Textile Value Chain Project

Three years after the revolution, the Tunisian political, economic and social context remains uncertain. The political transition process drastically slowed down in 2013. Yet a new constitution was adopted in January 2014. Employment creation remains a key issue. In this regard, the textile sector is a major player for the Tunisian economy, providing 44% of industrial employment in 2011 and reaching out to the less developed regions of the country. The high potential for job creation in the textile sector was clearly highlighted in the overall assessment of four different sectors mandated by SECO in 2012.

The overall goal to support the Tunisian textile and clothing (T&C) sector overcome existing challenges, move up the value chain and diversify export markets. The impact aims at increasing employment for women and youth especially in remote regions of the country.

The project will work at enterprise level and the institutional level to boost export competitiveness by increasing value addition, in the area of product development and product design. To this end, ITC will support integration of young graduates into SMEs, responding to national priorities of business development and employment generation. ITC will strengthen the link between T&C training institutions, T&C support institutions and SMEs to respond to skills needs for the future. In addition, ITC will support enterprises in their export diversification efforts through direct assistance, as well as through sector institutions that can multiply the approach.

Outcome 1 is focused on improving enterprises competencies, hiring and coaching young talented Tunisians designers, to integrate product development and design for some niche products, as well as export value added products to new markets.

Outcome 2 is focusing on fostering local collaboration and integration between coastal and remote regions to increase value addition and strengthen export competitiveness.

Expected results:  

Output 1.1: improved export competitiveness of advanced T&C enterprises and technical textile enterprises by strengthening competencies in product development, and improving material sourcing.

Output 1.2: Competencies of selected enterprises in product design and value addition strengthened, using talented young professionals (men and women).

Output 1.3: business links with new export markets established for advanced enterprises and technical textile

Output 2.1: Less advanced SMEs supported and "mentoring partnerships" established with more advanced SMEs

Output 2.2: TSIs capacities are strengthened through mentoring and coaching to improve their service offering, operational and managerial capacities, as well as norms on labor knowledge

Output 2.3: Based on the project' results, sector stakeholders supported to update the sector development strategy

Results from previous phases:  

Preparatory work for this textile project will benefit from the experience made by SECO with the PPET project "projet de promotion des exportations tunisiennes" which focused on services and agro-products, successfully closed in mid-2012, especially as regards selection of partners and improvement of export capacities. On the content, this project is also based on experiences and lessons learnt in the textile sector in Central Asia, where SECO and ITC collaborate since several years. An externation evaluation (GFA, 2012) highlighted the high relevance and effectiveneness of ITC in the T&C sector.

Phase 1 01.06.2012 - 31.12.2017   (Completed)