Leading the British government in their fight against world poverty

	Case Studies
	About DFID
	Millennium Dev't Goals
	Country Profiles
	News & Press
	Publications
	Procurement
	Consultations
	Research
	Funding Schemes
	Recruitment

Case Studies photograph

Case Studies
- - -

Training the trainers

Ghanian cocoa farmers who will indirectly benefit from the training Levelling the field in international trade negotiations includes promoting informed debate in developing countries and training local people to train others.

The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states face a significant challenge. In 2002, detailed negotiations began with the European Union (EU) on a new trading relationship with Europe that would promote sustainable development and poverty eradication and boost the ACP's participation in the world economy.

The negotiations require detailed proposals covering thousands of separate EU and ACP products under Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The negotiations close in 2007 and are now in a critical phase.

But preparing such proposals takes a great deal of technical expertise not readily available. DFID has been helping governments, negotiators and civil society organisations in the ACP to prepare proposals that meet their own requirements.

For instance, DFID has been supporting work by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex to build 'trade datasets' and design a methodology for each of the ACP states so they can analyse alternative scenarios of reducing tariffs on imports from the EU as well as identify potential products for export to the EU. These will help them assess some of the potential effects of EPAs on their countries.

Follow up

A Zambian farmer who will indirectly benefit from the training From September 2005, with support from DFID and through the EPA Project Management Unit based in Brussels, IDS has been following up this work through hands-on training at the regional level. The aim has been to promote a live and informed debate in the ACP states about how the EPA trade agreements will promote their development goals.

This has involved running sessions in ACP regions to train government trade officials, regional negotiators and civil society representatives. It has also involved training a body of local trainers who can pass the skills on more widely in each region. During the inaugural session for the Caribbean in Barbados in September 2005, representatives from ACP states took part in a training session on the use of the datasets and methodology, and then put these skills into practice in a negotiating skills workshop.

The combination of using 'real data' and 'real negotiators' to confront 'real EPA issues' in a negotiation simulation was much appreciated. Henry Gill, Senior Director of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery said it was "one of the most important preparatory exercises organised to date, as regards the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations, or any other theatre of external trade negotiations for that matter".

Key facts

DFID funded the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) £156,339 in this Technical Training for Scenario-Building on Reciprocity project from September 2005 . The project finished in April 2006.

The focus of this work is on trade analysis and negotiating capacity building for all African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.