1. Regulatory Research & Policy Analysis Services
ETA recognizes that multinational companies planning and operating businesses in East Africa increasingly need assistance in conducting regulatory research and policy analysis in the following key areas: environment, health, safety, construction, or energy related requirements; permit-related regulatory information; policy trends; and voluntary environmental schemes. However, international consulting firms and research institutes that are not based in the region often face difficulties in identifying accurate regulatory requirements, procedures for obtaining permits, overall national policies, local environmental schemes (such as voluntary national Clean Development Mechanism Schemes) and related business customs. They often lack human resource capacity and networks in the region. Furthermore, East Africa has been enforcing new environmental and other regulations, policies and schemes in the last decades – a trend we expect to continue in the future.
To serve our clients (multinational companies, international consulting firms and research institutes) to their full satisfaction, ETA’s in-house human resources include a range of multilingual experts (fluent at least in local languages and English) with significant experience in our competency areas. Our staff and advisors include former governmental officials who are knowledgeable about: regional regulation; policy status; and local and regional voluntary environmental schemes. Our experts have acquired years of experience working with councils and other authorities to obtain permits, and include Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) practitioners who have worked closely with relevant agencies in the region. We are also well-connected to competent lawyers who support our business where this may be required.
Regulatory research and policy analysis services include:
The expertise of ETA’s staff enables us to provide comprehensive regulatory research, policy analysis, research on national voluntary environmental schemes, and case study services. Our approach to providing these services is usually based on the following four key activities:
- Conducting internet-based regulatory, policy and market research to identify the latest regulatory, policy and market updates;
- Reviewing archival documents (in local and other languages) maintained at relevant national or local authorities (e.g. city councils, environmental agencies, etc.) depending on where clients are operating or planning their businesses;
- Conducting telephone interviews with relevant national or local authorities and private sector companies; and
- Performing face-to-face interviews with relevant officials, local authorities and private sector companies.
Many of our clients and partners are surprised to learn that East African regulations, voluntary schemes, policies, and private sector engagements are already quite developed. Please click here to see the “Regulatory Research and Policy Analysis Services” we conduct to help our clients.
2. Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) Management Services
ETA delivers innovative, cost-effective and reliable environmental, health and safety (EHS) management services to local and multinational clients. We help our clients achieve their EHS compliance obligations, reduce accident and injury rates, and minimize their impact on the environment.
ETA has EHS auditors who are well-experienced in different sectors including: automobile, chemical, oil and gas, mining, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, telecommunications, and others.
From corporate-level environmental policy to facility-level EHS initiatives and support, ETA provides comprehensive and flexible EHS services to fit our clients’ needs.
Our EHS management services include:
- EHS auditing and compliance support
- International EHS regulatory advice
- Regulatory EHS compliance program development
- EHS corporate strategy development
- EHS management system support
- Development of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) / Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) and KPI/KRI dashboards
- EHS training and capacity building
- EHS competency assessments
- Merger and acquisition due diligence
3. Environmental and Social Impact Assessment & Permitting Support Services
We support our clients with deep knowledge of regional Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations in East Africa and international best practices, following global standards such as the Equator Principles and the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC’s) Performance Standards. ETA helps clients in a broad range of business sectors, from small-scale developments in urban areas, to large mining and industrial projects, e.g. land development, transport, infrastructure, mining, oil and gas, and power production sectors.
Our Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and Permitting Support Services aim at assisting our clients to get their projects planned, built, and operational on time in a cost-effective manner. Our permitting professionals guide projects from site selection to final agency approval and licensing. Our services include: consultation during the initial project design stages; communication with regulatory authorities, stakeholders, and the community; assistance with environmental approvals and permits; and developing and implementing environmental management plans and management systems for the construction, operation, and decommissioning stages of a project. The assessment tools we use range from Global Information System (GIS) to noise and air dispersion modeling and visualization techniques. In addition, where appropriate, we also integrate social and health impact assessments into the processes.
Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and Permitting Support Services include:
- Environmental mitigation, biodiversity monitoring and planning
- Environmental and social impact assessment
- Landscape and visual impact assessment
- Project feasibility studies (including site and route selection and planning)
- Ecological field studies
- Land use, resettlement planning and implementation support
- Project permitting program management
- Regulatory permitting/negotiation
- Public consultation and stakeholder engagement support