OPEN CALL FOR CONSULTANTS - ROSTER

Location: Sarajevo, home-based, may require trips within the SEE region

Application Deadline: 30 April 2016

Type of Contract: Individual Contract for Services

Language required: English

Duration of Assignment: Various short-term consultancy assignments

Consultants:

If you have extensive experience as a consultant with international organisations and would
like to be added to our roster of consultants, please send your CV, Cover Letter and 5
references to expertroster@rcc.int

Expertise is sought particularly in the areas of:

 Trade and investment policy;

 Education;
 Research and Development and Innovation;
 ICT and digital society;
 Industrial policy and SME development;
 Energy and environment;
 Transport;
 Labour Market and Employment;
 Health policy;
 Governance and rule of law;
 International law (multilateral agreements);
 Programming, monitoring and evaluation.

Background

The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) was established in 2008 as a regionally owned and
led framework. It works under the political guidance of the SEECP to promote regional
cooperation and European and Euro-Atlantic integration of South East Europe (SEE).
The areas of cooperation in the framework of the RCC are Economic and Social
Development; Energy and Infrastructure; Justice and Home Affairs; Security Cooperation;
Building Human Capital, as well as cross-cutting issues such as parliamentary cooperation,
civil society activities and gender mainstreaming.

The RCC is implementing the Strategy and Work Programme 2014 – 2016 and its biggest
part, the South East Europe (SEE) 2020 Strategy, as a basic working document for the RCC
until 2020.

The SEE 2020 Strategy aims at promoting creation of jobs and prosperity in a European
perspective for the Western Balkans. It has five pillars, which are: Smart Growth
(emphasising education, innovation, research and development, culture and creative sectors),
Sustainable Growth (ensuring economic sustainability through enterprise creation and export
increase, as well as energy efficiency and climate control), Inclusive Growth (supporting
employment generation, social inclusion, good health and well-being), Integrated Growth
(promoting closer regional integration in terms of trade and investment) and Governance for
Growth (including effective public services and fight against corruption).

The organisation maintains close working relations with all actors of relevance to these areas,
such as governments, international organisations, international financial institutions, regional
organisations, private sector and civil society.

The RCC consists of 46 participants. The RCC and its Secretariat receive operational
guidance and supervision from the RCC Board. The RCC Board consists of those RCC
participants contributing to the budget of the RCC Secretariat.

The RCC has a Secretariat based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, headed by the
Secretary General, and Liaison Office in Brussels which ensures regular communication and
cooperation with European and Euro-Atlantic institutions. The organisational structure of the
RCC Secretariat consists of: Office of the Secretary General, Political Department,
Programme Department and Administration Department.

The RCC Secretariat is soliciting the submission of CVs (individuals, not firms) from highly-
qualified experts and experienced consultants to be considered for registration in the RCC
expert roster. Only applicants who pass all screening procedures will be included into the
roster and recommended for short-term assignments in the areas of:

 Trade and investment policy;

 Education;
 Research and Development and Innovation;
 ICT and digital society;
 Industrial policy and SME development;
 Energy and environment;
 Transport;
 Labour Market and Employment;
 Health policy;
 Governance and rule of law;
 International law (multilateral agreements);
 Programming, monitoring and evaluation.
Duties and Responsibilities

Consultants will provide advisory support directly to the RCC, as well as through the RCC to
the regional and national stakeholders including governments, civil society organisations and
others in the region, and the specific reporting and working relationships will be specified at
the time of contracting for an actual assignment.

The range of tasks that would typically be expected from a consultant includes:

 Institutional development, including assessments and recommendations for reforms

and institutional strengthening;
 Capacity development of stakeholders in the abovementioned areas, including design
and execution of seminars, workshops and trainings;
 Policy analysis in the form of studies, assessment and reports, to serve as inputs into
the policy design and development process in the abovementioned policy areas;
 Assistance in designing or evaluating projects in the abovementioned areas.

Specific Focus Areas

 Trade and Investment

RCC’s work in this area focuses mostly on trade and investment integration of the region of
South East Europe. The activities include implementation of joint actions on trade facilitation,
trade liberalisation and investment integration between the economies of South East Europe,
including joint investment promotion efforts. In addition to fostering closer economic
integration of the region, this work aims to support the EU accession efforts of non-EU
members in the region by introducing the necessary standards and regulations to help comply
with the EU acquis. In this area, RCC is looking for consultants able to provide both technical
and legal assistance in the negotiations on liberalisation of trade (particularly services),
developing multilateral investment agreements, data exchange and related subjects.

