<p><span data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-CA">The project aims to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers by increasing linkages with Social Enterprises (SEs) and by improving SEs competitiveness and capabilities</span><span data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-CA"> in selected countries in the Amazon basin (mainly Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana and Suriname), other countries in Latin America (such as Brazil and others tbc) as well as the Gran Chaco region (such as South Paraguay, North Argentina and Bolivia). Increased competitiveness will be achieved through </span><span data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-CA">the reinforcement of </span><span data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-CA">market systems</span><span data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-CA">, value addition, the establishment of commercial alliances, and the improvement of access to impact investment.</span><span data-ccp-props='{"201341983":0,"335551550":6,"335551620":6,"335559739":0,"335559740":240}'> </span></p><p><span data-contrast="auto" lang="EN-CA">The project will be implemented following the ITC’s Alliance for Action (A4A) methodology that brings together public and private actors with the aim to promote competitiveness, sustainability and income-risk diversification, improving inclusive commercial linkages between value chain operators at national, regional and international levels.</span><span data-ccp-props='{"201341983":0,"335551550":6,"335551620":6,"335559739":0,"335559740":240}'> </span></p>
<p>This project will enhance ITC offerings of global public goods by advancing the development of additional functionalities within the Deforestation-Free Trade Gateway (DFTG) whose development has recently started in March 2024 under the ITC project C374. The DFTG aims to mitigate the potential impact of the new European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) on trade flows between Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and the European Union, particularly for economic operators involved in the production and trade of the commodities covered by the Regulation.</p><p>The project will enhance and simplify the utilization of the Producers registry by introducing an invitation mechanism. This mechanism will enable EU operators and exporters to collect and compile the farm-level information from their suppliers through the DFTG, facilitating the substantiation of their Due Diligence (DD) statements. Furthermore, EU operators and LAC exporters will be able to issue a DD self-statement document with the information they gathered through the invitation mechanism.</p><p>The new functionalities under development will undergo testing within the same value chain and pilot countries as the Producers' registry. </p>
<p>This project will enhance ITC offerings of global public goods through the development of a tool, the Deforestation-Free Trade Gateway (DFTG), aimed to mitigate the potential impact of the new European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) on trade flows between Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and the European Union, particularly for economic operators involved in the production and trade of the commodities covered by the Regulation. </p><p>The project will develop a functionality, the Deforestation-Free-Trade Producer Registry, for value chain operators in both European and Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries to gather evidence that the products they trade do not originate from deforested or forest degraded areas. Thus, the Deforestation-Free Producer Registry will gather the farm-level information that the EU operators need for issuing their Due Diligence Statement.</p>
<p>This pilot project aims to develop an ITC approach to Indigenous Peoples and Trade (IPT) while taking advantage of the strengths of a women-led indigenous community in Ecuador and a partnership with Columbia University to work on the following: 1) Finalize and enrich ITC's concept on IPT, and 2) Develop a needs assessment and provide training and tools to improve AMWAE's production and quality of cocoa. </p>
<p>The <strong>SheTrades: Promoting Gender-Responsive Public Procurement for Agricultural Products project </strong>aims to deliver innovative solutions to help women in agricultural value chains benefit from government procurement opportunities. Target beneficiaries and partners include women entrepreneurs, governments, women’s business associations, and research partners. Project activities include an awareness campaign, creating knowledge resources on leveraging inclusive procurement strategies for economic development, analysis of barriers and opportunities for women’s participation in public procurement in agricultural value chains, training for women and government stakeholders on identified opportunities, creating national-level dialogues, and sharing of experiences and good practices across countries. Initial activities will be global in nature, with subsequent in-country activities taking place in 3 selected BMZ/GIZ priority countries.</p>
