A Guide to starting and developing professional support and training institutions

For many years the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/WTO (ITC) has been involved through its projects with the creation and development of trade support and professional support institutions in developing and transition economy countries. These institutions cover an enormous range of specialities including: purchasing and logistics associations, quality and packaging institutes, benchmarking, product and industry federations, training institutes, non-government organisations and professional support bodies.

In the terminology of development agencies these institutions are referred to as "multipliers" because they partner with agencies to increase the impact of capacity development projects. Well-organised, motivated and efficient multiplier institutions are one of the greatest development assets an emerging economy can have.

ITC's work in this field revealed a wide-ranging need for management assistance for new, newly created and expanding institutions. Every developing organisation suffers growing pains and this Guide is intended to provide easily accessible and focused information to assist with their management and development from start-up to maturity. The Guide is targeted to professional support institutions with a special focus on Purchasing & Supply Management Associations.

We have incorporated practical examples from our own experience and reinforced them with templates, checklists, case studies, tips and references culled from ITC's own resources and from information freely available on the Internet. While we try to ensure accuracy, the views contained in this Guide relate to the general international agency environment and should not necessarily be taken as an official position of the ITC.