Diborah Donada is back in the classroom to learn a skill that will help South Sudan’s economy grow from dependence on oil – English, East Africas’ business language. “As a Customs officer, I am the eyes of the nation. My job is very important to earn revenue for my country’s development, for our children’s health, for hospitals and for education. English will help me be a better officer.” She is one of around 200 staff of the Customs Service of South Sudan and National Bureau of Standards who are being taught to learn English so they can deal efficiently in the business language of the East African Community. The training is part of a comprehensive programme of skill and capacity building backed by TradeMark Africa, which has carried out similar language programmes in Francophone Burundi so that government officials can negotiate in the EAC’s key language. Surprisingly, for many visitors, the language of day-to-day South Sudan is Arabic the language of the mainly Arab North from which the country gained independence in 2011 after almost 30 years of war. Around two million South Sudanese left Arabic-speaking jobs in Khartoum and now form the backbone of civil service positions, according to the Director-General of CSSS, Maj-Gen Mikaya Modi. “English is vital,” he says. “It is the language of business in East Africa.” Linda Nansubuga, one of the English-language trainers, says many of her candidates have little background in English and are given remedial and extra tuition. “Skill levels vary a great...

The symbols of South Sudan’s key challenges boom overhead every 15 minutes, briefly denying Juba residents the chance of sensible conversation, making paperwork on desks flutter and shake and dust rise on the streets. They are aircraft, commercial flights carrying businessmen and aid workers, and United Nations transport craft ferrying food and people to staunch the needs of more than a million made homeless and thousands killed since renewed internal conflict erupted in December 2013. Residents of Juba have become used to the noise but recognise that the aerial traffic encapsulates the dilemma facing the world’s newest nation as it tries to develop and tap its undoubted potential. “Peace. For South Sudan to really begin to grow, we need peace more than anything else,” says Caesar Riko, the policy and advocacy advisor of South Sudan Chamber of Commerce. “We can grow, even in conflict, but not the way we could if there was peace.” The world’s newest nation was born in July 2011 in jubilation after almost 30 years of war with the Khartoum government in the North but descended into internal conflict in December 2011 when President Salva Kiir accused his deputy, Riek Machar, of plotting to overthrow him. That simmering conflict shut down South Sudan’s key oil fields in the North of the country and has highlighted in cruel focus the need for the country to diversify away from 98% dependence on petroleum for the revenue with which to develop a country of around 12 million people. The...

The biscuits came from Iran in modern, airtight packaging, the list of ingredients displayed on the back, an appetizing picture of the snack on the front. [caption id="attachment_6922" align="alignleft" width="500"] Jacob Matiop, South Sudan National Bureau of Standards head at Nimule, shows some of the expired imported goods impounded at the border.[/caption] The problem was that their expiry date was the week before they crossed the border from Uganda. They were inedible, potentially harmful for the consumer, and duly rejected by South Sudan’s embryonic National Bureau of Standards (SSNBS). “There was a whole consignment like this,” says Jacob Matiop, SSNBS head at Nimule, through which 90% of the nation’s goods arrive through the East African Community’s Northern Corridor from the Kenyan port of Mombasa. “So we seized them, and we will destroy them. The owners are upset but South Sudan will not let itself become a dumping ground for sub-standard or expired goods of any sort, and that means everything from biscuits to computers.” Matiop is young, determined and enthusiastic about establishing a system of standards of the sort that many EAC states already have or are, like his own country, building with help from TradeMark Africa (TMA) to protect consumers and streamline trade. “Of course traders get upset. They are not used to the idea of standards. One trader even pulled a pistol on one of my officers but we are protecting our young nation and our consumers. It is a duty.” Standards are a key part of the...

