make effective use of public-private partnerships that capitalize on private sector expertise in prioritizing areas for reform and identifying potential solutions.

Different models have proliferated at the national level, an example being national trade facilitation associations that work to connect stakeholders in the public and private spheres in order to carry out work at a broad national level, or in specialized areas such as border management reform (e.g., TradeNet of Singapore and Tradelink of Hong Kong, China).<sup>25</sup> These networks serve as important platforms for developing national strategies and action plans for reform, in addition to providing stakeholders with a mechanism for coordination and harmonization of policy measures across industries and sectors. More generally, the private sector is already undertaking numerous initiatives to address concrete problems or to leverage ongoing investments to enhance development impacts. Examples are the Global Facilitation Partnership, a network of logistics companies and international agencies working on trade and transport (see <u>http://www.gfptt.org/), growth corridor initiatives that are supported by Yara</u> International in Ghana, Malawi and Tanzania, the Business Action for Africa network which has various focused initiatives such as the alliance for Improving Customs Administration in Africa, and the Private Investors for Africa coalition.

Many countries have also put in place annual or more frequent mechanisms through which political leaders meet with the domestic private sector to discuss concerns and identify priorities for (joint) action. Much more can and should be done to harness the knowledge and information that exists in the private sector, both as a source of data on constraints to trade and policies or factors that needlessly increase costs of trading, and as a source of potential solutions to specific problems. Greater sharing of information on such initiatives and learning about what works and what does not would enhance the visibility of such efforts and boost the role of the private sector in the broader aid for trade program.<sup>26</sup>

# **_5. Bolstering monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of aid for trade_**

Effective monitoring of delivery of aid for trade and the extent to which it responds to national priorities as defined by recipient governments is important to allow accurate assessments and evaluation of outcomes. Most donors monitor and evaluate their aid for trade programs in accordance with generic evaluation guidelines or with specific guidelines for themes and sectors falling under aid for trade (see OECD/WTO Donor Questionnaire).

More learning could be generated by applying, whenever possible, the kind of impact-evaluation methods now widely used in the evaluation of poverty, health and education projects. The essence of these methods consists of using control groups to benchmark the improvement in the

> 25 See UNESCAP, _“_ Trade & Investment Issues, Aid for Trade and Public-Private Partnerships” E/ESCAP/CMG(4/I)/2, 3 July 2007.

> 26 The World Bank is developing a new Public-Private Partnership on Aid for Trade Facilitation as a platform for an exchange of information and learning in the area of trade facilitation. The project will design and implement practical and achievable trade facilitation projects that lower trade costs by addressing the lack of capacity of developing countries to rapidly move goods and services across borders. A central focus of the work will be to improve the “software” of trade logistics and border management to complement and enhance hard infrastructure investments.  In addition, the partnership will leverage private sector expertise in producing real-time trade performance data, which may be used to encourage policy-oriented trade facilitation reform.

20