Publications
Summary of publication
Australia provides funding to the World Bank Group's Trade Facilitation Support Program (TFSP), which supports countries seeking assistance to improve their cross-border trade environments and better align their trade practices with the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA). TFSP’s funding helps countries—particularly developing countries—achieve full and effective implementation of the WTO TFA measures and related trade facilitation reforms.
This is the final report of the Stocktaking/Assessment & Learning Review of the first phase of the World Bank Group’s (WBG) Trade Facilitation Support Program (TFSP). This review was commissioned by WBG and covers the five-year period from July 2018 to June 2023, post its mid-program stocktake.
Having completed a mid-term stocktake covering the initial four years of program implementation, the main objectives of this review are to:
- assess the program's integration of recommendations from the mid-term stock take
- identify lessons learned to enhance effectiveness
- evaluate how TFSP has complemented other trade facilitation initiatives, especially amid the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes an examination of partnerships, and coordination efforts with organisations and donors within the country, and on a global scale.
The review fulfills the Bank’s accountability objectives of providing an independent evaluation of the TFSP’s performance to stakeholders, and program results achieved during the review period.
Considering the findings, the independent review makes five recommendations (see Chapter 9 for the recommendations in full), including increasing private sector engagement, enhancing monitoring and evaluation, increasing the use of digital tools, and formalising channels of communication.
DFAT welcomes the review findings and recommendations and notes that the implementation of these recommendations will be carried forward by the WBG into the second phase of the program.
Full publication
- TFSP – Stocktaking/Assessment & Learning Review - Final Report [DOCX 4.9 MB]
- TFSP – Stocktaking/Assessment & Learning Review - Final Report [PDF 2.5 MB]