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1  Description of objectives

1.1.  The objective of the contract is to support the Market Access Division (MAD) winding down the activities of the Trust Fund and fulfilling its reporting obligations to the WTO Secretariat and the Committee on Trade Facilitation.

1.2.  Under the overall supervision of the Director of the MAD, the international expert will provide technical and administrative support as outlined below to both the MAD division and Members.

1.3.  The consultant shall be available to meet in-person with the TFA Secretariat, MAD Director and Members once a week and when requested by any of the above at the WTO Secretariat in Geneva. The consultant will inform the MAD Director in advance if the weekly in-person meeting is not possible.

2  Task and Outputs of Contractor

2.1.  The consultant's task under the activity are:

Output 1: Technical and Administrative backstopping for the TFAF grant programme

Task 1.1: Provide ad-hoc technical advice to implementing partners and beneficiary Members on the project (through debriefing meetings, inception meetings, review of reports and deliverables as required under each project).

Task 1.2: Carry out quality control of the final deliverables of the projects' and consultants' outputs and assist implementing partners and beneficiary Members in addressing quality issues.

Task 1.3: Liaise with the implementing partners and beneficiary Members to ensure timely progress and delivery of the projects' outputs and outcomes.

Task 1.4: Assist MAD in administrative matters relating to the organization of travel, issuing of contracts, review and approval of invoices and documents.

Task 1.5: Prepare final report for each of the projects according to the timeline of the grant programme below.

Timeline of the grant programme

Grant

Reporting Timeline

Kenya (TFAF/PG/KE/10)

January 2026 – December 2027

Annual financial report from GIZ January 2027 and January 2028

Project progress report March 2027

Kyrgyz Republic (TFAF/PG/KZ/6)

January 2026 – June 2027

Annual financial report from GIZ January 2027

Project progress report March 2027

Madagascar (TFAF/PG/MD/8)

January 2026 – June 2027

Annual financial report from GIZ January 2027

Project progress report March 2027

Sri Lanka (TFAF/PG/SL/7)

August 2025 – March 2027

Financial Statement from ITC June 2027

Final project report April 2027

Saint Vincent & the Grenadines (TFAF/PG/SVG/17)

February 2026 – January 2027

Validation of Consultants' deliverables December 2026

Final project report January 2027

Niger (TFAF/PG/NIG/12)

October 2025 – December 2026

Validation of Consultants' deliverables November 2026

Final project report January 2027

Bolivia (TFAF/PPG/BOL/11)

March 2027 – April 2027

Submission of travel documents (March 2027) and expenses reports (April 2027)

Final project report (technical and financial) from implementing partner April 2027

Gabon (TFAF/PG/GB/11)

October 2026 – February 2027

Validation of Consultants' deliverables February 2027

Final project report (technical and financial) from implementing partner April 2027

Comoros (TFAF/PG/COM/9)

October – January 2027

Validation of Consultants' deliverables January 2027

Final project report (technical and financial) from implementing partner April 2027

CARICOM * Launch depends on financial resources

Cameroon * Launch depends on financial resources

Output 2: Advice for the MAD TFA team on issues resulting from the TFA review process

Task 2.1: Assist TFA database manager with the design and implementation of the data architecture and reporting functionalities for TACB specific information of the TFA database.

Task 2.2: Assist TFA Secretariat with questions regarding the lessons learned from TFAF and the way forward for TFAF, as well as provide input as requested by members such as an analysis of unmet TACB needs of category C developing country and LDC Members.

Output 3: Other matters

Task 3.1: Prepare annual report of TFAF for the first CTF meeting in 2027, including a specific section on the grant programme.

Task 3.2: Review the TFAF Financial statement, quarterly and annual report made by the Finance Division to the CFBA.

Task 3.3: Contribute to MAD's input for Secretariat Training activities (Digital Trade, Accession Lebanon).

3  Timeframe

3.1. The aforementioned tasks shall be completed within the period from 1 November 2026 to 30 June 2027.

3.2. The consultant should be paid upon satisfactory completion of the tasks according to the payment schedule below.

Payment Schedule

Schedule

When

Payment term 1 (up to 15 working days)

End January 2027

·  Timesheet with working days and main activities

·  Project reports Niger, St Vincent & the Grenadines

Payment term 2 (up to 20 working days)

End March 2027

·  Timesheet with working days and main activities

·  Annual Report to the CTF including project reports for all grants

·  Project progress reports Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Madagascar

·  Project report Comoros, Gabon and Sri Lanka

Final payment (up to 15 working days)

End June 2027

·  Timesheet with working days and main activities

·  Project report Bolivia

·  Financial reports Kenya, Kyrgyz Republic, Madagascar

·  Third and fourth quarter reports to the CBFA

·  Annual Report to the CBFA

·  Financial report from implementing partners (ITC and other)