They live in a state of suspension under plastic sheets or twigs, under tents if they are lucky, out in the open if they are not. Women and children, men and boys; the only certainty in their lives is uncertainty. These are the human flotsam from South Sudan’s unresolved internal conflict, which erupted in December 2013, sending more than a million running for shelter, food and security, killing 10,000. “It’s a critical emergency,” says World Food Programme (WFP) Logistics Cluster head Fiona Lithgow. “Just getting relief to these people in a country of this size is an enormous challenge, but we are winning.” Relief flights leave Juba airport daily, airlifting or airdropping supplies to U.N. and NGO teams dotted around the compass points of one of Africa’s biggest countries, and the newest country in the world. Almost all of that aid comes by road from faraway Mombasa, or the U.N. logistics base at Entebbe, Uganda. It now gets fast-track clearance under a programme supported by TMA and its partners which has reduced clearance time to one or two days from four-five days before. “The paperwork has been hugely reduced for aid trucks,” says Bennet Obwoya, who oversees the comings and goings of the aid convoys in a small containerized office at the corner of the Nimule Customs area. “The need for proof of payment of taxes for aid, which is tax exempt, has been done away with. Verification of cargoes has been speeded up a lot and things have improved...

A guide to handling problems at any international frontier might usually entail tips on how to complete a form and a reference guide to import taxes and regulations. But in Burundi, the assistance has been taken a whole lot further with a guide on how to avoid confrontational body language when women traders, the bedrock of cross border trade, deal with customs and tax officials. Laid out in cartoon-style diagrams, the guide is one of many innovative ways Search for Common Ground (SFCG), an international NGO, is helping ordinary people adapt to the realities of trade now that one of Africa’s smallest states is now a member of one of Africa’s biggest trade blocs, the East African Community (EAC). “Our aim is to help women traders improve their position in the new realities of EAC membership, and that means helping them understand today’s realities of paying taxes and duties and dealing with officials without getting into rows,” says Floride Ahintungiye, Programme Director of SFCG, “It starts with just simple things, like learning that finger pointing immediately sets your interlocutor on the defensive. It’s amazing how much progress you can make when you start off with the right attitude of working together to solve problems.” As the EAC grows and becomes more streamlined, borders become the interface not just between member states but EAC citizens, women notably, struggling to come to terms with the new realities of tariffs, duties and procedures EAC rules mandate. Signs posted along major roads in Burundi...

In order to achieve the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS2) and 2020 Vision’s objective to commercialize and diversify agriculture, the Government of Rwanda has been involved in promoting trade in different crops by creating a conducive environment to facilitate the export of these key agriculture products but also by ensuring Rwandan products get access to potentially lucrative foreign markets. Honey for export Previous reports on the honey sector have been for some time highlighting the export potential for Rwandan honey and other bee products. The quality of the Rwandan honey and wax was considered good and it was evident that it could meet the quality standards and specifications of foreign markets In this respect, honey was considered as one of the products to be promoted both regionally and internationally. In Rwanda, honey production has been considered for a long time as a past-time activity carried out by older men and in many respects has been neglected. Information on apiculture was scattered and most of what was available amongst various sector stakeholders were merely assumptions due to the lack of data and a well-defined monitoring and evaluation system. In the recent past, however, apiculture (the rearing of bees for commercial purposes), has been brought to the forefront, playing an increasingly significant role in transforming the lives of former gatherers of honey at a very small scale into farmers complying to national and international standards at every level in the production chain towards export. “Although the government puts in a...

A gleaming new hospital stands on a hillside in rural Burundi, a tribute to a tax system envied in many parts of Africa and the government’s commitment to home-grown development of one of the world’s poorest countries. “It was built entirely from our own resources,” says Dr Liboire Nigiri, Director General at the Ministry of Public Health. “Before long Burundians won’t have to go abroad for interventions and surgery. They will use their very own hospital.” The 150-bed Karusi referral hospital is the latest gleaming example of the way that the government of Burundi has turned around a corrupt and ineffective tax collection system to comply with the demands of East African Community (EAC) membership and modernise its public spending. The facility which was officially opened in mid-2014 boasts of a gleaming new ambulance parked outside the emergency area, new beds, mattresses, furniture and equipment, flowers budding along its tidy walkways and grass taking root in open areas. “This facility, paid for entirely from domestic funds, would never have been possible without the leadership of the government and the hard work and dedication of the OBR (Office Burundaise des Recettes – Burundi Revenue Authority) says OBR Commissioner General Dr. Domitien Ndihokubwayo.” Over the last four years, the government has moved closer to its target of funding its own spending 100% from its own tax and customs revenue. OBR has been supported by TradeMark Africa as part of its programme to help EAC governments and private sector institutions modernise and improve...

