WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/COMTD/W/169 
15 June 2009 
 (09-2881) 
  
 
 
 
     
 
    
 
    
TECHNICAL COOPERATION AUDIT 
REPORT FOR 2008 
 
Note by the Secretariat
 
  
 
     
 WT/COMTD/W/169 
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  TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 
I.
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................4  
II. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... .5 
III. AUDIT METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................5  
IV. PRIOR-YEAR RECOMMENDATIONS ...............................................................................6  
A. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS ...............................................................................................6  
B. ACTIVITY -SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................12  
V. MAIN OTHER FINDINGS ...................................................................................................13  
A. LOW PARTICIPATION IN CERTAIN ACTIVITIES .....................................................................13  
B. TRADE FACILITATION SELF ASSESSMENTS OF NEEDS AND PRIORITIES .............................13  
C. REGIONAL TRADE POLICY COURSES (RTPC S).....................................................................16  
VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................17  
A. MAIN CONCLUSIONS ...............................................................................................................17  
B. MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS ....................................................................................................19  
ANNEX 1: ON-SITE EVALUATIONS CAR RIED OUT BY TCA IN 2008..................................21  
ANNEX 2: STATISTICS ON WTO TA 2003 - 2008........................................................................22   WT/COMTD/W/169 
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  ACRONYMS 
 
AFT  Aid for Trade (includes all WTO TRTA) 
AusAid  Australia's Aid Programme BTOR  Back to Office Report 
CEEAC Communauté Economique des Etats de l'Afrique Centrale 
CEMAC Communauté Economique et M onétaire de l'Afrique Centrale 
CTD  Committee on Trade and Development DDA  Doha Development Agenda DDAGTF Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund 
DS  Dispute Settlement 
DTIS  Diagnostic Trade Integration Study EU  European Union GATS  General Agreement on Trade in Services GTF  Global Trust Fund (synonym of DDAGTF) 
GTPC  Geneva Trade Policy Course 
IMF  International Monetary Fund ITTC  Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation JICA  Japan International Cooperation Agency LDC  Least Developed Country NAMA  Non-Agricultural Market Access 
NGTF  Negotiating Group on Trade Facilitation 
OCO  Oceanic Customs Organization OECD  Organization for Economic  Cooperation and Development 
PEF  Participant's Evaluation Form Q&A  Questions & Answers 
RTA  Regional Trade Agreement 
RTPC  Regional Trade Policy Course RFC  Reference Centre SPS  Sanitary and Phytosanitary (measures) TA  Technical Assistance (includes worksh op, seminars, courses, conferences, etc) 
TAMC  Technical Assistance Management Committee 
TBT  Technical Barriers to Trade 
TCA  Technical Cooperation Audit Unit TF  Trade Facilitation TNS  Trade Negotiations Skills Course ToT  Training of Trainers 
TPC  Trade Policy Course 
TPR  Trade Policy Review TRIPS  Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights TRTA  Trade-Related Technical Assistance and Training (synonym of TA) UK  United Kingdom UNCTAD United Nations Conferen ce on Trade and Development 
UNDP  United Nations Development Programme 
UNESCAP United Nations Economic and Soci al Commission for Asia and the Pacific 
US  United States USAID  United States Agency for International Development WCO  World Customs Organization 
WTO  World Trade Organization WT/COMTD/W/169 
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  I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
1. The Technical Cooperation Audit Report for 2008 focuses on three aspects:  a follow-up on 
prior year recommendations, a detailed analysis of the Trade Facilitation Needs Assessment programme launched in 2007 and an  ex-post evaluation of the programme on Regional Trade Policy 
Courses (RTPCs) launched in 2002.  As observati ons concerning the Technical Assistance (TA) 
activities of the WTO in 2008 were similar to those of previous years, this part of the report has been 
reduced to a minimum in order to avoid unnecessary repetitions. 
2. Many prior year recommendations have been fo llowed by the Secretariat, which led to 
noticeable improvements in the management of TA activities (contingency planning for slack 
financial times, cross-fertiliza tion amongst trainers), a higher quality of the activities (better 
assessment of governments' actual needs prior to na tional activities, some selection of participants, 
deeper focus, longer duration, maximum number of  participants), improved delivery of the activities 
(more interactive training methods), and a better measurement of performance (stated objectives, 
performance indicators to measure their achievement). 
3. Progress is still needed in a number of dom ains, however, such as the assessment of 
Members' needs before planning and organizing regional activities, making a wider use of video-
conferencing, improving reporting, improving performance measurement by shifting the focus from volume of TA activities delivered to results and imp act achieved, training of trainers, recognizing and 
rewarding training skills. 
4. Past recommendations on e-training have more than  been followed.  This has been one of the 
most dynamic domains of activity of the Secretariat. Since 2006, six new modules have been 
developed and even more are at an advanced phase of development, meaning that most WTO areas 
could be covered sooner rather than later.  On e advanced level 2 module has been introduced and 
others are also in preparation.  Several divisions are progressively integrating e-training into their TA 
activities as a prelude to a more advanced semina r, which maximises the latter's efficiency and 
impact. 
5. The programme on Trade Facilitation national needs assessments was found to be highly 
successful.  Even if certain minor improvements ar e suggested, this programme could certainly be a 
source of inspiration for other TA activities. 
6. A first evaluation of the RTPC programme wa s conducted in 2008.  Between 2002 and 2007, 
this major programme has relied on partnerships with renowned uni versities to deliver three-month 
trade policy courses in five different regions.  For the first time since the launch of the DDA, a 
number of specific recommendations were made in th e first evaluation aimed at building a sustainable 
and productive partnership with the Universities af ter the completion of the RTPCs through different 
means, including facilitating networking among RTPCs' partners, in the form of information-sharing 
and exchange of best practices; joint teaching arrangements, etc.  Some of these recommendations are already being implemented. 
7. TCA is issuing a limited number of new recommenda tions this year.  They deal with the role 
that WTO regional desks should play in the future  in the assessment of Members' needs and in the 
planning of regional activities, with possible improve ments to the reporting on TA activities, and with 
a possible extension to other domains of the experience on Trade Facilitation national needs 
assessment.  WT/COMTD/W/169 
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  II. INTRODUCTION 
8. The Technical Cooperation Audit (TCA) Report for 2008 has undergone a face-lift compared 
to previous years.  The objective was to make it mo re reader-friendly by shortening it (the number of 
pages has been cut by one third), whilst at the same time allowing Members to get a better grasp of 
the overall performance of the WTO when deliveri ng Technical Assistance (TA) activities.  The 
report starts with a short reminder of the met hodology used by the evaluators.  A new section on 
prior-year recommendations has been introduced to  discuss their implementation over time and avoid 
repetitions in the rest of the report.  TCA's main other findings in 2008 come next, before a section on 
conclusions and recommendations. 
9. For the sake of concision, the facts presented by the Secretariat in its report on the 
implementation of the technical assistance and tr aining plan have not been repeated here.1  It has been 
assumed that Members were already acquainted with them. 
III. AUDIT METHODOLOGY 
10. This report is based on a compilation and anal ysis of several types of documents and 
responses to questionnaires that were available to TCA about the various TA activities organized by 
the WTO in 2008:   
(a) Back-to-Office Reports  (BTORs) prepared by the WTO officers in charge of the 
activity.  BTORs have a standardized form at and content identifying the objectives of 
the activity and performance indicators in term s of effectiveness and efficiency.  They 
are generally based on the Evaluation Form s (see (c)) filled by the participants, but 
constitute essentially an auto-evaluation.  They generally contain recommendations 
for improvement.  164 BTORs have been produced in 2008 (i.e. for 63% of the 
activities). 
(b) Memoranda  prepared by the WTO officers in ch arge of the activity.  The main 
difference with BTORs is that the format and content of such memos is not standardized.  They tend to be shorter and do not necessarily address all the issues 
generally found in BTORs.  Memos are used  when the standardized format of the 
BTOR would not be appropriated, due to th e specificities of the activity.  Memos too 
are an auto-evaluation.  35 such Memos have been made available to TCA in 2008 
(i.e. for 13% of the activities). 
(c) Participant's Evaluation Forms  (PEFs) completed by each participant at the end of 
many activities.  PEFs ask participants to ra te a series of item from 1 (bad) to 5 (very 
good), such as achievement of the objectives, quality of the activity, level of 
knowledge prior and after the activity, etc.  Participants can add comments to their 
responses.   
(d) Questionnaires  designed on an ad-hoc basis to conduct the ex-post evaluation of 
Regional Trade Policy Courses (RTPCs).  Sp ecific questionnaires were sent to the 
academic coordinators, regional and WTO trainers, and the WTO Management 
Teams. 
11. The analysis of these documents was complement ed by field visits to a small sample of 
activities.  During these visits, the evaluators observe d the activity and interviewed the participants.  
                                                     
