Quarterly Report on the USAID COMPETE grant

The organization is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and has affiliate national associations in several East African countries. FEAFFA received funding from the USAID COMPETE grant to implement various activities aimed at enhancing the capacity of clearing and forwarding agents, promoting professionalism, and fighting corruption. The grant activities were implemented during the second quarter of 2012, from April to June. One of the key activities implemented during this period was the review and revision of the East African Customs and Freight Forwarding Practicing Certificate (EACFFPC) curriculum. A team of experts finalized the revised curriculum, which is now presented in a more professional format to aid delivery to trainees. The revised curriculum is pending adoption by the Curriculum Implementation Committee (CIC) before it can be deployed. Training and certification of freight forwarders was also a key activity implemented during this period. A total of 427 freight forwarders were trained and certified during the quarter, with 170 from Kenya, 62 from Uganda, 160 from Tanzania, and 35 from Burundi. The training was supported by TradeMark East Africa, and additional classes are expected to commence in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda in the next quarter. FEAFFA also undertook a regional review of the implementation of the EACFFPC training program. The review team met with chairpersons of national associations, heads of revenue authority training institutes, and customs officials to discuss progress made, challenges faced, and actions to move forward. In addition to these activities, FEAFFA also developed organizational policy manuals to guide the daily operations of the secretariat and the entire federation. The policies were adopted by the new board at its last meeting on June 14th, 2012, and are now operational. The policy manuals include human resource, procurement, accounting, communications, data backup, and code of ethics policies and procedure manuals. FEAFFA also strengthened its secretariat by recruiting three new staff members, including an accountant, an information technology officer, and a transport economist. The recruitment process for the transport economist was finalized in June, and the candidate is expected to start work in July 2012. The federation also published the first edition of the East African Freight Forwarders Directory, which is a one-stop source of information on clearing and freight forwarding operators in the region. The directory is expected to generate revenue towards the sustainability of the federation in due course. Overall, FEAFFA made significant progress during the second quarter of 2012 in implementing the grant activities aimed at enhancing the capacity of clearing and forwarding agents, promoting professionalism, and fighting corruption. The organization continues to work towards its vision of being a model professional association in freight.