Senegal

<p>The project aims to increase the engagement of six developing and emerging countries in the Trade and Environment Structured Sustainability Discussions (TESSD) at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The project will carry out research in partnership with countries on the role of trade in supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives. It will support countries on the basis of this research and multistakeholder consultations to make submissions to TESSD in the form of best practices, lessons learnt, common regional approaches on standards etc. Furthermore, the project will help countries to understand the range of trade related climate measures facing MSMEs and the strategies to help compliance with them.</p>

<p>The project will strengthen ICDT services on trade intelligence to support the public and private sector from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to make better informed decisions and, in the long term, to contribute to an increase of trade between OIC Member States through the embedding of Market Analysis Tools, the development of an online Trade Helpdesk and the development of trade-related studies.</p>

The International Trade Centre’s Netherlands Trust Fund V (NTF V) is a four-year partnership (July 2021- June 2025) signed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands and the International Trade Centre to support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the digital technologies and agribusiness sectors.
 

The programme includes both sectors in Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, and the digital technologies sector in a multi-country project in Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Uganda. As with previous NTF programmes, NTF V will be jointly implemented with the Dutch Centre for the promotion of exports from developing countries (CBI). NTF V follows on the successful NTF IV and NTF III programmes, and will track its results through real-time customer relationship management and active risk management data systems.

<p>ITC and the Dutch Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI) have been cooperating for decades. This cooperation led to a series of sector development programmes under the Netherlands Trust Fund NTF) since 2005. The current project is part of the NTF V programme funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands and implemented in close coordination with CBI. NTF V was approved in July 2021 and will run until June 2025. Its ambition is to contribute to building back better in the partner countries (Benin, C&ocirc;te d&apos;Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Senegal and Uganda) with a focus on creating a link between MSMEs in the digital technologies and agribusiness sectors.</p><p><br></p><p>Senegal has a high penetration rate of mobile phones (117%) and internet services (92.29%) and the mobile money market is experiencing strong growth with more and more major players (Orange Money, Wave). As of December 31, 2020, the country had 7.81 million Internet users, ie 46% of the total population. Unsurprisingly, Senegal has one of the highest shares of GDP linked to the digital economy according to McKinsey Global Institute, ranging from the telecommunications sector to startups active in the digital sector.</p><p><br></p><p>Under NTF V Senegal Tech, activities will foster business-friendly tech ecosystems, strengthen business support organizations such as tech hubs and equip tech start-ups and SMEs with resilient business models, linking them to business, partnership and investment opportunities while contributing to the digitalization of traditional SMEs in other sectors, in particular in agribusiness.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>To this end, agritech start-ups will be supported to improve their understanding of agribusinesses&rsquo; needs, to gain more agribusinesses partners, and, in some instances, to help digitalize agribusinesses. Digitalizing agribusinesses will be done by the agribusiness team, working whenever possible with agritech businesses that are part of NTF V Senegal Tech project, in the cashew and associated crops sector, which will be the main focus area for both teams.</p>

<p>In September 2021, The Government of the Netherlands and the International Trade Centre (ITC) signed a four-year partnership agreement aimed at enhancing the trade competitiveness in selected African countries, through the strengthening of digital and agribusiness services and especially the connection between the two.</p><p>In Senegal, ITC will implement a value chain development project with the objective of improving the competitiveness of livelihood farmers and agribusiness MSMEs in the cashew nuts and associated crops. Cashew will be the main crop of focus, nevertheless the project will additionally support the commercialization of associated horticulture products (e.g. maize, cowpea, cassava/yam and vegetables) etc) following the A4A multi-products multi-market approach. The exact basket of associated horticultural products will be defined at the beginning of the project through the foreseen detailed cashew nuts value chain analysis that will be undertaken in collaboration with the University of Thies.&nbsp;</p><p>Through the project, ITC aims to promote more efficient and sustainable agri-business and support services that will lead to increased trade, better incomes and livelihoods opportunities, especially for the smallholder cashew growers.</p><p>The main objectives of the action in Senegal are:</p><ul><li>Understand market trends and identify resilient and sustainable business and production models for the cashew sector.</li><li>Strengthen Public-Private alliances to support the development of more solid ecosystems including through digital applications.&nbsp;</li><li>Facilitate linkages for SMEs, SEs and Producers Associations with international, regional and domestic partners, business and investment opportunities</li></ul><p>The agri-business component of NTF V in Senegal will apply the ITC Alliances for Action (A4A) approach that has proved to be a successful model to promote responsible partnerships for development, to leverage investments and technical support and achieve measurable impact for smallholder farmers and MSMEs. In the framework of NTF V, A4A will look beyond sustainable production to work on enabling environment and target all steps of the value chain from farm to fork. Digital application will be used to increase the overall competitiveness of the agribusiness value chain as well as to scale-up results and reach more partners and beneficiaries.</p>

