HomeActivitiesImproved standards- related Technical Assistance

Improved standards- related Technical Assistance

Second technical Working Group started its work

Working Group 2 was initiated at the TSPN Planning Workshop held in March 2009 with the general aim to maximize the positive impact of standards related technical assistance interventions on the trade performance and livelihoods of producers, their organizations and other affected business, and to ensure the sustainability of impacts. It is planned to do this by documenting and sharing lessons learned and ‘good practices’ , and in the long run by providing guidelines and other advice to donors and technical practitioners. The Group consists of representatives of the following organizations: University of Guelph, World Bank, The Forest Service of USDA, International Institute for Sustainable Development and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).
The specific objectives of the Working Group are:

1. Develop a common understanding among practitioners on how to define and measure success of interventions related to compliance with private standards in the agro-food and forestry sectors.
2. Identify and promote mechanisms, measures and preconditions for achieving this success.
3. Foster exchange of experiences across sectors and between different entities providing assistance in the context of trade-related private standards. 
4. Improve the effectiveness of development assistance in this context in order to enable relevant actors in developing countries, specifically producers, exporters and other private actors to participate sustainably in high value markets.

The target groups of the activities include: 1) development agencies involved in technical assistance and capacity-building efforts; 2) project implementers and practitioners of technical assistance/advisory services; and 3) government officials implementing private standards-related assistance. The activities of the Working Group will involve the collection, synthesis, analysis and dissemination of information on ‘good practice’ in interventions aimed at facilitating compliance with SPS requirements in international markets, and in particular private standards. In turn, it will draw more general lessons and elaborate innovative models for more effective standards-related technical assistance.