United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

Ceylon Cinnamon Value Chain Project Sri Lanka

Over the past decade, the market share of Ceylon cinnamon from Sri Lanka has gradually diminished in European and North American markets. The two reasons for this were: (i) it is losing market share to a cheaper substitute known as cassia; and (ii) it has failed to meet the most recent product specifications and stringent food safety and hygiene requirements. The country has also struggled with sever labour shortages due to the social stigma associated with cinnamon peeling as a vocation, migration from producing areas and climate change.

The project supported the stakeholders of Ceylon cinnamon industry in enhancing their competitiveness and productive capacities along the value chain, thus enabling them to comply with food safety and hygiene requirements of export markets, compete more effectively in global trade and tackle social stigma. The direct impact of the project was to provide technical support to the industry in enhancing its quality and food safety compliance and to meet with the conformity requirements of European and North American and high-end markets.

This project, following UNIDO’s value chain development approach in Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) capacity building, established a nationally accredited competency-based training programme for the industry and built institutional capacity of the Cinnamon Training Academy (CTA) to deliver the aforementioned training along with other future services in food safety. In addition, the project also promoted the application of internationally recognized food safety certifications for cinnamon processing centers and assisted in the upgrade of a selected number of centers against Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification. To improve the marketing value and position of Ceylon cinnamon in global trade, the project helped to enhance the conformity assessment scheme of the Pure Ceylon Cinnamon (PCC) certification mark for Ceylon cinnamon products as well as to obtain Geographical Indications (GI) in the near future.

The project was facilitated through a public-private partnership (PPP) steered by UNIDO, the Government of Sri Lanka, The Spice Council of Sri Lanka, representing all key stakeholders in the cinnamon industry, as well as Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) of the World Trade Organization (WTO). By empowering The Spice Council and creating an enabling environment conducive to long term public-partnerships and innovation, the project was able to catalyze additional support and has having positive spill-over effects reaching far beyond its original scope.

IRAQ: Regaining International Recognition Through an Upgrading of the National Quality System

Donor: Sweden

Budget: 12,500,000 USD

Duration: 2012 - 2017

Context

Since the lifting of UN sanctions in 2003, Iraq has strengthened trade relations with the regional and international community and is working to become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). A vital step towards achieving this objective involves a comprehensive upgrading of the country’s National Quality System (NQS).

The application of quality assurance and quality control techniques in the production, distribution and importation of products is essential for Iraq’s integration into regional and global value chains, as well as for safeguarding the public against hazards of spoiled food and faulty appliances.

For years, Iraqi consumers have been subject to low quality products, commodities and household appliances, as neither locally-manufactured nor imported goods meet adequate quality standards. The Iraqi Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control (COSQC) has had no alternative but to subcontract foreign companies to implement the “Pre-import inspection, testing and certification programme of goods to Iraq” in order to protect domestic consumers.

Main approach

UNIDO is working with international and regional partners to upgrade the technical infrastructure and support institutions needed to ensure better trade performance while also protecting Iraqi consumers. The comprehensive technical support programme addresses all essential elements of the Iraq’s National Quality System: quality policy and legal reforms, standardization, metrology, accreditation and conformity assessment services. In partnership with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) the project also aims to improve the trade policy framework and strengthen related institutions to support the country in its WTO accession process.

UNIDO conducted assessments of Iraq’s institutional structure and the existing legal framework related to quality. The assessments are followed by national-level stakeholder consultations to support the establishment of a national quality framework, including a national quality policy and a strategic action plan for its implementation. The project also focuses on strengthening the COSQC’s capacities as the national standardization organization in line with the WTO’s Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreements. In addition, technical assistance is being provided to upgrade the national metrology system, including the COSQC’s Metrology Department.

In parallel, UNIDO – in partnership with the Swedish Board for Accreditation and Conformity Assessment (SWEDAC) – helped set up and operationalize an Iraqi national accreditation body, and is providing independent training courses to ensure the technical competency of staff and auditors.

Impact and results

As a result of the project, a regionally and internationally recognized Iraqi accreditation body – the Iraqi Accreditation System (IQAS) – is now operational and offering its services to national conformity assessment bodies, supported by an effective national metrology system. IQAS has already accredited 15 national laboratories, which opened the door to full membership to the Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC) and associate membership to the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).

With a more streamlined process of standards, the COSQC is now better equipped to support the economic development of Iraq. Its quality management and governance systems were developed according to international best practices, providing more efficient services to the private sector. The overall effectiveness of the Iraqi food control system will also be increased through the upgrading of laboratory and inspection infrastructure, in particular along Basra borders, to the benefit of both consumers and the private sector.

