CFPs: ATI Partnerships in Africa Trade and Investment in the Market Systems Activity

Proposals are encouraged for the Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) Partnerships in Africa Trade and Investment in the Market Systems Activity.

In Southern Africa, USAID seeks to sustain progress made on the USAID Southern Africa Trade Hub through a buy-in program activity under ATI from 2022 to 2026 titled Southern Africa Trade Market Systems Activity (SATMSA). To do this, ATI aims to deepen the market systems approach initiated under USAID Southern Africa TradeHub (USAID TradeHub) to tackle the root causes that limit Southern Africa’s market systems and trade potential by addressing incentives, behaviors, and relationships that impede the region’s trade competitiveness in Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia.

In support of the Prosper Africa, Feed the Future, and other initiatives, the USAID Africa Bureau, Africa Regional Missions, and the Middle East Bureau have established the USAID Africa Trade and Investment (ATI) Program.

Objectives of the Southern Africa Trade Market Systems Activity

• The USAID/SA Buy-in Activity supports two objectives/priorities in Southern Africa:

  • Objective One: To increase exports from targeted Southern Africa countries to South Africa.

  • Objective Two: Sustainable utilization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and Generalized System of Preference (GSP) opportunities by Southern African countries to export agricultural products to the United States.

• Under Objective One, USAID/SA REGO under ATI aims to:

  • Strengthen market actors in target sectors to support and/or enhance the export of products and services to South Africa and to the U.S.

  • Address enterprise-level and systemic constraints that hinder market efficiency to facilitate export trade to South Africa and to the U.S.

  • Challenge private sector actors to provide market support and technical assistance to leverage and scale promising trade deals.

  • Improve the overall international competitiveness of the trade-oriented market systems in Southern Africa including support to export firms to attend and exhibit at trade events to drive exports.

  • Create an enabling environment in the agriculture and non-agriculture sectors for the growth of green energy, leading to increased exports, job creation, reduced carbon emissions, improved environmental sustainability, and increased energy security.

• Under Objective Two, USAID/SA under ATI aims to:

  • Encourage and support national and private Trade Promotion Service Providers (TPSPs) and Business Membership Organizations (BMOs) to deliver on their export promotion mandate, drive current export initiatives via cost-sharing mechanisms, and to collaborate with U.S. based TPSPs and BMOs to implement market-entry support services for companies exporting goods and services to the U.S. under the AGOA and GSP trade preferences including support to export firms to attend and exhibit at trade events to drive exoports.

  • Strengthen the broader trade ecosystem, thereby bolstering longer term mechanisms for export promotion.

Award Information

• Grant Size and Type: ATI will issue performance-based grants ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 to establish partnerships with firms meeting the objectives stated in this APS. Grant sizes of smaller or larger amounts may be considered, should the proposed activity meet the objectives of the APS and deliver commensurate exports. A range of grant award types may also be considered.

• Performance Period: The performance period of grants will be no more than 30 months.

Cross-cutting Objectives & Outcomes

• Creation of private sector jobs.

• Empowerment of women and youth.

• More resilient, inclusive economic ecosystems across countries in the region.

• Supply- and value chain activities that span countries and crowd in various enterprises.

• Sustainable resource management. The Southern Africa region faces critical sustainable resource challenges due to population growth, urbanization, and climate change. Key issues include water scarcity, land degradation, biodiversity loss, energy transition, waste management, climate resilience, food security, urbanization impacts, and transboundary resource management. Addressing these challenges will ensure long-term socio-economic prosperity and environmental well-being.