consultancy : Policy Landscaping – Identifying policy interventions at national and regional levels to facilitate compliance to SPS

Terms of reference for consultancy : Policy Landscaping – Identifying policy interventions at national and regional levels to facilitate compliance to SPS

Opportunities for African Countries to Strengthen Trade in Animal Products in Compliance With International Standards through Commodity Based Trade, Zoning, Compartmentalization, Improved Traceability and Certification.

CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

Despite the increasing demand for animal products within and outside Africa, African countries still face difficulties in participating in the international trade in animal products, including on the markets within Africa. Africa's share in international trade of livestock and animal products is less than 0.5 %, and the African trade balance in animal commodities records a deficit of about 3 billion US dollars annually. The reasons leading to that situation are multiple. Some are related to the production stage and the low productivity of the African livestock sector, others are linked to the value chain organization, or to the policy environment. One of the most important constraints remains the inability of African countries to comply with international standards that set the rules for international trade, including among African countries. This is mainly linked to the following:

- The sanitary status of African countries for major trade sensitive diseases ( e.g. FMD, PPR, RVF, CBPP) is unfavorable

- Presence of wildlife that affects sanitary status of many countries and prevents the effective control of some diseases.

- Difficulties in establishing disease free zones/compartments within infected countries.

- Difficulties in establishing reliable and recognized certification and traceability systems

- Difficulties of exploiting opportunities from the Terrestrial Animal Health Code that provides conditions to trade from infected countries or from countries that are free of specified diseases but carry out vaccinations.

- Difficulties in institutionalizing the principle of equivalence.

Currently, only 4 countries on the continent are able to comply with the standards required for export of meat to Europe. A few other countries (in the Horn of Africa mainly) export outside the continent, mainly to the Middle East and the Indian Ocean, but even for them, the regular occurrence of outbreaks of trade sensitive diseases (FMD, RVF) and the increasing sanitary requirements from importing countries make these outlets very irregular and unpredictable. Traditional regional pathways like the "Sahel to Coast pathway", which involve important quantities of animals, and operate so far in a very informal manner and without compliance to international standards, might also face difficulties in the future due to demands for compliance with international standards as a result of the increasing concern of importing countries over risks to public health and sanitary status. Finally, despite the high demand from Northern African countries, and their trade deficit in animal products, sub-Saharan African countries are still unable, to supply these markets due to their inability to comply with the SPS requirements from these importing countries. The deficits in Northern Africa are largely satisfied by imports from Europe and South American countries.

Policy makers in African countries and Regional Economic Communities are increasingly convinced about the need to boost trade of animal products to alleviate poverty, and committed to provide support to trade. However, they lack evidence based policy and investment options which could guide them to choose the most adequate and efficient solutions.

OBJECTIVES AND EXPECTED RESULTS

- To document the difficulties faced by African economic operators in exporting (within and outside the continent) livestock and animal products, in relation to compliance with sanitary standards

- To identify existing untapped opportunities:

o Establishment/improvement of certification and traceability schemes that are internationally recognized and compliant with international partners

o Zoning / establishment of compartments and disease free zones

o Utilizing opportunities offered by the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code for export of animals and animal products from countries with different sanitary status based on the type of commodity, the process or the characteristics of commodities

o Application of principle of equivalence

o Others...

- Assess stakeholders requirements to explore these opportunities

- Assess potential benefits and costs of respective solutions

- Identify and document best practices and success stories of exports if they exist

- Identify possible improvements to be proposed to the OIE TAHC to facilitate trade for African countries without jeopardizing sanitary safety

- Propose modalities for piloting policy options at national/regional levels

- Guide policy makers on evidence based policy and investment options to improve trade in animal products

METHODOLOGY

The following stages will be followed for this assignment:

- Consultation of stakeholders (private sector and public authorities in importing and exporting countries – OIE – RECs...)

- Desk study (OIE TAHC, existing studies incl. University of Greenwich on CBT, feasibility studies for DFZ in Uganda and Kenya, PVS and Gap analysis)

- Document success stories and existing experiences in the area of certification and traceability (SOLICEP, others...), establishment of disease free zones (Botswana, other countries

- Collate from existing experiences information related to costs and benefits of respective solutions, and provide when possible cost benefit analysis ratios

DELIVERABLES

- Analysis report, including:

o Analysis of elements mentioned above

o Recommendations

o Recommended road maps for implementation of selected solutions, including investments and policy changes required

- Policy briefs:

o One general policy brief

o Specific policy briefs on envisaged solutions (certification and traceability, establishment of DFZ, implementation of CBT principles, etc...)

DURATION AND CONDITIONS OF CONSULTANCY

The total duration of the consultancy will be 2 months– 2 experts will conduct the consultancy

Travels and missions – the consultants will travel as follows:

- 2 missions to Nairobi- AU-IBAR headquarters at the beginning (initial briefing/inception) and at the delivery of the draft report (validation)

- 3 visits to Livestock exporting countries (1 in Southern Africa, 1 in Eastern Africa, 1 in Western Africa)

REPORTING AND PAYMENT

Each consultant shall be paid a lump sum monthly salary at P3 Step 5 of the African Union Commission (AUC) salary scale (i.e. USD 6,783.14).

Payment of salary is based on execution and subject to clearance by the Project Coordinator.

Air tickets will be purchased by AU-IBAR

DSA will be paid upon approval of travel schedules

EXPERTS' QUALIFICATIONS

Expert 1:

Education: A Degree in Veterinary Medicine – a postgraduate or PhD in animal health, economics or other related field will be an added advantage

Experience:

- At least 15 years of experience in the animal health sector in Africa

- Proven experience in livestock and animal products trade related issues

- Thorough and proven knowledge of OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code

- Familiarity with concept of commodity based trade

Expert 2:

Education: A postgraduate or PhD in economics, agro-economics or other related field

Experience:

- At least 15 years of experience in the livestock sector in Africa

- Proven experience in trade of animal products

- Proven experience in cost benefit analysis

The deadline for receiving applications is 1st of June 2012.

Application should be submitted to:

African Union-Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR)

Kenindia Business Park, Museum Hill, Westlands Road

PO Box 30786-00100 Nairobi, Kenya

Or at applications@au-ibar.org with a copy to: hro@au-ibar.org clearly indicating in the subject line the title of the consultancy you are applying for.

ONLY Short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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consultancy : Policy Landscaping – Identifying policy interventions at national and regional levels to facilitate compliance to SPS