FY 2021 Results: Private Sector Engagement

In alignment with the USAID Private Sector Engagement Policy, IPS Missions and Operating Units (OUs) work to improve PSE outcomes across all IPS Initiatives and Program Focus Areas. The Indo-Pacific Transparency Initiative (IPTI) achieved significant results in FY 2021. USAID/Timor-Leste helped the Customs Authority streamline procedures across government agencies, resulting in traders saving over 190,000 days that they would previously have wasted trying to import or export their goods. This equates to overall savings of $38 million to the private sector, with an estimated $11 million saved in FY 2021. The USAID/Bangladesh Youth Empowerment for Social Cohesion (YESC) Activity inaugurated two agriculture sales and service centers in the host community of Cox's Bazar, linking the centers with private and government agricultural support services to benefit marginalized farmers. The USAID/Indonesia supported pro bono lawyers and justice seekers by helping develop the Advocates Assisting the Community application, which engaged lawyers from the private sector to strengthen access to justice for vulnerable groups through free legal services. In FY 2021, the 28 lawyers who enrolled provided 1,605 days of free legal consultations to 76 justice seekers, equating to 12,840 pro bono hours over seven months. The USAID/Maldives' Public Finance Maldives Activity's Islamic Finance Expert assisted the Ministry of Finance in successfully issuing the first-ever Shariah Compliant Treasury Instrument in the domestic market, raising MVR 350 million. The Infrastructure Transaction and Assistance Network (ITAN) also achieved notable results in FY 2021. The USAID Bangladesh Agricultural Infrastructure Development Program worked with the Bangladesh Flower Society (BFS) to develop a new operations, management, and maintenance plan for the new flower market, which was recently constructed under a public-private partnership between BFS, Jashore District Administration, and the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). The flower market, strategically situated near the country's main flower production hub in the southwest, is expected to open in April 2022. The Trade and Competitiveness (T&C) Program Focus Area also made significant progress in FY 2021. USAID/Bangladesh partnered with international and local rice research entities to develop new rice varieties, which were more accessible to the Feed the Future target population. The new rice research partnerships trained 46 scientists (including six female scientists) from five private sector seed companies and established breeding facilities equipped with modern tools and infrastructure. USAID invested $190,000, while the five private sector partners mobilized $1.68 million to support the new partnerships. In addition, USAID/Cambodia's Harvest II continued to focus on private sector partnerships to accelerate the growth of the horticulture sector. Utilizing a facilitative approach, Harvest II facilitated commercial partnerships with 59 local businesses that purchased vegetables, spices, fruits, and nuts from 1,641 farmers and/or farmer organizations. Furthermore, Harvest II engaged in a variety of complementary commercial partnership activities, which translated into a $29,679,642 increase in sales of fruits and vegetables, new private investments totaling $6,135,031, the creation of 1,290 full-time jobs, 675 firms applying improved business management practice, and 360 firms increased their profitability. The USAID/Indonesia worked with 35 commercial water, sanitation, and hygiene enterprises to provide technical support and secure $47.5 million in public-private partnership financing, benefitting an estimated 88,000 households from a regional water supply project in North Sumatera. USAID/Laos, through the Laos Business Environment (LBE) Activity, partnered with the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Lao ICT Commerce Association (LICA) to develop and implement two key initiatives designed to enhance digital skills for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including 54 women-owned small and medium enterprises, as well as increase their awareness of and engagement in key business and economic policy issues. The USAID/Vietnam LinkSME Activity facilitated 82 linkages with a total value of $3,283,133 (or 69 percent). LinkSME also collaborated with business support organizations to hold training workshops on how enterprises can expand production and access to finance for post-COVID-19 business recovery and worked directly with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in accessing preferential financial resources. Through these efforts, LinkSME has facilitated $1.66 million in new finance for small and medium enterprises. The USAID Trade Facilitation Program also improved private sector engagement by organizing regular Private Sector Trade Facilitation meetings and strengthening Customs-Business dialogue by cooperating with the business community on policy reforms, surveys, and awareness building. The USA