Côte d'Ivoire

<p>The German government initiative &nbsp;&quot;Alliance for Product Quality in Africa&quot;, is a multi-stakeholder initiative, consisting of public and private actors who implement selected projects with the goal to improve product quality in key economic sectors of eight African countries. ITC is contracted by GIZ to &nbsp;implement four project activities related to quality management and food safety in five countries (C&ocirc;te d&apos;Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda and Tunisia). The four project activities are being implemented to support selected African small and medium sized companies in the targeted focus sectors to meet quality requirements of buyers in Germany and Europe. The ITC contribution relates to the implementation and certification of quality management (ISO 9001) and food safety systems (HACCP), the assessment of persisting SPS and TBT related obstacles for export, the development of national quality and food safety experts as well as the sensitization and training of quality manager in SMEs. The sectors targeted are predominantly agro-food, natural cosmetics and textiles/clothing.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p>

<p>Poor Communities and Trade Programme (PCTP), at the International Trade Centre (ITC), aims to reduce global poverty by strengthening the capacities of developing country micro-entrepreneurs, social enterprises and emerging designers for export trade, in order to connect them with international buyers, in the value chain of ethical fashion, through an inclusive business model.</p><p>PCTP provides technical expertise and business support to informal micro-enterprises and to emerging designers, through a business support infrastructure (based on hubs managed by social enterprises) that enables them to acquire capacities to set up and manage production and quality control systems, logistics and supply chain management, market identification and buyer negotiation skills. This market-based approach to poverty reduction provides micro-entrepreneurs form the informal sector (for the majority women) &nbsp;with the direct benefits of trade by creating jobs and facilitating business opportunities resulting in increased incomes, improved livelihoods and new linkages to the formal economy.</p><p>Within its social enterprises around the world, ITC&rsquo;s Ethical Fashion Initiative (EFI) in <u><strong>2019&nbsp;</strong>focus on the following deliverables<strong>:</strong></u></p><ul><li><strong><strong>Living wage assessments are carried out in 8 project countries</strong></strong></li><li><strong>African Fashion Fund in collaboration with the Ethical Fashion Initiative&nbsp;</strong></li><li><strong><strong>New business model, based on online trade is developed and launched</strong></strong></li><li><strong>Events in coordination with the UN Alliance for Sustainable Fashion are organised</strong></li><li><strong>Generating awareness on the impacts of climate change and conflicts affecting livelihoods of people in selected project countrie</strong></li></ul><p><strong><u>In 2020</u></strong> the Initiative will focus on the following deliverables:</p><p><span style="font-weight: 700;"><strong>Output 3.1: Accelerator launched with six African designers 4 of which are from countries not involved in the existing project frameworks of the EFI (expansion of EFI&rsquo;s network and creation of new opportunities for intra-African trade).&nbsp;</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 700;">Output 3.2: <strong>Eritrea project framework tested through preliminary activities, designed and submitted&nbsp;</strong></span></p><p>In 2021</p>

<p><span lang="EN-GB">ITC and CBI have been cooperating for decades. This cooperation led to a series of sector development programmes under the Netherlands Trust Fund (NTF) since 2005. The current project is part of the NTF V programme funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands and implemented in close coordination with the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI).</span></p><p><span lang="EN-GB">The NTF V programme was approved in July 2021 and will run until June 2025. Its ambition is to contribute to building back better in the partner countries with a focus on creating a link between MSMEs in the digital technologies with a focus on agritech. To this end, agritech start-ups will be supported to improve their understanding of agribusinesses&rsquo; needs, to gain more agribusinesses partners, and, in some instances, to help digitalize agribusinesses.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span lang="EN-GB">Project activities will foster business-friendly tech ecosystems, strengthen business support organizations such as tech hubs and equip tech start-ups with resilient business models, linking them to business, partnership and investment opportunities while contributing to the digitalization of traditional SMEs in other sectors.</span></p><p><span lang="EN-GB">Benin, C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, Mali and Uganda are part of the targeted countries for NTF V. NTF V Multi-country Tech will build on the work initiated under NTF IV&rsquo;s spin-off #FastTrackTech Africa and NTF IV Uganda. The project aims at contributing to the creation of sustainable jobs in the digital technologies sector and the modernisation of agribusiness through digital technologies.&nbsp;</span></p>

<p>The overall objective of the proposed project is to attract investment and promote trade and sustainable industrial and business development at continental level, concretely supporting the AfCFTA Secretariat and the African Union and delivering on the Africa-EU partnership for sustainable growth and jobs.&nbsp;</p><p>The project contributes to this objective by</p><ul><li>identifying trade and investment opportunities along regional value chains with potential at continental scale in Africa, including potential for investment by EU economic operators;</li><li>Strengthening the EU-Africa dialogue on trade and economic integration, informing high-level events such as the upcoming AU-EU Summit and European- African Business Forum (EABF)</li><li>identifying pilot/selected continental value chains that could be targeted for support in the EU 2021-27 aid programming exercise.</li></ul><p>It supports the implementation of the AfCFTA and ITC&apos;s One Trade Africa Initiative.</p>

