ITC provides a wealth of information and resources on trade for businesses in developing countries. The tools below (some of them joint projects with other organisations, such as the WTO, UNCTAD, World Bank Group, are intended to explore and facilitate trade with other countries.
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We provide tailored support, aligned with national objectives, to grow trade opportunities for micro, small and medium businesses in developing countries.
The Project Empowering women and boosting livelihoods through agricultural trade: Leveraging the AfCFTA Phase II contributes to ITC’s Strategic Plan in relation to gender equality and regional integration, in particular ITC Gender Moon Shot and One Trade Africa Strategy, as well as the FAO strategy to support the AfCFTA.
Building on results achieved in Phase I, this project aims to empower women producers, processors, and informal and formal traders in agriculture and agro-processing value chains as well as agriculture women-led MSMEs to benefit from trade opportunities created by the AfCFTA through capacity-building, policy research and policy dialogues. The project contributes to ITC and FAO’s ongoing support to the implementation of the AfCFTA.
Type
Project
Projects
SheTrades: Empowering women and boosting livelihoods through agricultural trade: Leveraging the AfCFTA
Making the AfCFTA work for women entrepreneurs and producers
A 2020 ITC survey of 70 African women's business associations found that 70% of them have not been meaningfully involved in negotiations and their members are not taking advantage of existing regional trade agreements.
To make the AfCFTA work for women, SheTrades adopts a four-pronged approach to engage with African women and their business associations, and to promote their participation in and shaping of the AfCFTA:
Developed 9 policy briefs on priorities for women in trade facilitation, non-tariff barriers, standards, trade in services, ICTs & digital trade, strengthening women’s associations, investment, competition, intellectual property, and e-commerce.
Published 44 recommendations on Phase I issues for women in the AfCFTA
Mobilized more than 50 women’s business associations across the continent
Organized peer-to-peer and knowledge-sharing sessions
Kicked-off the development of a formal network
Supported women’s business associations with training on sustainable business development models, governance of associations, service portfolio development, and risk management
Bolstered policy advocacy skills
Provided technical assistance and capacity building on gender-mainstreaming into AfCFTA national strategies
Supported national-level consultations on gender issues and the AfCFTA
A 2020 ITC survey of 70 African women's business associations found that 70% of them have not been meaningfully involved in negotiations…
<p><span lang="EN-GB">Given the AfCFTA's potential to foster regional value chains and its ambition to encompass goods, services, intellectual property, competition and investment, it is critical that women are well-positioned to seize opportunities in regional trade. </span><span lang="EN-GB">The project,<strong> SheTrades: Empowering Women in the African Continental Free Trade Area—Phase II, </strong>contributes to <strong>ITC One Trade Africa strategy</strong> on African regional integration. It aims to empower women entrepreneurs<span> </span>to benefit from trade opportunities created by the AfCFTA. The project will help design a more inclusive AfCFTA by providing women’s business associations with capacity-building, networking platforms and support for effective policy advocacy on AfCFTA Phase II issues; leveraging the private sector to foster women’s economic empowerment through the AfCFTA; working with ECOWAS to strengthen the ecosystem for women; and promoting public private sector dialogues on women and trade across selected countries. </span></p>
<p>To investigate the potential of expanding investment (and trade) linkages between India and Africa, capitalizing on the structural changes and resulting opportunities brought forth by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). </p><p>Will assess constraints and opportunities in each of these four areas and provide concrete recommendations for policy action. In addition, several transversal thematic areas will be probed and emphasized upon – technology and knowledge transfer, south-south cooperation at the institutional level, developing technical capacities, and environmental sustainability. The paper can eventually evolve into a strategic action plan for both policymakers and the private sector in India.</p><p>The objective is to analyze opportunities for enhancing Indian investment in Africa from four perspectives - automotive, pharmaceutical, agro-processing, textile, and renewable energy -with case studies in each to describe working models which may enhance business interest and highlight potential.</p><p>Case studies on investments under Supporting Indian Trade and Investment for Africa (SITA) will also be updated to reflect the current, post-investment operating environment.</p><p><br></p>
