.jpg?n=5712 "JITAP,")
One of ITC’s main technical assistance initiatives in the mid-nineties was the Joint Technical Assistance Programme (JITAP), a US$ 28 million-initiative that assisted 16 countries over a decade. The inception of JITAP was a response to the African Trade Ministers’ conference held in Tunis in 1996 that requested intense technical assistance from developing partners, to help African countries and their institutions and business communities (i) to better understand the WTO agreements, (ii) to more efficiently participate in the upcoming trade negotiations; (iii) to adapt to the legal exigencies of the emerging Multilateral Trading System, and (iv) to effectively reap due benefits from the then expected liberalization of international markets. After involving WTO and UNCTAD in the design of the programme, and mobilizing several donors in its funding, JITAP became the first multi-agency, multi-donor, multi-country trade-related technical assistance programme, fully dedicated to building capacity of African countries on the Multilateral Trading System.
The initial phase started in 1998 by assisting Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Tunisia, Uganda and Tanzania. A second phase continued from 2003 to 2008, with eight more beneficiary countries: Botswana, Cameroon, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal, and Zambia. Funding of the programme was secured from eleven donor countries, through a Common Trust Fund set up and administered by ITC: Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
WTO, UNTAD and ITC cooperation
The programme’s performance was highlighted at the G8 Summit of Kananaskis, Canada in 2002, the WTO ministerial conferences in 2003 and 2005, at the UNCTAD XI and XII conferences in 2004 and 2008, and at various African economic and trade meetings between 1996 and 2008. JITAP brought together for the first time the three Geneva international trade organizations to jointly implement the “three Rs”: Rules and Regulations by the WTO; Research and Policy by UNCTAD; and Realization of export potentials with the help of ITC.
With its participatory and modularized capacity building orientation, JITAP had a beneficial effect on the coordination of various levels of trade-related technical assistance (TRTA), both in the field and among the Geneva agencies. About six evaluations (including by donors) were carried out that recognized JITAP as a trend-setter in its area. A number of TRTA initiatives were inspired by the JITAP collaborative, integrated and pragmatic approach.
JITAP results
The following outcomes were achieved by the programme:
-
Support to the development of trade negotiation positions and strategies, and related policy formulation and implementation of WTO agreements: 16 “inter-institutional committees (IICs)” and 133 thematic sub-committees created that prepared 82 negotiating proposals and several compendia of negotiation positions on multilateral issues, for the African national delegations at the 5th and 6th Ministerial conferences of the WTO (Cancun, 2003 and Hong Kong, 2005).
- Efficient networking and cross-fertilization of experiences in Africa through 115 trade information points established and supported to disseminate practical information on the WTO: Three “MTS Reference Centres” for government, business and academia in each country, as well as four “National Enquiry Points” on various issues related to the multilateral trading system.
-
The programme delivered training during its last phase (2003 – 2008) for 815 trainers on multilateral trade-related issues and more than 2,000 other professionals from the public and private sectors, as well as the academia and the civil society. Eleven countries launched MTS-related university and college curricula.
- Through methodological coaching, analytical tools, and financial contributions ITC helped design 41 sector strategies and identify more than 120 priority export sectors. Through allowing exporter and export-ready enterprises to better understand the trends of international demand; to better evaluate domestic supply capacities and to identify bottlenecks all-along the value chains; JITAP enabled export actors to formulate and implement export sector strategies, thus realizing increased exports, including among African countries.
In summary, JITAP was an innovative capacity building programme that strengthened the knowledge and skills of trade policy communities, building up and augmenting institutional capacities to monitor and address issues of multilateral trade. It considerably improved the knowledge and negotiating skills of policymakers and negotiators on WTO agreements, enabling them to play an active role in the process. In this respect the tripartite initiative was truly unique.
Testimonials from JITAP beneficiary countries
Source: Extracts from the JITAP Final report, 2007; and JITAP Brochure, 2008.
Ghana: ‘Exporters are now more aware of sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS) as they apply to specific markets, the same is true vis-à-vis Technical Barriers to Trade as a result of the activities of the NEPs.’
Botswana: ‘Like an artistic basket weaver, I have to integrate the various elements and weave them into a beautiful tapestry of high quality standard and trade value. The elements of this valuable finished basket are the Inter-Institutional Committees, the Reference Centres and National Enquiry Points, the Network of MTS professionals, strategies and networking efforts to become competitive in global trade.’
Honourable Mr. Daniel Neo Moroka, Minister of Trade and Industry, Botswana, at the opening of the MTS Open doors week, Gaborone, 11 June 2007.
Botswana: ‘MTS professionals and NEPs … helping stakeholders realize the importance of having well informed positions. For example, with help from these institutions, the NGO BOCONGO commissioned a study on natural resources and intellectual property, to clearly understand how to protect natural resources.’
Zambia: ‘…to ensure sustainability of the achievements obtained so far, it is imperative that the private sector as the engine of wealth creation and growth take advantage of the services being provided. It is only with the right information at the right time that any entrepreneurial can continue to remain competitive in today’s dynamic global economy.’
Honourable Dora Siliya, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Commerce, Trade, and Industry, Zambia, at the opening of the MTS Open doors week, Lusaka, 14 June 2007.
