Duties and Responsibilities
1. BACKGROUND i. The Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) signed in Kigali, Rwanda, on 21st March 2018 is a key milestone in Africa’s Integration Agenda. The Agreement includes Protocols on Trade in Goods, Trade in Services, Rules and Procedures on the Settlement of Disputes, Investment, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Competition Policy, Digital Trade and Women and Youth in Trade. Botswana deposited the instrument of ratification on the 19th February 2023, thus becoming a State Party to the Agreement. ii. The AfCFTA is expected to be a key engine of economic growth, industrialization and sustainable development in Africa in line with the 2030 Agenda adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, and the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 for “The Africa We Want”. iii. For the AfCFTA to deliver the expected outcomes, priority actions are to be undertaken in the short to medium term. The ratification of the AfCFTA is a critical first step. The AfCFTA entered into force on May 30, 2019, after 24 Member States deposited their Instruments of Ratification following a series of continuous continental engagements spanning since 2012. It was launched at the 12th Extraordinary Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Niamey – Niger, in July 2019. Trading under the AfCFTA commenced on January 1, 2021 and the AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative (GTI), launched on October 7, 2022, to initiate commercially significant trade under the AfCFTA preferences has gathered pace. The initiative demonstrates the efficiency of the AfCFTA’s legal framework, tests private sector readiness and enables the AfCFTA Secretariat and State Parties to gather feedback on national legal and institutional systems, and thereby identify interventions to boost intra-African trade. iv. Building political momentum behind the AfCFTA to support policy reforms that are aimed at implementing the Agreement as well as the required domestication is a critical aspect. In this regard, Member States have to undertake deliberate actions and deploy necessary efforts through effective and integrated national AfCFTA strategies with a view to maximize the benefits of the Agreement while minimizing potential induced adverse effects. The development of these national AfCFTA strategies complemented by an effective monitoring and evaluation framework to track progress on the implementation of the Agreement is a key imperative. The National Strategies are informed by regional commitments on economic integration and industrialization as well as by other overarching national policies and strategies. In the case of Botswana, key strategies and frameworks including the National Development Plan (NDP) 11, Botswana Vision 2036, the National Transformation Strategy and the National Trade Policy for Botswana, among others, will be key reference documents in the drafting of the strategy. v. As part of its role in providing technical assistance to Member States, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is leading the implementation of a project aimed at designing national AfCFTA strategies. Through National AfCFTA Strategies and Implementation Plans, member States are expected to identify where comparative advantages lie for each country for diversification as well as priority value chains to be developed in order to support economic diversification and maximize trade potential in the context of the Agreement. Beyond sectors identified as having a comparative advantage, the National AfCFTA Strategy should ideally identify sectors and industries of the future, which can enable Botswana to ultimately integrate into regional and global value chains and produce competitive higher value-added goods. Cross cutting issues to be considered in the strategy include but are not limited to gender mainstreaming, youth, people living with disabilities and environmental and climate change mitigation strategies and green industrialization technologies. vi. The national implementation strategies will need to be inclusive in the way they support trade in order to achieve the intended development goals through adequate consideration of pertinent gender, youth and people living with disabilities issues. The liberalization of trade impacts men and women differently due to the different economic and social positions they occupy. Thus, developing a gender-sensitive approach is necessary to mitigate the negative impact of trade policies on women and enhance the positive outcomes for women to strengthen the overall effectiveness of these policies. vii. It is in this context that ECA through the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) and the Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA) intend to recruit a consultant draft a National AfCFTA Strategy to support implementation of the Agreement in Botswana. The consultant will, in a fully consultative manner, specifically develop a National AfCFTA Strategy and Implementation Plan for trade in both goods and services, a communications plan and the attendant Monitoring and Evaluation framework for the strategy. Duties and Responsibilities viii. Under the overall guidance of the Director, ECA Sub regional Office for Southern Africa (SRO-SA) and the coordinator of the African Trade Policy Center (ATPC) and the direct supervision of the assigned ECA staff member, and working closely with staff from the Ministry Trade and Industry’s (MTI) Department of Trade Development, the consultant will undertake the following tasks: 1. Assume full responsibility for executing the assignment in accordance with these Terms of Reference (ToR), 2. Organize a National Consultative Forum to engage relevant national stakeholders in the process of developing the National AfCFTA Strategy and Implementation Plan, 3. Prepare and submit an inception report detailing the processes, steps, milestones, etc. involved in the development of the national AfCFTA strategy as per the Guidelines for developing African Continental Free Trade Area national strategies, to be made available by ECA. The report shall include an interpretation of the ToR including objectives, approach, methodology, stakeholder mapping, detailed roadmap, and annotated outline of the final product and the sources of data, 4. Organize broad and inclusive consultations with all relevant stakeholders at national and local levels as may be determined in consultation with ECA and, Botswana Ministry