Selection of an individual consultant to develop Manual on Business registers

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT)

Country: Eastern Africa Region

Name of Project: Eastern Africa Regional Statistics Program for Results

Grant No: P176371

Assignment Title: Consulting Service for Development of Guideline for Business Registers in Africa

Reference No. TN-STATAFRIC - AUC-339196-CS-INDV

The African Union Commission has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the Eastern Africa Regional Statistics Program for Results, and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services.

The consulting services (“the Services”) include Consulting Service for Development of Guideline for Business Registers in Africa. This assignment will focus on developing a manual for business registers starting by an assessment of the status of the statistical business registers within AU Member States while taking into consideration key areas of interest before the development of the manual and tools, then followed by specific guidelines and listing of both international and continental best practices related to the structuring of business registers on the national levels. Specific tasks include:

• Desk research assessment of the status of the business registers within AU Member States;
• Development of a manual to facilitate the structuring of business registers within the AU Member States;
• Listing of both international and continental best practices related to business registers.
• Recommendation of tools to strengthen the coordination, collaboration, data sharing and communication of business registers systems at national, regional, continental and international levels;
• Drafting a suggested roadmap for the implementation of this manual.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment are attached to this request for expressions of interest.

The African Union Commission now invites eligible individuals (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The shortlisting criteria are:

The consultant must have at least a master’s degree in statistics, economics, or a related field with at least 15 years of professional experience.

• Profound experience in economic statistics with a focus on Trade Statistics and business registers preferred;
• Demonstrated effective, oral and written communication skills;
• Excellent Analytical and quantitative skills;
• Teamwork: the ability to work in a multicultural environment;
• Proper multitasking abilities and the ability to deliver in a timely manner;
• Excellent drafting ability, especially in the preparation of clear, concise and understandable reports for decision-makers;
• Ability to extract, interpret and analyze data format from a variety of sources;
• Language proficiency in at least one of the AU languages (Arabic, English, French or Portuguese).

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July 2016, revised November 2020 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Individual Consultant selection method set out in the Procurement Regulations.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours i.e. 0900 to 1700 hours.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail, or by e-mail) by 20 November 2023

African Union Commission,

Attn: Head of Supply Chain Management Division

Building C, 3rd Floor,

P.O Box 3243, Roosevelt Street

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Tel: +251 (0) 11 551 7700 – Ext 4305

Fax: +251 (0) 11 551 0442; +251 11-551-0430

E-mails: [email protected]

Terms of Reference

Consulting Service for Development of Guideline for Business Registers in Africa

Introduction

In January 2021, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union adopted the Second Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa (SHaSA II) as a continental strategy for the development of statistics in Africa for the next 10 years, along with its action plan, financing strategy, and resource mobilization plan. This strategy aims to accelerate the production and harmonization of statistics in Africa to support the planning, monitoring, and evaluation of Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030 through 18 Specialized Technical Groups (STGs). These STGs facilitate discussions and knowledge exchange on national practices, international standards, and methodological guides for statistical harmonization in various fields in Africa.

Among the 18 specialized technical groups of SHaSA II, the focus of this assignment is on the harmonized Manual for Business Registers. The objective of this specialized technical group is to develop and/or adopt standard methodologies for collecting and analyzing business registers data in Africa. These statistical standards and methodologies are crucial for supporting the African Union in planning, monitoring, and evaluating trade programs and policies at both national and regional levels.

In order to enhance the technical tools available to African countries for collecting and analyzing business registers data, the adoption of the harmonized manual on business registers is essential. This framework will enable the African Union Commission to develop essential tools, including a harmonized questionnaire for business registers surveys. Additionally, the manual will provide guidance to Member States on how to strengthen or develop integrated business registers statistical systems for better management and policy development in the trade sector at the national level.

Despite the significance of trade in the African economy, many countries lack good, reliable, and quality information for measuring trade activities comprehensively. Therefore, it is crucial to harmonize the different approaches used for collecting and analyzing business registers data at the country level and to advocate for the implementation of national business registers surveys across African countries.

In order to support African countries in strengthening their technical tools on business registers, this manual should be considered from two different perspectives: As a statistical tool that complements those concepts, definitions, aggregates and classifications already presented in the United Nations Guidelines on Statistical Business Registers and articulates them into analytical tables which provide elements for comparing estimates between regions, countries or groups of countries. These elements are also comparable with other internationally recognized macroeconomic aggregates. In addition, as the manual gives guidance for countries in the further development of their system of business registers, the main objective being the completion of the manual on business registers statistics, which could be viewed as a synthesis of such a system.

Over the last decade, African governments have made significant efforts to develop trade policies and programs. However, challenges remain in obtaining reliable, accurate, and comparable data for the formulation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and impact assessment of these trade policies and programs. Thus, strengthening data availability is mandatory for monitoring progress in the trade sector towards achieving sustainable development goals.

According to SHaSA II, STGs must meet at least twice a year and present a report with recommendations to the annual meeting of the Committee of Director Generals of National Statistical Institutes for analysis and adoption. Therefore, to fulfill this mandate, the African Union Commission, in collaboration with relevant international organizations, would like to organize the first meeting of the specialized technical group on STG-ES External Sector (External Trade and Balance of Payments) of SHaSA II in 2024. The main items on the agenda of this STG meeting will focus on:

• Harmonized business registers database structure methodologies.
• Standardization of business registers systems.
• Capacity building in statistical business registers.
• Roadmap for the implementation of the manual on statistical business registers. This assignment aims to develop a manual for statistical business registers, taking into consideration key areas of interest before the development of the methodologies and tools. It will also include specific guidelines and recommendations for strengthening coordination, collaboration, data sharing, and communication of statistical business registers at national, regional, continental, and international levels.

Objective

The Specialized Technical Group (STG) has the overall objectives of discussing the updates on various technical instruments of the structure of statistical business registers; Discussing the Roadmap for the development of manual on business registers in Africa; Sharing the best practices and good experiences of AU Member States on statistical business registers; Discuss the challenges facing the feasibility and the application of the international guidelines in Africa and agree on the roadmap to assist countries in the implementation of the new drafted manual, once adopted. One of the first steps of the STG is for the AUC in collaboration with the WTO to develop a rigorous manual on the structuring of business registers to the member states.

Scope of Work

This assignment will focus on developing a manual for business registers starting by an assessment of the status of the statistical business registers within AU Member States while taking into consideration key areas of interest before the development of the manual and tools, then followed by specific guidelines and listin