Louis A Gitinywa is a law consultant within the Strategic Investment Unit at Cabinet Karangwa & Associés. He is involved in advising both local and international clients on investments, regulations, and a range of transactional and court litigation related, in particular, to trade matters. Previously, he worked as a Public Prosecutor in Rwanda National Public Prosecution Authority. He is a member of the Rwandan Bar Association, the East African Law Society (EALS), and is also a tralac network member. He holds an LLM in Trade and Regional Integration from the University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD-Nyanza), Rwanda.

Obert Bore is a legal researcher at the Centre for Applied Legal Research in Harare. He holds a Master of Laws (LLM) degree (cum laude) in International Trade Law from the University of Cape Town and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree (cum laude) from the University of Venda. His research areas include international trade law, regional integration, competition law, Sino-African investments and regional dispute settlement. Obert is also a tralac alumnus.

Michael Lawrence is an Executive Director of The National Clothing Retail Federation (NCRF) as well as M&M Consulting. He holds a Bachelor of  Science degree from the University of Cape Town (with Actuarial Subjects included). He is a self-motivated Executive Manager with a wide range of entrepreneurial and operational experience. His interests are in developing businesses that are well rooted in the soil of Africa and able to grow anywhere on the globe.

Ndiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati is Chief Executive Officer, Namibia Trade Forum. Before joining NTF in April 2014, she was a lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Namibia and an advisor at the Agricultural Trade Forum of Namibia. She holds a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Sydney, Australia. She is a guest author on the tralacBlog, writing in her personal capacity.

Maria Immanuel is young professional from Namibia. She currently works as the Professional Assistant to the Presidential Advisors in the Office of the President. On her spare times, she’s an entrepreneur, a mentor and musician. She is passionate about education and hosts Entrepreneurship Masterclass to young aspiring entrepreneurs to teach them basic skills on starting a business and understanding the economy. She holds a degree in Agricultural Economics at the University of Namibia and Master’s Degree in International Trade Law and Policy at the Graduate Business School of the University of Cape Town in collaboration with tralac. She writes in her own capacity and her views do not represent those of her employer.

Ms Treasure Thembisile Maphanga is Director for Trade and Industry at the African Union Commission (AUC) in Addis Ababa. She joined the AUC in April 2012 and is engaged in trade policy and industrial development at the Pan-African level under the auspices of the policy organs of the African Union. She is a guest author on the tralacBlog, writing in her personal capacity.

Abrie du Plessis studied law at the University of Stellenbosch where he completed his BA (Law) and LLB degrees. He started his career in the South African Department of Justice, but soon returned to teach mostly Private Law at the University of Stellenbosch. In 1993 he joined a South African-based multinational company as an Intellectual Property Practitioner. From 1995 his main focus was Regulatory Affairs and he spent several years in this role in South Africa before moving on to London in 2002, after which he mostly advised on various aspects of Public International Law. In 2009 he moved to Brussels with an added role relating to European Union Law.

Request for Expression of Interest

Terms of Reference

1. Background

The Trade Law Centre (tralac), a trade-related capacity building organisation based in South Africa, has received core funding support from the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida), in terms of Contribution No. 51050073. This Contribution is to support the implementation of tralac’s 5-year strategy (March 2015 – February 2020). This request is for an Expression of Interest to conduct a mid-term evaluation of the 5-year Contribution by Sweden to tralac. Short-listed candidates will be asked to prepare a tender proposal.

2. Purpose of the evaluation

The purpose of the evaluation is to make a mid-term evaluation to assess the effectiveness of the support to tralac, in terms of the five standard evaluation criteria of OECD/DACA (see the OECD/DAC Glossary for definitions), to determine its relevance, effectiveness, impact, efficiency and sustainability.

• Effectiveness – to what extent has the Contribution assisted to achieve tralac’s strategic and specific objectives; what factors (internal and external) have influenced the achievement of these objectives

• Relevance – have tralac’s programmes and interventions addressed the needs and priorities of the target groups, so as to achieve the organisation’s objectives?

• Impact – what has been the impact of tralac’s programmes and interventions?

• Sustainability – what are risks and challenges to sustainability and how can these be addressed?

• Efficiency – assess the cost effectiveness of tralac’s programmes and interventions.

The evaluation should also assess overall programme and intervention design, delivery methodology, lessons learned and how these could inform tralac’s future strategy.

