Quarterly Report on USAID COMPETE grant

FEAFFA's vision is to be a model professional association in freight. The organization is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and has a secretariat that is responsible for implementing its activities. FEAFFA received a grant from USAID's COMPETE program to enhance its advocacy capacity, promote professionalism, and ease trade across the borders in East Africa. The grant activities implemented during the 3rd quarter of 2012 focused on training, institutional support, and revenue generation. The activities included reviewing the East African Customs and Freight Forwarding Practicing Certificate (EACFFPC) curriculum, organizing training subcommittee meetings, coordinating the EACFFPC training program, developing EACFFPC training materials, and conducting an audit of the FEAFFA portal. The EACFFPC curriculum was validated in July 2012, and development of training materials commenced. The training materials cover Customs procedures, Tariff classification, Valuation, Rules of origin, Application of ICT, Port Clearance, and Freight forwarding Operations, Basic management, and Ethics and Integrity. The process of developing the training materials has been demanding, requiring more time than initially thought, and a third and final retreat has been organized to finalize the materials. FEAFFA also organized a half-day seminar to raise awareness on the Code of Conduct among clearing agents on 12th July 2012 at Malaba Border. The seminar was part of the border assessment activities by USAID COMPETE. Additionally, FEAFFA participated in a workshop for organizations interested in applying for USAID grants under the African Institutions Innovation Mechanism (AIIM) and is preparing a concept note for submission before the due date. In terms of revenue generation, FEAFFA finalized engagement of Efman communications to publish the second edition of the East African Freight Forwarders Directory. The directory is expected to be a one-stop source of information on all clearing agents and other actors in the logistics industry, generating revenue for the federation. FEAFFA also participated in a two-day stakeholders consultative meeting on the EAC Single Customs Territory, which aimed to discuss the implementation of the EAC Single Customs Territory. The meeting brought together stakeholders from the EAC region to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with the implementation of the EAC Single Customs Territory. Overall, FEAFFA's activities during the 3rd quarter of 2012 focused on enhancing its advocacy capacity, promoting professionalism, and ease trade across the borders in East Africa. The organization continues to work towards its vision of being a model professional association in freight.