Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA)
“Strengthening FEAFFA to become a self sustaining regional business association effective in championing the growth and development of an efficient, professional, self-regulated and competitive freight logistics industry.”
The freight logistics industry in the region is largely lacking in professionalism. It also faces challenges in the areas of integrity, compliance to laws and regulations etc. Moreover, until very recently, there were no professional training programs for the sector. Generally, the industry lacks harmonised and accepted standards to guide service providers in their work. All this has led to an inefficient industry in service delivery often leading to longer cargo dwell times, high incidental charges to shippers, loss of government revenue, exposure of the region to safety and security hazards etc.
With the recent signing of the EAC Common Market Protocol, there is more pressure for the industry to offer more efficient and reliable services. It also apparent that issues of freight logistics are no longer being viewed from national angles since they transcend national frontiers.
Industry associations exist in all countries of the region but tend to focus more on national issues and these do not necessarily translate into regional interests. These associations have federated to form FEAFFA, which is best positioned to address the aforementioned regional challenges. Unfortunately, FEAFFA is a new organisation and still weak. It has not been able to set up own Secretariat and put infrastructure necessary to fully perform its mandate. Strengthening FEAFFA is critical if growth and development of a professional and efficient freight logistics sector is to be realised.
The COMPETE grant to FEAFFA is to strengthen the association to effectively steer and influence the development of a professional and competitive freight logistics industry in the EAC region.
Country: Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda
Grant Timeline: January 1st, 2010 – December 31st, 2011
Total Amount: $246,000