<p>The Project <em>SheTrades: Empowering Rural Women in the AfCFTA</em> contributes to ITC’s <strong>One Trade Africa </strong>Strategy and FAO strategy to support the AfCFTA. </p><p><span lang="EN-GB">Spanning 54 countries, supporting a market of over 1 billion people, and contributing $2.5 trillion USD to global GDP, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents a ground-breaking opportunity to create a unified continental market, boost Africa’s share of global trade and achieve the goals of Agenda 2063. </span><span lang="EN-GB">The AfCFTA is operational since early 2021, and these goals can only be accomplished if the AfCFTA is fair and inclusive. Women’s equal participation in international trade is critical to promoting economic growth, enhancing productivity, increasing international competitiveness and reducing poverty. Moving up the value chain, leveraging networks of women’s associations, upgrading their businesses and tapping into new markets are some of the many benefits women can reap by trading under the AfCFTA. According to FAO, from a food security standpoint, closing the gender gap in agriculture in Africa would lead to a yield increase of 20 to 30 percent and this could reduce by 100 to 150 million the number of undernourished people</span><span lang="EN-GB">. </span><span lang="EN-GB">ILO estimates that over 90% of women’s employment in Africa is in the agricultural sector, largely informal. </span></p><p><span lang="EN-GB">This project works with women traders and producers to identify priority issues and opportunities under the AfCFTA in agriculture and agro-processing, facilitating public-private dialogues to agree on next steps women’s priorities, and providing market intelligence and training to women in a select agricultural regional value chain to help it expand to the continental level.</span></p><p>This project aims to empower women producers, processors and informal and formal traders in agriculture and agro-processing value chains as well as agriculture women-led MSMEs to benefit from trade opportunities created by the AfCFTA through capacity-building, policy research and policy dialogues. The project contributes to ITC and FAO’s ongoing support to the implemention of the AfCFTA.</p><p><br></p>
<p>This project document proposes the establishment and piloting of a blended, non-accredited, vocational and practical training programme concentrated around the fundamentals of exporting and the opportunities resulting from the AfCFTA. This curriculum will be developed by the SME Trade Academy in collaboration with the Afreximbank.</p><p>Local partners, such as trade training institutions will provide support in implementation of the pilot programme in three countries, namely Nigeria, Rwanda and Côte d'Ivoire.</p><p>The pilot will involve building local partners’ capacity to market the training and conduct sessions on a continuous basis, localizing the offering for each national context.</p><p>An <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">expansion phase</span> has been added to the project involving a further 12 countries. The online training will be opened to all African countries.</p><p>A second expansion phase has been added to the project involving the delivery of national workshops for 4 additional countries following a new agreement signed with the ITFC.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">This project is designed to implement selected activities of the COMESA Cross Border Trade Initiative (CBTI) programme, which aimed at facilitating small-scale trade across borders of targeted countries. The initiative is funded by the European Commission under the 11<sup>th</sup> European Development Fund. The project will be implemented within the framework of the Co-delegation agreement signed between COMESA and ITC in June 2018. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">The project has a general objective of increasing formal small-scale cross-border trade flows in the COMESA/tripartite region, leading to higher revenue collection for governments at targeted borders as well as increased security and higher incomes for small-scale cross-border traders. It has a specific objective of facilitating small-scale cross border trade flows between targeted countries through institutional capacity building and better data collection and monitoring.</span></p>
While multi-dimensional poverty remains high in sub-Saharan Africa, the continent's high growth rates and youthful demographics make it an attractive investment destination. Big opportunities exist to create jobs, boost incomes and reduce poverty by connecting African small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to international trade and increasing local value addition to Africa’s assets in agrifood, manufacturing and services. ITC’s emphasis on digital connectivity and the green transition is helping transform digital landscapes across Sub Saharan Africa with our support to tech startups and tech hubs.
ITC delivers customised solution for landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) that confront particular trade development challenges and works to effectively integrate them into the global trading system. Although they lack territorial access to the sea, these countries can overcome trade barriers by joining regional and global value chains, improving diversification, enacting sound trading policies and improving their logistics, infrastructure and institutions.
