The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) organized a workshop on formulating bankable projects under the AfTIAS 2.0 Program from February 7 to 8, 2023, at ITFC headquarters in Jeddah. All focal points of the AfTIAS 2.0 Program in Arab countries attended the workshop.
The workshop is a crucial output of an assignment to provide technical support for enhancing the formulation of bankable Aid for Trade (AfT) projects in Arab countries. This assignment is part of the second phase of the Aid for Trade Initiative for the Arab States Program (AfTIAS 2.0), which aims to enhance the environment for international trade in the Arab region by making it more efficient and inclusive, thereby creating opportunities for employment and contributing to sustainable development. The program focuses on (1) increasing intra-regional trade, (2) strengthening the role of Arab States in global value chains, and (3) ensuring that the benefits of trade are shared more inclusively across all population groups.
This two-day workshop’s purpose was to enable the AfTIAS Focal Points to identify and formulate projects that meet the AfTIAS 2.0 Program’s substantive and procedural/formal funding criteria. This was done by introducing the broad guidelines on how to develop bankable AfT projects and programs and successfully positioning these within the AfTIAS 2.0 Program, taking into account the current perspectives and requirements of key AfT development partners.
In the workshop, the focal points of the AfTIAS 2.0 Program learned about the introduction to the project cycle, the significant steps for preparing the concept paper, the major steps for preparing the project document, the implementation phase, the monitoring and evaluation phase, cross-cutting issues, and collecting ideas for joint projects under the AfTIAS 2.0 Program.
By the end of this workshop, the focal points will be equipped to systematically analyze the constraints to trade in their countries, identify needs, and formulate project and program proposals that are ‘bankable’ and ready to be presented to the AfTIAS 2.0 Program or other development partners for funding.