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Leading Technical & Coordination Expert (business environment & competitiveness)

Nigeria

  • Organization: UNIDO - United Nations Industrial Development Organization
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Grade: Level not specified - Level not specified
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Operations and Administrations
    • Environment
    • Public, Private Partnership
    • Managerial positions
    • Technical Co-operation
  • Closing Date: Closed

Female candidates from all Member States are particularly encouraged to apply.

VACANCY  ANNOUNCEMENT TEMPORARY APPOINTMENT OF PROJECT PERSONNEL

Organizational Context

UNIDO is the specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. The mission of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), as described in the Lima Declaration adopted at the fifteenth session of the UNIDO General Conference in 2013, is to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial development (ISID) in Member States. The relevance of ISID as an integrated approach to all three pillars of sustainable development is recognized by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will frame United Nations and country efforts towards sustainable development in the next fifteen years. UNIDO’s mandate is fully recognized in SDG-9, which calls to “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”. The relevance of ISID, however, applies in greater or lesser extent to all SDGs. Accordingly, the Organization’s programmatic focus is structured in four strategic priorities: Creating shared prosperity; Advancing economic competitiveness; Safeguarding the environment; and Strengthening knowledge and institutions. Each of these programmatic fields of activity contains a number of individual programmes, which are implemented in a holistic manner to achieve effective outcomes and impacts through UNIDO’s four enabling functions: (i) technical cooperation; (ii) analytical and research functions and policy advisory services; (iii) normative functions and standards and quality-related activities; and (iv) convening and partnerships for knowledge transfer, networking and industrial cooperation.

The Directorate of Programme Development and Technical Cooperation (PTC) is responsible and accountable for providing technical cooperation services to enhance the capabilities of developing countries and economies in transition to promote ISID in the areas covered by five departments: Department of Programmes, Partnerships and Field Integration; Department of Agri-Business; Department of Trade, Investment and Innovation; Department of Environment; and Department of Energy. The Department of Trade, Investment and Innovation (TII) supports countries in their efforts to develop through trade, investment and innovation the potential of the manufacturing sector to drive socio-economic progress. The Department is responsible for assisting countries to strengthen competitiveness in global markets through capacity-building in quality, environmental sustainability, and social accountability requirements in accordance with international management system standards and private sector requirements. It supports the establishment of linkages between producers/processors in developing countries and local, regional and global value chains (retailer, manufacturers) by developing capacities in the area of product quality. This position is located under the Business Environment, Cluster and Innovation Division (PTC/TII/BCI) which works with and for the private sector to increase the latter’s contribution to sustainable growth and inclusive development. One of its core competences lies in the promotion of clusters and consortia fostering resilient business alliances and reliable institutional networks that allow firms, including micro and small businesses, to achieve economies of scale and scope, complement capabilities and gain access to additional resources and markets. The competitive advantage generated by joint action creates business opportunities otherwise unattainable to individual firms and triggers employment and productivity growth. The Division further promotes the effective utilization of innovation for sustainable solutions for inclusive economic development and environmental challenges, particularly in the context of the new industrial revolution and the associated paradigm shift. The Division assists governments and industry to achieve transformative changes and to transfer and deploy technology for entrepreneurship, particularly in the context of Industry 4.0. The Division seeks, through a combination of advisory and capacity-building services, to strengthen national capacities for the creation and continuous strengthening of a business environment that allows the private sector to make a greater contribution to growth, employment and income generation. It supports the creation and/or strengthening of the institutional infrastructure required for the formulation and implementation of strategies for industry upgrading and restructuring in line with comparative advantage, and for enhancing productivity and competitiveness from a private-sector-led development perspective. The Division provides its technical cooperation services in close coordination with the other divisions of the Department for Trade, Investment and Innovation (PTC/TII) and cooperates with other relevant technical divisions and organizational entities of UNIDO as appropriate.

