Regional Integration Support Programme (RISP 2)
The Regional Integration Support Programme (RISP 2) continuation programme (Phase 1) was established under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) focal area Economic Integration with four (4) Regional Organisations (ROs); the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community (EAC), Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) as its primary beneficiaries.
The overall objective of the Programme was to contribute to the integration agenda of the Eastern, Southern Africa and Indian Ocean (ESA-IO) region as a means to enhance economic growth of the countries of the region and raise standards of living of their respective regions.
The specific objective was to enhance capacity of the Regional Organisations' and stakeholders in Member/Partner States to create integrated markets.
Six (6) Key Result Areas are expected from the Programme as follows:
- Regional policies and regulations for the implementation of the regional economic integration mandates and agenda are designed and/or adjusted:
- Trade development, trade facilitation instruments and strategic, regulatory and technical preparatory works of trade related infrastructure are designed and/or adjusted;
- Regional institutions are established and strengthened to implement and monitor regional policies and regulations, including institutions that service private sector at regional level;
- Management capacities of the Regional Organisations are improved to meet international recognised standards of governance;
- Member/Partner States capacity to address trade related issues and to implement their trade liberalisation and regional integration commitments is enhanced and
- Capacity of the region to negotiate and implement multilateral trade agreements is enhanced
The programme amounting to 50 Million Euros for which 10 Million Euros was earmarked for infrastructure was implemented over a period of 36 months (3 years). It was financed through a Contribution Agreement (CA) signed between COMESA and the European Union (EU) and implemented through an Implementation Agreement (IA) signed between the COMESA and the three implementing Regional Organisations in April 2011.
The three-year allocations for the four RO’s were as follows: COMESA – 17 Million Euros; EAC - 11 Million Euros; IGAD - 17 Million Euros; IOC - 5 Million Euros. EAC has been allocated EUROS 3,886,367 (USD 5,052,278) for the year 2011. The approval covers the 6 result areas of the programme.
Upon completion of RISP2 in 2013, the European Union joined the EAC Partnership Fund as a contributing member under the RISP3 Programme.