Duties and Responsibilities
BACKGROUND: The International Trade Centre (ITC) is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations (UN). It is the only multilateral agency fully dedicated to supporting the internationalization of SMEs. ITC's mission is to foster inclusive and sustainable growth and development through trade and international business development. ITC projects and programmes contribute to the global efforts to achieve UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development and the Aid for Trade agenda. Developing countries seeking to integrate into global value chains are increasingly being required to comply with and implement various sustainability requirements to access target markets and attract investments. These measures, however, can be challenging for developing countries, particularly MSMEs, seeking to engage in international trade. It is important to ensure that in the course of the rapid developments in linking trade to sustainability considerations, developing countries are not left behind, as otherwise, businesses from these countries would be constrained in their ability to engage in international trade and this, in turn, can have adverse impacts on their sustainable development. The Trade Facilitation and Policy for Business (TFPB) section, under the Division for Market Development (DMD) of ITC, works toward facilitating the necessary policy and regulatory reforms required to build a conducive business environment for SMEs. TFPB’s efforts in this regard include to enhance business competitiveness through trade and investment policy and regulatory frameworks and effectively tap into global and regional value chains, facilitate informed participation in trade negotiations, and strengthen integration into regional and multilateral trade frameworks. In the context of its efforts to contribute to a conducive business environment, TFPB works with (i) policy makers, regulators, and negotiators to strengthen trade and investment policy, legal and regulatory frameworks taking into account the national development priorities and business perspectives; and (ii) business organizations to articulate concerns effectively to be able to influence policies, regulations and negotiations, in a way that facilitate their growth in a sustainable and inclusive manner. In line with ITC’s Strategic Plan, TFPB is increasingly streamlining sustainability considerations into its trade policy engagements and working with public and private sector stakeholders to adapt to these changing contexts. The Green and Inclusive Value Chains (GIVC) section is responsible for developing and disseminating sector-level expertise for sustainable market-driven solutions in ITC, including the Alliances for Action (A4A) methodology. A4A is a participatory partnership model that engages smallholder farmers and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to manage risk and facilitate networks that provide the required technical expertise and capacity building. The African Caribbean Pacific Business Friendly Programme: The “Support to Business Friendly and Inclusive National and Regional Policies, and Strengthening Productive Capabilities and Value Chains” Programme aims to complement the European Union support for private sector development in ACP countries. With major focus on the development of agriculture and agri-business value chains, the Programme is designed to achieve two key outcomes: (1) adopting and implementing business-friendly, inclusive and responsible national policies and legal frameworks, and (2) strengthening productive, processing, promoting and marketing capabilities and value chains. ITC is collaborating with UNIDO and the World Bank in the implementation of the program. ITC leads the implementation of the micro pillar level of the Programme, which will focus on two core themes: 1) Promoting inclusive productive and commercial Alliances and investment to strengthen VC governance and MSMEs competitiveness; and 2) Increase small farmers and processors value addition, productivity, and competitiveness. To support European, African, Caribbean and Pacific policymakers and VC operators including MSMEs, the EU and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) Secretariat have partnered with ITC to pilot practical bottom-up case studies on accompanying measures to mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence requirements. The process is being led through the Alliances for Action methodology and is part of the EU-OACPS Rapid Response Window under the ACP Business Friendly Program. Aligning national regulatory frameworks with the EU CS3D: The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) aims to enhance the protection of the environment and human rights in the EU and globally. The CS3D will set obligations for large companies regarding actual and potential adverse impacts on human rights and the environment. It establishes a human rights and environmental due diligence duty for in-scope companies. The draft law, with some additional changes compared to the provisional deal reached in December 2023, obtained formal approval of the Legal Affairs Committee of the EU Parliament and of the Council (EU governments) in March 2024; and now will have to be formally approved by the European Parliament before it can enter into force. If adopted in April 2024, the legislation will enter into force 20 days later. Member States will have two years to transpose it into national laws. MSMEs and producers are not directly concerned by the proposed rules, but in-scope companies are required to implement due diligence for their own operations and their chain of activities. The chain of activities should cover activities of a company’s upstream business partners related to the production of goods or the provision of services by the company, where