Impact story

Rwanda’s cross-border markets boost trade
There is strong evidence that cross-border markets have positively impacted livelihoods through enhanced incomes, including among youth and women. This has positively impacted Karongi District, including the economic welfare of the residents.

Local markets in Tuvalu offer trade lifeline on sinking Island
Isolated, Tuvalu turned to improving its internal trade. In October 2020 the Department of Business, with support from the Enhanced Integrated Framework, (EIF) launched the Tau Maketi (your market) initiative to help vulnerable small businesses play a more active role in Tuvalu’s domestic market and make up for diminished foreign demand.

In CAR farmers plant maize and harvest peace
Supporting farmers and agricultural cooperatives in a post-conflict context is not what funders of international aid often consider a safe bet. But turning swords into ploughs can pave a sustainable path out of conflict for communities, as results from a project supported by the Enhanced Integrated Framework in four districts of the country show.

Cambodia shows LDCs how to get into ecommerce
LDCs have traditionally relied on high-cost, low-impact means of showing off their goods by, for example, hiring booths at trade shows and expos. Ecommerce platforms allow them to exponentially grow the number of products they can show off to potential customers, simplify the selling process, reduce transactional costs, increase trade revenues, and boost economic growth.

Tracing Rwandan coffee digitally for inclusive trade
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a strong digital presence has, more than ever, become a key element for small businesses in the coffee sector to access new buyers and benefit from international markets.

Turning waste into opportunity – Tuvalu's contribution to the circular economy
The saying one man's trash is another man's treasure has never been more apt for Tuvalu's first export. In June 2021, two shipping containers of crushed aluminium cans from Tuvalu headed towards South Korea. This marked a first in the country's commitment to the circular economy.

Women-run businesses getting a boost in Rwanda and Zambia
Small businesses are receiving support to access much-needed finance

In Tanzania, tackling markets to bolster small business
New project focusing on selected value chains from seaweed to honey in Tanzania.

In Lesotho, looking to expand from farming
Support efforts include new tools, from the tangible to the abstract

In Cambodia, going with the (rice) grain
Resilience is necessary in the rice trade, developing it requires many About 80% of Cambodians are rural farmers, and rice is the country’s main crop. But, until the last decade or so, the sector had not been living up to its potential.

Striving to take the local handicrafts of northern Lao PDR global
More training, more links to buyers of rural arts means more income for women

Story: Gambian entrepreneur empowers women through organic cotton production
Originally published by International Trade Centre on 3rd February 2021

Changing mindsets, boosting farmer spirits in the Solomon Islands
A fresh style of training for agriculturalists addresses topics from creativity to financial literacy

Luring honey profits in Ethiopia
Trainings in beekeeping and the provision of hives aims to create additional income sources for agriculturalistsBeekeeping doesn’t come naturally, really.

For women in business in The Gambia and Zambia, making all the right moves
Breaking ground with new ideas and new partnerships in two African countries

Investing in The Gambia’s small businesses
Artisan handbag maker taking her enterprise forward, and receiving new financing

Focusing on export development, Ethiopia’s small businesses seeing success
For a new business owner, one international trade fair got things rolling

Ugandan ecommerce platforms power recovery from COVID-19 crisis
Partnerships with development agencies and government efforts to boost the digital economy are helping soften the economic blow of the pandemic.

Bangladesh seeing success leveraging resources to enhance trade
In 2017, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Commerce secured US$50 million from the World Bank to address trade facilitation and export diversification issues.

Much more than a health crisis: What EIF has learnt from COVID-19
As LDCs grapple with ongoing economic fallout from COVID-19, EIF activities have yielded valuable insights for recovery.

Making it faster and easier for South Asian women to take businesses online
Recently launched ecommerce training program and portal will help hundreds of women entrepreneurs in South Asian LDCs become part of regional and global supply chains.

Vanuatu leading Pacific in digitising customs and biosecurity clearance
Country’s online trading system off to a timely start, as COVID’s physical distancing requirements disrupt manual systems

Facilitating trade through improved customs systems in the Maldives
Increasing efficiency leading to big gains

Rwanda setting example for electronic waste recycling
Government and private sector worked together to create jobs in new ‘industry’

For this Ethiopian exporter, the future is in food
Finding new buyers and tapping new markets, harnessing agriculture’s potential

Young designer shaking up Gambia’s fashion industry
Taking traditional African prints and making them modern, a female entrepreneur is aiming to go global – armed with the right business tools

How to engage businesses in international development
What are some of the keys to success in getting businesses on board?

Malawi rice co-op taking their packaging to the next level
To get international buyers, Malawi businesses tackling marketing and certifications

Training trade policy leaders: Zambia takes a ‘homegrown’ approach
Education key for an informed trade and policy future

For better business, making standard measurements work in Lao PDR
Carefully calibrating its trade support and compliance to international standards, country is targeting more exports

Women bringing home the goods at international textiles trade fair
Opportunities and challenges abound for Zambia entrepreneurs eyeing new markets

From kitchen to boardroom: One woman’s story of business success
In Zambia, a sweet idea spurs entrepreneurship

Tackling Uganda’s trade potential
From research to action, Uganda focusing on facilitation to spur economy and create jobs

Private sector development and international trade in The Gambia
The tiny West African country The Gambia is striving to export its crops globally.