 
1 See document WT/COMTD/W/168. WT/COMTD/W/169 
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  They also organized a final evaluation session in which participants were  asked for improvement 
suggestions.  TCA performed six field visits in 2008.
2 
12. Whenever necessary or useful, the evaluators also discussed with the various Secretariat 
officers involved in the organization or delivery of an activity. 
13. To prepare the new section on the implementation of prior-year recommendations, TCA has 
conducted a series of thirty interviews with all divi sional focal points for technical assistance, regional 
desk officers and those responsible for specific programmes. 
IV. PRIOR-YEAR RECOMMENDATIONS 
14. Since 2001, TCA has formulated numerous r ecommendations concerning the TA activities of 
the WTO.  Some had a general natu re and could apply horizontally to all the activities, whereas others 
were specific to a particular activity.  The gene ral recommendations can be regrouped in four main 
categories:  management of TA activities, promo tion of quality over quantity, improvement of 
delivery, performance measurement.  The specific activities reviewed by TCA over the years included 
the WTO Reference Centres (RFCs), Geneva Tr ade Policy Courses (GTPCs), Regional Trade Policy 
courses (RTPCs) and e-Training.  TCA had no specific recommendation to formulate on GTPCs and 
RTPCs have been subject to an in depth ex-post ev aluation in 2008 (see Section IV).  Many of these 
recommendations were also included in the conclu sions of the Strategic Review of WTO Trade-
related Technical Assistance (TRTA)  Activities presented in September 2006. 
A. GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS  
1. Management of TA Activities 
15. Increase the share of demand-driven activi ties so as to better respond to Members' 
needs :  demands formulated by governments are at th e origin of all national activities organized by 
the WTO.  In a context where the overall volume of  TA activities has remained  fairly constant over 
five years (see chart in Annex 2), the share of na tional activities in the total stayed stable, both in 
absolute terms and percentage (on average 220  and 47% respectively).  No evolution could 
consequently be detected concerning this recommendation. 
16. Regional activities to be organized in a given bi ennium are listed in the technical assistance 
and training plan approved by the CTD.  At the moment, it has not always been possible to organize more regional activities on a given subject than tho se listed in the plan.  More flexibility in the 
implementation of the plan would make it easier to respond to unforeseen needs when they are 
detected.  This should not create resources problems,  as not all planned activities actually take place 
(e.g. no regional activity on trade facilitation in 2008 out of seven initially planned, in the absence of 
an agreement in the negotiations). 
17. Have contingency plans for slack financial times :  As Members continued their funding of 
WTO TA in 2008, there has not been yet a real need for a contingenc y plan.  To tailor disbursements 
to funds available at a given point in time, th e Secretariat has had at times to postpone the 
organization of some expensive activities (e.g. regi onal seminars) until further funds were received.  
In 2009, for the same reason priority has been give n to the organization of national activities in the 
first part of the year, as the costs involved are significantly lower. 
18. Promote cross-fertilization amongst trainers :  Cross-fertilization seems to work well inside 
divisions.  This generally takes place informally.  Following the recent restructuring of ITTC, 
                                                     
 
2 See list attached as Annex 1.  WT/COMTD/W/169 
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  meetings are now regularly organized inside ITTC and between ITTC and divisional contact points to 
better coordinate the organization of activities, to  brief each other on work in progress, to share 
experience, etc.  Further improvements could be expected if regional desks could evolve towards 
becoming a real interface between the rest of the Secretariat and the countries in the region, in 
particular concerning the specificity of their TA needs. 
19. Use video conference to replace short long-distance missions :  On average, a very rough 
estimate is that video-conferencing is used a couple of hours per month for technical assistance purposes.  It then constitutes a useful complement fo r the activity concerned rather than a substitute to 
a mission.  In the absence of precise statistics, no evolution can be detected, but TCA's impression is clearly of an absence of progress.  The Secretariat has recourse to this medium only when all other 
alternatives have been exhausted, since many traine rs consider it a distant second best.  This could 
nevertheless generate significant savings, especially  when one trainer is already present with the 
participants.  Those who have used video-conferenci ng in the past have genera lly been satisfied with 
it. 
20. Formulate divisional TA objectives :  Few divisions seem to have gone as far as formalizing 
a set of objectives for their TA activities.  However,  when prompted, many of the divisions can easily 
explain informally what their objectives are.  In those divisions where objectives have been 
formalized (e.g. agriculture), the quality control ex ercised by the director on TA activities is much 
stronger.  This contributes to reinforcing the cohe rence of the messages presented by the division to 
successive groups of participants.  Such divisions al so exploit a significantly more integrated pool of 
training materials that each member of the division contributes to enrich and develop. 
21. Respect WTO reporting guidelines :  Annex 2 contains statistics on the BTORs or other 
reports produced on the TA activities held in 2008 and in  previous years.  These figures show that the 
situation is improving but that 25% of the reports  are still missing, a fairly high proportion.  More 
attention will be paid to this in 2009:  quarter ly reports will be prepared for senior management.
3 
2. Promotion of Quality over Quantity 
22. Assess Members' needs beforehand :  Clearly, this can better be done in the context of 
national activities.  Some divisions are starting to be more demanding in this regard and to work with 
the government requesting the activity in order to gain a better understanding of the precise needs to 
which they should respond (e.g. through discussions with a contact person in the capital).  Some divisions (e.g. dealing with RTAs, TBT) are ask ing participants to respond in advance to a 
questionnaire, but such initiatives have met with varying degrees of success:  on TBT, responding to 
the questionnaire on the implementation of the agreemen t in the country is a prerequisite to participate 
in the activity, whereas this was not  the case for RTAs.  In any case,  responses to such questionnaires 
have been extremely useful to sharpen the focus of  the activities concerned and enrich the discussions 
amongst the participants. 
23. Another initiative of the Secretariat has been  the preparation of a standard questionnaire 
which will be sent to each country requesting a national activity.  The questionnaire would, inter alia , 
asks the requesting authority to indicate the origin of the request (needs assessment, TPR, DTIS, etc.) 
and the objectives that the activity should achieve, and to identify the target audience (government 
officials, private sector, etc. with an indication of their level of expertise in the domain).  The 
questionnaire would be used on a voluntary basis. 
24. Assessing Members' needs in the context of a regional activity is logically much harder.  At 
the moment, the Secretariat does no t even attempt to do so in almost all cases.  Improvements should 
                                                     
