The Kenya Bureau Of Standards (KEBS) National Technical Committees (TCs) dealing with Yarns and Fibres and Towels, Medical Textiles, and Hygienic Products convened for a consultative workshop, held from June 19-23, 2023, to review and assess their progress in developing standards in the textile industry, particularly in the sanitary towels, cotton, and acrylic yarn industries. TradeMark Africa (TMA) facilitated the workshop through the five-year USAID funded program, Economic Recovery and Reform program (USAID-ERRP).

The workshop’s objectives were multi-faceted, focusing on key areas of progress assessment, including i) knowledge sharing on research findings and industry trends, ii) standards development through discussions and feedback sharing on the third draft of the East African Standards (EAS), iii) addressing industry challenges by identifying challenges and proposing possible solutions to the challenges faced by the textile industry, such as quality issues and compliance with regulations; iv) stakeholder engagement by fostering collaboration and engagement with relevant stakeholders; and v) action planning and strategy development to advance the committee’s work on standards development. 

The workshop was attended by representatives from government agencies responsible for regulatory oversight, manufacturers involved in textile production, traders engaged in import-export activities, professional associations representing textile industry experts, research institutions specializing in textiles, and institutions of higher learning offering relevant courses.

The meeting proposed several recommendations that would strengthen regional trade through the harmonization of EAS, including:

• The inclusion of technical comments submitted during the workshop in the East African Community (EAC) harmonization editing process.
• Facilitating the participation of national technical committee members in EAC harmonization meetings to ensure effective collaboration;
• Enabling technical committee members to conduct industrial visits, keeping them updated on evolving technologies and market trends;
• Conducting awareness and supporting compliance on textile standards among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to facilitate trade within the region;
• Developing and implementing capacity-building programs such as sensitization workshops, training sessions on EAC harmonization procedures, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Information Technology (IT) tools, and exchange programs to enhance the technical capabilities of committee members; and

Conducting training workshops for MSMEs to comprehensively understand standardization processes and their implementation