Programme Manager-Trade Facilitation at TradeMark Africa

The Programme Manager Trade Facilitation will lead and manage projects aimed at enhancing trade along the transport corridors in Tanzania. This role involves strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, project implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. S/he will have deep understanding of the Tanzanian trade landscape, experience in trade facilitation, and a proven track record in programme management.

The Programme Manager will oversee and coordinate the implementation of the Trade Facilitation and Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) Elimination Pillar 2 of Transport and Trade Improvement Project at the Port of Dar es Salaam. Transport and Trade Improvement Project is funded by the European Union and implemented in partnership with four organizations: the Port of Antwerp, TradeMark Africa, UN-Habitat, and Enabel. This is a four year project.

• Pillar 1: Port Operations Improvement – led by the Port of Antwerp
• Pillar 2: Trade Facilitation – led by TradeMark Africa
• Pillar 3: E-Mobility Solutions – led by UN-Habitat
• Enabel: Overall Project Management

The Programme Manager will play a pivotal role in enhancing trade efficiency, eliminating NTBs, improving logistics performance, and fostering collaboration among key stakeholders. This will contribute to transforming the Port of Dar es Salaam into a globally competitive trade gateway.

Roles and responsibilities

Supporting Programme Delivery:

• Develop and implement a comprehensive work plan to address trade facilitation bottlenecks and NTBs at the Port of Dar es Salaam.
• Oversee the delivery of interventions that improve port efficiency, transparency, and reduce clearance times for goods.
• Work closely with stakeholders to streamline processes, enhance automation systems, and ensure adherence to international trade standards.
• Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of trade facilitation initiatives and NTB elimination efforts.
• Provide support to the country team in the strategic development of country programmes by providing input in strategy development, Project Appraisal Reports (PARs) and project formulation in the areas of Trade Facilitation.
• Perform analytical, diagnostic and assessment of data requirements for the implementation of country specific projects with trade facilitation components and provide support in the management of data collection for baselines, reviews and evaluations.
• Provide support to Project Leaders with management of consultants, procurement documentation, generation of tender processes, and participating in bid evaluations.
• Provide support in updating project information and documentation on report/resource systems i.e MIS, Business Central e.t.c including work plans, monitoring plans, and risk plans.
• Provide support to country teams during quarterly and annual reporting through MIS and any other tools developed by the organization and completion of Programme Progress Quarterly and Annual Progress Reports.
• Provide support to country teams in initiating project closeout procedures and ensuring project documentation on evaluations, research and lessons learned are up to date.
• Support Project Leaders with maintenance of accurate project documentation especially on projects with trade facilitation components.

Gender and Inclusion responsibilities:

• Provide support to the Project lead in collecting, analyzing and reporting gender-disaggregated data.
• Coordinate and Championing gender-related activities in the project.

Results Management responsibilities:

• Manage and coordinate the Country programme’s Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) requirements with the programme’s priority beneficiaries (government MDAs and private sector) in establishing M&E frameworks. These include the development of baseline data, indicators of success, targets, results chains and monitoring plans.
• Liaise with implementing partners in the collection and submission of required reports and data on the progress of monitoring plans and activities.
• Provide oversight and support to the country team on M&E systems, plans and processes.
• Liaise closely with the Results team on implementation progress, preparation of periodic reports, and review of lessons learnt, to ensure consistency and complementarity between country and regional Programmes.
• Provide regular updates on the progress of Tanzania’s projects on MIS and other tools developed by the organization.
• Provide support in the preparation of the annual review, projects programme and evaluation and audits.
• Provide support in collecting documents and lessons learned, best practices for knowledge sharing and learning.
• Participate in regular informal and formal reflection, knowledge sharing and learning events.

Stakeholder Engagement and Coordination

• Build strong relationships with relevant stakeholders, including government agencies (TRA, TPA, etc.), private sector players, development partners, and regional economic communities.
• Lead multi-stakeholder forums to identify, prioritize, and resolve NTBs affecting trade flows through the port.
• Coordinate capacity-building efforts for port operators, regulatory bodies, and traders to enhance awareness of trade facilitation measures.
• Work closely with the National Monitoring Committee (NMC) of NTBs and the National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) to ensure Port’s specific NTBs are resolved on time.
• Work closely with the private sector to ensure NTBs are reported on time and to the relevant authorities.

Communications:

• Collaborate with the communication unit to shape and monitor the programme’s communication plan in line with TMA’s Corporate Communication Strategy and business plan, and visibility commitments to funding agencies.
• Effectively communicate programme progress and results to internal and external stakeholders and support in the delivery of high-quality outputs to ensure that TMA’s mission and vision are well communicated to investors and stakeholders and that TMA’s work motivates and inspires donors, implementing partners and other stakeholders.
• Work closely with other functions to ensure that external communications are developed with maximum impact and delivered against the results calendar and corporate strategy guiding work across the programme area and the organization.
• Participate in developing content, and ensuring regular updates, on Tanzania’s project activities, for the general TMA website and the Tanzania Country page.
• Liaise with the Communications team to organize internal and external events and media training.
• Liaise with the Programme Delivery Hub (PDH) to streamline climate change, and safeguard standards in the programme/project management cycle.

Academic & Professional qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in social sciences, business administration, development studies or related field; OR
• Master’s degree in International Trade, Economics, Logistics, Public Policy, Development Studies, Business Administration, or a related field.

Work experience

• At least 7 years of experience for undergraduate degree holders or 5 years’ experience for postgraduate degree holders managing trade facilitation programmes, NTB elimination initiatives, or related projects, preferably in ports or cross-border trade settings.
• Demonstrable experience engaging government agencies, private sector stakeholders, and regional economic bodies.
• Proven success in implementing projects that improved trade efficiency, logistics performance, or NTB reduction.