 
3 On this subject, please see also the section on RTPCs below. WT/COMTD/W/169 
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  nevertheless be possible, in spite of the difficult y of the task, however.  Questionnaires have been 
used in certain cases (e.g. RTAs, SPS) where expect ations may be similar across an entire region.  
The first session of the programme may also be dedicated to the identification of participants' 
expectations (e.g. on Trade and Deve lopment), in order to adjust th e programme afterwards.  Regional 
desks should become a real interface between the rest  of the Secretariat and countries in the region, in 
particular concerning the specificity of their TA  needs, the focus of the technical assistance and 
training plan would certainly improve markedly.  At the implementation stage, the regional desks should play a role in the design of the programme of the activities. 
25. Prepare the activities properly (e.g. planning) :  Beyond logistics, all other aspects of the 
organization of TA are decentralized in the Secret ariat.  Divisions play a critical role in the 
preparation of the activities.  As a result, TCA observe d very significant variations of approach:  some 
divisions or units had already planned all their activ ities for the year at the end of the previous year, 
whilst others do it progressively as time goes by.  Overall, the cases where preparation had to be 
rushed due to an inappropriate time management we re the exception rather than the rule, as divisions 
now respect the minimum of 2.5 months of advance notice requested by the Lo gistics Unit to prepare 
a regional activity.  Some divisions would welcome a more substantive involvement of regional desks 
in the preparation of the programme of the activ ities and the management of the registrations (in 
particular in case of a low response rate).  The week ly meetings of regional desks that have recently 
been initiated may respond to part of these expecta tions.  ITTC has recently announced that activities 
for which participants' registration rate did not reach  80% would be cancelled.  But given the lateness 
of many registrations, the implementation of this new policy has proved difficult. 
26. The introduction of a selection of the participants  prior to the activity can lengthen the time 
required for preparation, depending on the way the selection is operated.  At the moment, only a 
limited number of activities have recourse to such sel ection, but the intention is clearly to make it a 
more systematic feature in the future.  The re quirement is to have followed the e-course on the 
introduction to the WTO (e.g. for trade negotiation sk ills courses or certain RTPCs) or on the subject 
(e.g. on TBT). 
27. Reduce the number of activities and, hence, prioritize :  As shown in Annex 2, the total 
number of activities organized by the Secretariat has remained fairly constant since 2004.  No evolution could consequently be detected concerning this recommendation.  Since national activities 
are organized upon request from a government, the ac tivities on which the Secretariat has a direct 
control are regional seminars or global activities or ganized in Geneva or in the regions.  These 
activities are presented in the technical assistance and training plan prepared by the Secretariat and 
approved by the CTD.  Most of these activities, if not all, are supply-driven.  The unwritten rule is that for subjects forming part of the DDA negotiations, each region is covered every year, whereas for other subjects, the regions are covered over a two-year  cycle.  In its discussions with the divisional 
focal points for TA, TCA has noted a certain automa tism in the planning of these activities year after 
year.  Some divisions even feel under some pressure  from management to maintain the volume of the 
activities they organize at the same level as in the p ast.  This is also true for national activities for 
which the Secretariat is encouraging and reminding countries to use their full entitlement.  The fact 
that the number of activities and the amount spent are the only measurable quantities included by the 
Secretariat in its reports to the CTD may be a sign that the emphasis remains on quantity.  The number of regional activities has slowly diminished over the past five years (falling from 40% of the 
total in 2003 down to 30% in 2008), but remained ne vertheless fairly high (150 activities per year on 
average in 2007 and 2008).  Some divisions wondere d why the introduction of RTPCs in five regions 
in 2004 had not led to a bigger reduction in  the number of thematic regional activities. 
28. Limit the number of participants (30 max) :  The Secretariat has little control over the 
number of participants in national activities, since invitations are managed by the host government.  
These are the activities in which surprises concerni ng participation are the most frequent.  For  WT/COMTD/W/169 
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  regional activities, all divisions of the Secretariat ar e conscious of the need to limit the size of the 
groups to implement interactive training and teachin g methods.  However, the size of certain regions 
leads some of them to make exceptions when they want the invite more than one person per country 
(one representative from the trade ministry and on e from a specialized mini stry dealing with the 
subject – e.g. agriculture, environment, etc.).  On SPS, as up to five persons per country are invited, 
the division organizes the activities on a sub-regional basis so as to limit the overall size of the groups. 
29. The statistics that TCA was able to collect on th e average number of participants financed by 
the WTO (see Annex 2) show that the average numbe r of participants per activity has grown from 
21.9 in 2003 to 24.9 in 2008, and therefore remain ed well below the limit of 30.  The standard 
deviation from this average has remained fairly st able, which means that the number of activities in 
which the total number of participants was above the limit has not increased.  However, these figures 
do not include the participants from the host country w ho, by definition, do not require any financing.  
This means that the total number of participants wa s actually bigger than seen in the statistics.  TCA 
therefore concludes that the situation concerning th e total number of participants in regional activities 
has not changed much over the past six years. 
30. Lengthen the duration of activities (full weeks) :  TCA has collected statistics on the 
average duration of activities since 2002 (see Annex 2).  These statistics show a progressive increase 
in the average duration of national activities between 2002 and 2008 from 2.88 to 3.3 days.  The evolution of the average duration of regional activities is  not so clear.  At best, the average duration of 
regional activities over the period stayed stable ar ound 3.5 days.  TCA noted that the activities on 
certain subjects (e.g. agriculture, RTAs, public hea lth, development, DS) may usefully be lengthened 
by half a day or a day, since a majority of partic ipants felt they were too short to cover the intended 
content.  The costs involved would be marginal (between 2 and 5% of the budget). 
31. Adopt an in-depth focus and use time efficiently :  If some progress is visible in this 
domain, it remains extremely uneven across the va rious areas covered by the WTO.  An in-depth 
focus requires that all participants have already a certain minimum understanding of the subject at the 
beginning of the activity.  This in turn requires a sel ection of the participants (see above).  It is hoped 
that the changes currently introduced  concerning the selection of participants, and the restructuring of 
the WTO TA will lead to more consistent improvements in this domain. 
32. In a number of cases, time management has been a victim of the introduction of more 
interactive teaching methods.  Covering the same ground through exercises, case studies or Q&A 
generally requires more time than through lectures, but the programme of the activities has not always 
been adjusted to the new teaching method.  This can  be highly frustrating for the participants when 
the programme of an activity cannot be completed for lack of time.  The progressive lengthening of 
the average duration of national activities observed a bove has helped remove excessive time pressure 
in a number of areas but, as noted above, progress is still required, in particular for regional activities. 
33. Share lessons learned with colleagues and ad just programmes, presentations, exercises, 
structures, etc. accordingly.  Id entify and disseminate best practice :  This is done informally 
inside the divisions between colleagues who deal with the same issues.  Past TCA reports have 
regularly identified practices or examples which could be a source of inspiration for the rest of the 
Secretariat.
4  The TAMC focus has also been shifted from a factual report of TA activities planned 
and delivered monthly to a forum of discussion of TRTA policy and exchange of best practices in 
TRTA coordination, management or evaluation.  Th e quarterly reports on BTORs, started in 2009 at 
the request of senior management should give more regular opportunities to TCA to draw divisions' 
attention to interesting examples or practices and to lessons learned.  
                                                      
