East Africa – GBTI II Task Order - East Africa Value Chains Assessment Project

East Africa faces myriad development challenges due to rampant poverty and inefficient value chain structures. The countries in this region, including Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, remain at the bottom of the Human Development Index, even as their economic growth rates have increased in recent years. Poverty rates range from 23.9 percent in Kenya to 85.2 percent in Ethiopia and even higher in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The region’s trade competitiveness is limited by a number of constraints, including inefficiencies at the farm and factory levels, lack of human capacity, a poor business climate and lack of adequate infrastructure.

To promote trade in the region, ACDI/VOCA, in collaboration with the CARANA Corporation, implemented the USAID-funded East Africa Value Chains Assessment project, under the Global Business, Trade and Investment (GBTI II) indefinite quantity contract. ACDI/VOCA conducted analyses of several regional value chains in Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania, including cotton textiles and apparel, livestock and dairy, staple foods, horticulture, tourism, tea, processed food products and fish products. ACDI/VOCA analyzed each value chain for its potential competitiveness to contribute to poverty alleviation, long-term and medium-term growth potential, quality of the enabling environment, strengths and weaknesses of institutions affecting the sector and constraints and opportunities along the supply chain.

ACDI/VOCA’s analyses have helped USAID to design follow-on projects to two major contracts in the region set to end in September 2008: the East and Central Africa Trade Hub and Regional Agriculture Trade Expansion Support.