About the CFTC

Many Commonwealth developing countries face human resource and knowledge constraints limiting their capacity for sustainable development, poverty reduction and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. To address these constraints, the CFTC provides capacity-building and institutional strengthening assistance to developing member countries, especially small states and least developed members. Assistance is provided through professionals who share their skills and experience to maximise the development potential of member states and to build the capacity of the key national and regional institutions. The CFTC also supports and develops training programmes at centres of excellence throughout the Commonwealth to build capacity in priority development areas of need.

CFTC programmes are mostly demand-led, with an emphasis on South–South cooperation. The Fund’s work programme fits within the framework of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s current 4-year Strategic Plan and is developed in consultation with the national Primary Contact Points as well as the Divisional Points of Contact. The CFTC’s work programme focuses on:

• trade capacity-building, including capacity to negotiate with multilateral agencies such as the WTO and the EU;
• public-sector reform and governance;
• economic and financial management;
• assistance related to negotiations with multinational companies to attract foreign direct investment in the mineral and petroleum sectors;
• enterprise and private-sector development;
  supporting institutional capacity-building in a wide range of areas including for the promotion of democracy, the rule
• of law and human rights;
• gender mainstreaming and equality;
• health and education;
  niche areas including delimitation of maritime boundaries and environmentally sustainable development and youth development; and
• technical support at the regional and pan-Commonwealth levels for policy development and advocacy of Commonwealth interests.