The Business Advocacy Fund (BAF)
Business advocacy is the process of influencing the development and implementation of public policies that affect the business sector. The Business Advocacy Fund supports business member organizations (BMOs) to engage in private public dialogue and to advocate an improved business environment in Kenya.

Assisting BMOs to become sustainable
The Fund recognizes that the long term involvement of BMOs in dialogue and advocacy requires that BMOs are sustainable, that is, that they will be around for long enough to make a difference to their members through advocating change in public policy which improves the environment in which businesses operate.

Sustainability is defined as the ability of an organization to generate sufficient income, through a range of means, to cover all of its costs and to expect to continue to do so.

Grants
The Fund supports proposals and provides grants to enable BMOs to undertake advocacy initiatives designed to improve the BMOs' sustainability. To be eligible, BMOs must have as one of their primary objectives as advocacy or dialogue on behalf of their members. Proposals need to meet the Fund's objectives and criteria and look as though they have a good chance of making an impact.

Objectives
BAF is designed to strengthen the capacity and sustainability of BMOs, in particular, to enable them to engage more effectively in policy dialogue with Government. The Fund provides grants to eligible organizations and partnerships of eligible organizations to:
•    Develop their capability to undertake and to support the research necessary to engage effectively in advocacy
•    Undertake, and develop their capability to carry out, advocacy activities
•    Monitor and evaluate actions by government which impact on the enabling environment
•    Create better public understanding of the role of BMOs in advocating a better business climate; and
•    Support the development and implementation of strategies and services designed to build long term sustainability.

TradeMark East Africa is a not for profit company which aims to promote regional trade and economic integration in East Africa.TMEA supports the EAC Secretariat, EAC Partner State governments, business and civil society organisations to take forward and benefit from the process of economic integration in East Africa.

Based in Nairobi with offices throughout the EAC region,TMEA works through partnerships and manages funds and programmes on behalf of donors which share these goals. Together with its sister programme, TradeMark Southern Africa, TMEA supports the work of the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite and Joint Task Force.

TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) is working towards establishing systems for Single Window (SW) and Integrated Border Management (IBM) in the EAC region and a key aspect in this regard is the collection and dissemination of information on policies, regulations and procedures for trade.

For futher information, visit TMEA

The United States Agency on Aid and Development (USAID) launched the Competitiveness and Trade Expansion (COMPETE) program aimed at enhancing economic growth and food security in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA). The project will stimulate trade and competitiveness by reducing trade barriers, improving market access and furthering regional integration in Eastern Africa.  The project will run from 11th February 2009 to 1st March 2013 and will be headquartered in Nairobi.

On trade facilitation, the program aims at reducing clearance times at select border posts, removing unnecessary red tape and lobbying for policy changes that will support increased transit efficiency in the ECA region. It will look at the cost structure of corridors in relation to value chains, compile data on quality and efficiency of corridors for benchmarking, and accelerate technology use to improve efficiency.

On trade policy, work will center on EAC Customs Union, COMESA FTA and the proposed Customs Union, COMESA/EAC, SADC tripartite process with an aim at harmonizing the trade regimes across the three blocs, regional and multilateral trade agreement, and reduction of NTBs.

The project also has interventions planned for the textile and floriculture industry, specialty foods, and commercial crafts and home accessories under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which has been extended to 2015. The intervention will involve firm level technical assistance, market linkages through trade shows, AGOA workshops amongst others.

COMPETE, with support from the End Hunger in Africa (IHEA) Initiative, will work to reduce poverty by increasing small scale farmers’ access to commercial staple food markets.

For more details, visit COMPETE