Pic 1. Some of the representatives of the development partners and private sector, attending the meeting

Transcription

1 21 st May 2015 Maseru, 21 May 2015 the UNDP Lesotho hosted a high level public-private policy dialogue, aimed at facilitating effective private sector engagement and capacity building that would foster greater collaboration and alliances with government and other stakeholders. This was a high-level meeting attended by the leaders in government, private sector, development partners and the UN agencies. The meeting was officially opened by the UNDP Resident Representative, UN Resident Coordinator Ms. Karla Hershey, who indicated that this initiative represents the UNDP strategy to engage the private sector for a meaningful contribution to sustainable and inclusive social and economic development in Lesotho. In her opening remarks, she emphasised that with knowledge and innovations for development, there is a bigger role for private sector in development also in the framework of the new Post 2015 development agenda. In his keynote address, the Minister of Trade and Industry and Senator Mr. Joshua Setipa acknowledged that that employment was one of the major economic challenges facing Lesotho, and called on for stronger partnerships between government and private sector to address national economic challenges, and to ensure effective Post 2015 era. The Minister reiterated the government s commitment to introduce smart incentives, and to maintain a predictable and transparent political and policy environment to spur private sector investment and innovations for development.

2 The Minister concluded that the policy dialogue provided an opportunity to benchmark, and facilitate development of a meaningful economic framework. He reiterated the Government s commitment to promoting innovation and incentives for increased private sector leadership and participation in employment creation and economic growth. Our education system needs to reflect the economic and industrial priorities, that will meet the economic aspirations of the country.the private sector has a role, to drive policy vacuum, and do business differently, said Mr. Joshua Setipa, Minister of Trade and Industry Pic 1. Some of the representatives of the development partners and private sector, attending the meeting The meeting was attended by representatives from the private sector, media, academia, development partners, NGOs and government. The discussions were led by presentations from UNDP experts Ms Pascale Bonzom and Mr Marc Lepage, from UNDP Africa Regional Bureau. At the end of the meeting, participants agreed that it was necessary to establish a sustainable mechanism for engagement and dialogue; UNDP will continue to work with private sector networks, and relevant institutions to shape a participatory and inclusive process. A resulting policy brief outlining action points, feedback mechanisms and recommendations will be issued by end of June Presentations for all the sessions can be found here. Pic 2. Participating private sector, academics and small producers

3 The program for the Dialogue was divided into five (5) sessions, arranged as follows: Session 1. Keynote Reflections. As a baseline to the dialogue, UNDP consultant, Dr Maluke Letete presented key findings and recommendations excerpts from the UNDP study on Structural transformation for employment creation (2014). This was expected to provide evidence on the economic challenges regarding growth and unemployment, as well as a synopsis on potential growth nodes and trajectory with private sector participation. Session 2. Role of private sector in fostering inclusive growth and promoting employment creation. The session was opened by a review of inclusive business models, experiences and best practices, based on the UNDP publication on Realizing Africa s Wealth; Building inclusive businesses for shared prosperity, presented by Ms Pascale Bonzom, from UNDP - AFIM, Addis Ababa. In this presentation, Ms Bonzom demonstrated the potential impact of inclusive businesses and value chains on economic growth, sharing experiences relating to private sector engagement in development goals. To share the Lesotho perspective, the Private Sector Foundation, represented by Mr Thabo Qhesi, indicated that Lesotho while Lesotho s has widely untapped value chains across priority sectors, there were also limited opportunities and incentives to promote entrepreneurship, and encourage inclusive businesses with private sector. He presented that compared to peers in the region, Lesotho seemed to be trailing behind Botswana, Swaziland and Malawi on key business and private sector indicators. Ms Mazvi Maharasoa, indicated that the need for increased coordination and measured CSRI among private sector stakeholders. Session 3. Innovations and skills development. The session reviewed the notion of a mismatch between skills and requirements of the private sector, to assess contribution that the academia can make in promoting innovation and employment creating opportunities among the graduates. The National University of Lesotho and Limkonkwing University of Technology, both presented ongoing initiatives aimed at promoting innovation and market relevance. It was mentioned in both that there are already ongoing initiatives with the private sector to that expose academics, students and institutions to promote integration between the private sector Mr Marc Lepage, UNDP Knowledge Management Specialist, provided thought-leadership on innovation perspectives within UNDP and relevance and best practices in social entrepreneurship in the context of Lesotho. His presentation reflected.. Session 4. Financing innovation for economic impact. Access to finance is considered as one of the major constraints to MSME development, and integrally restraining innovations for employment creation. Ms Pascale Bonzom, made another presentation on modern financing techniques used to convert private sector philanthropy into investment and financing for new opportunities. Existing initiatives, under LNDC, and Maluti Mountain, KickStart brewery were presented expose. This concluded the technical meeting for the policy dialogue. Session 5. Drawing lessons and way forward for private policy dialogues. Way forward and future of Lesotho Public-Private Partnerships Policy dialogue the last. Drawing from experiences of the Lesotho Revenue Authority, Private Sector Foundation and the World Bank Private Sector Competitiveness project, the meeting was called to