4 For example, this report presents below the experience on Trade Facilitation self assessments of needs 
and priorities. WT/COMTD/W/169 
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  3. Improvement of Delivery 
34. More interactive training methods (mo re exercises, case studies, quizzes, etc.) :  All 
divisions have in general made an effort over the y ears to develop exercises, case studies, quizzes, etc.  
Clearly, some have gone farther on this than othe rs, but in the absence of precise indicators this 
cannot be measured.  When asked, divisions estim ate that on average between 40 and 50% of the 
programme of their activities is interactive.  This  is a marked improvement on the situation at the 
beginning of the DDA.  There are also signs that progress in this domains continues, at least in a 
certain number of divisions which regularly devel op new exercises or case studies and reconsider the 
structure of the programme of the activities they or ganize.  This should be extended to all divisions 
and new indicators will be introduced in the BTOR s to measure in the fu ture the share of the 
programme of each activity dedicated to lectures, exercises, case studies, etc. 
35. Create a Secretariat database of pedagogical tools :  No fully fledged Secretariat-wide 
database of pedagogical tools has been developed thus far, but an internal drive already contains all 
the training materials used in the Geneva traini ngs over the past three years.  These include in 
particular the presentations, reading materials, exer cises, case studies, quizzes, etc. used in the GTPCs 
and cover therefore a very wide range of subjects.   
36. TCA nevertheless believes that further action is  needed here.  Making all training material 
directly available to colleagues through their posti ng on one of the internal directories would involve 
only limited resources.  This could generate a sound emulation inside the Secretariat. 
37. Improve training skills (training of trainers – ToT) :  The last programme of ToT organised 
by HRD took place in 2008.  Based on the feedback received then, HRD is currently in the process of 
developing new ToT modules expected to be comple ted in the course of 2009.  Improving the training 
skills of all staff members involved in the delivery of TRTA is an area where more progress is needed. 
4. Performance Measurement 
38. Define objectives, performance indicators, evaluation methods :  The absence of clearly 
stated objectives has now become the exception, a marked improvement on the situation at the 
beginning of the DDA.  The definition of objec tives for certain missions in acceding countries in 
which the WTO participates in working sessions, provid es clarifications and answers to questions is 
generally not possible.  No PEF can usefully be  filled by participants in such a context. 
39. Not all stated objectives are equally useful, however.  TCA has noted over the years that a 
number of objectives focus on the performance of  the activities rather than the changes or 
improvements the activity is supposed to generate for the participants or their country.  Measuring the 
success or usefulness of an activity through these se lf-fulfilling objectives is impossible.  Until now, 
such shortcomings were discussed individually by TCA with the persons concerned.  The quarterly 
reports which will be prepared in 2009 should give a nother opportunity to draw the attention to this 
question.  Statistics about the quality of the objectiv es will also be compiled in the future to measure 
any evolution in this domain. 
40. As far as performance indicators are concerned, most BTORs assess the success of a given 
activity on the sole basis of th e participants' opinion.  To impr ove this situation and make it 
mandatory, TCA has taken two initiatives:   
(a) Simplify the PEF and make it mandatory:  make it shorter, easier to fill, hence 
avoiding errors and misinterpretation by the participants;  the new PEF should focus 
on those indicators needed to produce meaningful statistics.  The PEF have to be 
completed at the end of each TA activity.  WT/COMTD/W/169 
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  (b) Automates the analysis of the PEFs by making the forms machine-readable.  The 
objective is to produce statistics automatically for each of the selected indicators, and to feed them into ITTC database.  This should facilitate the preparation of BTORs, 
and give TCA a sounder statistical basi s on which to ground its analysis and 
conclusions. 
41. A minority of BTORs use other performance indica tors beyond participants' opinion, such as 
rate of participation in the exercises, number of questions raised, rate of success in the quizzes, 
trainers' own opinion, etc.  More emphasis will need  to be placed on this type of indicators in the 
future.   The quarterly reports on BTORs now bei ng introduced inside the Secretariat should give 
more regular opportunities to TCA to do so. 
42. In the recent past, a small number of divisions have started to introduce at the end of the 
programme of their activities a short evaluation sessi on (30 minutes) in which participants are asked 
to point to what could or should be improved in  the future.  These sessions have proven a useful 
complement to PEF.  A generalization of this method would enrich significantly the evaluation of WTO TA activities. 
43. Use TCA's services to assist in their formulation :  The greater attention which will be paid 
in the future to the quality of the objectives, pe rformance indicators and evaluation methods may be 
an incentive for a more frequent recourse to TCA' s services in this domain, which had only been 
sporadic until now. 
44. Measure the impact of the activities and analyse performance in this light :  The impact of 
an activity is not easy to measure.  At the level of  participants, it can be measured through quizzes or 
their level of participation in the various exerci ses or interactive modules of an activity.  For the 
moment, this is systematically done for the GTPCs only.  In a large number of activities which have 
as one of their objectives improving knowledge of an agreement or a subject, when assessing in the 
PEF whether the objective has been met, participants are de facto asked to measure the impact of the 
activity for them. 
45. At the level of governments, which is the main  focus of the WTO, impact requires time to 
materialize and can therefore only be measured afte r a while.  But, as stated on the occasion of the 
first AFT Global Review in November 2007, "in term s of monitoring results, the further one gets from 
specific project outcomes, the more difficult it becomes to attribute outcomes, for example higher economic growth or employment in tradable sectors, to aid. [...]  A second challenge is being able to 
attribute results in a given area to a particular flow of foreign assistance.  This is easier at the level of 
a specific project or programme, such as assisting dislocated workers or building a road, and rigorous 
independent evaluations should be done at that level.  [Ensuing macro ec onomic results] will often 
take longer to emerge and be hard er to attribute to aid flows."
5  This caveat applies mutatis mutandis  
to the impact of WTO TA activities. 
46. The ex-post evaluations initiated by TCA in 2006 were designed to measure the impact of 
particular activities.  Thus far, they have dea lt with e-training (2006), GTPCs (2007), WTO Reference 
Centres (2007) and RTPCs (2008).  Ex-post evaluati ons of specific programmes will continue in the 
future.  In 2009, TCA also intends to take the opportunity of its field visits to interview the 
government officials responsible for WTO matters in  order to assess their perception of the impact of 
the TA extended by the WTO to their country.  This should provide some empirical evidence of impact at a more general level than the programme  by programme approach, whilst at the same time 
avoiding a recourse to an umpteenth questionnaire. 
                                                     