The extensive package of initiatives launched within the framework of this project is an important step towards rebuilding Iraq’s economy. By establishing key industry support institutions and restoring linkages with the international trading system, Iraq is now closer to becoming a WTO member.

Arab Accreditation Cooperation

In response to a request from The Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) and with funding from the Kingdom of Sweden via the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) developed a technical support program to support AIDMO in the implementation of the Regional Quality Infrastructure Strategy targeting the regional cooperation in accreditation as the main focus. The project aims at achieving regional integration, harmonization and effective coordination in the quality infrastructure ensuring compliance with international trade rules and regulations, through the establishment and/or strengthening existing regional support of standardization, conformity assessment and accreditation in order to achieve international levels of quality for Arab products and services. One of the main achievements of this cooperation project which started in 2011 is the establishment of Arab Accreditation Cooperation (ARAC).

Established by the Ministerial Decree of the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) in June 2008, ARAC was launched under AIDMO-UNIDO-Sida cooperation project on June 12, 2011 to be the Arab Cooperation Accreditation Body for the planning, development and coordination of the accreditation infrastructure in the Arab region (22 Arab countries) to support inter / intra Arab trade, improve the competitiveness, provide trust in Arab goods and services and protect health and safety of the public and the environment.

The current membership includes 15 members covering 17 Arab countries (Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates & Yemen). 4 of ARAC full members are signatories of ARAC Multilateral Recognition Arrangements [MLA].

Following the 95th Ministerial Economic and Social Council meeting of the League of Arab States (LAS), held on 19th February 2015 in LAS headquarters, in Cairo, Egypt, the Ministerial Economic and Social Council has recognized ARAC as one of the main pillars of the Pan Arab quality infrastructure in supporting intra-regional trade and the Arab Customs Union requirements.

ARAC safeguards internationally the value and credibility of accreditation delivered by ARAC members and services delivered by accredited conformity assessment bodies within the Arab market, supporting Arab countries to facilitate trade, enhance health & safety, protect the environment, and provide consumer protection.

Through the ARAC Multilateral Recognition Arrangements (MLA), ARAC facilitates the acceptance of the results of conformity assessment services in one country by Regulators and the market place in another country without further examination, for the benefit of the Arab community and the global economy.

ARAC is internationally recognized respectively by International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and International Accreditation Forum (IAF). In addition, ARAC established a close cooperation with all the Regional Accreditation Cooperation bodies via the signing and implementation of Technical Cooperation Agreements and Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs).

ARAC enjoys successful partnership with the main actors of regional accreditation cooperation at in the five continents and multiplied Technical Cooperation agreements and Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with a number of international and regional organizations. MoUs signed and implemented with Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC), European Accreditation (EA), Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC), Inter American Accreditation Cooperation (IAAC), African Accreditation Cooperation (AFRAC) and Southern African Development Community Cooperation in Accreditation (SADCA). The achieved activities through these MoUs are mainly the conducting of the Joint Peer evaluations, participation of ARAC member’s accredited laboratories and Inspection bodies at the Proficiency Testing Programs and the development of the first ARAC Proficiency Testing Program and expertise/knowledge sharing.

Following the outstanding achievements of ARAC during the first phase of the project implementation period, the three partners UNIDO-AIDMO-Sida decided to continue supporting ARAC for the coming 4 years under a new project dedicated to ARAC with the aim to achieve the International Recognition of the ARAC MLA and ensure ARAC financial and administrative sustainability. The focus for the next four years will be on the strengthening the functioning of ARAC and roll-out of the ARAC Multilateral Recognition Arrangement (MLA) between Accreditation Bodies and continue supporting capacity building of ARAC members.

SAFE: Arab Food Safety Initiative

Context

The League of Arab States (LAS) region has one of the lowest levels of intraregional trade despite preferential market access provided under the Pan Arab Free Trade Agreement (PAFTA). The potential exists, but it is yet untapped, and analyses show that the removal of remaining obstacles to trade could increase total trade volume of member states by 10% and create at least 2 million jobs. 54% of the non-tariff measures (NTMs) in the region are mainly related to technical barriers to trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, which have a negative impact on intraregional trade especially in food and agricultural pro ducts in general. Although several countries in the Arab region have taken steps to upgrade their food safety systems, the capacity and efficiency of many countries need to be enhanced in order to ensure a n adequate surveillance of locally produced and imported food as well as to demonstrate compliance with food standards in export markets. Therefore, regional cooperation and harmonization among LAS member states are critical for a successful PAFTA implementation.

