TOR – Consultancy – Egypt Country Review Mission Team Leader – Socioeconomic Development

The APRM is a self-monitoring mechanism to encourage the adoption of policies, standards and practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated regional economic integration through the exchange of experiences and reinforcement of best practices including identifying deficiencies and assessing the needs for capacity building of the participating countries. To date thirty-six Member States of the African Union have voluntarily acceded to the APRM.

The APRM proceeds in five phases:

• Phase 1 is a preparatory step at both the national and continental level. During this phase, the national Focal Point establishes the National Governance Commission (NGC) and the sensitization and awareness campaign begins. Once these prerequisites are in place, the country commences the national self-assessment stage. During this stage, the country is also required to develop a Preliminary National Program of Action (NPOA) to address existing capacity constraints. On its part, the continental APR Secretariat compiles basic information on the country called the Background Paper that is used to augment, compare and contract with the national self-assessment that the country prepares. These three (3) documents namely (i) the self-assessment report on governance, (ii) the preliminary NPOA and (iii) the background papers constitute the basis key issues paper that will be prepared ahead of the country review mission.
• The Country Review Mission marks Phase 2 of the process.
• Phase 3 is the preparation of the country review report by the review mission that visits the country.
• Phase 4 is the submission of the report of the country review mission to the continental APRM Secretariat and the APR Panel for deliberation and recommendations. The Panel submits the country review report and recommendations to the Forum of Heads of State for action. Phase 4 ends with Chairman of the Forum communicating the decisions of Heads of State and Government of the country under peer review.
• Phase 5, which is the final stage of the APRM process, involves making public the country review report and actions relating thereto.

In the remaining sections of this Terms of Reference, please note that “thematic area” refers to the APRM thematic area of Socioeconomic Development.

The specific Objectives of the CRM are to visit the Arab Republic of Egypt and carry out the widest possible range of consultations with the Government officials, officials, political parties, parliamentarians, academia, trade unions, faith-based organizations, business, professional bodies and others.

The CRM is comprised of the following:

·       the APR Panel Member leading the process;

·       Designated officials from the APR Secretariat;

·       Experts from strategic partners including the African Development Bank (AfDB), the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA); and Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and

·       Independent experts for each thematic area (Democracy and Good Political   Governance, Economic Governance and Management, Corporate Governance and Socio-Economic Development (SED).

The SED independent expert is to contribute to and work on the following specific objectives:

1.      Promote and accelerate broad-based sustainable socio-economic development;

2.      Encourage broad-based participation in development;

3.      Poverty, unemployment and inequality; and

4.      Progress towards gender equality, particularly equal access to education for girls at all

Levels

The independent consultants are expected to:

·                 Lead and coordinate deliberations and drafting the country review report section for the thematic area;

·                 Familiarise themselves with the APRM documents and specific information developed for the Arab Republic of Egypt, in particular the Background Paper, the Self-assessment report; and the draft Programme of Action;

·                 Draft a set of Key Issues in the thematic area as emerging from the above documents;

·                 Participate in the country review visit;

·                 Capture the unfolding of the country review visit as necessary and draft a summary of findings relating to their thematic area;

·                 Draft the review report for the Arab Republic of Egypt for their specific thematic group

·                 Contribute to the drafting and finalization of the APRM Country Review Report for the Arab Republic of Egypt.

DELIVERABLES

1.0 Familiarization with the APRM documents and specific information developed for the Arab Republic of Egypt.

·                 The expert is expected to familiarize himself/herself with the Base Documents of the APRM and the APR Questionnaire.

·                 The expert will also be provided with the Background Paper on the Arab Republic of Egypt and copies of the Country self-assessment and draft National Programme of Action as necessary.

2.0       Identification of the Issues

a)         Identification of the Issues should be informed by the following:

·                 Issues addressed in the Self-Assessment but needing reinforcement

·                 Issues that have been understated or inadequately addressed

·                 Issues that have been identified in the past but continue to have serious implementation problems

·                 Issues missed completely in the self-assessment report.

·                 Areas of discrepancy or divergence (from cross-checking with the Background paper).

b)         The structure should follow the Objectives under each of the APRM thematic areas as outlined in the APRM Questionnaire. Cross-cutting or issues of an overarching nature have to be separately addressed.

c)         The Beneficiaries of the final Issues Paper are the following:

–        The APRM Secretariat

–        The APRM Panel

–        The Country undergoing the assessment , if necessary

d)         Prioritization of Issues: Some effort should be made to prioritize the issues, and this may be aided by perusing the draft Programme of Action.