 
5 Kimberly Ann Elliott, Centre for Global Development. WT/COMTD/W/169 
Page 12  
 
  B. A
CTIVITY -SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS  
1. WTO Reference Centres (RFCs) 
47. In 2007, the main recommendations had been th e following:  Develop long-term strategy for 
RFCs;  identify those in need of permanent suppor t, such as Internet connection support;  reduce the 
number of missions;  assess Members' needs and pl an the missions better;  develop guidelines on the 
operation of a RFC;  integrate RFCs in other ac tivities / programmes;  promote network of RFCs;  
focus training on the five main WTO databases;  tr ain RFC coordinators in information management;  
enforce annual reporting by RFCs. 
48. The secretariat is currently reengineering its approach towards RFCs.  A new strategy should 
be approved before the summer 2009 and its implementa tion would then start in the second part of the 
year.  It is proposed, inter alia , to refocus the RFC programme on LDCs , to rely on local partners for 
the procurement and maintenance of equipment (e.g . UNDP), and to give more responsibilities to the 
ministry hosting the RFC.  The officers responsible for RFCs should be invited at regular intervals to 
training sessions, either in the region or in Geneva.  An RFC website could also be developed.  Such 
changes, if confirmed by the new policy, woul d certainly come a long way towards implementing 
TCA past recommendations, provided this progra mme is given the means of its ambitions. 
49. In the meantime, RFC missions and upgrades have  been suspended.  Staff members are using 
the opportunity of their presence in a country at th e occasion of other activities to visit the local RFC. 
2. e-Training 
50. In 2006, the main recommendations had been the fo llowing:  Diversify into thematic courses;  
consider those who have completed an e-training for other activities;  raise level of other activities, as 
basics provided through e-training;  develop syne rgies between e-training and other TA products. 
51. Since the ex-post evaluation of e-training in 2006, the courses offered on-line have been 
significantly diversified.  The courses regularly offered now cover the Introduction to the WTO 
(level 1), Agriculture, SPS, TBT, Trade Remedies,  TRIPS and e-WTO-Multilateral Trade Agreements 
(level 2).  Several modules are currently under development in cooperation with the divisions 
concerned (Services, NAMA, WTO ExPress for journa lists, Trade and Development, etc.) and should 
become available during the course of 2009.  Th e objective is to progressively cover through e-
training the entire field of competence of the WTO.  The e-Learning Unit manages this work plan to 
achieve this objective with flexibility, since its im plementation depends on the availability of the other 
divisions (most of which may have different prior ities) and on the staffing level of the Unit (recently 
reduced;  through short-terms contracts at the moment). 
52. The thematic diversification is now being comp lemented by an increased diversification of 
the levels at which e-courses are offered.  This may result in further segmentation of these courses.  
At the moment, the duration of the various e-training modules may vary from six to eight weeks and their level of specialization and difficulty has not been harmonized.  The e-Learning Unit is currently 
developing a mix of shorter modules (WTO ExPress,  WTO Basics) which would have a duration of 
three to four weeks, and longer ones (e-WTO, Serv ices) which would last up to eight weeks and 
would be set at an advanced level.  This may ev entually lead to a modular  approach with several 
levels of e-course for each subject. 
53. Several divisions (Agriculture, TBT, Rules, TR IPS) regularly organize composite activities in 
which the e-training module constitute a first introducti on before a more advanced seminar.  A similar 
approach is now being implemente d or considered by other divisi ons (e.g. on negotiating skills, SPS, 
DS).  The current reform of the WTO TA activitie s implemented by the ITTC should generalize the  WT/COMTD/W/169 
 Page 13 
 
 
  need for participants to have first completed an e- training before becoming eligible for other forms of 
training. 
54. The various developments observed since 2006 consequently go much beyond TCA initial 
recommendations.  This is more than welcome. 
V. MAIN OTHER FINDINGS 
A. LOW PARTICIPATION IN CERTAIN ACTIVITIES  
55. TCA has observed that the rate of reply to i nvitations to some regional technical assistance 
activities was low.  The reasons for such a low level of reply are not clear yet.  It could  be that invited 
countries have different priorities or lack human resources, or that too many activities are organized by the various international organizations.  This year TCA will work closely with the regional desks 
to try to identify with more precision the reasons  for low participation when it occurs.  On-site 
evaluations will also provide an opportunity to discuss this issue. 
B. T
RADE FACILITATION SELF ASSESSMENTS OF NEEDS AND PRIORITIES  
1. Programme 
56. This programme was developed to assist Memb ers assess their needs and priorities in the 
Trade Facilitation (TF) negotiations, as require d by the negotiating mandate.  The Technical 
Assistance and Training Plan for 2008-9 allude d to this programme when dealing with needs 
assessments,6 but the programme did not form part of the Plan, as it did not correspond to any of the 
five broad categories of products provided by the WTO under the Plan.7  It was launched late in 2006, 
was scheduled to last two years and was financed  through a dedicated trust fund of approximately 
CHF 2.5 M.  The programme has several original feat ures.  The lessons learned could consequently be 
of a wider relevance for the TA activities of the WTO. 
57. The programme had two main objectives8:  to draw up preliminary findings of national TF 
needs and priorities, and to contribute to a more  effective participation of Members in the TF 
negotiations. 
58. The main characteristics of the programme are the following:   
(a) Publication of the Negotiations on TF Self-Assessment Guide by the Secretariat, after 
a pilot needs assessment in Zambia in Febr uary 2007.  The Guide has been regularly 
improved since.9 
(b) Creation of a pool of Facilitators coming from the Secretariat, other international 
organizations and Members.10  The Secretariat organized a training course for the 
facilitators in 2007 and 2008, so they wo uld master the self-assessment methodology. 
                                                      
