUC representatives and stakeholders, French institutions located in Ethiopia (French embassy, AFD), Expertise France and other actors of international cooperation involved in similar topics (e-commerce, trade facilitation, economic development, etc.);
- Ensure smooth reporting to and coordination with Expertise France’s project manager and AFD HQs;
- Organise, follow up and ensure the smooth implementation of the activities to be executed through the Facility;
- Supervise the recruitment of short term experts and the brokering of institutional partnerships, in close coordination with the AUC, the AFD and Expertise France’s HQs
- Coordinate short term expertise missions and support the ownership of the expertise outputs by the stakeholders
More specifically, the coordinator will ensure overall project management, inclusive of:
Financial management
- Supervise the accounting and financial monitoring of the activities, in close coordination with the project’s accountant
- Supervise the drafting of financial reports, in close collaboration with the project’s accountant
- Develop necessary steering tools (Quality Management Systems)
- Ensure the dissemination the information to all the members of the committees
HR management
- Identify and propose experts CVs to the AFD and the AUC, supervise interviews
- Supervise the brokering of institutional partnerships for expertise provision
- Ensure the daily management of teams of experts
- Supervise the project’s accountant duties related to the project (payments, financial reporting)
Technical management
- Monitor the activity schedule/work plan Ensure the knowledge management of the project
- Develop and implement Monitoring and Evaluation tools
- Produce the necessary documents to present the quantitative and qualitative data relevant to the program monitoring
- Coordinate the elaboration of technical reports
- Ensure quality reporting of the expert assignments
Operational management
- Ensure the smooth unfolding of logistics for experts’ assignments and missions
- Ensure logistics for workshops, seminar and study tours –online or offline, as conditions will permit
- Design and implement standard procedures to be used by all parties involved, e.g. production of document templates (ToRs, travel orders, timesheets, assignment reports, etc.)
- Organise and moderate technical and steering committees, and any other relevant meetings to the project (meeting agendas, production of documents and reports, follow-up on decisions)
- Manage coordination with others donors.
- Contribute to Expertise France internal monitoring system (reports, meetings etc)
Description du projet ou contexte
- Context of intervention
As the only recognised continental institution, the African Union is Africa’s key interlocutor vis-à-vis its external partners in its areas of expertise, such as diplomatic, economic and security issues. As such, the AU plays an essential role for the continent, carrying a common and shared continental voice. It exerts unifying power by providing a political platform for dialogue, coordination and joint decision-making. It thus acts as a spokesperson for African states to have more consistent common positions with international partners, particularly in international fora. The AU also intends to act as a catalyst for Africa’s development by promoting the exchange of experiences at continental, regional and national levels, thereby improving synergies, comparability and wider dissemination of best practices.
The AU and France have engaged in a strategic dialogue since the signing of a declaration of intent on 8 June 2018. In order to give substance to this dialogue and to enshrine it in the long term, EUR 1.5 Million in funding has been granted by the French Development Agency to Expertise France in the form of a 24-month Phase I technical assistance and capacity-building facility to support the AU on issues within its area of expertise, which present important challenges for the continent in line with the priorities set by the 2063 agenda for the transformation of Africa into a world power, and on which France has significant expertise. This first phase of implementation will end in July 2022, when Phase II will kick-start for another 24 months of implementation.
Through the France-AU Declaration of Intent, signed on 8 June 2018, the following themes were identified: (1) peace, security and governance; (2) economic integration and sustainable development; (3) education, culture, art, sport and youth. This technical assistance Facility is fully in line with this second theme. Furthermore, this Facility will aim at accompanying the AU on issues on which it has directly taken action and which represent important issues for the continent.
Phase I of the Technical Assistance Facility focused on two main topics of cooperation: (i) technical assistance on the launch and implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area and (ii) technical assistance on topics of digital transitions. With the operationalisation of the AfCFTA Secretariat in January 2021 in Accra, Ghana, activities of pillar (i) largely moved away from the AUC and to the newly formed institution. The phase II of the project intends to re-centre activities of cooperation by deepening cooperation implemented under pillar (ii) while opening new streams of cooperation with the African Union Commission.