 Education
RCC’s work in education is focused on building links between the worlds of education and
work, enhancing capacities to anticipate future skill needs, support initiatives to match skills
and competences with the labour market requirements and increase efforts directed towards
better recognition of qualifications, including professional qualifications, and the
improvement of mobility of workers, students, researchers and citizens in general. Therefore,
RCC is looking for experts on: (i) mobility of workers, students, researchers, in particular
analysis of obstacles to mobility and removal of obstacles to mobility (within the Western
Balkans region and between the economies of Western Balkans and the EU); (ii) legislation
on recognition of qualifications and professional qualifications; (iii) national qualification
frameworks and quality assurance, (iv) education and the labour market.

 Research & Development, Innovation

RCC has focused its work in this area mainly on supporting the implementation of the
Western Balkans Regional Strategy on Research and Development for Innovation. In this area
RCC is looking for expertise in enhancing innovation performance through promoting best
practice exchange and training in technology transfer; encouraging creation of industrial
incubators, technology and science parks networks; enhancing business incubation and
mentoring programmes to help bridge the “valley of death” in the process of bringing an idea
to the marketplace; and encouraging development of “networks of excellence” in areas
consistent with the “smart specialisation” of the region, access to and open science and open
data. In addition, RCC is focusing on removal of obstacles to mobility of researchers and
fostering research cooperation within the WB region and between the WB and the EU, as well
as to design effective solutions to removing the existing obstacles. In this sense, RCC is
looking for experts on: (i) mobility of researchers in the Western Balkans and between WB
and the EU, (ii) cross-border research cooperation, (iii) technology transfer (industrial
incubators, science parks, etc.), (iv)cross-border networks of excellence, (v) access to research
and open science/open data, and (vi) research and development, innovation and smart
specialisation strategies.

 ICT and digital society

Within its focus on encouraging a single market for electronic communications, enhancing
ICT connectivity and interoperability, and promoting integration of digital technology and
digital public services, RCC is looking for experts able to provide assistance in the areas of:
(i) ICT and electronic communications policy, and (ii) broadband development policy,
including legal, regulatory and financial aspects of broadband development.

 Industrial policy and SME development

RCC’s efforts regarding industrial and SME development are implemented through a number
of regional actions including clustering and FDI–SME linkages, enhancing regional value
chains through sector-specific actions (currently in the sectors of food and beverage
processing and tourism), regional approaches to access to finance, peer reviews of SME
development policies, and others. As a way of prioritising its activities on industrial and
infrastructure development, RCC is building a regional concept of economic corridors to help
upgrade the existing and planned transport corridors into true economic corridors. In this area,
RCC is working on a number of regional instruments to remove barriers (trade, transport and
other) to regional value chain integration and identify practical, pilot-scale actions to
implement the most pressing policy responses, such as special cross-border economic zones,
regional clusters, etc. In this area, RCC is looking for experienced consultants able to
conceptualise and assist with the implementation of cross-border and multilateral instruments
for industrial development in SEE.

 Energy and environment

In the energy and environment area, the region of SEE is directing its efforts towards
implementation of energy efficiency and renewables commitments by the governments,
informing and empowering energy consumers to achieve behavioural changes, developing
instruments to create an investment friendly climate and stimulate energy infrastructure
development, creating a well-functioning SEE energy market that would provide affordable
but cost reflective and reliable supplies, removing energy subsidies and replacing these with
safety nets for vulnerable consumers and implementing measures targeted at climate change
adaptation and mitigation. RCC will be looking for experts able to provide assistance,
capacity development and analysis in the above listed areas of intervention.

 Transport
Transport is one of the key areas of regional cooperation in South East Europe. RCC’s focus
in this field is directed at: (i) improving the utilisation rate of transport infrastructure by
removal of physical and non-physical bottlenecks and unnecessary technical cross-border
barriers, (ii) ensuring harmonisation with the EU transport regulatory framework for creating
common market conditions and safety standards in the region, (iii) developing co-modal
solutions by optimisation of individual transport modes and focusing on energy efficient and
environmentally friendly transport modes, (v) introducing measures for reducing energy
consumption and costs per unit of transport service, (vi) putting forward measures to improve
the ratio of railway and waterborne transport, foster liberalisation of railway services and
open the rail transport market to competition, (vii) enhancing aviation transport activities and
air traffic cooperation in the region and implementing JSPA initiative to facilitate air
transport. RCC is looking for experienced consultants in the above areas able to generate
policy analysis, map the regional capacities, develop capabilities of stakeholders and assist
with the implementation of various transport-related measures as noted above.