Main approach

In close collaboration with LAS and its specialized agencies, the Arab Industrial Development and Mining Organization (AIDMO) and the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD), UNIDO is coordinating regional efforts to enhance trade in food products through the development of harmonized regional conformity assessment and food safety systems. A high-level food safety coordination platform under the PAFTA Secretariat is to drive the regional integration and harmonization efforts in food safety. The UNIDO project also engages FAO and other UN agencies as well as academic institutions and regional private sector associations and consumer protection organizations.

Impact/results

During its first year of implementation, UNIDO’s SAFE project established the Arab Task Force (ATF) for Food Safety with representation from 17 countries. The Task Force provides advice and guidance to LAS, AIDMO and AOAD on the enhancement of coordination and harmonization of food safety interventions, including food safety standards. Subsequently, working groups were formed to deal with impediments to intraregional trade that are attributable to food safety measures.

Support is also being provided to existing regional structures and institutions representing the private food sector, academia and consumers with the aim to facilitate their involvement in the regional food safety harmonization process led by the ATF. Furthermore, the SAFE project is providing country-level support to improve national food safety control systems in line with regionally harmonized policies and protocols and according to international best practices and agreements.

Myanmar: Enhancing Quality Infrastructure and Compliance Capacities in Food Safety

In 2013, the Government of Myanmar has requested UNIDO’s support to strengthen and modernize its National Quality Infrastructure (NQI) for enhanced trade of food products. In its last year of implementation and after the review of the project’s Steering Committee (SC), the players of the food sector showed interest to scale up the ongoing assistance in the area of food safety capacity building for local enterprises through UNIDO’s sustainable supplier development programme (SSDP) approach.

UNIDO works closely with multiple national stakeholders, from policy through institutional capacity building to competence development level, thus allowing the establishment of an adequate enabling environment for the food sector and enhancement of improved food safety practices.

To enable favorable food safety environment, the project contributes to the enhancement of essential conformity assessment services, such as laboratory testing, inspection and calibration through gapping the local needs, equipping the facilities and providing training to staff and technical assistance to reach ISO 17025 accreditation. Moreover, UNIDO also supports the development of a national quality infrastructure (NQI) policy, helps revising the laws on metrology, and provides methodological support to selected Standards Technical Committees, including agro-food products.

In response to the latest assessment and recommendation of FAO on the ministerial coordination in food safety control management, UNIDO also supports the Department of Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in improving its inspection activities and acquiring knowledge on the integrated risk-based approach in food safety.

At enterprise level, UNIDO contributes to the upgrade of selected food processors in their food safety practices through assistance and advisory services delivered by experts trained under the project. The gained experience combined with training and qualification by Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) will allow these experts to offer their services for other companies in the future. In addition, the project is engaged in the institutional capacity building of the Food Science and Technology Association of Myanmar (FoSTA) thus supporting to become an accredited food safety training center. The aforementioned activities also contribute to the Sustainable Supplier Development Programme (SSDP) approach of UNIDO which allows SMEs to ensure sustainable export and/or sales to local retailers afterwards.

In terms of fostering and advocating food safety partnerships, UNIDO utilizes its convening power to facilitate dialogue among all stakeholders. UNIDO through the network of its local beneficiaries has advocated best practices in food safety among other food processing SMEs. Moreover, UNIDO has also disseminated the Myanmar experience during the Global Food Safety Conference where more than 1,500 business decision-makers heard about the project. UNIDO has also initiated communication with national and multinational retailers to link them with the food processors.

Global Partnerships in Food Safety

UNIDO can leverage its capacity building initiatives through the advisory and convening power among global food safety partners to support sustainable and resilient agro-food industries. Thereby, UNIDO has been actively involved as a member and key partner in the initiatives of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) and Global Food Safety Partnership (GFSP). Within the Global Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), GFSI develops the Global Markets Program (GMP), a voluntary food safety capacity building scheme that guides businesses through a continuous improvement process in their food safety management systems, thus facilitating local market access and creating mutual acceptance along the supply chain systems.

UNIDO also participates in the GMP Technical Working Group comprised of food safety experts from inter- national organisations and retail, producer, manufacturing, foodservice and service provider companies. This group has developed a comprehensive step- by-step toolkit to guide small and/or less developed businesses as well as producers through a programme that will drive the continuous improvement process in food safety management systems and ultimately help them achieve certification against a GFSI-recognized Food Safety management scheme. This toolkit is drawn from the GFSI Guidance Document and based on the Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene, as well as a protocol to guide companies through the programme.

