JOB DESCRIPTION

RESULT OF SERVICE
Draft tourism satellite account report.
WORK LOCATION
Kigali
EXPECTED DURATION
4 months

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Background
The 15th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Sub-Regional Office for Eastern Africa (SRO-EA) that took place in 2011 in Djibouti, focused on tourism under the theme Towards a Sustainable Tourism Industry in Eastern Africa. The meeting recommended essential steps be made towards developing an Eastern Africa Tourism Master Plan and encouraging member States to develop/strengthen and implement their respective national tourism strategies and master plans and to have these aligned to the broader regional framework.
Consequently, the SRO-EA supported the development and highest-level validation of a Sustainable Tourism Master Plan (STMP) for the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region. The STMP was approved as a flagship initiative of the Sub-Regional Coordination Mechanism (SRCM) at the 17th SRO-EA ICE and officially launched in December 2013 by H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya. As a result, a number of member states in the Eastern Africa region have now prioritised tourism as an important economic sector. Furthermore, the tourism sector has been identified as a flagship project of the Eastern and Southern Sub-Regional Coordinating Mechanism, while at the continental level, it is a key economic sector of the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063. The First Ten Year Implementation Plan of AU Agenda 2063, for instance, seeks to a 100% of the sector’s contribution by 2023. However, Member States face a number of challenges that have hindered their ability to fully maximise opportunities emerging tourism development, chief among these, the paucity of data that is necessary to inform appropriate policy formulation.

It is with this background in mind that a number of countries, have submitted official requests for support to build their respective technical capacities that will enable them to collect good quality tourism data that will facilitate a clear understanding of both the direct and in-direct impacts of the sector. This project, therefore, seeks to build capacity of select Member States in Eastern Africa to establish their national tourism satellite accounts (TSA) which will comprise formulation of 10 TSA tables.

RESPONSIBILITIES

This consultancy is located in the Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa (SRO-EA) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). Under the direct supervision of the Programme Manager, the Tourism Consultant will:

• Provide the necessary technical advice to Member States to facilitate the establishment tourism statistics steering committees and the respective roles. Ideally, these should comprise relevant stakeholders including statistics bureau, central bank, revenue authority, ministry officials, immigration and institutions of higher learning etc.
• Enable, through targeted seminars, an understanding of the TSA standardised methodology and the approaches to undertaking the induced and in-direct impacts studies.
• Build the capacity of relevant officials to develop appropriate instruments that will facilitate the collection of good quality tourism data
• Train potential enumerators to ensure a standardised approach to data collection.
• Categorise tourists and classify tourism facilities that will be targeted for surveys for data collection.
• Undertake, initially, a pilot surveys and thereafter a full surveys targeting tourism facilities identified.
• Facilitate the validation and finalisation of a report on TSA.
• Disseminate knowledge and best practices on sustainable tourism development at all levels.

The elaboration of this consultancy will comprise among other tasks including:
• Provision of policy advice to Member States on aspects relating to TSA and sustainable tourism development;
• Monitoring, studying and analysing the trends and best practices on sustainable tourism development;
• Provision of leadership in the design of capacity development programmes, projects and activities in particular enhancing the capacity of the country to collect reliable data to inform appropriate policy formulation; and
• Ensuring implementation of gender mainstreaming guidelines by assessing the implications for men and women of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels.

QUALIFICATIONS/SPECIAL SKILLS

Competency: Professionalism : Sound knowledge on tourism issues as they relate to policy formulation, design of development strategies, capacity building, knowledge generation and sharing, awareness raising, and consensus building; strong analytical and policy development skills; ability to guide the development of normative work and the production of reports and papers on sustainable tourism policy and planning both at national and regional levels; capacity to design adequate responses and advise different constituencies on tourism policy and planning.
Planning and organizing : Proven ability to plan and organize work, coordinate inputs from a wide variety of sources and synthesize them in well articulated outputs; identify priority activities and plan accordingly; monitor and adjust plans as required.

Communication : Sound communication skills, both oral and written; speaks and writes clearly and effectively; shows interest in a two ways communication scheme; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Teamwork : Excellent interpersonal skills; proven ability to work in collaboration with other colleagues to achieve common goals; proven ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment, with sensitivity and respect for diversity.

Client awareness : Demonstrated ability to understand clients’ needs and articulate adequate and innovative responses to their needs. Capacity to anticipate and propose relevant responses to address challenges.
Academic Qualifications: Advanced University Degree (Ph.D. preferred) in tourism, economics or any other relevant area. Good evidence of research and publications on tourism related issues. Knowledge of tourism satellite accounting will be an added advantage
Experience: Relevant work experience of at least 10 years with a focus on tourism development, especially in Africa. Experience in working in Rwanda will be an added advantage.
Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, the preferred language is English.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

NO FEE
THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

QUALIFICATIONS/SPECIAL SKILLS

Competency: Professionalism : Sound knowledge on tourism issues as they relate to policy formulation, design of development strategies, capacity building, knowledge generation and sharing, awareness raising, and consensus building; strong analytical and policy development skills; ability to guide the development of normative work and the production of reports and papers on sustainable tourism policy and planning both at national and regional levels; capacity to design adequate responses and advise different constituencies on tourism policy and planning.
Planning and organizing : Proven ability to plan and organize work, coordinate inputs from a wide variety of sources and synthesize them in well articulated outputs; identify priority activities and plan accordingly; monitor and adjust plans as required.
Communication : Sound communication skills, both oral and written; speaks and writes clearly and effectively; shows interest in a two ways communication scheme; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Teamwork : Excellent interpersonal skills; proven ability to work in collaboration with other colleagues to achieve common goals; proven ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment, with sensitivity and respect for diversity.

Client awareness : Demonstrated ability to understand clients’ needs and articulate adequate and innovative responses to their needs. Capacity to anticipate and propose relevant responses to address challenges.
Academic Qualifications: Advanced University Degree (Ph.D. preferred) in tourism, economics or any other relevant area. Good evidence of research and publications on tourism related issues. Knowledge of tourism satellite accounting will be an added advantage
Experience: Relevant work experience of at least 10 years with a focus on tourism development, especially in Africa. Experience in working in Rwanda will be an added advantage.
Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, the preferred language is English.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
NO FEE
THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.