Selection of an individual consultant for Updating of Database on Trade Statistics and Production of 2021 Edition of Africa Yearbook

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (REOI)

(CONSULTING SERVICES– INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT)

Project Name : Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa

(Funded by World Bank) Project No. P169265

ASSIGNMENT TITLE : Consultant service for processing 2000-2019 trade data and compiling the 4th Edition of the African Trade Statistics Yearbook 2021.

Procurement Reference No. TN-STATAFRIC - AUC-277237-CS-INDV

The African Union Commission has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa ", and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services.

This EOI is prepared to engage an Individual Consultant for Technical assistance for processing 2000-2019 trade data and compiling the 4th Edition of the African Trade Statistics Yearbook 2021.

• Background

In the light of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the African Union Statistics Division (AUSTAT) now STATAFRIC compiled since 2013 an intra-African trade publication with the aim to update it on a yearly basis. The first publication covered only 30 out of the 55 AU Member States (AU MS).

In December 2016, AUSTAT launched under the PAS programme, funded by the European Union, trade data collection from all 55 AU Member States for compiling an improved edition of the intra-Africa trade publication.

The processing of country data has proven to be challenging. Raw data were received from AU member States in large variety of Excel formats, which did not allow applying automation of processing.

With the support of Senior IT/Consultants provided by the PAS, 55 Microsoft Excel workbook were prepared and tools developed for data aggregation. The huge amount of data to be processed and the non-availability of fast-processor computers in AUSTAT made the processing lengthy. Nonetheless, AUSTAT was able to compile for the first time, data provided by almost all National statistical offices and Customs Offices from the AU Member States, and produced the African Trade Statistics Yearbook 2017 with the aim of updating it on a yearly basis.

While looking for other ways to Fast-track the compilation of subsequent yearbooks, AUSTAT supported by an IT expert processed AU Member States data and compiled the Second Edition of the African Trade Statistics Yearbook using the same tools and methodology as for the first Edition and released 2005-2017 series of trade data including imports/exports tables at HS 2 level. Later in 2020, AUSTAT has produced The Third Edition of African Trade Statistics Yearbook.

To ease and fast track the compilation of subsequent edition of the African trade statistics yearbook, AUSTAT requested all AU Member States to provide their trade data in a harmonized template that was further adopted by the Specialized Technical Group on External sector (STG-ES) for trade data transmission to AUSTAT, and referred as data transfer protocol.

In the same vein, AUSTAT launched in November 2018 the development of an online accessible database on Trade Statistics—AFRICATRADE using Eurotrace SQL server and Comext web.

For feeding AFRICATRADE, countries were requested to initially provide annual imports and exports data by products and partner countries at a more detailed level according to the HS 6 instead of HS2. In the course of the development of AFRICATRADE, it has been proven more relevant to provide to users and policy-makers monthly trade data instead. As for the PDF and the paper copy of the Trade Statistics Yearbook publication, they will still be provided as annual series at HS2.

The development of AFRICATRADE until April 2020 consisted therefore in:

2005-2019 country annual imports and exports data were uploaded in the database;

The database was used to generate ad hoc requests for the compilation of the 3rd Edition of the Yearbook and the trade part of the 2020 Edition of the African Statistical Yearbook jointly compiled by the AUC, the AfDB, and the UNECA.

• Objectives of the assignment

The main objective of the consultancy assignment is processing 2000-2019 trade data and compiling the 4th Edition of the African Trade Statistics Yearbook 2021

• Scope of the Assignment

During the period of the assignment, the individual consultant work on the processing of the Trade Data of 55 AU Member States, the production of 4th Edition of African Trade Statistics Year book and Updating the AFRICATRADE but not limited to the following activities

• Check the quality and format compliance of data provided by Eurotrace-equipped countries, and assist countries remotely in correcting possible data transmission mistakes;

• Process the 2000-2020 trade data according to Euro trace SQL-compatible format;

• Use processed data to update AFRICATRADE and Prepare the 2021 edition of the African Trade Statistics Yearbook;

• Reinforce the local focus point’s capacity in the management of the database in order to ensure a proper autonomy with the system in place at STATAFRIC AUC and to ensure better quality checks as far as possible harmonization at the regional level of the MS data.

