Consultants/Individual Contractors

Project Title: Strengthening the agriculture and agri-food value chain and improving trade policy in Iraq (SAAVI)

Project Number: B960

Duty station: Home-based

Hiring Manager: Mr. Khemraj Ramful, Senior Adviser, Export Quality Management, Trade Facilitation and Policy for Business.

Type of Consultant: National Consultant

Title of assignment: National Expert on quality infrastructure

Background:

The International Trade Centre (ITC, www.intracen.org) is the joint agency of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations (UN), fully dedicated to supporting the development and internationalization of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). ITC's mission is to foster inclusive and sustainable growth and development through trade and international business development. ITC Headquarters is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

ITC started implementing the 5-year project “Strengthening the agriculture and agri-food value chain and improving trade policy in Iraq” (SAAVI) on 01 November 2020. This 22.5 Million EUR project, funded by the European Union, aims to contribute to inclusive growth and job creation for Iraq citizens, particularly for youth. It seeks to enhance the competitiveness of Iraq’s agribusiness value chain, while improving the country’s trade policy. It is hoped that eventually, projects to improve the competitiveness of the private sector may revitalize Iraq’s bid to join the World Trade Organization.

The principal government counterparts for this project are the Ministry of Planning (MoP), the Ministry of Trade (MoT), and the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

Under Expected Result 3 to increased capacities in the enabling business environment to better support value chain competitiveness (with particular emphasis on the improvement of knowledge and skills for employment among youth) it is envisaged to identify key institutions in the field of quality management and support them in promoting the use of standards and conformity assessment among MSMEs of the selected sectors for market access.

This work involves firstly mapping of the institutions comprising the quality infrastructure in Iraq, and then building of their capacities according to the needs assessed.