6 See document WT/COMTD/W/160 paragraph 34. 
7 General WTO-related TA and training, Specialised and advanced TA and training, Academic support 
for training and capacity building, Trainee programmes and internships, and e-learning (see paragraph 45 in 
document WT/COMTD/W/160). 
8 See Project document dated 30 April 2007. 
9 Latest version: TN/TF/W/143/Rev.2 of June 2008. 
10 AusAid, Canada, Denmark, EU, Finland, IMF, JICA, Norway, OCO, OECD, Sweden, Switzerland, 
UNCTAD, UNESCAP, UK, USAID, World Bank and WCO.  A total of 68 facilitators have been involved in 
the programme. WT/COMTD/W/169 
Page 14  
 
  (c) Seven regional workshops were held between March and July 2007 to teach 
developing countries and LDCs how to use the Guide and how to prepare their needs assessment. 
(d) National needs assessment workshops were or ganized in the countries that requested 
them and had notified the name of their nati onal coordinator, Gene va delegate and list 
of stakeholders.  The workshop involved a ll stakeholders, three facilitators and the 
Geneva delegate.  It examined every TF  negotiating proposal to assess whether the 
national regime complied with it fully, partia lly or not at all.  Participants then 
identified the reasons for non-compliance, a nd the actions that the local authorities 
could undertake on their own to bring their national regime into conformity with the 
proposed requirement.  A list of technical  assistance and capacity building needs was 
also established for the remaining gaps.  The Secretariat took care of most of the 
logistics for the organization of the workshops, in a standardized way;  it conducted prior half-day training sessions for Gene va delegates and organized preparatory 
meetings with the national coordinator, Ge neva delegate, facilitators and high-level 
officials from the relevant government agencies and private sector organizations prior 
to the beginning of the workshop to boost political support for the process. 
2. Findings 
59. Eleven national workshop were held in 2007 and 44 in 2008, at a cost of approximately 
CHF 240,000 and 1,240,000 respectively.  In 2008, this added 7% to the WTO expenses under the 
DDAGTF.  Each Member reported orally to the NGTF in the meeting following its national 
workshop, which generated some emulation amongst Me mbers.  Participants in the workshops filled a 
PEF, on the basis of which the facilitators were supposed to prepare a standardized three-page 
evaluation report.  In 2008, 42 evaluation reports we re prepared (i.e. for 96% of the workshops), an 
even higher proportion than in 2007 (91%).  TCA's anal ysis of the results of the programme is based 
on these reports and the PEFs. 
60. Overall, all the workshops reached their objectiv es.  The participants and facilitators were 
satisfied with the results (respectively 94 and 85% of marks 4 and 5 in the PEFs) and felt that the 
needs assessment process had worked (85% of mark s 4 and 5 in the PEFs).  This clearly means that 
the first objective of the programme has been met, even if the organizers recognize that lists of TF 
needs will remain work in progress.  In two or thre e countries where this has not been the case, this 
was due to a lack of involvement of  the local authorities, or their desi re to hide existing difficulties.  
The programme also contributed to a more effectiv e participation of a number of developing country 
and LDC Members in the TF negotiations:  after hol ding their national workshop, several of them 
started to send regularly a delegation to the meetings  of the NGTF, and an increased participation of a 
number of their delegations has also been noted.  The programme stayed on budget and had covered 
55 countries by the end of 2008.  It can consequently be considered as being both effective and 
efficient. 
3. Lessons Learned 
61. Beyond these conclusions, several lessons could also be learned from the programme.  The 
programme was the first time a series of activities was dedicated to the assessment of Members' needs rather than to the response to  these needs.  The assessment  was conducted by the Members 
themselves, according to a standardized methodology,  using specific tools developed to that effect.  
This has built capacity in the countries in several resp ects:  in most countries, a task force involving 
representatives from most stakeholders has been formed and has continued to meet after the 
workshop.  The task force and workshop have a llowed several Members to develop a negotiating 
strategy on TF corresponding to their national s ituation and needs.  Communication between the  WT/COMTD/W/169 
 Page 15 
 
 
  various stakeholders and between capital and Gene va-based delegates was also reinforced.  It has 
enhanced the transparency of the TF negotiations. 
62. As the programme went beyond a mere assessment of Members' needs and required them to 
identify the actions to be taken to respond to these need s, and in particular those actions that could be 
initiated locally by the national authorities themselv es, Members participating in the programme had 
the opportunity to become real actors in th e national process instead of just demandeurs. 
63. The programme is a successful illustration of  a coordinated action between several 
multilateral organizations11 and bilateral donors12 on the basis of a standardized methodology, a 
thorough training of facilitators a nd Geneva-based delegates, and very structured training materials 
(assessment Guide, charts, etc.), which can be considered as key success factors. 
4. Possible Improvements - Recommendations 
64. Reporting : The reporting rate by facilitators is  very high.  Facilitators should be 
encouraged to present their report acco rding to the standardized format .  Even if the Secretariat has 
reported orally to the NGTF, its written reports s hould not be restricted to donors financing the 
programme.  The report should also discuss the achievement of the objectives of the programme. 
65. Scheduling : Finding a date to hold the national workshop has been problematic in a 
number of countries, as there were too many TA projects to schedule around.  This confirms the validity of earlier TCA recommendations to reduce the overall number of activities organized.  The 
WTO should reduce the volume of its other activities in order to leave enough room for the completion of the programme of needs assessmen t workshops before the next phase of the TF 
negotiations. 
66. Participation of Stakeholders : The insufficient participation of the private sector or the 
inappropriate level (too junior or inexperienced) of certain participants proved to be the main 
limitation of the programme in a certain numbe r of countries.  National consultations with 
stakeholders who were absent had to be held afte rwards.  Whilst the continuation of the process is 
welcome, the governments should find a way of engagi ng all stakeholders at the appropriate level. 
67. Advance Preparation : Preparation for the workshop proved insufficient in several countries.  
In particular, the advance meeting with high govern mental officials has frequently been cancelled in 
2008, lowering the level of political involvement in the process.  As the gove rnment is driving the 
assessment process, this proved counterproductive. 
68. Language : Participants' lack of command of one  of the WTO languages was identified as 
a problem in several countries.  Given the wide pool of stakeholders, this is no surprise.  The Guide 
and other documents have been translated in some other languages
13 and simultaneous interpretation 
was provided in some of the workshops, as having to  operate in one of the WTO languages could be 
an important limitation in certain countries. 
69. Logistics : Poor logistics has been a problem in some of the workshops.  The most 
disturbing factors were the absence of advan ce distribution of documents, which prevented 
participants to become acquainted with them, and the insufficient number of copies of the documents, 
as reproduction on site is often problematic.  Ina ppropriate facilities was also mentioned sometimes. 
                                                      
11 IMF, OCO, OECD, UNCTAD, UNESCAP, World Bank, WCO, WTO. 
12 Australia, Canada, Chile, Denmark, EU, Finland,  Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, US. 
13 Arabic, Chinese, Dari (A fghanistan) and Portuguese. WT/COMTD/W/169 
Page 16  
 
