Summary
Date Posted: Thursday, May 05, 2022 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Consultancy to Enhance Digital Signature Utilization (COMESA)
Background
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a Regional Economic Community comprised of 21 Member States and its Secretariat is hosted by the Government of the Republic of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia. COMESA was founded in 1994 as a successor to the Preferential Trade Area (PTA). COMESA’s objectives include sustainable economic development through economic and social integration. The current 21 member states of COMESA include Burundi, Comoros, The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Kingdom of Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Through its regional integration agenda one of COMESA’s areas of focus is the establishment of a large economic and trading block that will facilitate intra-COMESA trade and enhance economic development to improve the livelihoods of its citizens.
The Secretariat is the Executive Organ of COMESA. It ensures that the regulations and directives adopted by the Council of Ministers are properly implemented and provides the Council of Ministers with strategic recommendations. The Secretariat, under the leadership of the Secretary General is responsible for the day-to- day operations of COMESA in order to achieve the organizations’ mission which is to endeavour to achieve sustainable economic and social progress in all Member States through increased co-operation and integration in all fields of development particularly in Trade, Customs and Monetary Affairs, Transport, Communication and Information, Technology, Industry and Energy, Gender, Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources.
The COMESA Secretariat has implemented a hybrid onsite and offsite working environment since the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic. The organization, through the ICT Division, is implementing smart and secure solutions to facilitate staff members to work remotely. Such solutions included remote access to business applications and information through VPN (Virtual Private Network), virtual meeting using different platforms, information sharing platforms, availability of internet services and appropriate computer peripherals, among others.
To compliment the hybrid environment, a public key infrastructure (PKI) enabled electronic and digital signature solution has been implemented to ease approval of signing of documents within the secretariat through automated approval workflows. The solution has been implemented to ensure efficient, secure document management and streamline operations in reduction of the paper footprint at COMESA.
However, even though the system is being used by some staff, it is not being utilised optimally. It has been noted that this may be due to the lack of capacity of staff. Therefore, providing training and capacity building for staff on the electronic and digital signatures will increase capacity amongst staff and ensure increase utilization of the platform.
The selected consultant will work under the USAID/Kenya and East Africa Regional Intergovernmental Organization System Strengthening Activity (RIGO SSA) team to train COMESA staff on the installed GMOSign digital signature platform.
Consultant Scope of Work
The consultant will be required to:
1. Provide comprehensive hand-on training on the GMOSign electronic and digital signature platform to the following categories of users:
o Executive Management – This training is targeted at the executive management of COMESA and is expected to take them through how to access the documents on the platform, sign and disseminate documents upon signing.
o Heads of Divisions/Units and Middle Management – This training will be targeted at the middle to senior management team at COMESA that are involved in document review and signoff.
o Training of Trainers (ToT) – This training is targeted at the technical ICT staff supporting the platform at COMESA. The training should cover initial platform configuration of all capabilities of the system.
o Support Staff – This training is targeted at all support staff who are expected to use the system. The training will take them through all the features of the workflows of the system, i.e., the users who will be uploading documents to the platform and sharing them for signatures.
2. In preparation for the training, the consultant should prepare training manuals for all categories of staff. The manuals should clearly document the flowcharts and workflows for all the possible use-cases on the platform.
3. The training should be customized for each category indicated above, including the following:
• Introduction of electronic/digital signatures and security features of both types of signatures
• Setting up and configuration of the digital platform
• User management on the platform
• Uploading documents to the platform — single page and multiple pages
• Setting up the documents on the platform for signatures
• Different level of approvals on the platform
• Recommendation of documents for signature upon approval
• Signing of multiple documents
• Acceptable document formats on the platform, among others.
4. Training will be hands-n with practical exercises for each feature available on the digital signature platform and shall mostly be delivered on-site at the COMESA Secretariat in Lusaka, Zambia.
5. Preparation of the training report upon completion of the staff training
Deliverables
The Consultant shall be required to deliver the following promptly:
1. Inception report which sets out the consultant’s interpretation of the Terms of Reference (TOR), a refine approach and methodology of undertaking the exercise, and a revised Workplan.
2. Training Manuals detailing the training content to be covered for all categories of users.
3. Training Report covering all the categories of training. The report should include the following:
• The concepts covered during training for each training group
• Participants of the training
• The training objective
• When the training took place
• Materials distributed during training
• Evaluation feedback from participants
• Any recommendations to further utilize the platform
Timing/Level of Effort
The assignment is expected to spread over a maximum of two months. The consultant should indicate the actual number of working days expected to deliver the assignment. The estimates should be filled in the table below and submitted as part of the technical proposal.
# Activity Deliverable Implementation Time (in Months) Applicant to indicate level of effort (days) for each activity
M1 M2
1 Contracting Contract Signature
2 Project Inception and Kick-Off Inception Report
3 Preparation of training manuals Training Manuals and Training program
4 Training of Trainers (ToT) Training Delivery of Training
5 Training of End Users Delivery of Training
6 Executive Leadership Training Delivery of training
7 Project Closure Training Report
Expected Delivery Duration
Location
The Consultant will work primarily from their country of residence, but is expected to deliver most of the training on-site at the COMESA headquarters in Lusaka, Zambia. Therefore, applicants in the East Africa region are encouraged to apply.
Qualifications
• A relevant degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or any other relevant field from a recognized institution
• At least five (5) years’ experience in designing, implementing, developing, installing, and training on GMOSignDigital Signature on at least three (3) similar training assignments
• Experience working with regional economic communities such as COMESA, EAC, and IGAD
• Relevant qualifications and certifications on electronic and digital signatures
• Must demonstrate good knowledge of the electronic and digital signatures including similar projects delivered
Required Information (applications due May 11, 5pm East African time)
1. Technical Proposal detailing:
• Understanding of Terms of Reference (TOR)
• Assignment delivery methodology to achieve the expected results and outputs
• Qualifications of the consultant (up-to-date CV)
• Experience of the consultant including reference letters or completion certificates of Digital training done based on the GMOSign platform
• Assignment implementation workplan indicating the proposed actual duration (in days) to be spent for each activity
2. A Financial Proposal detailing:
• An itemized price list of all project costs
• Professional services costs with the proposed daily rate in USD
• Disbursements associated with the project delivery including logistics, travel, accommodation, etc.
• Any other costs associated with full implementation, along with a brief explanation of why these costs are included
• Project costs should be aligned with the proposed implementation workplan presented in the technical proposal
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At Kaizen, A Tetra Tech Company, we find strength in our diversity. We are committed to creating and sustaining an inclusive working environment in which everyone has an equal opportunity to fulfill their potential. We know that we can only do development differently if we are open to and inclusive of new and unique perspectives. We encourage candidates of all abilities, ages, gender identities and expressions, national origins, races and ethnicities, religious beliefs, and sexual orientations to apply. Further, we urge parents and non-parents, married and unmarried, those from different or non-traditional educational backgrounds, and persons of all other diverse identities or experiences to apply. Kaizen is an equal opportunity employer.

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 60

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Job application procedure
To apply for this job please visit kaizen.jazz.co.

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