The project focused on removing key obstacles to trade in West Africa including:

i) lack of access to timely information on prices and market opportunities
ii) inadequate business skills of producers and traders to respond to production and market opportunities and
iii) unfavorable trading environment, including tariff and non-tariff barriers (e.g., harassments at the national borders).

Although the project targeted all 15 ECOWAS member countries, activities were carried out most intensively in Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Benin, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire and Niger, with significant though lesser involvement of key partners in Guinea, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone.

MISTOWA developed a very successful private-public partnership with "Busylab", a private software company in Ghana particularly interested in helping producers and traders do more profitable business, to create an electronic agribusiness information exchange platform, www.tradenet.biz. The platform offers access to real-time market information (prices, offers to buy and sell, contacts)    on over 300 products and from over 500 markets throughout West Africa. Information is accessible via internet as well as through related SMS services. TradeNet, formally launched in Accra, Ghana in late January 2007, has already assisted over 2000 users to buy more and sell better!

To assist users in accessing TradeNet and a variety of other market information and business services, MISTOWA assisted partners in establishing over 100 “Agribusiness Information Points” (ABIPs) in 13 countries throughout West Africa. ABIP managers are now highly trained in the use of Tradenet and are able to facilitate producers and traders developing profitable market linkages.

MISTOWA provided over $US1 million in equipment grants (computers, ICT equipment, internet connectivity) and over $600,000 in “competitive grants” to many of its direct partners to support activities such as trade exchange visits, participation at regional trade fairs, additional ICT, MIS and organizational development and management trainings.

By the end of the USAID-funded (3-year) project period, MISTOWA had reached it’s goal of achieving a 20% increase in intra-regional trade recorded by targeted collaborating trader organizations. In fact, these organizations reported a 26% increase in intra-regional trade in selected commodities. In addition, MISTOWA partners voluntarily reported nearly $52 million dollars in intra-regional trade concluded, in some way resulting from MISTOWA support (trade partners were identified on Tradenet, deals were negotiated at MISTOWA-sponsored events, trade was concluded as a result of sponsored trade exchange visits , etc.). Not bad for a project that invested only $11 million dollars!

Despite the fact that USAID support for the MISTOWA project has ended, IFDC is committed to further developing the tools and concepts developed under the project. IFDC has recently received additional support from the Hewlett Foundation to carry out activities for several months until addition funding is secured. Many international development donors have expressed their interest in collaborating with IFDC to continue MISTOWA-type activities, seeing the project through to full fruition. So stay tuned and check in with us again later as we continue our efforts to increase intra-regional trade in West Africa!