<p>Pour le kit didactique, l&apos;ITC s&apos;appuiera sur un consultant sp&eacute;cialiste de la chaine de valeur de la tomate au s&eacute;n&eacute;gal qui d&eacute;veloppera avec les experts ITC le contenu du kit sur la base de consultations men&eacute;es avec les differents acteurs. La vid&eacute;o et le livret sera ensuite r&eacute;alis&eacute; par une entreprise de r&eacute;alisation de film.</p><p>Le guide de p&eacute;n&eacute;tration sera d&eacute;velopp&eacute; avec l&apos;appui de consultants nationaux charg&eacute;s d&apos;identifier les proc&eacute;dures et les r&eacute;gles pour exporter vers le march&eacute; am&eacute;ricain sous le r&acute;&euro;gime am&eacute;ricain. Un consultant am&eacute;ricain sera recrut&eacute; en parall&egrave;le pour identifier les circuits de distribution des produits s&eacute;lectionn&eacute;s.</p>

<p><span data-contrast="none">ITC&rsquo;s trade and market intelligence interventions in the 24 UK Trade Partnerships Programme countries will consist of several interrelated components</span><span data-contrast="none">&nbsp;</span><span data-contrast="none">to foster transparency and &nbsp;enhanced access</span><span data-contrast="none">&nbsp;to information on trade opportunities and market access requirements <span data-contrast="none">for small and medium</span><span data-contrast="none">-</span><span data-contrast="none">sized e</span><span data-contrast="none">nterprises</span></span><span data-contrast="none" lang="EN-US">. This will be done</span><span data-contrast="none">&nbsp;through</span><span data-contrast="none" lang="EN-US">&nbsp;data</span><span data-contrast="none">?sharing, capacity building, and</span><span data-contrast="none" lang="EN-US">&nbsp;the</span><span data-contrast="none">?setting up of&nbsp;</span><span data-contrast="none" lang="EN-US">trade&nbsp;</span><span data-contrast="none">obstacle?alert mechanisms.</span></p>

<p>ITC will contribute to an improved job potential through the generation of investment leads with European investors interested in investing into the partner countries of the Special Initiative (SI) for Training and Job Creation, which has been initiated by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).</p><p>The overall objective of this project is to bring in non-financial European company investors into a joint project development process aiming to mobilize and to support the realization of private investment in the partner countries of the SI in order to create jobs. These investor companies aim to create sustainable jobs through green and brownfield investments in the target countries. The investment leads faciliated should have a particular potential to create jobs for women and youth.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This project document proposes the establishment and piloting of a blended, non-accredited, vocational and practical training programme concentrated around the fundamentals of exporting and the opportunities resulting from the AfCFTA. This curriculum will be developed by the SME Trade Academy in collaboration with the Afreximbank.</p><p>Local partners, such as trade training institutions will provide support in implementation of the pilot programme in three countries, namely Nigeria, Rwanda and C&ocirc;te d&apos;Ivoire.</p><p>The pilot will involve building local partners&rsquo; capacity to market the training and conduct sessions on a continuous basis, localizing the offering for each national context.</p><p>An <strong><span style="color: rgb(184, 49, 47);">expansion phase</span></strong> has been added to the project involving a further 12 countries. The online training will be opened to all African countries.</p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:#333333;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>The International Trade Centre&rsquo;s #FastTrackTech project is harnessing the transformative power of the digital economy to generate jobs and contribute to the economic growth and productivity in seven African countries.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:#333333;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>ITC is working with tech startups and digital entrepreneurs in Benin, C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia, equipping them with digital and managerial skills as they establish their businesses, grow, and export their services.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:#333333;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>Digital entrepreneurs across the continent are accelerating the digital transformation of Africa, a key driver to strengthening economies and implementing Sustainable Development Goals such as quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth. Successful digital entrepreneurship also benefits young innovators and helps close the digital gender gap.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span lang="EN-GB" style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:#333333;mso-ansi-language: EN-GB'>#FastTrackTech works with local tech hubs to build tech start-ups&rsquo; capacity to scale their business and equip aspiring entrepreneurs with digital skills. The project started in 2019 and is expected to continue in 2022-2023 with a stronger emphasis on policy change, digitalization of traditional sectors, ecosystem coordination, and an increased focus on high-potential startups.</span></p><p><br></p>