3. Stakeholder involvement

The evaluation will include engagement of stakeholders and beneficiaries of tralac’s programmes; interviews as well as questionnaires to gather information are required. Travel in the region may be required, subject to discussion with tralac/Government of Sweden.

4. Recommendations and lessons

Based on the findings of the evaluation and taking into account similar capacity building organisations and initiatives in the eastern and southern African region, the evaluator shall formulate recommendations and lessons regarding tralac’s strategy, programmes and interventions. The recommendations may be related to the implementation of the second phase of the Contribution, as well as possible future support to tralac.

5. Methodology

The evaluator is required to provide a clear methodology for the conduct of the mid-term evaluation; which should include but not be limited to the review of reports, minutes of annual review meetings, audit reports, as well as general correspondence related to activities and outputs, as well as engagement with stakeholders and beneficiaries. Interviews and/or questionnaires should be used.

The evaluator should demonstrate a clear understanding of the evaluation criteria.

6. Workplan and time schedule

The evaluation is to be conducted during the period 23 October – 20 December 2017.

The time schedule is as follows:

1. Work will commence on 23 October 2017

2. A complete draft report is to be submitted to tralac and the Embassy of Sweden, Lusaka, Zambia by 4 December (a verbal presentation of the draft report may be required)

3. Feedback will be provided by 8 December

4. A final report will be submitted to tralac and the Embassy of Sweden as above, in PDF-format, by 20 December.

7. The Consultant

The Consultant shall have demonstrated competence and experience according to OECD/DAC and Government of Sweden’s evaluation standards, and will have experience in trade-related areas, as well as financial management and reporting to donor agencies. Knowledge of and work experience in trade-related matters in Africa, especially eastern and southern Africa is required.

8. Roles and responsibilities

tralac/Government of Sweden will assist the consultant to establish contacts with relevant stakeholders and beneficiaries, and provide documentation related to the programme to be evaluated.

The consultant will have the full responsibility for the implementation of the evaluation, and the preparation of the evaluation report, in line with to the principles of independence and impartiality.

9. Reporting requirements

The consultant is expected to prepare the draft and final reports, to meet the standards of the OECD/DAC.

The methodology, draft and final reports are to be submitted electronically (contact details will be provided on award of the contract), in Word format.

A verbal presentation of the draft report, in Stellenbosch, South Africa, may be required.

Two electronic copies (one in word and one in pdf) of the draft and final evaluation report will be submitted to:

• tralac: Trudi Hartzenberg (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Executive Director, tralac

• Representative for Sida: Ms. Eva Bursvik (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), Counsellor, Programme Manager, Regional Cooperation: Trade and Economic Integration, Embassy of Sweden, Lusaka, Zambia

10. Submission of Expression of Interest

Interested consultants are invited to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to tralac (via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by 12:00 (UTC+ 02:00) on Monday 2 October 2017.

The EOI should include evidence of competence and experience for this evaluation, brief notes on methodology to be adopted, a summary budget, and brief details of key expert/s who will be assigned to the evaluation (max 2500 words).

tralac will select a short-list of consultants who will be invited to submit a detailed tender for the evaluation (including methodology). Short-listed consultants will be notified on Wednesday, 4 October by 16:00 (UTC+02:00).

Download:  pdf tralac Mid-term Evaluation 2017: Request for EOI (421 KB)

Anton Faul is Senior Trade Advisor at the Namibian Agricultural Trade Forum. Prior to this, he served as Director: Trade Negotiations, Policy Development and Research at the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Secretariat, a position he held for 12 years. From 1997-2005 he was Chief Economist at the Ministry of Agriculture in the Namibian Government. He was a member of the Namibian Trade Negotiating Team, responsible for agricultural market access and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures. His specific interests and experience covers, inter alia, regional integration, trade negotiations and trade and tariff policy matters, agricultural economics and SPS measures.

John Stuart is an economist and policy analyst with special interests in trade, economic integration, technology & ICT and economic modelling. He began his career in academia at Rhodes University and later the University of Cape Town, after which he entered private consulting first with AFReC (Pty) Ltd and subsequently with management consultancy PBS (Pty) Ltd, where he served as Chief Operations Officer. Following his time at PBS he created agri-tech startup AgriDrone, one of the first UAV startups in Africa. He has subsequently researched and written extensively for tralac and also consulted to various organisations including the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the OECD. He holds an M. Com degree in Economics from the University of Natal (Durban).

Please note that tralac’s offices will close on Wednesday, 20 December 2023 and will reopen on Thursday, 4 January 2024.

Independent Economist (Zimbabwe)