The USAID Micro-enterprise Development Division (EGAT/PR/MD) initiated a three-year program to advance knowledge sharing and implementation of lessons learned in Business Development Services (BDS). Based on a multi-consortia research agenda, the AMAP BDS Knowledge and Practice activity will release task orders to conduct research, provide technical assistance, and deliver training under eight components:

· Component A: Research on Clients and Markets
· Component B: Tools for Market and Other Pre-design Assessments
· Component C: Intervention Design and Implementation Research
· Component D: Impact and Other Post-intervention Assessments
· Component E: Broader Research
· Component F: BDS Training
· Component G: Short-term Technical Services
· Component H: Information Sharing

DevTech is participating on two of the components–A and H–with current work falling mostly into Component A. The objective of Component A is to provide USAID Missions and their partners with tools and strategies to a) enhance inter-firm cooperation and coordination between MSEs and other firms in value chains and b) encourage MSE owners to upgrade their businesses to improve competitiveness. Component A activities include a combination of desk studies and field research.

The first country study under Component A focused on horticulture and high-value handicraft value chains in Guatemala. DevTech supervised the field part of a survey of small and micro enterprises (SMEs) in Guatemala in order to map the value chains as a method of identifying opportunities and difficulties SMEs face. Combined with later studies, this data can provide helpful information on how SMEs can thrive in local, national, and global markets.

Country 2 in Component A is Tanzania. DevTech is developing a field manual that will be used as a guide for field survey supervisors and enumerators in a high-value export vegetables value chain study in Tanzania. DevTech will assist in the analysis of the information gathered in this study, which will complement data collected in the Guatemala study in the creation of a model for value chain analysis.