What is Discover?

A diagnostic and action planning tool and training package for trade support organisations. It is designed to help businesses to analyse their current trade performance, diagnose problems, identify opportunities for value addition, develop prioritised action plans and organise their implementation. It has been used for many types of value chain analyses such as opportunities and requirements for implementing e-trade, disaster recovery planning, demographics and trade risk analysis. 

Discover is suitable for groups of up to 80 participants at a time and can be delivered in any language. It works equally well for products or services sectors. ITC trains a counterpart in its use provides distance coaching in its application.

How does it work?

A country trade support organisation compiles and analyses the requirements of target markets, government agencies, buyers, exporters and the business environment. The results are presented in templates provided in the Discover tool.

In a 2-day workshop, co-facilitated by ITC and country counterpart organisation -business community, government agency and trade support organisation stakeholders from all stages in a value chain are brought together. They use their experience, information prepared in advance and ITC techniques to map their value chains, evaluate gaps between performance and market requirements, formulate prioritised action plans, resource needs and implementation progress indicators.

How long does it take?

Approximately 2 months from start to finish to prepare the information, deliver the 2-day workshop, complete a report and agree an implementation framework.

How is it delivered?

Discover is transferred to a country counterpart under a usage agreement between ITC and the counterpart organisation. The package includes: The Discover handbook, 1 ITC mission, distance process coaching through the support helpdesk and access to sector information. The handbook contains templates, checklists, examples and delivery tips and access for up to one year to the process helpdesk at ITC, data backup, periodic materials updates and examples from other sectors. The counterpart organisation is responsible for translation of the materials into the working language of the participants.

What are the Outputs?

A short diagnostic report, prioritised action plans and an implementation framework.

What are the cost components?

Cost elements include: ITC specialist time and return travel from Geneva, the Discover materials & distance support for up to one year. A small annual fee is required to prolong, beyond the initial 12 months, ITC distance coaching, data backup and access to examples from other sectors.