 Labour Market and Employment

RCC is working towards building capacities of Ministries of Labour and Social Affairs and
the public employment services to address structural challenges of labour markets, including
high unemployment and labour force inactivity, underfunded active labour market policies,
limited resources of public employment services and a mismatch between the demand and
supply of labour in the Western Balkans. In addition, RCC aims to support the Ministries of
Labour and Social Affairs in the employment component of the Economic Reform
Programmes (ERPs) and the development of Employment and Social Reform Programmes
(ESRPs). Finally, RCC focuses on supporting/facilitating labour mobility in the region. In this
sense, RCC is looking for experts on: (i) labour market intelligence and trends analysis, (ii)
design and evaluation of structural reforms and employment policies, measures and
instruments, including costing/budgeting of measures and instruments, (iii) development of
and capacity building of Public Employment Services, (iv) labour market and skills needs
assessment, (v) fiscal impact analysis of labour market and employment policies, measures
and instruments, and (vi) identification and removal of obstacles to labour mobility in SEE.

 Health
In the area of health, RCC is looking for experts on facilitating access and portability of health
and social support within the region which comes as a consequence to mobility of
professionals across the region, as well as experts on cross-border trade in health services able
to identify obstacles to cross-border trade in health services and design solutions for removing
the identified obstacles.

 Governance and rule of law

RCC and its partners have developed a comprehensive agenda in the area of governance and
rule of law including interventions on (i) increased efficiency and effectiveness of public
services both at the national and sub-national level, (ii) reduced corruption, and (iii) enhanced
role of the judiciary in building a business enabling environment in South East Europe. RCC
is looking for consultants able to assist with developing regional instruments to increase
efficiency and quality of public services, reduce discretionary power of officials, introduce
competitive standardised public procurement, and enhance efficiency, independence and
accountability of judicial institutions.

 International Law (multilateral agreements)

RCC is currently engaged or is in the process of structuring a number of negotiation processes
in the areas of trade liberalisation, investment integration, labour mobility, mutual recognition
agreements on various conformity assessments, and other. RCC is seeking experts with
background in international law able to provide legal support during negotiations and assist in
drafting multilateral agreements in the above noted areas of negotiation.

 Programming, monitoring and evaluation

In addition to sectoral work, RCC is implementing an annual cycle of programming its
activities and those of its partners, as well as regular monitoring of results of implementation.
For both of these processes, RCC is looking for short-term experts able to provide inputs on
process improvements, mapping of national needs and donor priorities, expertise on selection
and collection of data on quantitative, qualitative and perception-based indicators, as well as
monitoring and evaluation of specific programmes and actions.

Core Competencies

 Strategic vision, understanding of fundamental concepts and principles of a professional

discipline or technical specialty
 Strong analytical capabilities and writing skills
 Ability to work in the team, develop and establish effective working relations with a
multitude of diverse stakeholders
 Sensitivity and adaptability to cultural, gender, religious, and nationality considerations
 Flexibility to change and openness to receiving/integrating feedback
 Strong interpersonal and communication skills, resourcefulness, initiative, tact and
negotiation skills
 Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations
 Ability to manage heavy workload and solve complex problems with limited supervision
 Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity
 Demonstrating basic knowledge of the organisation and sound judgment
 Treats all people fairly without favouritism
 Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
 Successfully managing conflict
 Learning and sharing knowledge and encouraging the learning of others
 Informed and transparent decision making

Education and Experience

Educational requirements will differ based on the specific assignment, but as a general rule,
advanced university degree (Master, PhD) is required for all key or senior experts.
Requirements concerning work experience and skills will differ based on the specific
assignment, but as a general rule, candidates with the following experience (as a minimum)
are encouraged to apply:
 At least 10 years of demonstrable work experience in the related field (corresponding to
the selected area);
 Theoretical and practical experience in designing, implementing, and/or monitoring and
evaluating interventions with specific focus in the above mentioned areas;
 Excellent and demonstrable drafting and formulation skills, with a track record of
producing and publishing reports or papers/studies in specified areas;
 Excellent presentation skills;
 Experience in capacity development and training;
 In-depth knowledge and expertise in research and policy analysis;
 Fluency in spoken and written English is a must; knowledge of other SEE languages is an
asset;
 Knowledge of the SEE region and experience in working in the region is considered an
advantage.

How to apply:
If you have extensive experience as a consultant with international organisations and would
like to be added to our roster of consultants, please send your CV, Cover Letter and 5
references to: expertroster@rcc.int

When applying, please indicate that you would like to be included in the "RCC Consultants"
roster in the subject line of email stating area of expertise.