  70. Follow-up : Finally, the programme does not provide at this stage for any follow-up, once 
the national assessment has taken place.  Absent this, th ere is a risk that the results achieved or the 
national consultation process starte d during this phase would simply be wasted in a number of 
countries.  A priority should be to develop a nd implement a follow-up mechanism to encourage a 
continuation of national consulta tions and keep the momentum ge nerated in the various countries 
covered. 
C. R
EGIONAL TRADE POLICY COURSES (RTPC S) 
1. Main Findings 
71. The Regional Trade Policy Courses (RTPCs) Programme was first introduced in 2002.  
Courses have been held in English-speaking Afri ca, French-speaking Africa, Asia, Caribbean and 
Latin America.  Each course runs for three months .  As RTPCs are based on the three-month Geneva 
Trade Policy Courses (GTPCs) model, their objectives for participants are fairly similar.14  However, 
the Programme has one distinctive objective:  buildi ng training and teaching institutional capacity in 
the region.  As a result, RTPCs are organized in partnership with an academ ic institution from one of 
the countries in the region and are delivered jo intly by the WTO staff and regional academics. 
72. A first evaluation of the RTPCs was conducted in  2008, at the request of senior management 
and with the aim of increasing value for mone y by building on the progr ess achieved between 2002 
and 2007;  the lessons learnt th rough planning and implementing more  than 20 three-month courses.  
The evaluation focussed exclusively on whether this distinctive objective had been reached, since the 
empirical evidence available15 suggested that RTPCs had by and large met participants' objectives.  
Such aspects as institutional capacity building, eff ectiveness of the joint lecturing arrangements, 
networking among institutions of hi gher learning and among their academics, and the sustainability of 
the Programme had indeed received less attention, since they could be assessed only some time after 
the courses were completed. 
73. The evaluation took place at a time where the ITTC was reorganizing the technical assistance 
offered by the WTO to developing countries.  Th e RTPC Programme was being modified as a result 
of the reorganization.  However, many of the conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation 
could apply, mutatis mutandis , to any activity that the WTO would organize in partnership with 
another institution. 
74. The evaluation is based on the analysis of th e views of the Management Team, trainers and 
academic coordinators on the effectiveness of joint teaching arrangements, networking among 
regional academics, and capacity building processes.  These views were expressed in their response to 
a questionnaire and in discussions with the evaluators .  The evaluators also visited the University of 
Chile (Santiago, Chile) where the RTPC for La tin America was held between 2005 – 2007. 
75. The RTPC's report was reviewed and analysed by the relevant Units and senior management 
and most of the recommendations are already being implemented.  Some of them, however, will require a more detailed analysis, taking into acc ount budgetary or human resources limitations. 
                                                     
 
14 Improved knowledge on WTO, improved WTO-related skills, improved autonomy to exploit data 
and information, strengthened network of contacts, and better understanding of regional specificities. 
15 Mainly feedback from individual participants.  WT/COMTD/W/169 
 Page 17 
 
 
  2. Summary of Recommendations 
76. The following recommendations are aimed at improving the performance of RTPCs in 
building regional institutional training capacity on WTO matters: 
(a) Organize the WTO partnerships with regional academic institutions for the entire 
duration instead of one-year at the moment. 
(b) Organize a gradual increase of WTO partners' responsibilities over the years, to 
maximize their ownership of the Programme at each step and their autonomy at the end of the Programme. 
(c) Strengthen the coordination mechanisms between regional and WTO trainers to 
improve the effectiveness of the joint lecturing arrangements through an early 
division of responsibilities and systematic ev aluation of performance by participants 
and academic coordinators. 
(d) Strengthen the WTO management tools, thr ough systematic reporting obligations by 
the RTPC management team and the academ ic coordinator within a month after the 
completion of each RTP Course. 
(e) Strengthen the cooperation with regional partners and GTPCs on course design, 
selection and briefing of regional trainers, training methods, pedagogical tools, etc. 
(f) Facilitate networking between former and cu rrent RTPC partners, regional trainers 
and WTO experts. 
VI. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
A. M
AIN CONCLUSIONS  
77. When attempting to follow-up on prior-year r ecommendations, TCA has realized that in many 
respects it lacked appropriate indicators allowing it  to measure progress over the years.  As this 
exercise was the first of its kind since the crea tion of TCA in 2000, this limitation has had only 
limited consequences.  The period covered wa s long enough to observe the most significant 
evolutions and trends, even in the absence of indi cators.  As TCA intends to make this exercise a 
regular feature of its future yearly reports, evoluti ons year on year will certainly become more subtle 
and, hence, less obvious to detect.  TCA need to eq uip itself rapidly with an appropriate armour of 
indicators in order to report back to Members in this domain.  
1. Management of TA Activities 
78. The management of TA activities has seen some progress in areas such as contingency 
planning for slack financial times, cross-fertiliza tion amongst trainers.  The Secretariat has not faced 
any drastic reduction of its TA funding over the p ast years, as donors have maintained a fairly 
constant level of funding since the launch of th e DDA.  When the GTF has occasionally been under 
short-term financial pressure, the adjustments made by the Secretariat to its programmes have proven 
adequate.  Recent progress have been noted con cerning the promotion of cross-fertilization amongst 
trainers inside the Secretariat, at the initiative of ITTC.  It is too early to observe any tangible result 
that this would have produced.  Until now this had mainly worked inside each division of the 
Secretariat.  The same is true of any follow-up on prior recommendations. WT/COMTD/W/169 
Page 18  
 
