The Common Market is the second regional Integration milestone of the East African Community (EAC), which has been in force since 2010, in line with the provisions of the EAC Treaty. It follows the Customs Union, which became fully-fledged in January 2010.
Even with market access commitments in professional service markets, lack of recognition of foreign qualifications and experience act as a core impediment to trade in professional services, hindering the free movement of professionals across borders either in their capacity as individuals or as professional firms.
The signed Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) by the four countries, which include Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania, are one step closer to alleviate the challenge mentioned above. The MRAs cover the professional Accountants, Architects, Engineers, and Veterinarians in the countries mentioned earlier. Engineering services, like any other trade in professional services, are often conducted via the movement of individuals to supply the services.
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Tanzania has signed an agreement with EAC Secretariat to implement together a project called "Digitalisation for East African Trade and Integration (DIGEAT)". The project's main objective is to simplify cross-border access to the labour markets in the EAC partner states for engineers.
DIGEAT will pilot the digital operationalisation of the MRAs. A baseline study will help us understand the current bottlenecks of the cross-border movement of engineers and the readiness of the countries that have signed MRAs to embark on its implementation. DIGEAT will serve as a best practice for the mobility of more professions.
Therefore, GIZ Tanzania/EAC is inviting interested and capable individual consultants from EAC partner states to tender for this project. The consultant must have a strong network and demonstrate the necessary resources to complete the task successfully.
Interested candidates should request for detailed tender documents from giz-tanzania@giz.de no later than 3rd April 2023 and submit technical and financial proposals by email no later than 7th April 2023.