Slowly, but perceptibly, sediment forms out of a white substance and gathers at the bottom of a test tube in a small laboratory off the main road in Bujumbura. The sediment’s name is fraud. “What you are seeing is the analysis of a milk sample we took from a street vendor,” says laboratory assistant Benoit Glaud. “It’s been diluted with flour and with water, which is no surprise to us. Basically, Burundians are victims of massive fraud in foodstuffs. Glaud is a consultant working to modernize the tools and methods of the Burundi Bureau of Standards and Quality Control (BBN) to help exporters compete in the East African Community (EAC) market and to accustom producers and consumers to the idea that standards are not an extra tax but a guarantee of quality and safety. “Having the BBN stamp on your product is vital for the free movement of goods within the (East African) community,” says Damien Nakobedetse, BBN’s Director-General. “Without laboratory test results and the BBN stamp, it is very difficult to sell a product beyond the local market. Without certification, many countries will refuse imports or demand further analysis, which is expensive.” BBN has been around for two decades but its mission gained added urgency with membership of the EAC and the need for strict standards in the emerging single customs area the bloc is establishing. It was a case of standardize to survive. Across the community, TradeMark Africa (TMA) is helping national standards offices modernize, develop and introduce...

Mission of the Uganda National Bureau of Standards: “To provide standards, measurements and conformity assessment services for improved quality of life.” How much do you know about the quality of your television set? Or your washing powder? Even your toothpaste? You probably did some research before handing over the money for your TV, perhaps asking your friends, comparing costs, or even checking online. But did you bother to check that your washing powder actually does what the packet says it does, and won’t bring you out in a rash? As for your toothpaste, which you put in your mouth at least twice a day, how do you know it won’t poison you? In Uganda, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) is the organisation that ensures that consumer products meet current standards including safety. In 2010 the UNBS, with assistance from the Sweden International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and TradeMark Africa (TMA) began a five year Quality Infrastructure and Standards Programme (QUISP)worth US$2.7 million, to establish and strengthen the standards development and implementation capacity of the country. The programme is designed to assist not just Ugandan producers, but also importers who suffer delays due to product testing. QUISP has five components: to put in place a national standards and quality strategy; to develop a legal framework for quality infrastructure;to coordinate the different players, especially regulators, standards developers and standards implementers; to build the capacity of the above players in terms of training and equipment; and to raise awareness of and...

Abdul Mohamed is a small business owner based in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. He owns and drives his own truck, which he uses to export plastic chairs to neighbouring Burundi. On Tuesday 9 September 2014 Abdul leaves Dar es Salaam at 7.00 AM carrying almost 2,000 chairs bound for a retailer in Bujumbura, the capital city of Burundi. The following day at 1.00 PM after 30 hours on the road, Abdul arrives at the border post of Kobero, just inside Burundi territory. Abdul Mohamed has been exporting chairs to Burundi for the last three years, a five-day return journey covering nearly 2,400 Km. He has made good time on this journey and he expects to spend up to four hours at the border post before getting back behind the wheel and on the road. But it wasn’t always so. Just four months before, Abdul would have had to make the same journey with two border stops, the first at Kabanga on the Tanzanian side of the border, then at Kobero. The procedure was lengthy. Abdul would, through the services of a clearing agent, declare his goods to the customs officers who would make a physical inspection of his cargo. That could take up to 12 hours as he waited in line with the many other truck drivers who use the central corridor to carry goods inland from the port of Dar es Salaam. Then, having completed that procedure, Abdul would go through immigration procedures before finally being allowed into the...