China, People's Republic of : Strengthening the Role of E-Commerce in Poverty Reduction in Southwestern Mountainous Areas in Chongqing

Project Name

Strengthening the Role of E-Commerce in Poverty Reduction in Southwestern Mountainous Areas in Chongqing

Project Number

51022-001

Country / Economy

• China, People's Republic of

Project Status

Closed

Project Type / Modality of Assistance

• Technical Assistance

Source of Funding / Amount

TA 9484-PRC: Strengthening the Role of E-Commerce in Poverty Reduction in Southwestern Mountainous Areas in Chongqing

Source	Amount
Technical Assistance Special Fund	US$ 400,000.00

Strategic Agendas

• Inclusive economic growth

Drivers of Change

• Gender Equity and Mainstreaming
• Governance and capacity development
• Knowledge solutions
• Private sector development

Sector / Subsector

• Agriculture, natural resources and rural development / Agro-industry, marketing, and trade

• Industry and trade / Small and medium enterprise development - Trade and services

Gender

Some gender elements

Description

Project Rationale and Linkage to Country/Regional Strategy

Impact

Access to markets for agricultural products expanded (Directives on Accelerating Development of E-commerce in Rural Areas; and Implementation Guidelines on Comprehensive Promotion of E-commerce in Rural Areas)

Project Outcome

Description of Outcome

E-commerce for poverty reduction in the rural and mountainous areas of Chongqing strengthened and applied effectively

Progress Toward Outcome

Outcome of the TA is: e-commerce for poverty reduction in the rural and mountainous areas of Chongqing strengthened and applied effectively. The TA will have the following three outputs:(i) Practical and effective e-commerce business models for poverty reductiondeveloped. The TA will support a study on the experience of e-commercedevelopment in the southwestern mountainous areas including Wuling, Qinba, andWumeng mountain areas. The study will review the status of policies, infrastructure,and operational performance related to e-commerce; and identify problems and constraints. It will also review the experience of other areas of the PRC and selected foreign countries in applying e-commerce for poverty reduction. Based on the findings of the studies, business models for applying e-commerce for poverty reduction (with special attention to the needs of local SMEs, poor households, and women) will be developed to serve as a reference guide for the poverty areas in Chongqing and elsewhere in the PRC. Each business model will be supported by actual cases with in-depth analysis. The data and information gathered from the studies will also be used to improve policy making and implementation.(ii) Recommendations on improving legal and policy framework for applyinge-commerce in targeted poverty reduction prepared. Based on the findings ofthe studies and workshops, the TA will produce policy notes to be submitted toChongqing municipal government and relevant agencies of the PRC centralgovernment to inform their policy making, which is expected to have a broaderimpact on poverty reduction in the country. The policy notes will includerecommendations to fill the infrastructure gaps and improve the agriculture valuechain in support of e-commerce development in poor areas.(iii) Capacity of Chongqing municipal government and poverty counties fore-commerce development in rural areas enhanced. The TA will (a) formulatean overall institutional strengthening and capacity building plan for developinge-commerce in rural and mountainous areas, with gaps and needs analysis;(b) prepare training manuals, which should be easy to understand and use forpeople living in poverty areas; and (c) organize at least six training workshops fore-commerce users from the mountainous areas, with at least three networkingevents held directly following the training workshops to facilitate interaction andbusiness matching between the e-commerce platform enterprises and agriculturalcooperatives from the rural and mountainous areas.

Implementation Progress

Description of Project Outputs

Practical and effective e-commerce business models for poverty reduction developed and disseminated

. Recommendations on improving legal and policy framework for applying e-commerce in targeted poverty reduction prepared

Capacity of Chongqing municipal government and poverty counties for e-commerce development in rural areas enhanced

Status of Implementation Progress (Outputs, Activities, and Issues)

The consultant recruitment completed in February 2019 and the inception workshop was conducted in 27 March 2019 in Chongqing. During inception workshop, ADB, EA and consultants reviewed the consultants TORs, discussed the work plan proposed by the team leader, established the timetable and budget for completion of assignment including future tripartite meetings during the TA implementation. TA 9484 midterm workshop was conducted on 7 September. Since the completion of inception workshop in March, the consultants fielded site visits to four counties in the Qinba and Wuling mountainous areas in April and prepared 2 subreports, extracted 3 rural e-commerce poverty reduction business models, and submitted 2 policy notes to Chongqing Municipal Government with positive feedbacks.At the MTW, consultants presented draft final report and 2 subreports. 6 resource persons including 4 non-Chongqing experts submitted written draft report revision suggestions and made comments. The consultants recognized that the PRC is a lead in e-commerce development, integration of e-commerce to agriculture, and e-commerce promotion in rural areas. As one municipality located in the mountainous areas with large number resident living under national poverty line, Chongqing government has set up a comprehensive policy framework to promote e-commerce in the mountainous areas connecting those formerly market-isolated farmers and households into market. The e-commerce offered them new channels to increase income surpassing national poverty line. The ADB mission pointed out the deficiency of the overall analysis framework and proposed further enhancement of policy notes section on how to overcome e-commerce development barrier in mountainous areas . Minor change of implementation was approved on 2 December 2019. A survey firm was hired to conduce e-commerce poverty reduction impact survey.The survey company was recruited through request for quotation' before the end of 2019. The budget allocation for the survey is around $ 69,700.The EA completed the e-commerce poverty reduction impact survey in first quarter of 2020. And the final workshop and capacity development training will be conducted in early second quarter of 2020 after the completion of capacity development training. To accommodate above implementation arrangements, the TA closing date was extended to 30 June 2020.

Geographical Location

Chongqing

Summary of Environmental and Social Aspects

Environmental Aspects

Involuntary Resettlement

Indigenous Peoples

Stakeholder Communication, Participation, and Consultation

During Project Design

During Project Implementation

Business Opportunities

Consulting Services

The TA will engage one international Trade and E-Commerce Specialist for 2 person-months, and 8 national consultants for 34.50 person-months (one Development Economist and Poverty Reduction Specialist as Team Leader for 6 person-months; one Senior E-commerce and ICT Specialist as Deputy Team Leader for 6 person-months; two E-commerce and ICT Specialists for 4 person-months each; one Rural Development Specialist for 3 person-months; one Trade and Logistics Specialist for 3 person-months; one SME Development Specialist for 4 person-months; and one Institutional Development and Capacity Building Specialists for 4.50 person-months). The consultants as well as resource persons will be engaged in accordance with ADB Procurement Policy (2017, as amended from time to time) and the associated Project Administration Instructions/TA Staff Instructions. Consultants will be recruited individually using output-based, lump sum contracts with a provision for fixed out-of-pocket expenditures.

Contact

Responsible ADB Officer

An, Bo

Responsible ADB Department

East Asia Department

Responsible ADB Division

Public Mgt, Financial Sector and Regional Coop Division, EARD

Executing Agencies

Chongqing Municipal Government

Timetable

Concept Clearance

01 Dec 2017

Fact Finding

31 Aug 2017 to 01 Sep 2017

MRM

-

Approval

22 Dec 2017

Last Review Mission

-

Last PDS Update

25 Mar 2020

Funding

TA 9484-PRC