Consultant for the development of national Blockchain policy in Mauritania

Result of Service• The report prepared should be in Arabic in electronic format. • Minimum report submitted should not be less than 30 pages minimum. • The report must be supported by reliable figures and numbers. • A 2 to 4 pages executive summary of the report. • A recommendation section. The completed parts should be edited and saved in MS-Word (*.docx file) or an alternate compatible format. PDF format will not be accepted. It should include a table of contents to be automatically updated followed by a list of all tables and figures. The various parts should be submitted in electronic form and sent to the email address of the designated focal point. Attention is kindly drawn to the need to ensure that the final draft of the outputs be thoroughly reviewed prior to submission and to indicate the sources of tables and diagrams. References to reports and other substantive material should be clearly indicated within the text and noted at the end. It is also essential to send, with the completed output, photocopies or scans of at least the first page of books, reports and bulletins, used as reference material as well as copies of the pages quoted. The content of the generated document shall be the sole property of ESCWA. The content cannot and must not be presented, discussed or published by the consultant without the express authorization of ESCWA and MTNMA. The consultant shall keep in mind that UN-ESCWA routinely checks all deliverables for plagiarism, using readily available electronic tools. All previously published content, even if written by the selected consultant, must be clearly referenced where required within the text and end-noted at the end of the study. The report submitted by the consultant must not contain quoted and/or previously published text equalling more than 20 per cent of the total number of pages. The consultant shall not publish or announce or reveal the content of the report, partly or entirely, on social media or any other public channel, without ESCWA and MTNMA permission. Work LocationRemote Expected duration1.5 months Duties and ResponsibilitiesBackground: Blockchain technology, for many, is considered to be as revolutionary as the rise of the Internet and has been referred to as a new “trust machine” because of its ability to allow people to interact and conduct transactions even though they may not know each other or have a pre-existing trust-based relationship . Blockchain technology is a form of distributed ledger technology that acts as an open and trusted record (i.e., a list) of transactions from one party to another (or multiple parties) that is not stored by a central authority. Instead of a central authority maintaining a database, all nodes have a copy of the ledger and updates to a Blockchain ledger are propagated throughout the network in minutes or seconds. In these networks, a majority of nodes must review and validate a transaction before it can be verified and recorded. This way, nobody can tamper with the ledger, everyone can inspect it, and it can be trusted. For individual transactions, Blockchains use cryptography to keep transactions secure. Some Blockchain platforms allows for Smart Contracts, which are small computer programs that use a Blockchain for execution. Smart contracts enable the creation of self-executing contracts (or workflows) with the terms of the agreement between the parties being directly written into lines of software code. Smart contracts are automated “if/then” software programs that self-execute when a specific trigger occurs. The deployment of blockchain technology on national level will introduce some legal and technical challenges, depending on the current laws and regulations. For example, rules and laws insist on the absolute protection of such information, such as the EU’s right-to-be-forgotten principle in GDPR law, which need to be addressed to be compatible with this technology. The United Nations is involved in enhancing the use of emerging technologies for sustainable development. In September 2024 during the Summit of the Future, world leaders adopted the Pact for the Future and its annexes: the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and Declaration on Future Generations. The GDC mandates UN Regional Commissions to provide support to Member States to advance digital transformation. To fully benefit from the vast opportunities made available by this technology, Arab countries need to develop their national policies to meet the requirements that were brought forth by the digital age. Most recently, the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Modernization of Adminstration (MTNMA) in Mauritania requested UN-ESCWA’s assistance to develop the national policy for blockchain. The provision of this advisory service is the subject of these terms of reference. Duties and Responsibilities: The consultant shall propose to the designated ESCWA focal point a detailed version of the report outline. The proposed report should include the following sections: (1) Review best regional and international practices on Blockchain policies, strategies and frameworks (at least 2 international and 2 regional practices); (2) Analyse the different existing policies and frameworks related to digital technologies in Mauritania; (3) Conduct interviews with the various stakeholders and summarize their remarks and observations, including representatives of local communities and small businesses to better capture the needs of all segments of society; (4) Suggest the needed national policy in Mauritania based on gap analysis (SWOT), national needs, and best practices. ESCWA promotes gender equality and integration of youth through its publications and therefore the consultant should pay attention, with the help of ESCWA staff, to gender considerations and youth dimension throughout the research work and thereby ensure that the narrative language should be gender sensitive. Qualifications/special skillsA master's degree in technology or a related field is required; a Ph.D. is desirable. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. At least 5 years of experience and research in digital technologies is required. A concrete knowledge in the domain of blockchain regulation is desirable. LanguagesEnglish and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in Arabic is required. Fluency in French or English is desirable. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas. Additional InformationNot available. No FeeTHE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.