CUTS training civil society activists to engage with EPA negotiations

The technical challenge CSOs face in working on trade is clearly illustrated by the ongoing EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), through which 6 ACP regions (each consisting of 10-15 countries) are each negotiating agreements with the EU. These negotiations are taking place within six separate clusters, both within the ACP regions themselves and between them and the EU. In repsonse to this challenge and with the support of DFID UK and the Overseas Development Institute UK, CUTS organised training workshops in Kenya and Zambia for civil society activisits on the market accesss aspects of the negotiations.

CUTS EPA workshops in Kenya and Zambia

With the support of the UK’s Overseas Development Institute (ODI) CUTS International organised EPA training workshops in both Kenya and Zambia in February, each attended by 25 CSO representatives and policy-makers.

With the EC-ESA EPA negotiations soon to focus on vital market access issues such as liberalisation commitments, the selection of sensitive sectors (to remain protected) and a phase-in schedule, the workshop provided attendees with an opportunity to learn how to model different liberalisation scenarios and explore their implications.

Proceedings

The workshops opened with the ODI’s Dr Chris Stevens and Dr Mareike Meyn presenting the user-friendly databases they have developed to assist ACP stakeholders to explore the market access issues relating to EPAs. Attendees quickly learned how to use these databases to select products sensitive to livelihoods and development and therefore to be excluded from liberalisation, and to decide which products to focus liberalisation with the EU on. Attendees were then provided with an opportunity to use the databases to develop their own sensitive lists and the workshops were soon full of lively debate as representatives from a range of sectors and groups worked in groups to develop liberalisation scenarios and to explore their implications.

On the second day of the workshop ODI presented an overview and analysis of the various liberalisation scenarios developed by attendees and the potential implications for the ongoing EC-ESA EPA negotiations.

Outcomes

The training and group work provided attendees with an opportunity to put some flesh on the bones of the market access phase of the EPA negotiations and to get a close up view of what the real implications of an EPA might be for the ESA countries. This stimulated some heated debate during the final sessions of the workshop during which attendees debated the costs and benefits of an EPA and strategies for utilising the training to support ongoing advocacy work surrounding the negotiations.

Whilst there were still strong voices expressing opposition to an EPA due to the costs it will impose on ESA countries in terms of tariff loses and increased competition, it was unanimously agreed that all possible scenarios need to be explored in order to assess whether a development friendly approach can be found and that the workshop had provided attendees with an opportunity to develop the skills to carry out this work.

Future work

In the closing session attendees shared the ideas they had for utilising the database to carry out further consultations and analysis and discussed the possibility of organising a follow-up workshop to coordinate these efforts and develop national positions to present to government.

CUTS International and its partners will be involved in further EPAs workshops being facilitated by ODI in Malawi and Uganda over the next couple of months and will be providing further support to CSOs in the ESA region to play an active role in the final and most significant phase of the negotiations over the next year.

A report from the workshop is available at the EPAs project webpage.

Workshop supported by Department for International Development, UK (with assistance from ODI)