Highlight: THE ENHANCED INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK (EIF)

3 December 2014. Florence, Italy. An ideas market place organised during the Florence Annual General Assembly themed 'Food Systems and Gender - Women's empowerment for food security and nutrition, allowed for meeting new approaches or recent research.

Here are two highlight:

THE ENHANCED INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK (EIF)

• The EIF is a multi-donor programme, which supports LDCs to be more active players in the global trading system by helping them tackle supply-side constraints to trade. In this way, the programme works towards a wider goal of promoting economic growth and sustainable development and helping to lift more people out of poverty. The programme is currently helping 50 poorest countries worldwide, supported by a multi-donor trust fund, the EIF Trust Fund, with contributions from 23 donors. A high-level pledging event in 2007 set a funding target of US$250 million over five years – and both additional and ongoing contributions are being sought.
• Aim of the EIF. The EIF programme creates a genuine partnership among all EIF stakeholders to show results on the ground. Working in close cooperation are donors, six core partner agencies, observer agencies, the Executive Secretariat (ES) and the Trust Fund Manager (TFM) and other development partners who are supporting LDCs' own drive to:

• mainstream trade into national development strategies;

• set up structures needed to coordinate the delivery of trade-related technical assistance;

• and build capacity to trade, which also includes addressing critical supply-side constraints.

• The EIF process aims to strengthen donors' support to a country's trade agenda. LDCs can use the EIF as a vehicle to assist in coordinating donors' support and to lever additional Aid for Trade resources, whereas donors can sign up to the EIF as a vehicle to deliver on their initial Aid for Trade commitments.