African Union Union Africaine União Africana Call For
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
AFRICAN UNION UNION AFRICAINE UNIÃO AFRICANA CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR THE RECRUITMENT OF A JUNIOR CONSULTANT FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON THE SIGNING AND RATIFICATION OF THE SETTING UP OF THE AFRICAN UNION FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS I. Background In June 1991, the Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) adopted the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community (AEC), which entered into force in 1994. This treaty known as the Abuja Treaty aims at developing the continent for current and future generations by utilizing all available human and natural resources. Its main objective is “to promote economic, social and cultural development and the integration of African economies in order to increase economic self-reliance and promote an endogenous and self-sustained development”. The Abuja Treaty states that the AEC should be established through six (6) stages, the last one being devoted, inter alia, to the implementation of the final step for the setting up of an African Monetary Union, the establishment of a single African Central Bank (ACB) and the creation of a single African Currency. In July 2000, the 36th OAU Summit held in Lomé, Togo, adopted the Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) whereby the Heads of State and Government of the OAU completed the financial architecture of the AEC with the creation of two additional financial institutions: the African Monetary Fund (AMF) and the African Investment Bank (AIB). Article 19 of the Constitutive Act provides the creation of three institutions namely the African Central Bank, the African Monetary Fund, and the African Investment Bank. Furthermore, in January 2006, in Khartoum, Sudan, the Commission was requested by the Assembly of the African Union (Assembly/AU/Dec.109), to conduct a feasibility study on the creation of a Pan-African Stock Exchange (PASE). The three financial institutions and the PASE are the African Union Financial Institutions. Since the establishment of the African Monetary Fund (AMF), the African Investment Bank (AIB) and the African Central Bank (ACB) the signing and ratification has been slow. In this regard, the African Union Commission decided to carry out a Comprehensive Study to analyze the challenges and reasons Member States are taking long to sign and ratify the Pan-African Financial Institutions, and to implement the joint strategy for the establishment of the African Central Bank. Once the study is finalized, the report should be submitted to the coordinating meeting for consideration and the way forward. Therefore, the African Union Commission (AUC) wishes to recruit a Junior Consultant to carry out this comprehensive study on the African Union Financial Institutions. II. Purpose and objectives The main objective is to assess the reasons behind the slowness in the signatures and the ratifications of the legal instruments establishing the African Investment Bank and the African Monetary Fund in order to produce a strategy that will facilitate the process of signing and ratifying the legal instruments. Specific objectives are therefore, to: . collect data on the macroeconomic convergence indicators, as part of the process toward fulfilling the criteria for the establishment of the African Monetary Institute; . list the underlying reasons for Member States not to sign or ratify; . analyse the gaps and challenges causing the Member States taking too long in signing and ratifying; and . propose the mechanisms the AUC can adopt to fast-track the signature and ratifications of the legal instruments. III. Scope of Work The Junior Consultant is expected to undertake the following activities:- i. Develop a questionnaire to be sent to Member States; ii. Visit selected Member States to collect data; iii. Analyse, interpret and present the data from the different sources, using the applicable statistical methods; iv. Collect data on the macroeconomic convergence indicators as part of the process toward the establishment of the African Monetary Institute; v. Produce a report on the findings of the study to be submitted to the coordinating meeting; vi. Participate in high level meetings and be in a position to give feedback on the findings of the study to partners and Member States; vii. Draft notes, briefs, presentations and reports on the Financial Institutions; viii. Develop an advocacy strategy to sensitize all government officials and parliamentarians and advocate the importance of the signing and the ratification of the legal institutions of the AU financial institutions on the signing and ratification of AU financial institutions by Member States; ix. Produce a working paper sensitizing Member States on the importance of AU financial institutions, particularly in support of Agenda 2063 flagship projects such as the African Continental Free Trade Area; x. Work closely with the Communications Officer in making sure that the status of signing and ratification of the legal instruments of the AU financial institutions gets published on the AU Website, with regular updates. IV. Expected Outcomes The Consultants shall produce the following documents: i. Monthly progress reports and a final study report at the end of the mandate; ii. Working paper on the importance of AU financial institutions in support of the Agenda 2063 flagship projects; and iii. Advocacy strategy on the importance of AU financial institutions. V. Qualification and Skills The consultant must hold at Master’s degree in, Economics or Statistics, with at least two (2) years’ experience in undertaking research at national or international level; At least two (2) years of relevant work experience in designing and conducting and/or contributing to formal evaluation and/or research studies. Knowledge of development evaluation and/or research methodologies, processes, practices, and standards; Knowledge and experiences in participating high level meetings with Heads of States, Governments and RECs; Proficiency in one of the African Union working languages. Knowledge of one or more of the other working languages would be an added advantage; Strong analytical skills; Excellent presentation skills, both oral and written; Be proficient in the use of Word, Excel and Power Point, and statistical software packages such as SPSS, Stata and Eviews. VI. Timeframe The consulting assignment has a three month duration, running from May to July 2019. For the purpose of execution of assignment, the Consultant is required to report to the Head of Economic Policy and Research Division, of Economic Affairs Department of the AUC. VII. Duty Station The Consultant will be based in Addis Ababa. .