Recently implemented projects or projects under implementation:
Bangladesh: "Bangladesh Leather Service Centre (BLSC) for Export Development" - Donor: Government of Italy
The project took shape and momentum following the 2000 Roundtable of the Integrated Framework, during which the leather industry was identified as a priority area for export diversification.Leather was also identified as a"thrust sector" in successive Bangladeshi national export policies. Upon a request from the business sector at anational sectoral symposium organized by ITC in Dhaka in 2004,in cooperation with the industry and the Government, the "Bangladesh Leather Service Centre (BLSC)" was established and the skills of the service providers were developed. It has subsequently become the central support hub for the whole sector. The BLSC covers training, quality testing and certification, quality management, product design and development, marketing and promotion, and finance support schemes for underprivileged micro entrepreneurs and artisanal communities (see the Advisory Services and Training chapters above).
ITC's leather activities within the PACT II project (Programme for building African Capacity for Trade) were designed based on a complete value chain analysis, resulting in a COMESA regional leather strategy. This strategywas approved and adopted by the Council of Ministers in November 2011 in Lilongwe, Malawi.
A supply and demand survey was conducted in seven COMESA countries and officially presented at sixnational dissemination workshops held in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan. PACT II provided support and financing for SMEs from the COMESA region toparticipateatthe All African Leather Fair held in March 2011 in Nairobi, Kenya, where stakeholders reported business for US$ 2 million.
Business tours to India and Italy generated business worth approximately US$ 5.5 million. Thesehaveproven to be sustainable, as 14 months after the travels were organized, total business reported reached almost US$ 10 million.
Through PACT II, direct contacts were established between COMESA stakeholders and overseas buyers. Technical collaboration was initiated through technology transfer, awareness building of effluent treatment, opening of channels for the purchase of machines and chemicals. An important result of the direct contact between SMEs from the COMESA regionand suppliers was the creation of a bonded warehouse in Ethiopia for the import of chemicals for distribution to tanners. The last significant activity was the organization in September 2012 of a South-South Investor's Forum in Nairobi where five SMEs from Indonesia and India discussed in direct meetings with 19 colleagues from Kenya, Uganda and Sudan the possibilities of direct investment, technical, financial and marketing collaboration. This process is still on-going.
ITC interventions in Chad were multiple and covered the whole value chain. Hide and skin-quality improvement were implemented through training and the installation of a locally made mechanical flaying devise (SFF - static flaying frame), as well as the distribution of locally produced professional flaying knives.
In collaboration with the local association of butchers a pilot was launched to transform a slaughter slab into a mini abattoir, aiming at hide and quality improvement, which has an additional benefit food safety.
Better conservation techniques were introduced and discussions have been initiated with the Government of Chad for the construction of tanneries.
In close collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Trade Promotion (ICE) and the Italian association of tannery and footwear machine producers, a complete production line for shoe manufacture has been provided to Chad, and Chadian artisans will shortly be trained in design, development and production techniques in order to be able to produces shoes locally.
Fiji: Strengthening of capacities and services in the agri food sector - Donor: European Union
ITC has recently launched a project in Fiji that seeks tocreate alternative employment opportunities for seasonal sugarcane workers and unemployed people. Toads, which are perceived as a pest due to the lack of predators and populate the islands in the tens of millions, are turned into a useful product.
People living rural areas were trained in the production of leather from toad skins, which are an abundant renewable and sustainable local resource in full respect of the environment. The experiment was positively judged by the European Union and inserted in a livestock project that will be launched in Fiji in 2013. The experiment shows ITC's unique capability to generate niche products that have an important local impact.
Global: Pythons - A Review of the Trade in South-East Asian Python Skins - Sponsor: the Government of Denmark.
ITC developed in close collaboration with CITES, TRAFFIC and IUCN a technical paper, The Trade in South-East Asian Python Skins, which focuses on the five most traded species of pythons. This was a first-time approach to research the trade flow from the hunters in rural areas in the region, to the high-end fashion houses in Europe. Subjects such as animal welfare, sustainability and the legality of the trade are extensively discussed in the paper, as well as the feasibility of breeding pythons in captivity.