• This capacity building will include enabling staff to loading new data, proceeding to correction of detected errors and upgrading derived dataset.

• Update AFRICATRADE SQL Server database available online. This will be done using the Web Comext system (similar to EASY COMEXT available at EUROSTAT).

• In this frame, the consultants will work closely with STATAFRIC to: Process the Trade Data of all 55 AU Member States; Ensure the data quality; Assist for the production of 4th Edition African Trade Year book; Update AFRICATRADE with the new data and Ensure the maintenance of AFRICATRADE Database.

During their assignement, the consultants will work closely with STATAFRIC office technical experts and the consultant will participate in meetings and field missions on the activities related to the consultancy work.

• Major Tasks to Be Completed by the consultant

The individual consultant will be mobilized to assist STATAFRIC with trade data processing, extraction of data from countries’ Eurotrace database, and data checking for consistency in order to feed AFRICATRADE and prepare the 4th Edition of the African Trade Statistics Yearbook.

Tasks for data cleaning

• Liaise with the selected AU Member States using Euro trace for trade data compilation;

• Request them to use Euro trace’s resources in order to extract and provide monthly trade data according to the harmonized AU trade data transmission protocol and in line with the AFRICATRADE database requirements;

• Provide remote assistance to countries in need for smooth trade data transmission into the AFRICATRADE database;

• Provide a consolidated report at the end of the assignment.

Tasks for data quality check

• Assist with uploading data into AFRICATRADE and the production of the 2021 Yearbook;

• Assist with the launching of AFRICATRADE online through Web Comext with the new data;

• The development of a module for quality and consistency check of trade data received from all 55 AU MS before their uploading into AFRICATRADE and their processing for the 4th Trade Yearbook.

Tasks for 2021 publication

The Consultant will carry his/her tasks in close collaboration with STATAFRIC and in coordination if they are specific issues with their country data on the following:

• For the 2021 publication

• Process the 2000-2021 trade data according to Eurotrace SQL compatible format;

• Extract and consolidate data for the 2021 edition of the African Trade Statistics;

• Prepare tables according to the templates prepared by STATAFRIC in order to produce the 2021 Yearbook on Trade Statistics.

• For supporting AFRICATRADE implementation

Convert country files from Excel to TXT format for their uploading into the EUROTRACE SQL database.

• Reporting:

Provide a report of the assignment.

Task for Data quality check

• Proceed to a quality check of the trade time series after their processing;

• Methodological support for the Member States when needed.

• Identify standard users’ needs, define and validate corresponding ready-to-use datasets with Comext-Web;

Provide a report on the assignment

• INSTITUTIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

The consultant will report functionally to the project coordinator of the STATAFRIC project in Tunis.

• QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE

The individual consultant should be a high-level expert with sound and proven experience in IT, statistics and/or data science and IT background.

• Consultants must have at least a Master degree in IT/statistics, data science or related field, with IT background and at least 10 years of excellent professional experience in key Trade Statistics; including:

• Have a previous experience in processing Trade Data;

• Proven experience in working in national and international organizations.

• Excellent communication skills

• Excellent command of one of the official AU working languages (English, French, Arabic, Portuguese) and good working knowledge of at least another one.

• 7. OTHER REQUIREMENTS

• Excellent planning, organizing and writing skills;

• Excellent communication skills, ability to work in multicultural environments, and ease in interpersonal relationships.

• Reliable and responsible personality and capacity to work under demanding professional circumstances and in an international environment;

• Excellent coordination and negotiation skills;

• Experience in dealing with senior business executives and government officials;

• Good team player while being independent and able to work autonomously.

• 8. DURATION AND TIMING

Contract duration will 105 working days from the date of contract agreement or purchase order

• DUTY STATION

The consultant will work home-based. He/she will participate in the EC, ASCC and CoDG meetings dealing with the review and validation of the CAR 2021

• Deliverables and Schedule