TrustAfrica and Solidaridad, in partnership with Malawi’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, will next week, hold a one-day workshop that aims to highlight the key issues affecting the tea sector in Africa.
The workshop will bring together over 100 stakeholders from across the region, including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Tanzania, DRC Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Themed: Fostering Genuine and Inclusive Sustainability in the Tea Value Chain, the Multisector tea forum is aimed at coming up with key solutions to the challenges affecting the tea sector in the region.
The workshop will be held in Malawi on 27 October 2022.
The Multisector platform will be opened by the Malawi Minister for Trade and Industry Mark KatsongaPhiri .
Other Key speakers will include the Executive Director of TrustAfrica, Dr Ebrima SALL, EATTA chairman, Mr Arthur D. Sewe, EATTA Managing Director, Mr Edward K. Mudibo, and Solidaridad Southern Africa Head of Programmes, Mr Humphrey Khumalo.
The initial outcomes of the countries Multi stakeholder platform/ Policy engagements in Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique and Malawi emphasized the need for coordinated efforts in addressing bottlenecks in market access, influencing creation of a conducive policy and regulatory environment and creation of a community of practice for cross learning and sharing of knowledge amongst actors within the value chain at regional level.
“It is against this conceptualization in the RECLAIM Sustainability programme and in collaboration with East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA) and Tea Association of Malawi Limited (TAML) that the first ever regional MSP will be held in Malawi,” said TrustAfrica executive director, Dr Ebrima Sall
The Multisector platform aims to achieve three objectives namely, to share key Tea industry updates in relation to Trade, Standards and Accreditation, to strengthen coordination amongst tea industry players in Africa, to amplify voices of smallholder producers, workers and rural women and to develop key joint actions to be championed at regional level.