Over the past six years, UNIDO and GFSI have joined forces to implement projects in numerous countries, including Egypt, Malaysia and Myanmar. In June 2016, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two organizations, aiming to implement a roadmap for scaling up by developing large-scale food safety capacity building projects in a number of key regions in the global food supply network. This development was based on the GFSI Global Markets Program, which sets out how small or less developed food companies can meet the challenge of food safety and gain market access. Based on an agreed roadmap, a far-reaching food safety capacity programme will be implemented in a number of key geographies, including in China, Southeast Asia and Africa before being continued in further regions.
In case of another strategic partnership in food safety, UNIDO is one of the founding members of the GFSP, which was established by the World Bank as a global public-private platform for food safety. In June 2015, UNIDO has successfully organized the strategic retreat of the World Bank-led GFSP in UNIDO’s headquarter where they defined the GFSP 2016-2020 Strategic Framework through the contribution of all partners. Among partnering international organization, UNIDO together with FAO have been selected as members of the newly established Governing Council, which also underlines their inevitable role in food safety capacity building. GFSP has recently identified a number of countries with the aim of formulating large-scale food safety capacity programmes in Indonesia, Vietnam, China and India.

Contact:

Ali Badarneh

Industrial Development Officer Trade Capacity Branch

Tel: +43-1-26026-3871

E-mail: A.Badarneh [at] unido.org

CEB Cluster Project Lao PDR

The main objective of this project is to develop an overall competitive tourism industry, while at the same time strengthening the organic agriculture and the handicraft (especially the silk) industries in order to achieve a spill-over effect on those sectors through backward-linkages, and improving the export volume and quality of the above mentioned sectors, thereby positively impacting on poverty in targeted provinces of Lao PDR.

The project aims to develop, inter-alia, a competitive tourist industry by ensuring compliance with Food Safety, Service Quality and Environmental Standards through the introduction of a voluntary National Quality Certification Mark (NQCM) as well as improved management practices, workplace cooperation, as well as skills and productivity of workers in the tourism sector.

The UN system-wide coherence process, as conceived and guided by the General Assembly and ECOSOC’s resolutions, calls for strengthening the UN inter-agency coordination on the one hand, and increasing the development impact and national ownership of UN assistance at the country level, on the other hand. By joining their efforts in the UN CEB Inter-Agency Cluster on Trade and Productive Capacity, the agencies aim at addressing both: enhancing inter-agency coherence and joint initiatives at the country level with a view to maximizing the effectiveness of UN expertise and avoiding duplication of its efforts as well as facilitating dialogue with the national counterpart and, above all, enhancing national capacities. A greater effectiveness is also achieved: the donor finances one single joint programme, instead of several individual projects with each agency.

The Cluster is now recognized as a very dynamic inter-agency mechanism dedicated to the coordination of trade development operations at the national and regional levels within the UN system.

Better Work and Standards Programme (BEST) for Quality, Fisheries and Textile Sections of Bangladesh

This programme (2010 – 2014) consists of three components - Component 1: Better Quality Infrastructure (BQI), Component 2: Better Fisheries Quality (BFQ) and Component 3: Better Work in Textiles and Garments (BWTG).

This project is funded by the European Union (EU) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and implemented by UNIDO and German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) with € 16.9 million.

Component 1: Better Quality Infrastructure (BQI)

The main focus of this component are:

1. Development of an accreditation programme in cooperation with a foreign accreditation body for a number of product testing laboratories, certification and inspection bodies, and medical laboratories. This includes assistance to Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB) to gain international recognition for its services.
2. Assistance to undertake structural, financial and legislative reforms. This includes further strengthening of the Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institution (BSTI) and of the National Metrology Institute, and the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR).

Component 2: Better Fisheries Quality (BFQ)

The main focus is on harmonizing the regulatory framework for controls in the supply chain (including veterinary medicines). This includes strengthening the control reach of the competent authorities throughout the supply chain.

Component 3: Better Work in Textiles and Garments (BWTG)

The main objective is the development of a national performance cluster for textiles and garments with NITTRAD (National Institute for Textile Technology Research and Design), BIFT (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association Institute of Fashion and Technology) and iART (Institute of Apparel Research and Technology) and Bangladesh Institutes of Textile & Technology (BITT).

In parallel, in collaboration with UNIDO, GTZ will focus on raising awareness of international labour and social standards among workers, middle managers and civil society, including strengthening the capacity of supervisors, inspectors and managers to implement international labour and social standards through specialist training, developing mechanisms for mediation and arbitration among national as well as among international/national stakeholders, and strengthening the institutional capacity to support international labour and social standards through better policy and regulation.

Contact:

Steffen Kaeser

Chief, Standards and Trade Facilitation Division

Trade, Investment and Innovation Department

E-mail: s.kaeser [at] unido.org

Tel: +43-1 26026 3826