In Nepal, trade in ginger is spicing up lives
Cooperative endeavor to enhance exports yields solid solutions

In Uganda, enterprises bringing sensibility – and scents – to their development
Government plus grassroots combo laying foundations for MSME success

Nepal sees ginger ‘revival’
Making more and better ginger crops means more income

Samuel Musoke: Cultivating one’s business while nurturing others in Uganda
In Masaka, mobilizing and educating the small enterprises that need it most

Gaining ground for Malawi’s markets
New buyers means employment opportunities and much much more

In Malawi, bolstering youth and women’s employment through sectoral skills strategies
Skills strategies can provide a bridging mechanism to enable disadvantaged groups such as youth and women to gain from international trade.

Detoxifying crops in The Gambia, from the ground up
Conquering a nut pollutant means lives and livelihoods saved in the process

Small market, big ambition
Bhutan’s potato ‘stock market’ goes online

Friendship across borders: When trade brings peace
Businesswomen creating a united front in Rwanda and the DRC

Togo seeing soy in its future
Country is diversifying into soy, and farmers are seeing profits

Supporting Least Developed Countries take advantage of ‘the biggest trade reform in a generation’
Facilitating trade across borders means transparency, assistance and knowing what countries need

Striving to make Pacific economic dreams a reality
Solomon Islands putting itself on the tourism map

Supporting sustained collaboration key to coherent agriculture and trade outcomes in Africa, report says
Implementation is everything in aligning trade and agriculture in LDCs in Africa

In the business of buying and selling across borders, financing for a better future
Funding for traders, for government trade support and for infrastructure means resources at work in critical spaces in Rwanda

Crossing borders for better business
In Rwanda, new market centres mean improved trade at the border

Homemade chili sauce means business for Malawi entrepreneur
After help finding new markets, one man’s chili sauce empire is taking off

Protecting an enigmatic commodity with enormous potential – gum arabic
For an arid swath of Africa, a sap-like substance offers income possibilities for the poorest of the poor, along with environmental benefits

Buba Jawneh: Managing a family cashew enterprise, readying for global commerce
In The Gambia, family-owned cashew processors are primed for expansion

Comoros in bloom
Island nation focusing on its unique, specialty plant life to kick start economic growth

In Malawi, enriching what happens between farm and table
Malawians are forging new markets for their agricultural exports, within and without Africa

Improving agriculture, enriching trade, transforming lives
When agriculture and trade align, change happens for incomes and economies

The Gambia sounding out its agricultural potential
With cashew prices surging and armed with solid trade policy, the country is looking to boost its farmers and processors

Ibrahima Sittina Farate: As one woman innovates, a nation’s exports set to bloom
In Comoros, an essential oils doyenne has plans for her country’s unique yields

For wool creatives in Nepal, making all the right connections is key
Flock maintaining, brand strengthening, and market expanding: Nepal's pashmina producers are aiming high

Bridging the gap for farmers in Malawi
Additional land to sow, targeted trainings, and market security mean higher incomes for smallholders

In Vanuatu, ‘market mamas’ are taking care of business
Women entrepreneurs are helping to restore island nation’s economy after the ravages of Cyclone Pam

From hunting to harvesting: Zambia’s eco-friendly approach to beekeeping
Recognising that traditional honey harvesting damages the forest, Zambia’s rural communities are using modern beekeeping practices that value trees and produce better quality honey.

Training the next generation of trade negotiators in Zambia
You may not expect a graduate of an arts degree to say that a trade policy course was their favourite subject, but if you ask Zondwayo Duma from Zambia, that’s exactly what he’ll tell you

How Cambodia became ‘famous’ for its trade strategy
The year is 2017 and Cambodia has stepped into a role that has been out of its reach for years — the voice of the 47 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at the Word Trade Organization.

Women at the helm of Senegal’s burgeoning mango industry
Aminata Dominique Diouf was seven years old when her father bought a small farm 15 minutes from the Senegal-Gambia border.

Fostering innovation and building inclusive industrialization in Burundi
A partnership in support of the harmonization of standards key to export competitiveness

Maldives: A trade and investment pathway for post-graduation
The Maldives has unique challenges due to its recent graduation from least developed country (LDC) status in 2011, and the resulting loss of trade preferences that it had been accorded as an LDC.

Comoros: Trade and striving to end hunger and improve nutrition
The story of a father in Comoros exporting vanilla to improve the livelihood of his family and community

Trading stories
Trading Stories, the Book, accompanies the film series to show just how trade is about acting local to go global in eight of the poorest countries worldwide.