Individual Contractor on Trade and Investment Strategies

Result of Service

Deliverable 1: Support the organization of the regional value chain conference in Brussels. Support material developed (leaflets, drafts agendas, presentations for panel discussions). Minutes of the session and compiling key findings for the final roadmap document. To be completed by Mid-April 2026. Deliverable 2: Final review of roadmap document and business case on priority product integrating comments from stakeholders during the conference and follow-up meetings. To be completed by Mid-May 2026. Deliverable 3: Final technical document and business case on priority product laid out. To be completed by Mid-June 2026.

Work Location

ITC Headquarters in Geneva

Expected duration

15.03.26 - 14.06.26

Duties and Responsibilities

Trade Development Strategies are integral to the achievement of the International Trade Centre's (ITC) mission, and ITC has continuously enjoyed growth in demand in this area from LDCs, developing countries and economies in transition, for regional, national and sector strategy design and management. ITC also facilitates developmentally oriented initiatives such as youth, gender and environmental mainstreaming strategies. For developing countries, trade development strategies are critical to mainstreaming trade as a means for achieving socio-economic growth. Through such strategies, policymakers, trade support institutions and enterprises pursue an agreed, common framework and roadmap for trade development and competitiveness. They provide direction, establish priorities, specify what actions must be undertaken to remove constraints, and reveal new opportunities in production, in achieving business efficiency, in tapping into markets and linking enterprises to national, regional and global value chains. The Trade Development Strategy Programme (TDSP) consists of a cycle of research, tools development and field-level interventions. The goal of this job function is to contribute to the advancement of this work: to assist in the management and facilitation of selected programmes in trade and export strategy design and management; to refine and develop new support materials (strategy tools, didactic and communications materials) related to strategic methodologies for trade competitiveness and value chain development; to build a network of competent practitioners at country and regional level; to raise awareness of ITC’s work notably in the area of trade development strategy; and to disseminate best practice, including through effective use of publications and articles, ITC’s website and events. Made by Africa: Value Chain Diagnostics zooming in on pharmaceuticals, automotive and formulated complementary foods. Under the recent value chain diagnostic project for the African continent commissioned by the European Commission’s (EC) and the African Union Commission, ITC identified 94 promising value chains for which Africa as a whole and at least five African countries have a comparative advantage in the inputs and/or the output of the value chain. For an initial four of these promising value chains, additional work on identifying barriers to developing these and private sector needs in terms of skills, investment, and technologies, has been carried out and is documented in the ITC-AU-EU publication entitled “Made by Africa – Creating value through integration”. ITC will build on these aggregate insights, as well as existing studies and contributions received from EU delegations in Sub-Saharan Africa, to deepen the diagnostic, engage with relevant actors from the EU and the local private sector, financial sector (especially development finance institutions) and public authorities and come up with a detailed evidence base, comprising data analysis, identification of opportunities and barriers and recommendations to feed into project design and strategies for specific sub-sectors in the following three value chains: the automotive ecosystem (notably e-mobility such as e-vehicles), Formulated Complementary Food (FCF) and pharmaceuticals. For each value chain, the focus will be on a limited set of countries and sub-regions(e.g. West African region for FCF, Southern Africa for automotive and potentially the Easter region for pharmaceutical) identified in the results of the mapping exercises led by the EC, or depending on findings deemed of relevance and assessed with EC INTPA E2 during the course of the study. DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES Under the guidance of the Senior Advisor, Export Strategy DMD/SPTI, and in close collaboration with other DMD/SPTI staff, the Contractor will support the research tasks related to the Africa Value Chain Diagnostic project:: Task 1: For Made by Africa project, support regional value chain conference preparation • Confirm conference objectives, target audience, session formats, and expected outputs (incl. inputs needed for roadmap). • Develop and iterate draft agenda (sessions, speakers, timing, moderation notes). • Prepare support materials: o Leaflets (key messages, programme snapshot, partner logos, practical info) o Panel presentations / slide templates (opening, scene-setting, discussion prompts) o Speaker briefs (topic framing, guiding questions, desired takeaways) • Coordinate speaker/panelist inputs (bios, titles, slides, talking points). • Compile key findings into a structured conference synthesis for integration into the final roadmap (themes, constraints, opportunities, recommendations). Task 2: Assist in the research administration and action plan finalization for the vaccine regional value chain roadmap • Consolidate stakeholder feedback from conference and follow-up meetings into a tracked “comment log” (source, theme, action). • Update roadmap narrative and recommendations to reflect validated priorities and any new evidence/commitments. • Ensure consistency across documents (definitions, figures, priority interventions, timelines). • Prepare relevant annexes (policy tables, contact lists, source list). Task 3: Assist in the finalization of the business case identified by ITC and fine-tuning of the roadmap action plans for the pharmaceutical sector • Ensure consistency across the entire document (definitions, figures, priority interventions, timelines) • Assist in the finalization the business case in PowerPoint format and Word document. • Quality check: coherence, formatting, executive summary accuracy, and alignment with expected final deliverable structure. Copyright Clause: The contractor has to ensure that she has obtained the necessary permissions with regard to intellectual property rights required to perform her services under this contract and for the subsequent dissemination by ITC in any form. Documentary proof is to be submitted to ITC. Should any license fee be due for the use of copyrighted materials of third parties, the consultant shall request the prior written permission from ITC. ITC champions workforce diversity, inclusion, gender equality and gender parity and considers all qualified persons - of all genders - equally, including those with disabilities, without discrimination or prejudice of any kind.

Qualifications/special skills

• High school diploma • Postgraduate degree in international trade, law, economics, or international relations an advantage • A minimum of 5 years’ experience. • Related work experience on trade strategy, investment, regulatory issues/trade development projects desirable. Prior project management skills would be an added advantage. Skills: • Good drafting and communication skills. • Good knowledge of Excel. • Knowledge of graphic design and related software is an added advantage. • Strong skills in organization. • Ability to be methodical and structure large quantities of information. • Excellent presentation skills

Languages

• Advanced level of English.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.