Rwanda

<p>The SheTrades Rwanda project aims to increase the competitiveness of women owned businesses<!--[if !supportAnnotations]--><a href="#_msocom_1" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_1"></a><a href="#_msocom_2" language="JavaScript" name="_msoanchor_2"></a><!--[endif]--> in Rwanda and connect them to markets. The project will reach its objective by:</p><ul type="disc"><li>improving the business support ecosystem to support the growth of women&apos;s economic empowerment initiatives and activities;</li><li>increasing the competitiveness of women owned businesses in the coffee and horticulture sectors;</li><li>increasing business-linkage opportunities for women owned businesses in the coffee and horticulture sectors.</li></ul><p>The project is funded by the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) from September 2020 - February 2022.</p><p><a href="#_msoanchor_1"></a><!--[endif]--></p><p><a href="javascript%3Avoid(0)" title="double click to edit"></a></p>

<p>The SheTrades Coffee project contributes directly to the Empowering Women to Trade (EWT) Programme, which delivers on ITC&rsquo;s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Global Goal 5 (achieving gender equality and empowering women) and Global Goal 8 (inclusive and sustainable economic growth) through delivering results via one of ITC&rsquo;s key initiatives &ndash; SheTrades. The SheTrades initiative is a key initiative under ITC`s Inclusive and Sustainable Trade focus area (5). This project contributes to this key initiative through providing training and market opportunities to women entrepreneurs to help them benefit directly from trade.</p><p>The objective of the SheTrades Coffee project is to to increase the participation in trade of women entrepreneurs in the Ethiopian and Rwandan coffee sectors, continuing on from the 2018 SheTrades Coffee project. Responding directly to the EWT Theory of Change (ToC) and programme outcome of increasing the participation of women entrepreneurs in international trade, the SheTrades Coffee project will increase the skills and capabilities of women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia and Rwanda through improving coffee production, processing, quality, strengthening coffee associations, and establishing long-term relationships with partners and buyers.&nbsp;</p><p>During 2018, the flow of implementation of project activities was significantly impacted because of a change in management personnel with the project partner. The new managers changed the overall approach to the way they worked which meant there were some positive adjustments necessary to the project implementation; the time taken for the necessary discussions with the project partner for the adjustments, meant the full target numbers of farmers could not be reached before the end of the project time frame. The approach agreed upon was to:&nbsp;</p><ol start="1" type="1"><li>Select washing stations and conduct a baseline survey / needs assessment of the stations themselves and supplier / farmers</li><li>Register farmers and create Producer Organisations, with emphasis on empowerment of women</li><li>Build the capacity of the partner washing stations, working with farming families on gender empowerment and put in place internal control systems (ICS) as a pre-cursor to certification.</li></ol><p>Steps 1 and 2 were reached before the end of 2018, however it became necessary to extend the completion milestone for point 3 into 2019. This work complements similar, broader work that will be delivered in Rwanda under the MARKUP project from 2019 onwards.&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>

<p>Supporting Indian Trade and Investment for Africa (SITA) is a South-South Trade and Investment Cooperation Programme. It is the United Kingdom&rsquo;s (FCDO) first Aid-for-Trade initiative in Triangular Cooperation. Implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC), SITA has facilitated USD 60 million of additional trade and USD 111 million of investment between SMEs in India and five East African countries &ndash; Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. SITA delivers durable impact by developing productive and technical capacities, generating jobs, enabling technology and knowledge transfer, and creating networks between business support institutions. The programme focuses on empowering women and youth in sectors as diverse as high-value agriculture and light manufacturing, while environmental compliance and climate-smart practices underpin SITA&rsquo;s economic outcomes.</p>

<p>The Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP) is a regional initiative aiming at improving market access to the European Union (EU) and the East African region for five East Africa Community (EAC) partner countries - Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda - agro-industrial crop and horticultural sectors. MARKUP is funded by the EU 11th European Development Fund over the period 2018-2022. The Program will be implemented by various partners, including ITC, GIZ, UNIDO and other partners that will be selected by the EAC Partner States. &nbsp;The intervention of ITC will entail the implementation of the activities to improve product quality compliance, value addition, access to finance and business promotion as well as business advocacy to facilitate trade in the EAC region.&nbsp;</p><p><a name="_ftn7" title="" href="#_ftnref7"></a></p><p><a name="_ftn7" title="" href="#_ftnref7"></a></p>