the business partners carry out those activities for the company or on behalf of the company. Accordingly, developing countries seeking to integrate into such international value chains will need to also adjust their domestic value chains to comply with responsible business conduct requirements and meet these due diligence requirements. In this context, the specific legal and policy contexts of the countries will be critical to ensure an enabling environment for enterprises to facilitate and report on compliance with sustainability related requirements in their own business and value chain operations in line with the CS3D. In this regard, ITC developed a methodology to undertake a mapping of the national regulatory and policy framework to understand the extent to which countries have aligned domestic policy and legal frameworks to facilitate businesses to comply with related requirements; and reforms required in the national legal and policy framework in accordance with international requirements and CS3D priorities. Thereby, ITC has developed a mapping tool and guidelines on utilizing the tool – setting out the information sources to be referred to, and providing guidance on how these resources are to be analysed based on the provisions set out in the CS3D. The objective of this tool is to facilitate an assessment through which national governments can assess the extent to which their policy frameworks are already aligned, which can be used as a selling point to attract investments; and understand where there may be gaps in the framework which would need to be addressed in order to facilitate the necessary policy environment to enable businesses to demonstrate compliance with relevant requirements under the CS3D. Building upon the ITC’s methodology, the mapping tool will now be employed to track the status of policy and regulatory frameworks of selected countries for its alignment with the CS3D. This mapping for the selected countries will take place in the framework of value chain pilot projects on designing and implementing accompanying measures to the EU corporate sustainability due diligence directive. The process promotes collective and individual action and co-investment, through ITC’s Alliances for Action approach. Key goals are to co-create a space for value chain dialogue and to define commonly agreed value chain-based action plans around human rights and environmental due diligence. The selected countries for this phase are as follows: Uganda, Ghana, and Ethiopia. In this regard, ITC is recruiting National Experts in each country, to work in collaboration with two Subject Matter Experts, to facilitate the mapping of the national policy and regulatory frameworks in the relevant country based on the CS3D mapping tool and guidelines developed. These TORs cover the activities of the National Expert to facilitate the CS3D mapping, in coordination with the Subject Matter Experts, for Uganda based on the mapping tool developed. DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES: The Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Senior Officer, Business and Trade Policy, Trade Facilitation and Policy for Business (TFPB) section and direct supervision of the Associate Programme Officer of TFPB. The Consultant will carry out the following duties and responsibilities: 1. Undertake mapping of national regulatory and stakeholder framework in Uganda governing the various aspects/requirements of the CS3D. Annex 2 of the CS3D sets out various requirements to be complied with – covering elements pertaining to human rights, governance issues, labour, and environmental aspects. These requirements have been structured into ITC’s Mapping Tool – as the basis of analysis of the country’s compliance with due diligence requirements. The analysis will be based on the (i) international commitments undertaken by the country in relation to these requirements; (ii) the national laws/regulations and policy framework in place to implement commitments/meet requirements; and (iii) the institutional framework in place to ensure effective implementation of commitments/requirements. The Consultant will map out/identify the following: i. national laws, regulations, and policies of relevance in Uganda for each of the requirements; and ii. relevant agencies/departments/institutions in the public sector of Uganda responsible for overseeing implementation of identified laws/regulations/policies and/or are connected/contribute to fulfilling the requirements; and iii. relevant private sector/civil society stakeholders (including trade union groups, NGOs, etc.) engaged in advocacy and related efforts to strengthen implementation of related requirements in Uganda, including any materials produced by such stakeholders relating to national implementation of the issues covered in the CS3D. The Consultant will prepare the above information into a template shared by ITC – providing details on year of implementation, mandate/objective and relevance for this analysis, and relevant links to access the documents/websites of stakeholders, etc. The mapping will be shared with ITC and the Subject Matter Experts for review, and revisions/updates taken based on feedback received. Laws/regulations/policies and any relevant national reports/documents on the above matters – will also be downloaded – and filed in a shared folder maintained with ITC. 2. Organize series of virtual consultations with key agencies to present the CS3D Initiative. The Consultant, at ITC’s request, will organize/participate in virtual consultations with key officials in the relevant agencies of Uganda identified as priorities by ITC – to enable ITC to present the CS3D mapping initiative, seek to obtain buy-in, and make contacts with key stakeholders so that they would support the information collection process. These virtual consultations are to be effected alongside the Consultant’s mapping of public and private sector stakeholders in (1), and the mapping of stakeholders should be updated with names/contact details of relevant stakeholders identified in this process. 