Deadline Date: March 09, 2026
The Strategies for Northern Development (SND), with support from GIZ through the African Union Border Programme (AUBP), is implementing the project “Building the Economic Resilience of Informal Women Cross-Border Traders in Moyale Kenya–Ethiopia Borderlands.”
The project aims to strengthen the economic resilience of informal women cross-border traders through access to seed capital, entrepreneurship and financial literacy training, and sensitization on the newly signed Simplified Trade Regime (STR) between Kenya and Ethiopia.
The initiative builds on a previous phase in which a mapping exercise identified informal women cross-border traders operating along the Moyale–Moyale corridor. A total of 30 women traders, including 15 from Kenya and 15 from Ethiopia, were engaged in capacity-building activities. These activities included training on cross-border trade rules, traders’ rights and obligations, and the potential benefits of business formalization.
The women were also equipped with entrepreneurship skills such as identifying profitable products, maintaining basic bookkeeping records, and improving access to financial services. The selection and engagement process was conducted in close collaboration with the Moyale Chamber of Commerce, relevant government offices including trade and women affairs departments, and other community structures.
Many of the supported informal women traders highlighted limited access to seed capital and an unfavorable business environment at border crossing points as their primary challenges. To address these issues, the project will support four informal women cross-border trader groups with seed grants.
Two groups from Moyale, Kenya, and two groups from Moyale, Ethiopia, will each receive a seed grant of KES 500,000 to support their business activities and strengthen their economic resilience. Applicant groups must meet several eligibility criteria. They must hold a valid trade license and have been operational for at least twelve months.
Eligible groups must also demonstrate active engagement in informal cross-border trade between Moyale in Kenya and Moyale in Ethiopia. They must show willingness to participate in training and monitoring activities and demonstrate readiness to comply with the Simplified Trade Regime provisions and formal border procedures. Groups must not be politically affiliated or involved in illicit or prohibited trade.
Only groups that score at least 70 percent during the evaluation process will be considered for final selection. The selection process will involve a public call for expressions of interest, screening and scoring of applications, field verification and due diligence, and final selection by a multi-stakeholder selection committee.
For more information, visit SND.