of Industry and Trade and other stakeholders, 5. Draft a diagnostic report presenting a situational analysis of trade and development in Botswana, 6. Collect primary and secondary data as necessary to inform the National AfCFTA Strategy and Implementation Plan. 7. Draft the Botswana AfCFTA Strategy and Implementation Plan informed by the AfCFTA Agreement framework and all its Protocols namely, the Protocols on Trade in Goods, Trade in Services, Investment, Intellectual Property Rights, Competition Policy, Dispute Settlement, Women and Youth in Trade, and Digital Trade. The key components of the strategy should highlight but not limited to the following – Macroeconomic Framework, Production and Trade, AfCFTA Situational Analysis, AfCFTA- related Risks and Mitigation Actions, Identification and Prioritization of Production and Trade Opportunities, Constraints to overcome and Strategic Actions required, Strategic Objectives, Implementation Plan and Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, Financing the Implementation of the Agreement, Communication and Visibility plan and the National AfCFTA Implementation Committee. 8. The drafting should be informed by, but not limited to: • Macroeconomic reviews, sectoral analyses, SWOT analysis, and risk assessments, • Assessment of national and regional industrialization, production, and export strategies and policies as they potentially impact trade between Botswana and its trading partners, • Analysis of Botswana’s production ecosystem and provision of trade of priority and emerging goods and services for the AfCFTA market; • Review of the architecture of the AfCFTA Agreement, together with its intended Protocols, • Analysis on Botswana’s goods and services sectors and identify export markets, • Analysis on how Protocols on women and youth and digital trade will impact on the Botswana economy with integration of considerations in relation to MSMEs, value addition and value chains development, gender, youth and social inclusion, • Definition of an Awareness Plan or key messages including identified opportunities from the AfCFTA for Publicity. • Identification of risks related to AfCFTA implementation including those pertaining to revenue loss, macroeconomic vulnerability, jobs, human rights, the environment, etc. and outline/proffer appropriate mitigation actions and proffer actionable recommendations, • Identification and analysis of Botswana offensive and defensive trade policy interests and strategies within the framework of the AfCFTA, • Identification and assessment of the opportunities for tapping into regional value chains integration and for domestic production and/or further value addition, • Assessment of institutional capacities, processes and dynamics affecting future implementation of the strategy, identifying gaps and recommend reforms necessary for effective strategy implementation, • Isolation of and proposing any legislative, regulatory, institutional, and administrative reforms necessary to enable Botswana to benefit from the AfCFTA as well as the institutional frameworks/ processes for implementation of the strategy and identify gaps and recommend how institutional framework can be strengthened, • Review of national strategies, policies, national goals and or plans and legislative framework available as well as administrative practices in the priority sectors and their sub-sectors to promote economic development in Botswana and analyse how the AfCFTA can be leveraged to accelerate their implementation, • Assessment of the national and regional (SACU, SADC, and Tripartite) industrialization, trade and value chain production strategies and policies as they impact trade between Botswana and her trading partners and recommend areas for possible reform opportunities for tapping into regional value chains for domestic production and/or further value addition, • Analyse the existing conditions on investment attractiveness and make recommendations for improvement • Incorporation of digital trade as a facilitating sub sector of services in all the five (5) priority sectors as well as in goods trade; • Consulting with stakeholders on the implementation of the AfCFTA schedule of Specific Commitments, • Advising on the required legal and regulatory environment on the services priority sectors for full implementation of the Agreement; • Proffering recommendation to establish and develop an operational plan and terms of reference for a National AfCFTA Implementation Committee (NIC) for the strategy, • Mainstreaming gender, disability and youth interests into the National Strategy and Implementation Plan, and • Reviewing of the available skills and identification of gaps that may be filled by importation of services; 9. Draft a diagnostic or situational analysis report outlining key issues for consideration in drafting the strategy, highlight what exists as far as trade in both goods and services is concerned in Botswana, 10. Submit a draft AfCFTA Strategy and Implementation Plan, communications plan, monitoring and evaluation framework and the attendant financial resource mobilization strategy for stakeholder review and validation by stakeholders, 11. Present the national AfCFTA Strategy and Implementation Plan at a national validation meeting organized through the Ministry of Industry and Trade, 12. Finalize and submit National AfCFTA Strategy and Implementation Plan addressing all the comments from the review and validation meeting and meeting the highest standards of quality, rigor, and relevance, 13. Submit reports of the consultative meetings throughout the strategy development process; and 14. Submit data used in the construction of graphs and charts contained in the strategy to the Ministry of Trade and Industry and ECA. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS/REPORTING LINES The Ministry of Trade and Industry, through the Department of Trade Development, is the lead of all the processes. The Project Manager will be Director of Trade Development in the Ministry. The Consultant will deal with the Project Manager on regular basis regarding the implementation of the project with the technical support of ECA’s SRO-SA and ATPC. MTI shall appoint a Technical Reference Group to provide oversight for the assignment. The Consultant will be required to present all deliverables to the Technical Reference Group for their review and clearance The Consultant will also be expected to present the draft final reports to a national stakeholder forum for their input and buy-in.