Uganda was funded by the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) to run a project from October 2012 to March 2015 to strengthen its phytosanitary capacity in order to meet requirements of the European Union (EU) market and reduce interception of its rose exports due to the presence of harmful organisms, in particular Spodoptera littoralis. The project was led by the Department of Crop Protection (DCP), which was then playing the role of National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) in the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), in partnership with the Uganda Flower Exporters Association (UFEA). An end-of-project evaluation determined that the project had enhanced the capacity of the DCP and had put systems for public–private sector collaboration to a level that enabled the implementation of phytosanitary inspections and certification of flower consignments in line with requirements of the EU market.

This post-project qualitative study was conducted to help: (i) find out whether the project outcomes had resulted in a sustained reduction of interceptions after the project; (ii) draw lessons from how the project contributed to enabling compliance to EU export requirements; and (iii) derive recommendations on how project benefits could be further maintained and/or enhanced in the future.