Some UK Aid aims to boost Trade to help cut poverty. Videos + models at http://sdl.re/AidForTradeVideos show how planning and managing Aid for Trade could be enhanced using strategy dynamics principles. [From a pilot study for DFID, the UK Dept for International Development. Many other Aid agencies also work on Aid for Trade]
Three things need to work for small scale exporters to trade [a] Access : ports or border crossings, roads or other links to get there …[b] Capacity : buildings and equipment, enough trained staff to let them through … [c] Profit opportunity : markets to sell into, access to finance, low tariffs. Within each issue are Enablers we need more of [roads, staff, markets …] and Disablers we need less of [banned products, multiple documents, corruption …].
A country’s total Trade = the sum of trade through every port, airport and land-border crossing, so the strategy dynamics model starts with a single crossing, and leads up to a system-wide model. “Demand” [trading traffic] comes from traders near the crossing, and the frequency with which they trade, and “Supply” [the ability of the system to fulfil that Demand] comes from all the Enablers in the 3 categories, cut back by the impact of any Disablers.
These principles lead to models – both simple manual frameworks or fully functional simulations – that can help the planning and ongoing management of
- any single initiative – training border officials, reducing documentation
- any location-specific effort – boosting export of certain goods through specific land-borders or ports
- the Aid for Trade program as a whole – whether for a single agency, such as DFID or amongst all agencies
Comments and contributions are welcome – to the Strategy Dynamics Network on Linked-In.