USAID/Uzbekistan Market Systems Transformed QUARTERLY REPORT

The project was awarded to Palladium International on September 30, 2023, and is designed to strengthen businesses and the business-enabling environment in targeted sectors, while addressing the barriers faced by women, youth, and underrepresented groups. The MST Activity will focus on four key sectors: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Tourism, Textiles, and Green Economy. The project will take a market systems approach to produce a structural transformation of the Uzbekistan economy by strengthening the current drivers of growth and developing new sectors. This will create jobs and economic inclusion, develop export markets for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), and attract capital. The project will improve SME market readiness by de-risking market-oriented upgrades and nurturing business-to-business (B2B) relationships. It will also foster a robust business service ecosystem by cultivating and strengthening the capacity of a vetted network of business advisory service providers (BASP), prioritizing digital and green services. Additionally, the project will strengthen SME access to finance by incentivizing financial facilitators (FF) to link SMEs to existing financial options and collaborating with banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) to develop new products. The MST Activity will also increase the quality and frequency of public-private dialogue, amplifying the voices of underserved SMEs on regulatory and workforce development. The project will be implemented through the development of partnerships with private sector actors, government counterparts, beneficiaries, and other stakeholders in targeted sectors. In the first quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 (October to December 2023), the Home Office (HO) Project Management Unit (PMU) participated in a post-award orientation with key members of USAID/Uzbekistan and quickly mobilized resources to begin operational start-up and implementation of the Prime Contract. Highlights from this reporting period include the post-award orientation meeting with USAID/Uzbekistan, onboarding of Activity personnel, development of the Activity's First Annual Work Plan, updating the Future Growth Initiative 2019 Political Economy Analysis, development of the Activity's Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Plan, and development of the Activity's Grants Manual. The project has made significant progress in its first quarter of implementation, and a forward look to activities planned in the upcoming quarter (January to March 2024) is provided. The MST Activity is expected to contribute to the following two objectives: Objective 1, Reduced barriers to private sector growth in the ICT, tourism, and textiles sectors and green economy sub-sectors, and Objective 2, Increased private sector investment and access to finance in ICT, tourism, and textiles sectors and green economy sub-sectors.