Terms of Reference for a Textile and Garment Expert

Location: Addis Ababa

Deadline: Sep 30, 2022

Job Description

   BACKGROUND

BRIDGES is a five-year programme (2019-2024) that aims to create employment opportunities for young women and men by unlocking the job creation potential of industrial parks, large enterprises as well as micro, small and medium enterprises.

With Ethiopia’s labour force expanding by two million each year, BRIDGES seeks to contribute toward the country’s efforts of creating highly productive and decent jobs for its young population by direct job creation within factories, as well as creating employment opportunities in micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The result of these efforts will be the creation of jobs for more than 600,000 young people.

BRIDGES is a Mastercard Foundation – Young Africa Works initiative implemented by First Consult. First Consult is the leading development consulting organization in Ethiopia implementing economic development projects. Founded in 2006, First Consult has grown to design and implement projects across the agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors. Our multidisciplinary teams combine a capacity to execute with a clarity of the local context. We have delivered at-scale real impact in terms of jobs & wealth creation, business formation & growth, and investment attraction & mobilization.

BACKGROUND SPECIFIC TO THIS ASSIGNMENT

Ethiopia’s garment sector currently spends close to USD 658 million in imports while only close to $200 million is earned in exports per annum. Although the number of medium and large size manufacturers has reached more than 300, the import deficit is increasing from year to year. Recognizing the potential of the domestic textile and garment industry, the government has recently passed a decision for most of the government garment purchases to be made locally. This includes school and government institutions’ uniforms, clothing and accessories. This opportunity has the potential to develop the supply chain in the sector including the supply of fiber, thread, fabric, garment and garment accessories manufacturing.

While this move by the government – called ‘Ethiopia Tamrit’ – presents a very good opportunity for the sector and its actors, it also means that there is a wide range of support and development activities that must be carried out to support local manufacturers to be able to take on these large orders.

The BRIDGES Programme intends to support this initiative by availing the required technical support to manufacturers as well as supporting the overall coordination process in partnership with the Ministry of Industry together with its allied organs, namely the Manufacturing Industry Development Institute (MIDI) as well as Ethiopian Enterprise Development (EED).

  DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES  

BRIDGES is seeking to hire a textile and garment expert to provide technical guidance and support to technical committee as well as work in close coordination with manufacturers in quality assurance and to identifying gaps.

  1. Identify types of products demanded from buyers as well as technical requirements/specifications,
  2. Conduct rapid firm-level capacity assessment,
  3. Shortlist manufacturing firms with the closest capacity to deliver on the project for selection by Steering Committee,
  4. Identify technical and managerial gaps of individual firms,
  5. Identify machinery/equipment gaps of individual firms,
  6. Identify supply chain actors for inputs and services and backward linkage,
  7. Provide on-job and on-site training and coaching support,
  8. Follow-up progress on orders placed, delivery timeline, quality assurance,
  9. Report to the working group and Steering Committee.

 

Job Requirements

The ideal candidate is expected to have:

1.     A MSc degree or above in textile engineering, industrial engineering or related fields and at least five years of relevant work experience,

2.     Proven experience working in textile and garment manufacturing,

3.     Strong program coordination and communication skills,

4.     Knowledge of the key actors (both private sector and government) in the linkage area being proposed.

How to Apply

Applicants should email their CV with a cover letter to wlucho@firstconsultet.com with the relevant information no later than 5:30 PM before or on September 30, 2022. The subject of the email should read “Textile and Garment Expert”. For any queries relating to this assignment, please contact Wakjira Lucho at wlucho@firstconsultet.com no later than 5:30 PM on September 25, 2022.

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