RESULT OF SERVICE

The ICSOE is expected to attract participation from Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning, Ministries of Industrialization, RECs and IGOs, ThinkTanks, Women and Youth CSOs as well as academia from Eastern Africa and beyond. It is therefore expected that the ICSOE will provide a platform for stakeholders to discuss how to better strengthen resilience for strong recovery and attracting investments to foster economic diversification and long-term in Eastern Africa.

WORK LOCATION KIGALI

EXPECTED DURATIONThe individual contracts (2) will be from 15 September to 14 November 2021 and will be paid $1500 per month.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIESBACKGROUND
The Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa (SRO-EA) is planning to hold the Twenty-Fifth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) from 26-28 October 2021 in a hybrid fashion in Kigali and online. The ICSOE is the statutory organ of the ECA Office for Eastern Africa. It includes representatives of the fourteen member States served by the office as well as Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) of the sub-region, development partners, research centres and other stakeholders. It meets annually to define and monitor the implementation of the work programme of the ECA Office in Eastern Africa and to discuss key issues and challenges pertaining to the economic and social development of the sub-region with the view to making appropriate recommendations to address them.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented economic and social disruption globally. In Eastern Africa, the pandemic threatens the region’s recent economic and social progress, registering its first economic recession since 1992, with GDP growth estimated to have contracted by 0.7 percent in 2020, after expanding by an impressive 6.5 percent in 2019. Although the region’s economic recovery is already underway, with growth projected of 3.1 percent for 2021, the prospects are currently subdued for returning to the region’s previous high growth path.

The effects of the pandemic on growth in Eastern Africa have not been uniformly distributed. While the whole region has been adversely affected by this crisis, the impact has been more severe for countries more heavily dependent on certain services sub-sectors where greater human contact is required, such as tourism, hotels, restaurants, education, etc. Several economies in this region have been also facing severe challenges from weather-related shocks and huge locust swarms. The impression is given that climate-related crises are becoming endemic across Eastern Africa.

Subdued economic activity in the region due to the Covid-19 crisis has led to a corresponding reduction in fiscal revenues, amplifying pre-existing debt vulnerabilities in the region. Even before the crisis, there were six out of fourteen countries with debt-to-GDP ratios exceeding 50 percent in 2019. Despite the severity of the economic crisis, a few sectors in the region have actually benefited from the crisis – notably ICT.

The Eastern African labour market has always been a precarious one, but the crisis has compounded that vulnerability, with the ILO estimating that 10 million jobs were lost in 2020. Several countries have adopted fiscal packages in response to the crisis, particularly to support incomes and businesses. But the scale of the stimulus packages is insufficient to replace the jobs lost in the region, generating only 2 million jobs (or just 20 percent of the jobs lost). Although precise estimates are elusive, survey data suggests that the loss of informal sector employment has been especially serious. It is therefore important to reflect on the longer-term social implications for Eastern Africa. The pandemic threatens to reverse many of the developmental gains of the last decade and challenge progress towards both regional goals and the SDGs. Accordingly, it is important for countries to design policies and strategies to attract quality investments.
To help Eastern African governments improve long term growth and job creation prospects in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, the Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (SRO-EA), through its Intergovernmental Committee of Senior Officials and Experts (ICSOE) will focus on building resilience and attracting investments. Each year, SRO-EA convenes the ICSOE, a statutory meeting discussing emerging issues as well as opportunities and challenges to fast-track the development process of the sub-region. The ICSOE is a platform for agenda setting, discussion of issues of regional economic interest as well as experience-sharing. The 25th edition of the ICSOE will reflect on the theme: “Strengthening resilience for strong recovery and attracting investments to foster economic diversification and long-term growth in Eastern Africa” .

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the direct supervision of the ICSOE Coordinator and in consultation with involved staff members, the incumbents will:
• Assist to follow-up confirmation of participants to the ICSOE;
• Assist in the rapporteuring functions and production of the relevant reports including the ICSOE and AEGM reports;
• Assist in the preparation of the evaluation of the meeting;
• Assist in preparing documents for DSA payment to participants;
• Assist to follow-up with UNDP counterparts in 14 countries for ICSOE stipend payment
• Liaise with the interpreters, the translators and the managers of the online platform at all times, for a smooth delivery of the meetings.
• Undertake any other assignment as required by the SRO-EA Director, the ICSOE Coordinator, AEGM coordinators.
In this regard, ECA SRO-EA is seeking to recruit two (2) Individual Contractors to support delivery of the 25th ICSOE.