The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), signed by 54 out of 55 African countries, represents the first step towards achieving the goal of a single continental market. AfCFTA is expected to boost intra-African trade, promote structural transformation, and generate significant employment opportunities in Africa. Despite the strong political momentum and solid economic rationale, the realization of AfCFTA requires strengthening institutional capacities to successfully conclude negotiations, implement agreements, and fulfill obligations. This necessitates active involvement from the private sector and effective cooperation among stakeholders at the continental, regional, and national levels.

In this context, the Team Europe Technical Assistance Facility to support AfCFTA and Continental Economic Integration (EU-TAF) aims to contribute to the African Economic Integration agenda, primarily focusing on the realization of AfCFTA. EU-TAF is designed to be an efficient, responsive, and flexible mechanism to address the needs of the African Union (AfCFTA Secretariat, AUC, and some AU Specialized agencies), Regional Economic Communities (RECs), AU Member States, and other potential continental partners, as well as regional private sector organizations working on promoting AfCFTA and continental economic integration.

The main objectives of EU-TAF include:

Enhancing the capacity of the AfCFTA Secretariat for preparing and conducting the remaining negotiations of the Agreement.

Building the capacities of AU Member States to implement AfCFTA commitments and improve trade regulatory practices.

Strengthening the institutional capacity of targeted African institutions (AfCFTA Secretariat, AUC, AU Specialized agencies, RECs) and AU Member States to successfully implement the priority AfCFTA agenda and improve regulatory practices for continental trade.

Building trade capacity for the private sector and enhancing market access under AfCFTA.

EU-TAF is funded by the EU, Agence Française de Développement, the German Ministry of Development Cooperation (BMZ), and Sweden. It is implemented by GIZ, Expertise France, and FIAPP under the guidance of the AfCFTA Secretariat.

In this context, and in alignment with the support provided to AU Member States to advance the implementation of AfCFTA (Output 3), Expertise France is recruiting a mid-level Communication Specialist for the National Committee of AfCFTA in Côte d'Ivoire.

Since its establishment, the National Committee of the African Continental Free Trade Area (CN-ZLECAf) in Côte d'Ivoire has consistently organized various activities to popularize the AfCFTA Agreement. Both in the capital and across the country, it has regularly conducted awareness workshops, capacity-building sessions, university days on AfCFTA, national consultations, and other events for stakeholders. Despite these efforts, AfCFTA remains unfamiliar to many, especially the general public.

Given this situation, there is a need for a focused approach in deploying a communication strategy to stakeholders. This requires the expertise of professionals capable of identifying gaps and shortcomings in understanding this agreement and proposing solutions to address this situation, aiming to reach a broader audience.

Moreover, a major challenge for the Executive Secretariat is the low level of media relations. This gap is attributed to insufficient financial and technical resources to adequately support the communication team, which is currently understaffed considering the workload required for the effective visibility of the AfCFTA agreement in Côte d'Ivoire.

The communication expert will be responsible for strategic communication planning, ensuring clarity and coherence of messages, aligning them with objectives to intensify the popularization of the AfCFTA Agreement. This expert will ensure that the communication team members are effectively trained and motivated to achieve the objectives of the agreement's implementation in Côte d'Ivoire.