Mid-Term evaluation of the Trade Related Facility (2020)

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Trade Related Facility (TRF) was established through a Contribution Agreement (CA) (value of €31.6m) between the European Union (EU) and the SADC Secretariat on 28 July 2014. The project implementation period commenced on 1 October 2014 for a period of 60 months to 30 September 2019. Given significant delays during the start-up phase of the programme, the EU has agreed to a two-year no-cost extension, taking the programme up to 30 September 2021.

The overall objective of the programme is to improve the participation of SADC Member States (MS) in regional and international trade in order to contribute to sustainable development in the SADC region. The specific objective of the Programme is to enhance the implementation of the SADC Trade Protocol (STP) and the SADC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) to increase intra-regional and inter-regional trade flows of the participating SADC MS. As such, it is anticipated that the Programme is able to contribute to a higher level of compliance and implementation of the STP’s commitments by the SADC MS and that the SADC EPA MS are better prepared to effectively implement and monitor the EPA and benefit from it, particularly in terms of any new opportunities related to improved market access.