Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI), previously known as COMESA/LLPI, was chartered in 1990, with the endorsement of 17 COMESA Heads of States. The COMESA Council of Ministers in its Thirty-Seventh Meeting decided that starting from 1st January 2018 COMESA - Leather and Leather Products Institute to be rebranded as Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI). ALLPI’s main Mandate is to support the development of the leather sector in the Region
ALLPI is headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and its membership encompasses ten countries, namely; Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is also working with Djibouti, DRC, Madagascar and Swaziland under Consultancy services and potential for them to become members in the near future.
The Mandate of ALLPI is defined in its Charter and complimented by the COMESA Treaty, COMESA Summit Decisions, Council of Ministers Directives, COMESA Secretariat Strategy, COMESA Regional Leather Value Chain Strategy, Member States Leather Value Chain Strategies, Public and Private Sector Stakeholder’s inputs through the Regional Core Team, Triple Helix and SME Technical Committee platforms, among others. The diversity of the Committee members have expanded to include leading global players of the industry to provide in-depth and real-time solutions to the leather sector.
Recent Accomplishments:
In past 5 years ALLPI has delivered tangible outputs, which have set a firm basis of transforming the COMESA Leather Value Chain from a Commodity to a Product focus. Some of the outputs are as followings:
- National leather Value Chain Strategies were formulated, validated, launched and unpacked using participatory approaches: Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda, and Zambia;
- About 600 artisans were trained on Footwear Making, Record Keeping, Costing & Pricing, and Cluster Management;
- Curriculum was developed for Burundi (level 1-3), Dedan Kimathi University of Kenya, and Sudan Technical and Vocational College;
- 21 MOUs were signed with regional and global universities and development partners to support joint collaboration in research, capacity building, technology transfer and trade promotion;
- As a regional trade and investment facilitator, ALLPI participated and fully sponsored SMEs in various Trade Fairs: All Africa Leather Fair of Ethiopia, Nairobi International Trade Fair of Kenya, Uganda International Trade Fair, Zambia International Trade Fair, and Zimbabwe International Trade Fair;
- ALLPI supported the formation and strengthening of different clusters in different countries. Zimbabwe, Malawi, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In addition to this LLPI through funding from EU and PTA bank, has facilitated the purchase of Equipment for Clusters in Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe;
- In partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat, ALLPI is working on the development of a Regional Design Studio that will enhance the development of the regional leather sector. A training on modern designing techniques was conducted in 2016, Mombasa, Kenya;
- ALLPI periodically disseminates information related to leather and leather products production, investment and market through quarterly Newsletters, Web Portal and Brochures;
- ALLPI has attained full Certification of Quality Management System (QMS) integrated with Environmental Management System (EMS) to further enhance the capacity to deliver quality services to Member States and other stakeholders.