PROJECT CONTEXT To facilitate industrialisation in the region, ECOWAS regional industrial strategy has identified strategic interventions. The proposed actions under the West Africa Competitiveness Programme intend to cover interventions pertaining to the development of sustainable value chains, micro-, small and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) and facilitating a platform for dialogue on industrialisation between state and private sector, including enhancing the capacity of Member States to develop and implement industrial development policies along value chains. The programme will put an emphasis on value chains in line with priorities at regional and national levels, that have high potentials of industrialisation and job creation such as: (i) fruits and vegetables (mangoes, pineapple, onions, cassava.) (ii) textile/garments, (iii) leather and (iv) services (IT, renewable energy). The programme aims to support the selected value chains at national and regional levels to promote transformation, better access to regional and international markets, taking into account social and environmental issues. The support will also cover the implementation and operationalization of the regional policy framework for the development of the value chains set in the regional industrial strategy. With a specific objective of improving the performance and growth of selected priority value chains the programme will specifically help to: (i) develop value chains, improve competitiveness of MSMEs, strengthen the supporting intermediate organisations and create better regional linkages among selected products value chain actors (ii) improve the business environment in line with the West African agenda and support capacities at national and regional levels. The regional component of this programme, and specifically UNIDO’s interventions under the regional component, will benefit from earlier initiatives conducted by UNIDO, EU and ECOWAS, as well as other implementing agencies in the region. The regional project implemented by UNIDO complements other regional development initiatives and national projects under the 11th EDF programme, contributing towards the overall objective of strengthening the competitiveness of West Africa and enhancing the countries’ integration into the regional and international trading system. The specific objectives of the European Union Action document are: 1. To improve the performance, growth and contribution to industry, regional trade and exports of selected value chains and 2. To improve the climate for business at national and regional levels. Within the framework of the European Union Action document entitled “West Africa Competitiveness and Quality Infrastructure Project”, UNIDO’s activities will specifically contribute to Output 1.4 “Regional quality infrastructure system is strengthened, with a view to promote environmental issues” under specific objective 1, and Output 2.2 “Regional policy and framework to improve industrial competitiveness harmonised, formulated and monitored” under specific objective 2. Duty Station: Abuja, Nigeria (Regional Technical Coordination Unit) Approximate duration: 1 year (with the possibility of extension)