3.0        Participation and Rapporteuring the Arab Republic of Egypt Country Review Visit

a)         The expert will be expected to participate in the country review visit and capture the unfolding of the visit, which will inform the final country report.

b)         The expert will be expected to capture and explore the specific issues that have been identified in his/her thematic area and to feed this into his/her section of the final country report.

c)         The expert will be expected to participate in breakaway sessions or bilateral meetings focusing on his/her specific thematic area and to keep a record of these sessions. This may include meetings and workshops outside of the capital.

d)         The expert may also be required to investigate further specific issues for the thematic area either before, during or after the visit.

e)         Further, the expert is required to participate in every briefing meeting of the team relating to the review. A briefing session will be held at the end of every day during the review mission.

4.0        Incorporating the Unfolding and Outcome of the Country Review Visit to the Report;

a)         Following the conclusion of the review visit, the expert will incorporate the relevant details of the unfolding and outcome of the country review visit to the report. This section of the report should be circulated to the members of the team for comment, revision and finalization.

5.0         Finalization of the Country Review Report

a)     The expert is then required to finalize the report based on comments or input received from the team and the APR Panel. The expert will ensure that correct feedback is given to thematic team members, and will incorporate all team member changes in the final draft for the thematic section.

b)     The thematic section of the report is to be satisfactory and acceptable to the APR Panel.

6.0.     Format for drafting the Country Review Report

6.1       A standard template for all country reports is necessary to ensure comparability. The beneficiaries of the report are:  The Arab Republic of Egypt, the APR Forum, Global partners, the public, etc.

6.2       The content of the Report should be sufficiently comprehensive as the end-users, the Heads of States and Government, would not have to review related documents. In particular the Report should encompass a synthesis of the entire process (i.e. from accession stage to completion), and the substance of the thematic findings (flowing along thematic lines and by objectives and recommendations). An executive summary of about 10 to 15 pages should be included in the report.

6.3       The report shall provide the Arab Republic of Egypt’s position with regard to the Standards and Codes, as well as the Objectives of the APRM under each thematic area.

6.4       Each report will follow this format:

a)         Standards and Codes

•                  Status as observed from the Background Information (per Standard or Code).

•                  An overview of the reporting in the self-assessment, capturing any further supplemental or divergent information.

•                  The findings of the review team with regard to the issues identified under the Standards and Codes.

•                  Recommendations and suggested action steps.

b)         Objectives: The report will then go on to elaborate on each of the Objectives, following the  above format.

c)      Over-arching or cross-cutting issues should be captured in a separate section at the end of the report.

d)     In addition, the Expert will be required to draft an Executive Summary for his/her thematic area, providing a synopsis of the report in the foregoing format.

7.0  Division of Labour

Each thematic expert is principally expected to draft a report for his/her thematic area, and to supervise the work of all review mission participants working within his/her thematic area. The Team leader is expected to contribute and/or supervise the consolidation and collation of the overall report as necessary. It is imperative that the team leader takes note of all details pertaining to the events and work of the mission that he/she took part in.

TIME FRAME

The time frame for the assignment will be 15 days, distributed.

DELIVERABLE SCHEDULE

MANDATORY REQUIEREMENTS

Qualifications & Experience:

·       Education: Master’s level degree in Economics or Socioeconomic development-related field. PHD should be an added advantage.

·       Experience:

o   Have at least 10 years progressively responsible experience in national and/or international experience in economic and social development, with particular emphasis on broad-based economic growth and poverty reduction in various capacities;

o   Demonstrate effective ability for teamwork, as well as the ability to work independently;

o   Extensive knowledge of the Constitutive Act of the African Union as well as the overall objectives of the APRM, particularly in the thematic area of Corporate Governance and its interactions with the other areas;

o   Broad knowledge of international relations, economic issues, development issues in Africa and in general global terms;

o   Understanding of Africa-focused programs of Development Finance Institutions (e.g. Bretton Woods institutions, UN Agencies etc.) and other developmental partners

o   Have knowledge of the Socieconomic context of the Arab Republic of Egypt;

o   Have produced publications or research relevant to Socioeconomic Development

o   Have project management experience and able to respect deadlines;

·       Language: The applicant must be able to communicate and write in English. Knowledge of Arabic or other AU languages may be an added advantage.

• Minimum Masters Level in thematic theme sought

• Prior APRM/AU or other international organisations experience in the Socioeconomic Development thematic area will be specifically sought

• Knowledge of Egypt

• Publications and research writing in area of expertise

• Experience in managing projects/work plans