• The AfCFTA Secretariat is the sole organization in the continent, legally established & mandated to handle the rules of trade between African countries. At the core is the implementation of the agreement establishing the AfCFTA, negotiated, signed & ratified by the state parties. The goal is to ensure that trade is conducted smoothly, predictably & as freely as possible across the continent. The AfCFTA Secretariat, which is headquartered in Accra, Ghana at the Africa trade house, was established in February 2020 following the election of its first Secretary General. 

• The agreement establishing the African continental free trade area was signed at an extraordinary session of the assembly of the AU in Kigali, Rwanda on 21 March 2018. The agreement sets out a continental system of trade rules, acts as a platform for negotiating trade protocols, facilitates the settlement of disputes between state parties & monitors the implementation of the AfCFTA agreement. Furthermore, the AfCFTA agreement is a framework agreement, with comprehensive coverage of trade in goods, trade in services, investment, competition policy, intellectual property rights, women & youth in trade & digital trade as well as rules & procedures for the settlement of disputes. 

• The youth are central to the successful implementation of the AfCFTA, both as beneficiaries & drivers. The AfCFTA Trade Policy Youth Corps promotes volunteering to deepen the status of young people in Africa as key participants in the implementation of the AfCFTA. It brings people together to share skills, knowledge, creativity & learning to build a more integrated continent.

The overall objective of the AfCFTA Trade Policy Youth Corps is as follows:

• Engage Africa’s youth in the formulation, negotiation & implementation of trade agreements.

• Provide opportunities to young Africans to serve & gain crucial professional experience & capacity in trade policy formulation, negotiation & implementation at national, regional & continental levels.

• Promote pan Africanism & shared values among the upcoming generation.

• It is against this background that the AfCFTA Secretariat seeks to engage the services of young Africans to support trade policy formulation, negotiation & implementation processes on the continent at the AfCFTA Secretariat.

The AfCFTA Trade Policy Youth Corps is to support trade policy formulation, negotiation & implementation processes of the continent will work directly under the supervision of the Senior Advisor (Technical) to the Secretary General on the following tasks, among others:

• Undertake analytical studies on key trade policy areas of the AfCFTA agreement.

• Develop an e-notification mechanism for state parties & non state parties to notify new measures.

• Develop templates for monitoring third party trade agreements.

• Support the design of sensitization & awareness campaigns to create awareness of the AfCFTA.

• Support the design & organization of annual AfCFTA youth tradelink.

• Perform any other duties as may be required from time to time.

The main deliverables of the assignment are as follows:

This assignment will be carried out under the supervision of the Senior Advisor (Technical) in the Office of the Secretary General.

• Bachelor’s degree in Economics, International Trade or Trade Law, International Relations, Administration, Management, Finance or any other field that is related to the work of the AfCFTA Secretariat.

• The applicant has to have at least 1 year verifiable volunteering experience or one year professional work experience. 

• Be able to multitask, ability to learn varying new tasks, fast paced. 

• Capacity to communicate fluently with different stakeholders (civil society, government authorities, local communities, project staff).

• Full command of Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) & common internet applications will be required.
  

• Proficiency in one of the AfCFTA working languages (French, English, Portuguese, Arabic). Fluency in another AfCFTA working language(s) is an added advantage. 

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the Secretariat’s values & ethical standards.

• Promotes the vision, mission & strategic goals of Secretariat.

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality & age sensitivity & adaptability.

• Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity & zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

This role has no team management responsiblity.

• The AfCFTA Trade Policy Youth Corps will be based in Accra, with travels to the member states.

• The duration of the assignment will be 230 days.

• The selected Youth Corp shall receive his/her lump sum service fees upon certification of the completed tasks satisfactorily, as per the following payment schedule: