Project Overview:
The Brazil Trade Facilitation Programme, managed by Palladium, is a 4-year, £14 million component of FCO’s Brazil Prosperity Fund Programme. The programme aims to assist Brazil to increase trade flows, make foreign trade more inclusive in the country, creating jobs for women and men which will drive economic growth that supports inclusion, women’s economic opportunities and poverty reduction in the country. The programme will modernise and integrate processes in Brazilian ports and ensure that they catalyse growth by acting as strategic assets around which clusters of Brazilian SMEs can grow and enter global value chains.
Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
The MSME Global Trade Hub Lead will be based in Brasilia and manage the MSME component of the Brazil Trade Facilitation Programme, namely the MSME Global Trade Hub (or ‘Hub’). The ai m of the Hub component is to stimulate inclusive economic growth in Brazil by improving the export performance of Brazilian MSMEs through increased access to quality trade-related support services. It is a single overarching initiative that will develop and pilot new or improved (existing) MSME trade support services and integrate them into a centralised IT system with a clear governance and sustainability structure. The Hub is structured around three workstreams: (1) Governance; (2) Services; and (3) Systems that will work together to meet the needs of Brazilian stakeholders and beneficiaries and deliver the scale of impact expected. The MSME Global Trade Hub Lead will be responsible for managing the successful delivery of the Hub component and managing activities across the three workstreams.
1) Governance
Existing programmes and MSME support services are dispersed across several different Federal Agencies and Ministries at the three levels of government that will require a clear coordination and governance structure to make the Hub a success.
Key responsibilities:
* Manage a kick-off meeting with the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee;
* Organise a presentation to Senior Management of each stakeholder institutions on the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee to get buy-in;
* Review MOU vehicles (e.g. PNCE) existing between stakeholder institutions on the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee;
* Working closely with the IT Systems team to ensure the needs of the MSME users are accurately captured in the Hub system (e.g. ensuring the ‘hangers’ and the ‘wardrobe’ are fit for purpose);
* Support the development of new or existing MOUs between stakeholder institutions on the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee;
* Facilitate the signing of new or updated MOUs between stakeholder institutions on the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee;
* Coordinate the Quarterly Steering Committee Meetings of the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee;
* Provide ongoing support, communication and Technical Assistance as appropriate to the MSME Global Trade Hub Steering Committee;
* Contribute to the monitoring of and development of scopes of work, implementation plans, budgets and forecasts; and
* Responsible for MSME Global Trade Hub programme subcontractor relationship management
2) Services
The MSME Global Trade Hub Initiative will work closely with the public and private sector to enhance the quality and effectiveness of selected trade-related services offered. The core of the Services workstream, and where we expect the programme to deliver the greatest impact within the life of the programme, is through the piloting of context-specific support services and content targeting particular geographies, sectors/ sub-sectors, and/or ‘clusters’ of MSMEs (e.g. direct exporters, export supporters and indirect exporters). It will especially seek to reach vulnerable populations and women-owned or women-led businesses.
Key responsibilities:
* Manage the design and delivery of the MSME pilots and ensure they are delivered on-time, on-budget and to the agreed quality/ scope;
* Manage all pilot implementing partners (including EY, OCO, Nextrade, IADB etc.) and ensure their compliance with their agreed contracts and scopes of work;
* Ensure regular communication/ check-ins with implementing partners to ensure issues and risks are identified, mitigated (and escalated where necessary) so that delivery is not ‘negatively impacted;
* Work closely with the MREL Lead to ensure each pilot has a clearly articulated results chain and measurable indicators that can feed into the programme’s MREL reporting system;
* During the design process, ensure all pilots follow the 5-stage pilot development process, i.e.: Stage 1: Idea/ Hypothesis development; Stage 2: Concept note produced; Stage 3: Pilot planning; Stage 4: Due Diligence; Stage 5: Sign-off.
* Ensure all pilots are responding to a critical constraint or ‘pain-point’ hindering Brazilian MSME exports, can be locally tested/ piloted with stakeholders’ support, and can be integrated and scaled-up through the Hub IT system;
* Manage the process of prioritising and selecting MSMEs/ clusters to work with and pilot services incorporating criteria such as market opportunity, feasibility and pro-poor impact;
* Keep pilots results-focused, ensuring each is delivering on and contributing to Primary Purpose (e.g. poverty reduction GESI, green growth etc.) as well as Secondary Benefits (e.g. supporting UK or international trade and business);
* Work closely with the learning component of the programme to identify priority research needs to help implement and monitor the pilots effectively.
3) Systems
Each pilot will address a specific priority constraint and result in a tangible digital/ automated output (or service module) that can be plugged into the IT Hub system (for example, a new module, content piece, new or enhanced functionality, etc.) and contribute to both Primary Purpose and Secondary Benefits within the life of the programme (i.e. by delivering quantifiable results for MSMEs seeking to export).
Required Qualifications:
* Bachelor’s degree in international development, public administration, public policy, business administration, or a closely related field.
* Experience with private sector engagement in Brazil and in international development.
* A substantial amount of years of progressively responsible work experience with MSMEs and/or in project management roles.
* Demonstrable experience working with teams, with strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills.
* Effective oral and written communication skills, including strong writing and editing capabilities in Portuguese and in English.
* Extensive experience in project management, contract administration, compliance, and other project operations and management areas.
* Strong skills in effective client relationship management.
* Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, ability to multitask, and ability to work well under pressure.
* Eligibility to work in Brazil.
This vacancy is archived.