BACKGROUND...

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) signed, on 1st February 2018, a Fund for African Private Sector Assistance (FAPA) grant agreement of USD 915,000 to finance the Economic Diversification Support Technical Assistance Project (EDSTAP). The objective of the Project is to improve the institutional capacities and effectiveness of business associations in Lesotho by improving partnerships, building capacity and delivery of business development services. This project will contribute towards developing a conducive environment for private sector development by strengthening business associations and networks to meaningfully participate in national and sectoral dialogue and foster cooperation among Basotho entrepreneurs and with government.

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COMPONENT 1: Institutional assessment of business associations' needs, capaciaty, relevence, delivery and network of stakeholders

  • Review of the functions, institutional capabilities and systems of the participating business associations;
  • Identify institutional and functional gaps and strategic challenges BAs are facing;
  • Identify areas of support needed by the business associations and enhance their capabilities to effectively participate in the reform dialogue and capabilities their memebers to respeond to the reforms program;


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COMPONENT 1 continued...

  • Facilitate networking of beneficiary agencies and other stakeholders to have a shared vision of the shared services and determine sustainable approach towards the provison and management of the services;
  • Incorporate and reinforce interventions for componenets 2 and 3 based on the finding of the assessment above.


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COMPONENT 2: Development of shared services and business and business development support

SMME Support Network will this component. The beneficiary business associations are weak, run by volunteers, have no system for their operations and do not have a database for their memebership. The establishment of shared services will help in the goal of building an inter-dependent ecosystem of SMME Associations in Lesotho. The initial users will be the identified beneficiary agencies under this project.



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COMPONENT 3: strengthing Private-Private and Private-Public Dialogue

This component targets all participating Association and aims at building national and sectoral dialogue framework for the business associations and strength their advocacy skills. This component will be coordinated by the Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in partnership with Private Sector Foundation (PSF). The project Coordinator reccruited under the project will be the key counter-part to the consulting firm to implement this component...



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COMPONENT 3 Continued

The consulting firm will provide and expert to assist the Association to define how they can structure their representation during the various national and sectoral dialogue, the skill-set they require and the strategies to be effective in the various dialogues.



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COMPONENT 4: Project management and coordination

The objective of this component is to strengthen project implementation, oordination and monitoring and evaluation capacity. Under this component, the project will finance the project related operating costs for LCCI, and co-finance the operating costs of the PMU under the World Bank Private Sector Competitiveness and Economic Diversication Project (PSCEDP) and Economic Diversification Support Project (ESDP) based in the Ministry of Trade and Industry.



The main project implementing partners and beneficiary Associations include:

  • SMME Support Network, Lesotho Micro Finance Association
  • Lesotho Hotels and Hospitality Associatio
  • Youth Entrepreneurship Forum
  • Lesotho Federation of Women Entrepreneurs
  • Maseru Block Farming
  • Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  • Private Sector Foundation

The project will be implemented over a period of two years. The Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry is the lead executing agency and will work closely with the beneficiary institutions.



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