| Approval Date | 25 Jan 2022 |
| Signature Date | 09 Aug 2022 |
| Planned Completion Date | 30 Jun 2024 |
| Last Disbursement Planned Date | 30 Jun 2024 |
| Sovereign / Non-Sovereign | Sovereign |
| Sector | Multi-Sector |
| DAC Sector Code | 11330 |
| Environmental Category | 3 |
| Commitment | U.A 2,200,000 |
| Status | Approved |
The proposed project aims to provide technical assistance and capacity building to the national agencies for trade, SME and investment promotion and SME in 4 transition countries, namely Burundi, Comoros, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia. The support intends to address human and institutional capacity gaps in the optimisation of AfCFTA participation by SMEs and engender the streamlining, digitalization and automation of information and services across all related national agencies in the trade regulation chain. The expected outputs for the 4 target countries are: (i) gender sensitive assessment of regional trade readiness; (ii)updated institutional/regulatory framework; (ii)strengthened capacity for SMEs and national agencies on important trade and investment themes such as standards and quality (sanitary and phytosanitary) and AfCFTA trading and engagement;(iii)coordinated trade and investment promotion strategy that is gender responsive across the national agencies for trade, SME and investment promotion through inter-agency cooperation;(iv)established Trade & Investment Observatory & Monitoring software, and centralisation of information collection/sharing across agencies in the target countries; (v)strengthened capacity for the IPA in Burundi. The estimated total cost of the project is UA 2.2 million financed wholly under the TSF Pillar III support. It is scheduled for implementation over a period of 24 months from January 2022 to December 2023.
The objective of the project is to develop the private sector of the target countries and improve their regional trade volumes and revenues. It will strengthen the business enabling environment by deploying reforms to facilitate business entry and operation, facilitate strategic public investments to improve competitiveness and private investments, support SMEs and entrepreneurs and build the capacity of public institutions and private sector operators. In particular, the project aims to support through gender-responsive technical assistance and capacity building, SMEs, their regulators and other private sector actors in Burundi, Comoros, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia towards AfCFTA participation and optimization.
The direct beneficiaries are (1) the respective National agencies for Trade, SME development, and investment promotion and SMEs in the four countries; (2) Other relevant ministries and government bodies, local private and public enterprises, and associations; (3) The people of Sierra Leone, Comoros, Burundi and The Gambia, through increased trade revenues, enhanced employment, women’s economic empowerment and wealth-creating opportunities. The project will be executed by a Project team based in the Bank’s Headquarters, supported by the respective Country teams and the International Consultancy Firm. Where components entail training (Component 2), at least 40% of the participants shall be women.
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Funding
Fragile States Facility
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Implementing
African Development Bank
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| IATI identifier | 46002-P-Z1-K00-125 |
| Last Update | 06 Feb 2023 |
| Name | EREMUTHA Mena Majiri |
| m.eremutha@afdb.org |
| Country | Multinational |
| Coordinates | Location Name |
|---|---|
| -3.3822 29.3644 | Bujumbura |
| -11.7022 43.2551 | Moroni |
| 8.45774 -13.23714 | Freetown |
| 13.4527 -16.578 | Banjul |