Located on the northern coast of the Gulf of Guinea on Africa’s west coast, the Togolese Republic is bordered by Ghana, Benin, and Burkina Faso. Togo is home to some 9 million inhabitants and boasts a diverse climate and vast arable lands that hold great potential for agricultural production. The agriculture sector employs most of Togo’s workforce in the production of food crops such as cereals, tubers, and soybeans. Cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, and cotton are also important economic drivers, accounting for 20% of Togo’s export earnings. EIF support to Togo began in 2008. Much has been achieved in the intervening years, particularly with regard to regional integration and the development of the cashew, shea, and soybean sectors both in the country and more broadly in the region.

Burundi is a landlocked East African country of some 13 million people, seated at the northeast corner of Lake Tanganyika, one of Africa’s Great Lakes. The country’s geography is dominated by mountains and plateaus, and it shares a border with Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Burundi’s location and moderate climate provide ideal conditions for growing tea and coffee, which account for 70% of its export revenue. Coffee is mainly grown in the central and northern regions, where volcanic soils and rainfall patterns promote excellent quality produce and high yields. The industry provides employment for as many as 800,000 small-scale growers.

Niger is a landlocked country of some 26 million people, located in the heart of the Sahel. It is surrounded by Algeria and Libya to the north, Chad to the east, Nigeria and Benin to the south, and Burkina Faso and Mali to the west. This geographical position makes it vulnerable to instability in any of these countries, but also constitutes a strategic location to promote beneficial links between countries to the north and south. The EIF partnership with the Government of Niger began in 2005 with a Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) undertaken by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The DTIS was adopted in 2010 by the Council of Ministers, following an extensive consultative process involving multiple stakeholders in government, development partners, the public and private sectors and civil society. The DTIS highlighted development priorities for Niger, particularly the need to integrate trade into the country’s development strategies and the regional and global trading system. The subsequent 2015 DTIS Update notes: "Niger's geographical position, landlocked and on the periphery of a region with multiple geopolitical and economic constraints, makes trade facilitation the key to the country's commercial integration - and beyond that, to its growth and development."

Rwanda is a landlocked country of some 13.2 million people (as of 2022) located at a high elevation in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa. It is the fifth most densely populated country in the world and is surrounded by Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Tanzania and Uganda. Situated a few degrees south of the equator, Rwanda enjoys a temperate tropical climate and is home to fertile soils and numerous lakes. Rwanda's history has been deeply impacted by the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, which resulted in the loss of more than a million Tutsi lives. However, in recent decades, the country has made significant socioeconomic development progress.

Since 2017, the EIF has focused on measures to support institutional capacity to integrate Mauritania into global trade. This has included improving coordination among agencies related to trade policy; mainstreaming trade into development strategies; implementing DTIS priorities; and strengthening dialogue and coordination between development partners through a National Trade Facilitation Committee. To deepen the economic reforms being undertaken by the Government of Mauritania, more than 780 public, private, and civil society officials were trained, with 68% of these being women.

The EIF programme has been supporting Uganda since 2009. The collaboration aims to realize the country’s trade policy vision and help Uganda better integrate into the global economy. Improved trade capacity and performance, fostered by in-country development programmes such as that of the EIF, have undoubtedly supported Uganda’s ongoing economic achievements.

With support from the EIF, Zambia intensified its trade growth and diversification efforts directed at different levels to achieve systemic improvements. These were: first, on strengthening linkages to both the private sector and the Government around key products, such as honey; second, on building the institutional capacity of the Government and trade-related organizations, mainstreaming trade in the country’s development framework, and improving the trade regulatory environment; and third, exploring new markets for Zambian products.

EIF support contributed significantly to policy reviews, alignment of legislation, development of consumer protection standards, and enhancing the capacity of sector stakeholders, including through recruitment of technical staff.

The partnership between The Gambia and the EIF began with country-led evidence‑based research and analysis to identify its pro-poor trade priorities. The resulting policy-guiding document – the 2007 Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) – identified diversification and domestic production of goods and services in the areas of tourism, groundnuts and other agriculture products and fishing as sectors with the potential to spur sustainable development.

The Government of Benin established a partnership with the EIF in 2003, embarking on the development of a Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) and Action Matrix, along with evidence‑based and government-led analysis of constraints and opportunities for making trade work for economic prosperity and poverty reduction. The DTIS was completed in 2005, with an update ten years later. Together, the studies have provided a roadmap for progress toward the goal of supporting small businesses to trade and develop the kinds of jobs that improve lives and spur sustainable economic development.

There are three key advantages that e-commerce offers to women. First, it offers lower barriers to entry than traditional brick-and-mortar businesses. Second, it can enable women entrepreneurs to reach customers all over the world. Third, it offers a degree of flexibility in terms of work hours and location.

Most of Rwanda’s cross border traders are women and rely on cross-border trade as their sole source of income. According to a recent assessment by Pro-Femmes/Twese Hamwe, the Rwandan umbrella organisation for women’s associations, most cross border traders have experienced not only a large loss in revenue due to border closures but also a complete depletion of their savings.

Having identified this potential through analysis of the country’s trade situation, the Government of Niger and the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) have been working to lay the foundations for trade in hides and leather that is formalized and up to standard, and in which citizens can share in the proceeds.

Originally published by Thomson Reuters Foundation News on 11 September 2019

The Government is targeting its precious ylang-ylang, vanilla and cloves – key cash crops with global demand. Through the partnership with EIF, cooperatives, trainings for female entrepreneurs like Houria and small business support in the form of vats, labels and processing items have laid the foundation for increased trade for the country.

In Mali, the Government's commitment to inclusive growth is recognized in the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (2012-2017) and the Strategic Framework for Economic Recovery and Sustainable Development (2016-2018), which both give priority to the poorest people, especially women in rural areas. The EIF programme has supported this pro-poor development approach by helping to strengthen the participation of women in the shea butter, gum arabic, mango and livestock value chains. These sectors were selected, because they involve a significant number of poor people, particularly small‑scale producers and rural women.