- Key priorities
Key priority 1: Continued support to the implementation of digital transition priorities
Phase I of the Facility has already provided a number of support activities to the African Union Commission and its Digital Transformation Strategy, namely:
In support of the Department of Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining (ETIM):
- Drafting of the African Union e-commerce strategy: phase II of the project will aim at supporting the AUC in (i) the finalisation of the validation process and (ii) the rolling out of activities and technical assistance ensuring the implementation of the Action Plan of the document
- Support activities on the assessment of the fiscal impact of e-commerce among AU Member States: phase II of the project will ensure the continued delivery of support activities on this topic, espousing the needs of the AUC dependent on political contexts, namely the ongoing international negotiations of the OECD Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)
In support of the Department of Infrastructure of Energy (DIE):
- Continent-wide study on the digitisation of postal services in Africa: phase II of the project will focus on ensuring the validation process of the study and will assist the AUC in the design and rolling out of appropriate implementation activities for the recommendations of the study
Key priority 2: Development of new activities in support to the African Union Commission
Phase II of the project will see the opening of new streams of cooperation with the AUC. While remaining flexible throughout the project life in order to best match AUC’s needs, the envisioned streams of activities relate to the following aspects:
-In support of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment Department (ARBE):
- Support to the Blue Economy Division. The envisioned support should be geared towards the implementation of the Africa Blue Economy Strategy.
- Support to the implementation of the Green Recovery Action Plan, especially on aspects related to climate finance.
-In support of the Department of Economic Development, Trade, Industry and Mining (ETIM):
- Support to the implementation of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Strategy
Other components could be added during the implementation of phase II, dependent on AUC needs and pertaining on feasibility on the Facility side.
Objectives of the project
The overall objective of the project is to support the AU’s efforts to become more effective and implement strategies and programs across the continent.
The project aims to do this with two specific objectives:
- Dedicated support for the implementation of digital transition priorities;
- Support for the implementation of new streams of cooperation with the AUC, with a focus on development and economy aspects.
The various activities of the project pre-identified at this stage in consultation with the AU will take the form of technical assistance and capacity-building actions such as support for setting standards or texts, targeted training actions, expert assignments, exchanges of experiences, studies.
Profil souhaité
- Education: diploma or equivalent professional experience in international relations, economics, international development or one of the relevant topics addressed in this project (trade, agriculture development, digital economy) ;
- Excellent strategic vision, ability to plan actions over a long period of time;
- Synthetic mind and ability to identify and present operational choices
- Excellent inter-personal skills and ability to work in a multi-cultural environment
- Fluency in English and French; fluency in other official AU languages is an asset.
- Diplomacy, flexibility and ability to work with diverse stakeholders
Required professional experience
- At least 5 years’ experience in the field of development and international cooperation in one of the relevant topics addressed in this project
- Significant experience in project management (monitoring, coordination, project financial and administrative management) in the field of international cooperation.
- Experience on a development project with high diplomatic aspect would be an asset
Informations complémentaires
- The coordinator would be recruited from March 1st, 2022 and for a total of 28 months (contract of 12 months renewable)
- The coordinator will be based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Early applications are encouraged.
Date limite de candidature : 13/02/2022 23:59
Expertise France est l’agence publique de conception et de mise en œuvre de projets internationaux de coopération technique. L’agence intervient autour de quatre axes prioritaires :
- gouvernance démocratique, économique et financière ;
- paix, stabilité et sécurité ;
- climat, agriculture et développement durable ;
- santé et développement humain.
Dans ces domaines, Expertise France assure des missions d’ingénierie et de mise en œuvre de projets de renforcement des capacités, mobilise de l’expertise technique et joue un rôle d’ensemblier de projets faisant intervenir de l’expertise publique et des savoir-faire privés.
