Challenges

The ACP Business-Friendly programme is an initiative aimed at supporting value chains and promoting inclusive policies within the African, Caribbean, and Pacific states. Funded by the European Union and the Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States, the program has a budget of 41.7 million euros of which a 15 million euro share will be implemented by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) until the end of 2025. The programme has two main objectives: to adopt and implement business-friendly, inclusive, and responsible national policies and legal frameworks, and to strengthen productive, processing, promoting, and marketing capabilities and value chains. By focusing on these goals, the program aims to create a more conducive environment for businesses to thrive and support the sustainable growth of the ACP states.

Toward a Solution

UNIDO is implementing the meso-level component of the ACP Business-Friendly program aimed at building the capacity of Investment Promotion Institutions (IPIs) to better support domestic and foreign investors. The implementation of this component is undertaken in close coordination with two other partners, the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Trade Centre (ITC).

The Meso-level component is designed to work in conjunction with the macro and micro-level interventions to enhance the overall impact of the programme. The programme is undertaken in the 79 member states of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States through policy, institutional, and firm-level engagements. Additionally, the program will make regional-level interventions by working closely with Regional Economic Communities and regional public and private sector organizations. A rapid response window has been set up to accommodate ad-hoc interventions based on specific requests.

UNIDO is implementing the meso-level component of the Programme. UNIDO’s investment promotion interventions are aimed to facilitate the process of identifying, and mobilizing capital, knowledge and technological resources for a more targeted investment development impact. While Programme actions are primarily undertaken at the intervention country level, the regional character of the Programme creates opportunities to activate powerful drivers for best-practice, knowledge-exchange actions, serving to increase and amplify the value capture and impact at the wider ACP region. On the micro level, South-South linkages are fostered between ACP producer associations, businesses and member states.

A cloud-based, digital Invest-in-ACP Platform has recently been launched to guide and strengthen digital investment promotion functions. You also find beneficiar

The Programme will follow the recommendations of the OACPS Secretariat on sustainability, which call for long-term engagement with local business partners (institutions and operators) and a focus on the most vulnerable groups of entrepreneurs including micro-enterprises. The selection of institutions for capacity building is based on their relevance to the private sector, including women and young entrepreneurs, and is aligned with the EU’s gender equality and women’s empowerment framework. The programme’s sustainability will also be supported by its focus on long-term process improvement in investment promotion and profiling interventions and their ensuing impact with the alignment of political, institutional, financial, and technical factors that determine the sustainability of interventions at the macro, meso, and micro-level. To this extent, the programme’s governance structure will serve as a mechanism to ensure coordination and synergies aimed at maximizing sustainable outcomes. Additionally, the programme will work closely with regional economic communities, EU delegations, and private sector partners at the country level to ensure sustainable outcomes.