NSW/Customs Advisor, USAID Southern Africa Trade Hub, Botswana

We are seeking a National Single Window/Customs Advisor for the USAID-funded Southern Africa Trade Hub project. The project’s overall goal is to improve international competitiveness, intra-regional trade, and food security in the Southern Africa region. The Hub’s Trade Facilitation focus is on introducing modern trade facilitation tools aimed at reducing the time and cost of importing and exporting goods, increasing intra-regional and international trade, and improving the doing business index rating of countries in the region. In the approved 2014 Work Plan, the Trade Facilitation Partnership Activities are aimed at achieving the following results.

The priority objective for the Trade Hub’s technical assistance interventions is to equip the government of Botswana with sufficient knowledge, skills and abilities to implement its NSW vision with a high level of capacity, success, and sustainability.

A key objective is to facilitate closer consultation, coordination, and cooperation between the public and private sector to improve the environment and buy in that will enhance implementation of the NSW.

The strategic approach is to obtain full commitment by key stakeholders in Botswana to adequately resource their participation in the development of their NSW program based on:

• Development and roll out of a continuous communications campaign to create awareness, feedback, and buy in.
• Working with the champion and lead agency to maintain a high level of visibility for the project
• Building organizational capacity in the Project Management Unit and Committees to oversee and implement agreed tasks and activities. Advising and assisting in securing specific technical expertise to provide change management training, business process analysis, document simplification and data harmonization, legal reviews, and reforms.

Responsibilities and Tasks

• Support the execution of a public awareness campaign to engage and secure stake-holder buy-in for NSW (outreach to other government agencies (OGA’s), traders, and the trade chain). A Short Term Technical Assistance (STTA) consultant will provide specialist assistance on this task.
• Facilitate the establishment of a Steering Committee and Technical Committees (BPR, ICT, and Legal Review) and provide familiarization sessions to the newly appointed committee members including the current terms of references (TORs) for the various committees, which will equip the government to manage the NSW project process.
• Provide/assist in technical training and organizational structure modifications that will allow for the establishment of a Project Management Unit (PMU) to administer the NSW and address critical aspects of Change Management that will support obtaining both internal and external stakeholder support and acceptance. The primary delivery of Project Management and Change Management training will be provided by a Short Term Technical Advisor (STTA) with support from the embedded NSW Advisor.
• Aid in the completion of Readiness Assessments for OGA’s in trade related services to allow governments to determine the phasing of the NSW project.
• Aid in the development of Business Process Re-engineering activities that will diagnose gaps in the existing border clearance processes and identify the necessary legislative, regulatory, policy, and procedural amendments that require action and implementation to align with Revised Kyoto Convention standards and other international and regional standards. A Short Term Technical Assistance (STTA) consultant will provide specialist assistance on this task.
• Aid in the development of trade data collection and documentation that are simple, harmonized, and standardized to reduce the documenting and reporting burdens placed on traders seeking to comply with their border clearance obligations. A Short Term Technical Assistance (STTA) consultant will provide specialist assistance on this task.
• Support the various STTA consultants that will provide specific technical assistance in training events and other activities/meetings with key stakeholders in Botswana through arranging activity/event/meeting dates and venues for engagement.

Consultancy Qualifications and Competencies

****Required****

• Significant work related experience in the design and development of government modernization programs, with a focus on international trade and customs reforms in developing countries.
• A proven track record of working successfully with government administrations in a developing country context.
• Experience in the use of Microsoft Office applications including Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• A proven track record of working in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams and success in influencing positive outcomes
• A working knowledge, skill and abilities in project management related to international trade and customs and the use of appropriate software tools such as Microsoft Project.
• Skills in the design, delivery, and evaluation of technical training events, including the development of training lesson plans, training aids, visual presentations, while performing as a facilitator, trainer, and public spokesperson to a wide variety of target audiences.
• The ability to produce professionally written reports within required project timeframes.
• Fluency in spoken and written English.

Preferred

• Prior experience in Southern Africa

How to apply:

To apply for this position (I-314), visit our consultant registry and conduct a keyword search for NSW/Customs Advisor, Botswana. Follow the application steps at the bottom of the job description, including uploading a resume and cover letter. Only qualified applicants should apply; only finalists will be contacted. No phone calls please.

Nathan Associates is an Equal Opportunity Employer.