This project aims to strengthen national capacities in Malawi, the United Republic of United Republic of Tanzania (the) and Zambia to leverage informal cross-border trade (ICBT) for the empowerment of women, economic development and regional integration. ICBT has broad poverty alleviation and development ramifications in Eastern and Southern Africa. It constitutes a vital source of employment and livelihood for the poor in border districts. The trade also contributes importantly to food security, as food items and livestock account for the bulk of informal exports. There is a discernible gender component to ICBT: an estimated 70-80% of informal cross-border traders in Sub-Saharan Africa are women. Informal cross-border traders, particularly women, face an array of daunting challenges when trading across the border: complex customs procedures and high transaction costs, coupled with lack of awareness of rights and responsibilities; harassment at the border; supply-side obstacles and lack of entrepreneurial skills. Authorities need to tackle this wide array of obstacles in a coherent and comprehensive fashion. A particularly thorny issue for national authorities is the effective implementation of a facilitated trade regime for cross-border traders consistent with their multiple regional and multilateral commitments. Through new analyses and capacity-building activities, the intervention tackles two issue areas: (i) how to address the complexity and opacity of trade barriers to ICBT, in a context of multiple overlapping trade arrangements; and (ii) how to accommodate the specificities of ICBT, especially women, when designing and implementing suitable supply side services that support cross-border trade flows. It revolves around three sets of activities: analytical work, the piloting of micro-level schemes at selected border crossings, and policy dialogue. The project will build capacities to mainstream ICBT in national policies and to rationalize the regulatory regime for cross-border trade, in interplay and against the background of multiple overlapping regional trade agreements (RTAs). The project targets three categories of beneficiaries: small-scale traders and associations of small-scale and informal cross-border traders, especially female traders, and women\'s associations; trade ministries; and regional organizations. Key entities involved in the project implementation are border agencies and trade ministries in Malawi, the United Republic United Republic of Tanzania (the) and Zambia, associations of small-scale and informal cross-border traders, especially female traders, and women\'s associations. To maximize synergies and avoid duplication of efforts, activities have bene planned and will be implemented in close coordination with the World Bank, TMEA, COMESA and the Commonwealth Secretariat.