3. Provide research support to follow up on information to feed into the assessment. The Subject Matter Experts will analyse the relevant materials on the national frameworks to determine the extent to which measures adopted by the country are aligned with/meet the CS3D requirements. Based on this analysis, a draft analytical report will be prepared with an initial assessment of how aligned the country framework is with the CS3D, and identifying further insights required/to be confirmed in stakeholder consultations. The Consultant will provide relevant research support as needed to follow up on information requirements, as requested by ITC and the Subject Matter Experts. This would include: • conducting desk research to locate information, • reviewing the mapped laws/regulations/policies, and • consulting with relevant stakeholders in the public and private sectors to locate relevant information/contacts (including connecting the Subject Matter Experts virtually when feasible) • reviewing the draft analytical reports/mapping tools – and providing inputs on where certain gaps in information/assessments can be strengthened/followed-up on. The Consultant t will act proactively to follow up on information needs/gaps faced by the Subject Matter Experts, brainstorm potential avenues to explore, and work with the Subject Matter Experts to review materials available and assess how it feeds into the assessments. The Consultant will participate in regular calls with the Subject Matter Experts – as needed – to work through these elements. 4. Provide logistical and coordination support to organize mission to engage in consultations with relevant stakeholders on complying with due diligence requirements. The Subject Matter Expert(s) will undertake a mission to Uganda to present and discuss initial findings with relevant stakeholders. Through these consultations, the objective is to sensitize stakeholders to the mapping exercise and obtain buy-in, confirm analytical insights generated thus far, and follow up on outstanding information/insights required for the analysis. These consultations will be organized in the form of focus group discussions based on specific categories of stakeholders. Where stakeholders are unable to join in on focus group discussions, one-on-one consultations may be pursued during or after the mission. The Consultant will work with ITC and the Subject Matter Expert to organize the mission schedule, including to identify how best to categorize stakeholders into specific groups, support to disseminate invites and follow up on participation, and facilitate delivery of activities during the mission. The National Expert will also support to organize any follow-up consultations – virtually – as needed based on insights from mission, or where certain stakeholders could not join the in-person events. 5. Provide support to facilitate consultations during the mission and prepare notes for circulation. During the mission, the Consultant will participate in all the consultations with the Subject Matter Experts and provide support to facilitate discussions during these engagements. The Consultant will also prepare detailed notes from each consultation and share with ITC and the Subject Matter Experts a consolidated brief with details of all the engagements undertaken during the mission. ITC will share a template for the consolidated brief. 6. Provide research support to finalize assessment and analysis of Uganda’s compliance with due diligence requirements. The Subject Matter Experts will undertake revisions/adjustments to the mapping tool and analytical report for Uganda based on the information/insights gathered from the mission and follow-up research – for submission to ITC. The Consultant will follow up on any information requests/documentation as requested by the Subject Matter Experts, including to organize follow-up consultations with relevant stakeholders as needed; and review and provide inputs on the finalized mapping tool and analytical report, in consultation with the Subject Matter Experts – before presentation to ITC. 7. Provide coordination support to seek validation of the finalized assessment for Uganda. Upon validation of the assessment in the mapping tool and the analytical report by ITC, the finalized material will be presented to relevant stakeholder groups in Uganda for validation. These will be effected through roundtable dialogues (potentially delivered in a hybrid format). The Consultant will provide relevant coordination and logistical support to organize the dialogues to present the final findings and discuss the way forward. This will include support to disseminate and follow up on invitations for the dialogues, facilitate discussion at the events, and submit notes from the dialogue. 8. Prepare note for file and file evidence of activities completed in a shared folder - on the CS3D engagement. The Consultant will prepare a brief note for file, based on a template shared by ITC, detailing the research and coordination support provided throughout the engagement; and file evidence of the activities completed – including research requests complied with, email exchanges, documents prepared, etc. Copyright Clause: The Consultant has to ensure that s/he has obtained the necessary permissions with regard to intellectual property rights required to perform his/her services under this consultancy 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 prior written permission from ITC. S/he has further to ensure to obtain accreditation to event(s), if required. 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.
