| Industry Areas | USAID Initiatives |
Initiative Components Leadership: Coalición Centroamericana Pro-CAFTA Proposed Interventions/Technical Approach CCAA will help circulate a "Declaration of Principles" for signature by the leaders of Central America’s business community and civil society. This process has already begun. The initial milestone will be to enlist a small group of influential opinion makers (25 - 5/country) to join forces and lead by their example, leveraging their commitment as a catalyst for quickly expanding the list of signatures to 100 (20/country) and then on to 500 (100/country). Quality of the signatories rather than quantity will be the key. Once 100 signatures are obtained, the Coalición will publish the "Declaration of Principles" in leading periodicals as part of a public relations campaign to increase public awareness of the program. Recruitment of top opinion leaders will be reinforced by the production and distribution of targeted, "marketing material" designed to articulate a compelling argument for advocating the timely implementation of CAFTA and describing how the ALLIANCE is pursuing that end. Its contents will include specific information addressing the expected impacts of a fully implemented regional trade agreement, the need for broad harmonization, and will introduce the ALLIANCE as an innovative response to the new demands placed on the region. A "Core Group" will be selected from among the Coalición signatories to guide the process in each country and establish a sound foundation for the subsequent emergence of a unified advocacy platform. Each Core Group will select a "Team Leader" to act as principal advocate for the program and establish an agenda in each country. The Core Groups will leverage the local presence of the CCAA Country Coordinator to facilitate an inclusive Active Dialogue with members from the business community, the public sector and civil society. The Active Dialogue will generate a "Vital Issue List" identifying primary concerns of leaders in each country and setting the stage for the emergence of a regional advocacy platform. Monitoring the effect of the "Declaration of Principles" will be a key element in establishing and maintaining the credibility of the Coalición. A survey will be conducted at the initial phase and conclusion of the "Leadership" component to evaluate the Declaration’s impact and the results will be published. Expected Impact:
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Grassroots: CAFTA Workforce Briefings Proposed Interventions/Technical Approach CCAA will serve as the coordinator for the briefings. CCAA will work with Alliance Partners (AMCAM, CEAL, FIU, INCAE) to develop an agenda, prepare briefing materials and train the trainers in each country. The training-of-trainers methodology will leverage partner institutions such as INCAE and FIU to equip a team of ten local trainers with practical and effective methodologies to increase the impact of each individual workforce briefing. All ten trainers will come together once in the process of conducting workforce briefings to compile preliminary results, assess progress and adapt the curriculum as needed. Briefings will educate workers on basic issues related to CAFTA and the impact that the agreement will have on their lives. They will also equip participants with the tools to become more active advocates in the process by providing access to information and existing participatory mechanisms. AMCHAM will identify member companies within five "enabling" industries – agribusiness, energy, financial, telecommunications, and transportation – to pilot the sessions. CCAA and AMCHAM will then roll out the program to its broader membership and extend it to other private sector organizations. The initial milestone will be to reach 500 (100/country) workers in the pilot stage of 4 sessions with 25 workers. The next milestone will be to reach another 49,500 (9,900/country) workers within 360 days after the rollout begins. Our intentions are to far exceed this number. A regional PR and media campaign to bring a focused message to the broader public audience will complement the workforce briefings. In addition to traditional PR avenues such as TV, radio and print ads, CAFTAction will implement three innovative approaches: (1) develop a short (15-20 minute) video outlining the realities of "Central America in a Global Economy", (2) creation of a "CAFTAfacts" supplement to the Sunday editions of the major local newspapers and (3) the development and production of an illustrated educational pamphlet or "comic book" designed to relate the implications of CAFTA to workers at an appropriate level with an emphasis on family and community. The impact of this component will be measured by two surveys conducted to assess workers’ attitudes towards CAFTA and their understanding of the issues, before and after the trainings. Increased comprehension of basic facts related to CAFTA and its projected impact on the region as well as greater awareness of participatory mechanisms and information sources will be key indicators. The grassroots workforce briefings will result in the signing of a Joint Pro-CAFTA declaration articulating both management and workforce support for general principles and specific policy related to increasing trade and competition in the region. Expected Impact:
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Standards: BEST BUSINESS PRACTICE Harmonization Studies Proposed Interventions/Technical Approach: Identifying viable strategies for successfully improving business conditions in the region provides the essential underpinning of the ALLIANCE FOR CAFTACTION program and the principal measure of success for this program will be the adoption of specific policy recommendations by national governments. CAFTAction will identify "enabling" industries such as Financial Services, Transportation and Telecommunication whose impact cuts across counties to leverage the program’s impact. Within each of these "enabling" industries, the Best Practices Studies will address topics common to all industries such as commercial code, regulatory and supervisory frameworks in order to reinforce the broadest possible advocacy group. Four best business practices studies will be conducted in the selected "enabling" industries (1 study/ industry) addressing specific topics identified by Alliance partners (10 topics / study). The studies will result in 10 specific policy recommendations per industry (10 recommendatins / topic), prioritized according to the likelihood of their enactment (low hanging fruit) and their impact on published competitiveness indicators such as the Growth Competitiveness Index and Business Competitiveness Index published by the World Economic Forum. The Best Business Practices will build on CCAA’s tradition of inclusive dialogue by relying on input from Alliance partners, Active Dialogue participants, Country constituents and conference/forum attendees to compliment the work of a hired consultant. Emphasizing active participation will ensure that "hot-button" issues relevant to the private sector and civil society are identified and that local leaders assume responsibility for the program’s success. CCAA has already completed one business study in the Energy sector examining the petroleum fuels market and will build on this formative experience. By leveraging support from CCAA trustees and expertise from CCAA Business Teams, a set of specific policy recommendations were identified and presented to national governments, multilateral agencies and private sector organizations. The Best Business Practices component will expand this methodology to cover additional industries and create a regional, cross-industry advocacy platform. CCAA "Best Business Practices" Methodology:
CCAA "Best Business Practices" Preliminary Topics
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On-the-Ground: CCAA Country Coordinators Proposed Interventions/Technical Approach: The country constituents will establish a non- "bricks and mortar" presence in each country by identifying an Alliance partner to provide office space, telecommunications and related support while the Team Leaders will hire one Regional Coordinator to supervise five country coordinators and ensure administrative and operational continuity. The low-overhead approach is designed to emphasize the country coordinators’ role as facilitator and demonstrate a commitment to collaboration from the outset. The essential purpose of the country coordinators will be to identify potential partners among existing groups on the ground, compliment their valuable work and integrate them as formal Alliance partners. The country coordinators will establish formal collaborative relationships with CEAL, AMCHAMs, INCAE committees, local chambers of commerce and industry, and business and civil society organizations to expand the Alliance network in each country. The Regional Coordinator will be responsible for supervising the integratation of existing organizations into the Alliance, maintaining contact with USAID missions in the region and serving as a local point of contact for USAID/G-CAP. The Regional Coordinator will also work with Team Leaders to articulate a common regional advocacy position from the Vital Issues Lists created in each country. An "Active Dialogue" will be conducted through an ambitious series of monthly meetings and will result in the compilation of a Vital Issues List published in each country, expressing participants’ core concerns related to obstacles to trade in the region. The monthly Active Dialogue sessions will also raise awareness of the Vital Issues List and increase the number of constituents to build a broader advocacy platform. The work of country coordinators will not replace existing initiatives, their role is precisely the opposite: to stimulate necessary debate and convergence of national and industry specific interests into one cohesive and integrated advocacy message. The local presence established through the country coordinators ensures a wide constituency and an effective process of complimenting existing programs. Expected Impact:
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