USAID – Management Support and Technical Assistance Service Project (USAID/MSTAS)
USAID – Management Support and Technical Assistance Service Project (USAID/MSTAS)
Sub-Saharan Africa | 2013 - 2018
Overview
From 2013-2018, Pragma implemented the Management Support and Technical Assistance Services (MSTAS) project of the Office of Sustainable Development of USAID’s Africa Bureau (AFR/SD). The project’s activities were aimed at furthering the purpose of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), specifically the achievement of the following strategic goals:
- Supporting USAID’s economic growth and trade-related activities in sub-Saharan Africa, including AFR/SD’s role as the Secretariat for the USAID Trade Hub Management Council.
- Providing logistical and administrative support for the planning, knowledge management, communication and outreach for all technical divisions of AFR/SD.
- Generating new approaches to providing outreach and broader cross-sectorial oversight. This included but was not limited to: health, education, conflict resolution, peace building and governance, and incorporating gender and environmental considerations into AFR/SD activities.
A cutting-edge knowledge management and technical analysis program, USAID MSTAS focused on facilitating knowledge sharing and effective dissemination of lessons learned regarding trade and investment integration strategies and issues across USAID’s Trade Africa programs in sub-Saharan Africa. The project carried out a comprehensive review of USAID’s trade and investment assistance to the region, including conducting in-depth analyses of the impact of the prior strategies and programs of all three regional USAID Trade and Investment Hubs (East, Southern, and West Africa). For each regional Trade and Investment Hub, it analyzed trade and investment trends and performance, constraints, and opportunities across a range of service sector areas. The research and analytical activities of USAID MSTAS yielded systemic knowledge management recommendations on how Trade and Investment Hub management, strategies, and related programs could best be shaped to enhance export and investment growth; and how to maximize mutually beneficial two-way trade and investment flows between countries and the US—a principal objective of AGOA.
USAID MSTAS also executed approximately 220 task orders, developed over 40 research and analytical products, and provided knowledge management support across all core technical areas covered by AFR/SD. These included economic growth, agricultural development, health, education, democratic institution strengthening, and conflict mitigation. The detailed “lessons learned” recommendations developed by the project significantly influenced the design of Trade and Investment Hub programs under USAID’s Prosper Africa initiative. USAID MSTAS also provided monitoring, learning, and evaluation support across all core technical areas of AFR/SD, including the development of frameworks and indicators aimed at addressing critical constraints to trade and investment in the region.
A USAID MSTAS analysis of key policy and institutional impediments hindering trade and investment supported accelerating the job and export creation impact of USAID’s Trade and Investment Hub activities. The scope of this analysis included:
- Review and analysis of key Non-Tariff Barriers that were limiting regional integration progress.
- Examination of critical bilateral and regional policy and institutional reforms necessary for the development strong regional value chains in high-potential economic sectors.
- Assessment of essential bilateral and regional policy and institutional reforms required to facilitate increased investment in key Trade-In-Services sectors.
- Identification and analysis of major regulatory and institutional constraints that were affecting the flow of enhanced foreign direct investment (FDI) across SSA countries.
Achievements
- Leveraged a $35M private sector Agricultural Storage Investment Facility credit line to the National Bank of Malawi for warehouse investments.
- Facilitated an agreement with the European Investment Bank to fund a portfolio of over 40 new warehouses, which increased private sector capacity storage in Malawi by 240,000 metric tons, a 50 percent overall increase.
- Developed a comprehensive tax policy, tax administration, and expenditure analysis framework for USAID/Liberia. The analysis laid the groundwork for a path-breaking 2016 Domestic Resource Mobilization agreement—the first of its kind worldwide—between USAID and the Government of Liberia to promote the mobilization and efficient utilization of public revenues.
- Conducted an in-depth broadband regulatory analysis study (2015), which analyzed policy, regulatory, and institutional constraints impacting expansion of next-generation telecommunication services network infrastructure for Sub-Saharan Africa countries. The study provided policy recommendations for the effective design of national and sub-regional technical support programs designed to support rapid private sector deployment of backbone fiber networks in underserved areas.
- Developed a comprehensive Africa Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Initiative Harmonized Performance Management Plan (PMP) in consultation with USAID/Washington and three regional trade hubs to operationalize data collection across the trade hubs.
- Supported the establishment of standardized data collection processes for all PMP indicators, and conducted data reviews and quality assessments of data collection methods and reporting standards for 14 harmonized trade hub indicators. This ensured consistency and comparability of data among the trade hubs. As a result, USAID MSTAS implemented a set of recommendations based on a unified and consistent system of measurement that enabled meaningful comparisons across all three regional trade hubs (East, Southern, and West Africa).
Focal Points
- Knowledge Management
- Collaboration, Learning, and Adaptation
- Trade Facilitation
- Foreign Investment
- Private Sector
- Public Financial Management