Main Functions

The roles and responsibilities of the Leading Technical and Coordination Expert on business environment and competitiveness are directly related to Output 2.2. The expert is expected to work under the direct supervision of the Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) in the (Regional Technical Coordination Unit (RTCU), under overall responsibility of the project management at Headquarters. The expert will be required to undertake regular missions to beneficiary countries. He/she is expected to assume the following main duties: Part I - GENERAL: 1. Ensure overall coordination of programme activities in the area of business environment and competitiveness. 2. Ensure the coordination of activities of technical experts recruited in the fields of MSME development, entrepreneurship training and PPPs. 3. Organize and deliver where applicable workshops, seminars and awareness raising events to sensitize the key stakeholders in the region. 4. Liaise with the National Technical Coordination Units (NTCU) for the implementation at national level and to identify spill-over effects and synergies for interventions to be implemented at the regional level. 5. Draft job descriptions of experts and terms of reference for subcontractors in view of their recruitment. Follow up on the pool of technical experts and subcontractors assignments in concerned fields and pre-assess their final report. 6. Build capacity of regional/national expert in topics relevant to the project including value chain analysis and development, stakeholder analysis and relations, market facilitation, project management and administration, strategic planning and any other relevant area that is required for successful implementation of the project. 7. In collaboration with National Project Coordinator identify, engage, build trust and establish working relation with the key stakeholders in the region and mobilize support for the project implementation through establishing partnership with relevant institution. 8. In collaboration with the technical experts, develop the overall detailed work plan and budget for activities related to the technical fields concerned (monthly, bi-annually and yearly) coordinating at the same time with other technical components of the programme. 9. Prepare quarterly, bi-annually, yearly and final implementation reports of concerned activities as well as information notes on implementation, informing the overall progress and any deviation from the plan. Provide timely inputs to the CTA for any report requested by the key stakeholders. 10. Provide inputs in developing the communication strategy of the project. 11. Carry out mission in the region and provide briefing and debriefing before and after missions to the field. 12. Any other ad hoc tasks related to the overall work plan of the programme and as specified by the CTA or the Programme Manager. Part II - Activity 2.2.A.4: Supporting ECOWAS/UEMOA to operationalize the regional industrial/private sector strategy through elaboration of regional directives on priority value chains of regional and national interest and implementation of regional investment and competition policies and regulations 13. Carry out background research and familiarize him/herself with the previous studies on value chains to identify and select priority value chains. 14. Carry out the Diagnostic Study of the selected priority value chains: - Analysis of the value chains and identifying value addition opportunities, - Mapping of the key actors (MSMEs, large national companies, and MNCs) and identifying existing and potential networks and business linkages - Upgrading needs of enterprises in the selected priority value chains - Assessment of potential for linking MSMEs with large national companies and MNCs and current bottlenecks 15. In collaboration with the project team, design and carry out networking events and workshops to foster linkages between MSMEs and large national companies and MNCs in selected priority value chains with particular emphasis to: - Key actors along the chain assessment of the business linkages and networks - Assessment of the support services, identifying BSOs service gap and enabling them to organize networking events and workshops - Opportunity for development of new value added key necessary infrastructure and services to be established (capacity building for BSOs to conduct further networking events and sustainability of the project) - Conduct capacity building workshops for policy makers 16. Design of a MSME supplier database and drafting terms of reference for subcontracting the development of the database 17. Write the final report to inform the key stakeholders in the private and public sector about the challenges and opportunities for upgrading the selected priority value chains (enterprise, institutional and policy) and to build consensus among stakeholders on the requirements for a regional procurement directive. Provide inputs on linkages of this programme with the MSME procurement programme. Part III - Activity 2.2.A.5: Supporting the implementation of the ECOWAS MSME Strategy and MSME Charter 18. Oversee the work of the technical expert on entrepreneurship training, the development and design of a coaching programme for entrepreneurs at various stages of growth for various target groups (youth, women, social entrepreneurs) with a focus on selected priority value chains 19. Assist the technical expert in identifying and selecting suitable counterpart institutions on a regional level for the entrepreneurship training. Identify BSOs service gaps and enable them to organize entrepreneurship training 20. In collaboration with the technical expert, ensure the organization of a capacity building workshop for selected BSOs to enable them to continue the training programme, as well as the organization capacity building workshop for policy makers, informing them on gaps identified and needs to build a conducive business environment for entrepreneurship 21. Review final report of entrepreneurship expert on gaps identified, trainings conducted, including impact assessment and recommendations for reform of the business environment to be elaborated Part IV - Activity 2.2.A.6: Establishment of a regional PPP network and online platform 22. Identify engage, build trust and establish working relation with the key stakeholders in the region, including representatives from DFIs, private sector and national governments. 23. Review existing planned and ongoing regional PPPs to identify bottlenecks and good practices, as well as information needs of parties involved 24. Oversee expert designing the PPP online platform and, in collaboration with project team, draft terms of reference for subcontracting the development of the online platform 25. Together with project team organize the inauguration conference for the PPP online platform 26. Based in review of ongoing and planned regional PPS and on engagement with key stakeholders, draft recommendations for regional Directive on PPPs 27. Organize capacity building workshop with policy makers from ECOWAS Commission for maintaining the online platform

Core Competencies

INTEGRITY: To work honestly, openly, impartially and in accordance with the values of the United Nations. PROFESSIONALISM: To work in a competent, committed and calm manner. RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY: To work effectively, respectfully and inclusively with people from different backgrounds and with different perspectives. RESULTS ORIENTATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY: To be accountable and responsible for achieving results and meeting performance standards. PLANNING AND ORGANIZING: To plan, organize and manage work effectively and efficiently. COMMUNICATION AND TRUST: To communicate effectively and build trust. TEAM ORIENTATION: To cooperate at various levels. CLIENT ORIENTATION: To be responsive towards those to whom services are provided internally and externally. ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION: To realize continuous improvement, support innovation, share knowledge and skills and learn from others.

Minimum Requirements

Education

Advance university degree in management, economics or international development, or any related field with good knowledge of business environment and competitiveness issues and private sector development.

Languages

Fluency in written and spoken English and French is required.

Computer Skills

Field of Expertise

A minimum of 7 years of progressive professional experience in the field of value chain analysis and development; good organizational and management skills; proven skills in producing written technical and result-focused reports is required. Experience working with governments, development finance institutions, and the private sector with a focus on private sector and MSME development is required. Familiarity with international relations and work experience in international setting in developing countries, specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as experience in implementing multi-country/regional technical projects is a strong asset.

<strong>This appointment is limited to the specified project(s) only and does not carry any expectation of renewal. </strong>

This vacancy is now closed.
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