Trade and Regional Integration.
For over 40 years, Imani Development has been actively engaged in shaping Africa’s trade agenda. Our work focuses on reducing trade barriers, and creating inclusive policy environments that allow for quicker, easier, and more affordable movement of goods and services across the region.
Since 1982, we have worked alongside governments, regional economic communities, and international donors to strengthen trade agreements and assist in their practical implementation. We have extensive experience in operationalisation of free trade agreements and regional economic commitments, with a focus on negotiations, implementation, monitoring on international trade, investment, and development cooperation agreements such as the EU EPA, AGOA, AfCFTA, TIDCA, EBA and the tripartite FTA.
Imani Development has committed to developing stronger regional, continental and global linkages, working alongside the African Regional Economics Communities such as Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC).
Imani’s services in the area of international trade policy and trade facilitation:
- Development of trade policies and trade strategies
- Assisting governments in the negotiations of WTO rounds, specifically the Doha Development Agenda
- Assisting governments and regional economic communities in regional trade agreements
- Facilitating North-South trade and development negotiations such as the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs)
- Building the capacity of governmental ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to formulate and implement trade policy strategies
- Comprehensive impact assessments and sustainability studies of trade agreements, policies and programmes
Download our latest Trade Development Capacity Statement.
Project Highlights:
National Roll-Out of Coordinated Border Management in Malawi (2025 – Ongoing)
Following a successful piloting of the Malawi CBM Model at Mwanza Border Post (2021-2023), this project implements a national roll-out of CBM across 21 ports of entry, exit, and transit in Malawi, in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) and Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA). This initiative will modernize, harmonize, and standardize border operations by reducing the number of agencies involved in border clearance processes to six, and improving inter- and intra-governmental and cross-border coordination. Imani Development delivers this project under three workstreams: project management support to MoTI and MRA in planning, coordinating, and managing the procurement of border equipment, HR recruitment, inter-agency coordination, change management, and performance monitoring; technical assistance in reengineering clearance processes, conducting physical site suitability and readiness assessments, facilitating the removal of non-core agencies, and providing support in legislative and regulatory matters.
Supporting AGRA’s Priorities in Enhancing the Participation of Women & Youth in Trade (2024 – 2025)
The aim of this assignment was to generate solid evidence, establish baseline data, and identify policy, market, and institutional gaps that limit the participation of the youth and women-led businesses in trade in Eastern, Southern, and West Africa, identifying key areas for AGRA to target programmatic interventions. The project was delivered by an Imani Development-led consortium under five workstreams: (1) identifying the most impactful agricultural value chains for youth and women; (2) carrying out a baseline assessment to understand current levels of and challenges to increased participation in regional trade; (3) reviewing trade-related policies, strategies, and instruments at regional and continental levels; (4) evaluating the effectiveness of NTB reporting and monitoring platforms used by youth and women, and; (5) mapping and profiling key stakeholders involved in trade, including business associations and cross-border trader groups.
Promoting Export-Led Economic Transformation under the SACUM/UK EPA (2024 – 2025)
The UK Government is committed to supporting inclusive and sustainable economic transformation and deepening trade and investment relations for partner countries under the SACUM/UK Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). In support of this, an Imani Development-led consortium was commissioned to support the UK FCDO in engaging with SACUM/UK EPA states to identify priority sectors and value chains with high potential to drive export-led growth, job creation, and poverty reduction. Services included in-depth analysis of UK trade-enabling cooperation instruments, as well as other regional frameworks (AfCFTA, SADC, and SACU), benchmarking lessons from Aid for Trade and Trade & Sustainable Development best practices, conducting trade and investment performance analyses, and facilitating consultations with the public sector, private sector firms, donors, and civil society through country missions in Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Namibia, roundtables in the UK, and a regional validation workshop with BHC country offices in the SACUM region. The findings and recommendations informed UK priority actions, partners, and resource mobilisation in support of refinement and operationalisation of the SACUM/UK EPA.
Development of a High-Level TiS Policy Guide for the AfCFTA Secretariat (2023–2025)
To support finalisation of services negotiations and operationalisation of the AfCFTA Protocol on Trade in Services, Imani Development was contracted to develop a comprehensive, practical, and action-oriented policy guide to inform activities by the AfCFTA Secretariat and its various directorates. Services included a detailed technical review of the state of services liberalisation across AfCFTA Member States and RECs, and the identification of relevant support initiatives by the Secretariat, Afreximbank, RECs, and development partners. This was complemented by stakeholder consultations with national regulators and other public sector stakeholders to uncover challenges and support needs. The resulting policy guide detailed priority action, implementation partners, resource mobilisation strategies, a time-based delivery roadmap, and a draft regulatory framework on Travel and Tourism.
Study on Africa-US Trade and Investment Relationship Beyond AGOA 2025 (2022)
In exploring how Africa and the United States could strengthen their longer-term economic ties and trade relationship, this study provided a comprehensive and detailed diagnostic of their trade and investment relationship under AGOA and various other Africa-US instruments. A detailed review of the contents and performance of these instruments, as well as comparative instruments with other trading partners (incl. EU, China, India, etc), complemented by extensive consultation with high-level public and private sector stakeholders and futures scenario modelling informed recommendations presented to an Extraordinary Meeting of African Ministers in Washington, DC.
Enhancing Maritime Connectivity Project in the South-West Indian Ocean (EMCP-SWIO) (2021 – 2022)
The objective of the assignment was to strengthen regional cooperation on maritime trade among members of the Ports Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa (PMAESA) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) by improving access to shipping and port data for better planning by shipping service providers, and to support the development of a Maritime Single Window. Services were delivered across two key components: (1) project management and stakeholder engagement support to strengthen the IOC and PMAESA secretariats’ capacities to plan, execute, and coordinate project execution (2) technical and diagnostic services in preparing maritime trade transport diagnostic reports for involved countries, developed and piloted the SWIO Regional Maritime Information System.
UNDP- Development of the Revised Botswana Exporter Development Programme (2019-2020)
This assignment required the redesign of the Botswana Exporter Development Programme (BEDP) to in line with recommendations and considerations highlighted in the evaluation. The revised BEDP targeted priority sectors and incorporated priority cross cutting issues, such as market access arrangements, trade information provision, quality assurance and standards. The revised BEDP gave significant focus on sustainable and gender positive poverty reduction in its design.
Development of a Framework for the Establishment of One Stop Border Posts at Kazungula (2017-2020)
The Kazungula Bridge is a joint project between the Government of the Republic of Botswana and the Government of the Republic of Zambia. The Project lies on the border between the two countries on the North-South Corridor (NSC), a vital trade route in SADC. Imani Development was contracted to provide technical support towards establishing and operationalising the One Stop Border Post at Kazungula. Through a range of technical assistance and capacity building activities the team developed procedures for OSBP operations at the Kazungula boarder.
