Ecommerce in West Africa (2012-2015)

Accelerating progress in West-African countries

Accelerating progress in West-African countries

Overview

The TRAINFORTRADE Project in West Africa was launched in 2012 and will run until 2015. The overall goal of the project is to Accelerate progress in West-African countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Senegal and Togo) towards the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, particularly MDG 8, through trade-related training and capacity building.

Training & Technical Assistance Activities

  • Needs Assessment missions in each country to meet with national counterparts and agree on a proposed plan of action.
  • Course Development on e-Commerce for practitioners
  • Training of Technical Tutors
  • Training workshops (E-learning and Face-to-Face)
  • Studies/ publications

Impact

  • In Niger, personal data protection law and e-commerce law will be presented to the Assembly during October 2014 session.
  • In Togo, the Association PayCamp has been created to promote e-Commerce in Togo.

In Cote d’Ivoire, a national Fair will be setup in Abidjan to Promote e-Commerce in Cote d’Ivoire and in the UEMOA member States.

The project is developed around 2 components within the area of e-Commerce:

Legal Aspects of e-Commerce

The objective of this component is to raise awareness particularly to lawmakers and government officials on key aspects to be considered for the drafting of Electronic Commerce Laws.

e-Commerce for Practitioners

The objective of this component is to promote e-Commerce in order to improve the environment for investment and setup of business in this area.

Results

Summary of results

During the 3-year period, 2013 – 2015, that Development Account project 1213J run in West Africa, TRAINFORTRADE managed to provide training, with the aim of enhancing the capacity of beneficiary states, to 894 participants (21% female) of which 684 were directly funded by the project. Based on results and proportional representation, 200 qualifying participants (25% female) attended Face-to-face workshops where they further explored topics that were covered in the distance learning components of the programme. The project was deemed timely by many of the beneficiaries including the ECOWAS secretariat which further requested that the project be expanded to cover the remaining member states to help it with its own drive to achieve the harmonization of e-Commerce laws within the entire region.

In using the blended learning approach, the project successfully reached a higher number of beneficiaries within a restricted budget albeit in a timely manner. Likewise, through the employment of e-Learning, the project successfully targeted and delivered training through a coup d’Etat in Burkina Faso and the Ebola outbreak that disrupted travel in the region. The project also laid the foundations for sustainability through the training and use of local technical tutors that were provided with the skills and technologies to manage the local deliveries and the abilities to independently replicate the project in the future.

The independent evaluation of the project concluded that the project was highly efficiency and relevant, effective in line with the means, scope and duration, and that while it is too early to assess the long term impact and sustainability, the immediate outcomes are very promising.

Time Frame for 2013-2015

Dev Account

The Project is financed by the United Nations Development Account and implemented by UNCTAD/TRAINFORTRADE

Information data

ActionPlaceNumber of participants
Total: 34 tutors have trained 894 participants (191 women)ECOWAS894 Participants (191 women)
Training of technical tutors (FR) 2013Dakar 14 Participants (4 women)
Training of technical tutors (EN) 2013Accra 20 Participants (3 women)
Online Course on legal Aspect of e-Commerce (EN, FR) 2013ECOWAS 165 Participants (42 women)
Face-to-face workshop on legal aspect of e-Commerce (EN) 2014Accra 22 Participants (8 women)
Face-to-face workshop on legal aspect of e-Commerce (FR) 2014Dakar 23 Participants (7 women)
Online Course on e-Commerce for practitioners (EN, FR) 2014ECOWAS 168 Participants (29 women)
Online Course on legal Aspect of e-Commerce (EN, FR) 2014ECOWAS 159 Participants (27 women)
Face-to-face workshop on e-Commerce for practitioners (FR) 2014Dakar 25 Participants (6 women)
Online Course on e-Commerce for practitioners (EN, FR) 2015ECOWAS125 Participants (26 women)
Face-to-face workshop on legal aspect of e-Commerce (EN, FR) 2015Geneva 33 Participants (7 women)
Face-to-face workshop on e-Commerce for practitioners (EN) 2015Banjul 13 Participants (3 women)
Face-to-face workshop on e-Commerce for practitioners (FR) April 2015Abidjan 29 Participants (6 women)
Online Course on e-Commerce for practitioners (EN only) May 2015ECOWAS 77 Participants (17 women)
Face-to-face workshop on e-Commerce for practitioners (EN only) September 2015Accra 21 Participants (6 women)

Related documents

Report_ToTT Accra 2013

Report Accra, Ghana March 2014

Report Geneva, Switzerland March 2015 Seminar in English & French

Report Banjul, Gambia, March 2015

ECOWAS study on cyberlaws (2015)

Final evaluation REPORT UNDA 1213J (PDF)

Share this article on your favorite social network