Sanitary / Phytosanitary Measures Specialist – Nathan Associates Inc.

Job description

Project Background:

The USAID Southern Africa Trade & Investment Hub (SATIH) project is a five-year project that seeks to increase regional trade and investment as well as agricultural value chain competitiveness in Southern Africa. The SATIH project will help the Southern Africa region, including Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Member States, the private sector, and civil society organizations realize greater regional and global trade linkages and export-oriented business development.

These objectives are underpinned by an improved regional trade and investment enabling environment coupled with increased agricultural value chain competitiveness supporting intra-regional trade. 

Overview:

The specialist will coordinate with government stakeholders, the private sector, and civil society organizations, to design, and support the implementation of sanitary and phytosanitary measures that are enabled through the SADC Trade Facilitation Program, the Tripartite Trade and Transport Program, the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and other international and regional trade protocols and agreements.

Specifically, in Botswana the specialist will also work closely with the appropriate SADC directorates to learn of progress of the development and adoption of policies that are relevant to sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

The specialist will also provide technical input to the SATIH Agri-Business component’s workplan, as well as that for the USAID Seed Trade Project, as required.

In coordination with the other specialist staff within the Enabling Environment and Trade Facilitation (EE&TF) team, and in complement of the other SATIH components, the specialist will identify non-tariff barriers to trade and develop, implement and/or support the implementation of actionable solutions with both private and public sector stakeholders to remedy the barriers and to reduce time and costs of trade through corridors for large and small companies and women traders, and to enable the agri-business sector within the relevant SADC member states.

Employment Type: Long-term Employee on Project

Base of operation: Southern Africa with regional deployment as required

Job Description:Responsibilities and Tasks:

The specialist will support the following illustrative tasks at the regional level:

• Provide technical advice to the relevant member states in developing science-based agricultural import/export policies.
• Support operationalization of national SPS coordinating committees, national enquiry points and national notification authorities to publish appropriate and enabling information.
• Assess existing SPS laboratories to determine their ability to support trade and establish reference laboratories.

• Support SADC member states to harmonize SPS measures for selected commodities and value chains in the region, and support the development of market access strategies related to SPS.
• Review the import/export/transport/transit policies of the relevant SADC member states in order to enhance implementation of multilateral treaties (WTO SPS Agreement, WTFA, International Plant Protection Convention, World Organisation for Animal Health, Codex Alimentarius Commission), regional agreements (Tripartite Free Trade Area, Continental Free Trade Area) and SPS Annex to SADC Protocol on Trade.
• Coordinate capacity building efforts with relevant partner organizations to address SPS related threats to trade, and support stakeholder consultations and trainings.
• Participate in regional and international fora on SPS matters in order to keep member states with SPS trends and compliance.

• Collaborate within the EE&TF component to identify specific EE&TF topics of critical interest (e.g., customs clearance, transport & logistics issues) for private sector partners.
• Identify trade enhancing policy, regulatory, and procedural improvements in collaboration with key private and public sector partners to increase reliability and decrease the cost/time of import/export of food and agro-products in regional trade.
• Provide input to annual work plans, weekly reports, quarterly and annual reports, success stories, briefs, and any other communication needs requested by the project.
• Provide inputs on reporting on performance targets and results for the EE&TF team, as outlined in the USAID/Southern Africa approved project monitoring and evaluation plan (PMEP), as agreed with the EE&TF Team.
• Submit trip reports within the prescribed time.
• Undertake other tasks as assigned by the EE&TF Team.

Qualifications:

• More than five years of relevant experience working with key country-specific and regional trade facilitation partners (customs, ministry of trade, private sector) on customs, border management, transport corridors and logistics.
• More than two years of experience working with the South African Development Community (SADC) and/or the COMESA and/or the EAC.
• Demonstrated knowledge of technical supply chain and transport logistics and trade facilitation issues.
• Private sector and project management experience, including in delivering presentations or training, preferred.

• Familiarity working with monitoring and evaluation data collection and systems preferred, but not essential.
• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field preferred.
• Demonstrated leadership, decision-making, teambuilding, and self-management skills.
• Excellent written and spoken communications skills. Fluency in English. Strong analytical and communication capabilities.