Caribbean Export and Business Support Organizations

Capacity Building Approaches for BSOs in Trade and Investment

Under the 10th EDF, the capacity building of BSOs involves strengthening the quality, and widening the range of programmes in the area of trade and investment for support organisations. This definition puts emphasis on three things: identifying the BSOs within the region that play a significant trade support function; the importance of building institutional or organisational capacity of BSOs, including national TPOs, as well as private sector membership trade support institutions (TSIs); and activities focused on improving the effectiveness of the work of the BSOs. These also underscore the need for Caribbean Export to develop or strengthen its competency to deliver, or to facilitate provision of capacity building activities and interventions. Caribbean Export utilises a wide range of interventions to enhance the capabilities of BSOs including training, networking, meetings and workshops, missions, and support for activities and programmes. The approach employed is therefore determined by the objectives of the Agency, and based on identified needs of the private sector. Assessment Of Trade Support Institutions To ensure that BSOs make optimum use of the opportunities provided by Caribbean Export under the 10th EDF, it was necessary to undertake interventions aimed at improving their institutional and organisational capacities. Specifically, the Agency’s work focused on the assessment of the mandates, and functions of BSOs across the region to determine the extent to which they perform trade support functions. For the national TPOs, the Agency focused on benchmarking their operations and functions, utilising themethodology and tool of the International Trade Centre (ITC), Geneva.

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