  79. Other managerial aspects are less positive, howev er.  TCA did not detect a noticeable increase 
in the share of demand-driven activities over the past  few years, so as to better respond to Members' 
needs.  At times, a certain rigidity in the implemen tation of the Plan can even hamper the capacity of 
the Secretariat to respond to certain needs that ha d not been anticipated.  Video-conferencing remains 
largely under-utilized, as many professionals are uneasy  about it (most of the time without having 
ever tried it).  Even if this medium may be ma rginally less effective than other more traditional 
means,
16 its very high efficiency17 should incite the Secretariat to use it more frequently.  Finally, 
progress is still needed concerning reporting on TA ac tivities.  Both the quantity and quality of the 
reports have seen only limited impr ovements over the years.  TCA intends to follow this issue on a 
quarterly basis in 2009. 
2. Promotion of Quality over Quantity 
80. Several factors have contributed to the promotion of quality over the past years.  The actual 
needs of requesting governments are now better assessed  prior to any national activity.  It is hoped 
that the promotion of cross-fertilization will help ex tend the best practices in this domain to the entire 
Secretariat.  If the involvement of the governme nts concerned is critical, revamped WTO regional 
desks could also play a part, especially for regional activities.  Some selection of the participants has 
been progressively introduced in an increasing number of  activities, with very positive results in terms 
of quality of the activities concerned.  This has a llowed to deepen the focu s of such activities, as 
participants formed a more homogeneous group.  Howe ver, sufficient time is not always set aside to 
assess Members' needs and to select participants wh en preparing the activities, which has at times 
nullified the benefits of these changes. 
81. The progressive lengthening of the average dur ation of activities over the years, and the 
relative control kept on the total number of participan ts also contributed to an improvement in quality, 
even if improvements may still be possible in these two domains, in particular to give more time for exercises and other interactive training methods.  Th e main issue consequently  remains the fact that 
the Secretariat keeps measuring its performance main ly in terms of volume, which might explain why 
its volume of TA activities has remained constant over  the past six years, in spite of the introduction 
of RTPCs in five regions and of e-training on a large number of subjects.  The low rate of participation registered by certain activities could be  a sign of a certain fatigue amongst beneficiaries.  
The secretariat should consequently closely monitor the situation when this occurs. 
3. Improvement of Delivery 
82. Interactive training methods (exercises, case studies, etc.) are increasingly used by the 
Secretariat, a marked improvement on the situation six or seven years ago.  Progress should continue 
in this domain, something that TCA intends to monitor more closely.  Overall, the new tools 
developed by the divisions are widely shared with  colleagues, mainly in an informal manner.  
Unfortunately, less progress has been registered on tr aining of trainers and the recognition of training 
skills.  Both remain voluntary in the Secretariat. 
4. Performance Measurement 
83. Most activities organized by the Secretariat have now explicitly stated objectives and 
performance indicators to measure their achieveme nt.  Progress is still required, however, on the 
relevance and usefulness of these objectives and indi cators.  TCA intends to monitor them more 
closely in 2009.  The automation of the production of statistics from a simplified Participant's Evaluation Form should also help improve the situ ation.  The measurement of the impact of WTO 
                                                     
 
16 Effectiveness:  capacity to achieve the stated objectives. 
17 Efficiency:  results versus costs.  WT/COMTD/W/169 
 Page 19 
 
 
  activities remains difficult, for obvious systemic r easons.  Within the limit of its means and mandate, 
TCA intends to continue performing ex-post evaluati ons in the future, and will complement them with 
interviews of government officials responsible for WTO matters in the countries it will visit in 2009. 
5. Activity-specific Recommendations:  WTO Reference Centres, e-Training, Trade 
Facilitation Needs Assessments a nd Regional Trade Policy Courses 
84. The specific recommendations formulated in th e ex-post evaluation of the RFC programme 
have not yet been implemented.  A new strategy is currently under development, which may follow a 
majority of TCA's recommendations.  This would most probably require increased resources, which 
may not necessarily be available, however.  In the meantime, the programme remains in stand-by.  The e-training programme has been considerably extended and diversified since 2006, both in terms 
of subjects covered and levels of training.  The in tegration of e-training with other activities of the 
WTO is also increasing, either as a selection mechan ism or as part of composite activities including 
an e-training segment.  The secretar iat has been extremely dynamic in this domain, with fairly limited 
resources. 
85. The current programme of needs assessment in the area of trade facilitation was found to be 
highly successful.  Beyond some limited improveme nts proposed on reporting practices, scheduling of 
the workshops, involvement of the private sector, advance preparation, use of local languages, 
logistics for the workshops and the need for a follo w-up sooner rather than later, the set-up of the 
programme could certainly be a source of inspira tion for other TA activities.  It is a successful 
illustration of a coordinated action between several  multilateral organizations and bilateral donors on 
the basis of a standardized methodology, a thorough training of facilitators and Geneva-based 
delegates, and very structured training materials.  Working with governments on the assessment of 
their own needs proved a very effective capacity bu ilding tool which transformed them from mere 
demandeurs into real leaders of their national process. 
86. If the RTPC programme launched in 2002 lead to  the organization of more than 20 three-
month courses in five regions, it has faced some di fficulties to deliver on its distinctive objective to 
build training and teaching institutional capacity in  the regions.  Significant improvements are being 
implemented for the preparation and delivery of the courses, the management of the programme, its evaluation and reporting, and its sustainability, in order to try to achieve this objective. 
B. M
AIN RECOMMENDATIONS  
Recommendation 1:  Transform the regional desks into an interface between the 
Secretariat and the region, particularly concerni ng the specificity of their TA needs.  This 
require each regional desk to maintain regular contacts with the country officials responsible 
for WTO matters in the various countries of  the region and in the relevant regional 
institutions.  The regional desks should play a ro le in the design of the programme of regional 
activities. 
Recommendation 2:  Modify the current planning method for regional activities.  Instead 
of asking each division to propose a certain number of activities in its domain(s) of 
competence for the upcoming biennium, chose the subjects of such activities with the regional desks, in consultations with the relevant divi sions according to their perception of the main 
needs and priorities of the majority of countries in each region and to upcoming deadlines (for 
a submission, for the implementation of an agreement, etc.). 
Recommendation 3: Insert in the BTORs new indicators in order to better measure the 
evolution of the quality of the WTO TRTA which is its contribution to the delivery of AFT.  
PEFs to be completed by each partic ipant at the end of each TA activity. WT/COMTD/W/169 
Page 20  
 
  Recommendation 4: Reflect on the feasibility of an ex tension of the needs assessment 
approach adopted for Trade Facilitation to othe r domains, such as the preparation of the Aid 
for Trade annex to TPRs for non-LDC developing countries. 
Recommendation 5:   ToT:  Develop specific training modules for different categories of TA 
functions and make ToT mandatory for all staff members involved in TA delivery. 
  WT/COMTD/W/169 
 Page 21 
 
 
  ANNEX 1 
ON-SITE EVALUATIONS CARRIED OUT BY TCA IN 2008 
 
 1. Austria
 Regional Workshop on the Implementation of the TBT Agreement for 
Central an Eastern Europe and Central Asia (28-30 April 2008) 
 2. Chinese Taipei
 Advanced Regional Seminar for Sout h-East Asian Economies on Multilateral 
Negotiations under the GATS (2-4 June 2008) 
 
3. Congo  Sub-regional Short Trade Policy Co urse for French Speaking African 
Country Members of CEMAC and CEEAC (10-13 June 2008) 
 4. China
 WTO Regional Seminar on NAMA Negotiations for Asian Economies 
(1-4 July 2008) 
 
5. Chile   Regional Trade Policy Course Evaluation – Field Visit (24 October 2008) 
 6. Argentina
 Intensive Course on Trade Negotiations Skills for Latin America 
(27-31 October 2008) WT/COMTD/W/169 
Page 22  
 
  ANNEX 2 
 
STATISTICS ON WTO TA 
2003 - 2008 
 
Number of TRTA
0100200300400500
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
YearNumber of TRTAOther
Regional
National
 
 
Average Number of Participants in Regional Activities
-51015202530354045
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
YearsNumber of Participants Financed by WTO
 
  Standard 
 deviation  WT/COMTD/W/169 
 Page 23 
 
 
  Average duration of activities
-0.501.001.502.002.503.003.504.00
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
YearDaysNational
activities
RegionalActivities
 
 
Rate of Activities with a BTOR or a Report
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Year 
 
 
 
__________