New Markets Lab

Programs: In 2016, the new markets lab partnered with new and existing organizations to further its mission of advancing the spread of sustainable and equitable commercial agriculture to the benefit of small farmers and communities:1. Syngenta foundation for sustainable agriculture: the new markets lab continued its collaboration with the syngenta foundation for sustainable agriculture (sfsa) and its seeds2b initiative to use legal and regulatory reform to scale seed systems, including at the regional level. In 2016, the collaboration began to test regional regulatory systems in the eac, comesa, sadc, and ecowas with the goal of helping to implement regional regulatory harmonization initiatives. Nml also partnered with sfsa to assess recent changes to chinas legal and regulatory system governing food safety. 2. World bank: new markets lab is working with the world bank on developing a set of interventions and partnerships to generate agricultural investment in india and turn indias transport corridors into a dynamic, market-led development system that would create opportunity in rural areas, reduce poverty, and sustainably improve livelihoods. These development corridors stem from a developed transport infrastructure network and span out to include investments and interventions in the agricultural sector that are designed to generate economic opportunity for rural areas. The india corridors project incorporates legal and regulatory aspects of transport corridor development that are often overlooked, including investment promotion schemes, issues related to storage and warehousing, and legal and regulatory aspects of developing value chains in spices and horticulture in the indian state of rajasthan. 3. Lions head global partners (lhgp): new markets lab supported an lhgp project to recommend practicable solutions to enable the private sector to take advantage of investment opportunities in support of the spices and horticultural value chains in the kota district of the indian state of rajasthan, identifying the key components needed to attract an appropriate scale of private sector investment and justifying modifications in the current approach to transport developments. New markets lab supported this project by conducting a legal and regulatory assessment of challenges that impact agricultural investment in rajasthan. This work focused on ways in which investment and legal frameworks can better include the needs of small holder farmers. 4. International centre for trade and sustainable development: the new markets lab is partnering with ictsd to develop regulatory guides on several key services sectors: financial services, information and communication technology (ict), transport, and tourism. The legal and regulatory guides are intended to help support the development of service sector capacity across developing markets to drive sustainable and inclusive economic growth in least developed countries (ldcs) and low-income countries (lics) through supply-side regulatory and policy improvements. 5. African fertilizer and agribusiness partnership (afap): nml began a partnership with afap to expand nmls model for using comprehensive legal and regulatory guides to lead a process for change in the enabling environment to the fertilizer sectors in tanzania, ethiopia, malawi, and mozambique. In collaboration with afap, nml is developing country-specific legal and regulatory guides designed to highlight challenges to accessing new market opportunities in the fertilizer sector, identify key legal and regulatory intervention points to overcome issues in the enabling environment, and share international and regional best practices. Nml is also working with afap to design regional regulatory reform guidelines that seek to advance regional harmonization of fertilizer laws and regulations. 6. Gap, inc and nike inc. : the new markets lab is partnering with gap inc. And nike, inc. , along with a coalition of industry and ngo stakeholders, to give shape to a new trade and development model that incorporates regional trade and growth in global value chains, rule of law, and the building blocks for market regulation and development. The partners are assessing potential changes to trade preferences programs and possible reciprocal trade models with emerging markets. 7. London school of economics (lse): the new markets lab is partnering with the lses international growth centre (igc) on an assessment of the legal and regulatory environment for the cosmetics sector in tanzania, drawing the link between the regulatory system, its implementation, public policy goals (such as consumer protection), and the impact of regulation on market opportunities for firms. Nml is studying how the application of laws and regulations aligns with stated policy objectives, as well as the practical impact of legal and regulatory systems on markets and private sector development, with the goal of providing insight into a broader range of regulatory issues in tanzania. 8. Sagcot centre limited: the sagcot centre, ltd. And the new markets lab (nml) have been partnering since 2015 to develop an inclusive and innovative program on seed law and regulation in tanzania, identifying challenges and opportunities facing existing stakeholders and facilitating future growth in the seed sector. This project supports the activities of the government of tanzania through the g8 cooperation framework to support the new alliance for food security and nutrition in africa, which sstp is helping to facilitate and operationalize. Sagcot and nml are engaging with government stakeholders, including the tanzania ministry of agriculture, livestock, and fisheries (malf) and private sector companies of all sizes to further implement the new alliance commitments and build a common understanding between public and private sectors on implementation of laws and regulations related to seeds and other inputs. Ultimately, this partnership is creating a model for assessing and implementing national level law and regulation (viewed also in the context of the regional and international norms that influence them) that is being replicated and scaled up in other sectors and countries, including the fertilizer sector in eastern and southern africa.