<p>Le projet a pour objectif d&apos;appuyer la connexion aux march&eacute;s des jeunes entrepreneurs s&eacute;n&eacute;galais en leur faisant s&apos;approprier les techniques, outils et solutions disponibles dans leurs d&eacute;marches d&apos;internationalisation notamment au travers de solutions en ligne.Ce projet s&apos;inscrit dans le contexte du programme &quot;S&eacute;n&eacute;gal &eacute;mergent&quot;, du programme triennal d&rsquo;investissement prioritaire du S&eacute;n&eacute;gal (PTIP), ainsi que des programmes financ&eacute;s par des bailleurs internationaux tels que le programme &laquo; Netherlands Trust Fund IV &raquo; de la coop&eacute;ration n&eacute;erlandaise ou encore le 11^&egrave;me<span>&nbsp;</span>Fond Europ&eacute;en de D&eacute;veloppement (EDF 11) de l&rsquo;Union Europ&eacute;enne ainsi que dans le cadre du programme &quot;Jeunesse et commerce&quot; de l&apos;ITC.</p>

<p>The proposed project &ldquo;Textile and Apparel Network for Africa (TANA)&rdquo; forms part of the BMZ Special Initiative Training and Job Creation initiated by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to contribute to the implementation of the Marshall Plan with Africa and the investment partnership G20 Compact with Africa.</p><p>The project aims at strengthening market linkages between European and African textile and apparel companies and consists of two components, which are financed by two different GIZ entities:</p><ul><li>Global component: Strengthened commercial relationships between European retailers and brands and African textile and apparel suppliers through the establishment of the the Textile and Apparel Network for Africa (TANA) - financed by GIZ HQ</li><li>Country component (pilot): Enhanced competitiveness of Ghanaian textile and apparel companies to meet buyer requirements - financed by GIZ Ghana office.</li></ul>

<p><a name="_Hlk155357558"><span style="color: rgb(97, 189, 109);">Business support organizations (BSOs) are critical actors in an ecosystem of business support, categorized by the formal and informal connections among service providers that recognises and takes advantage of shared objectives and complementary strengths.</span></a></p><p><span style="color: rgb(97, 189, 109);">ITC has developed a unique centre of excellence in the establishment, improvement and connectedness of business support organizations. This work with BSOs is embedded as a core service area for ITCs strategy and recognises the role that BSOs play in delivering results to all stakeholders through their ability to create scale, systemic change and sustained results</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(97, 189, 109);">In this strategic cycle (22-25), ITC will continue to serve a broad range of BSOs including those active in ITC&rsquo;s priority impact areas of youth entrepreneurship, green trade, digitalisation and gender, with managerial and operational solutions, but also invest more in ecosystem level interventions, and make use of digital channels for efficiency, scale and value.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(97, 189, 109);">This docu<span>ment sets out a 4-year perspective (2022-20225) and 4 strategic objectives for supportive business ecosystems with, specific outputs and activities describing the year-on-year contribution of W1 funding to the strategic core service area 2.</span></span></p>

<p>The Project <em>SheTrades: Empowering Rural Women in the AfCFTA</em> contributes to ITC&rsquo;s <strong>One Trade Africa&nbsp;</strong>Strategy and FAO strategy to support the AfCFTA. &nbsp;</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&rsquo;s share of global trade and achieve the goals of Agenda 2063.&nbsp;</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&rsquo;s equal participation in international trade is critical to promoting economic growth, enhancing productivity, increasing international competitiveness and reducing poverty. &nbsp;Moving up the value chain, leveraging networks of women&rsquo;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 &nbsp;100 to 150 million the number of undernourished people</span><span lang="EN-GB">.&nbsp;</span><span lang="EN-GB">ILO estimates that over 90% of women&rsquo;s employment in Africa is in the agricultural sector, largely informal.&nbsp;</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&rsquo;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&rsquo;s ongoing support to the implemention of the AfCFTA.</p><p><br></p>

<p>This project is targeting women owned businesses (WOBs) in the Apparel, Accessories and Home D&eacute;cor sector from Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Senegal, and South Africa.<span>&nbsp;It</span> aims to support income generation and job creation for women owned businesses in the Apparel, Accessories and Home D&eacute;cor sector by:</p><ul type="disc"><li>Creating a more supportive ecosystem of partners and institutions to help the growth of women&apos;s economic empowerment initiatives and activities;</li><li>Increasing the competitiveness of women owned businesses in the sector;</li><li>Creating new market linkage<strong>&nbsp;</strong>opportunities for women owned businesses in the sector.</li></ul>