4 address the question of sustainability, establishment of a sustainable mechanism for engagement.

5 Key discussions and action points raised by the meeting Category Issue Proposed action to respond to/address the issue 1. Inclusive business, policy and regulations Responsible entity Timelines 1. Monitoring and Evaluation Lack of mechanisms to report on performance of national programs/policies like poverty reduction initiatives etc strengthen mechanisms for review, monitoring and evaluation, of national policy frameworks such as PRSP, NSDP, Vision 2020 Capacity building for media practitioners to promote a transformative, development-focused and positive reporting 2. Trade facilitation Poor indicators for doing business, Lesotho is behind other countries regarding construction, access to credit as an example Promote actions that facilitate improved ranking based on the indicators Ministry of Trade & Industry GoL Constraints relating to movement of goods and services at the border gate establishment of a one-stop facilitation at the border gate 3. Access to finance Lack of innovative financing models outside the credit guarantee schemes Review the credit guarantee schemes, for relevance and fit for private sector development Facilitate and encourage participation of other financial institutions such as insurance, investment houses

6 Category Issue Proposed action to respond to/address the issue Responsible entity Timelines 4. Budget vs decentralisation The government budgeting process/priorities are inconsistent to the local needs Promote an inclusive budgeting process, that ensures participation at local level GoL 2. Addressing skills deficit and private sector needs Research and development Development of a research and development culture within the academia Cooperation with private sector for R&D; funding for R&D Policy framework to advance R&D Academia, Private Sector youth Youth issues to be addressed by government and not only Academia review the government youth policy and proposed/ongoing programs to be more consistent to the current environment Ministry of Gender and Youth education Curriculum not relevant to the Lesotho economy promote an inclusive education system that enables integration between the private sector and the learning environment Tertiary Institutions Promote innovation and incentives for private sector participation in academic sector Encourage vocational and technical training as an alternative for skills acquisition and employability 3. Coordination and Effective Dialogues chambers/dialogue Lack of Public-Private Engagement mechanisms at local Promote an inclusive dialogue at national and local levels

7 Category Issue Proposed action to respond to/address the issue Build capacity of private sector associations to function and run at their full capacities and provide incentives for membership Responsible entity Timelines A highly fragmented private sector Facilitate a mechanism for establishment of an apex body for private sector, inclusive of all sectors Organise a mechanism for SMME coordination and engagement, which will also facilitate development of local value chains and linkages. 4. SMME Development and Training SMME Development Many and duplicative SMME training programs that are never evaluated, for impact, causing stakeholder fatigue and demotivation Review SMME training programs, establish a monitoring and evaluation mechanism for the sector Develop a coordination and evaluation process for SMME training programs t includes all involved sector SMME capacity building programs to include all doing business requirements incl. labour, tax, registration

8 Ms Pascale Bonzom, UNDP AFIM, Specialist on Inclusive Businesses, Addis Mr Marc Lepage, UNDP Knowledge and Innovation Specialist, Addis Ms Mazvi Maharasoa, of Letseng Diamonds. She says CSRI is evolving, from being just an act of charity, to being more focused on value and impact of investment. She says creating for meaningful participation, there is need to create sustainable partnerships, invest in existing stability, and ensure ownership of strategies. Mr Robert Likhang (BEDCO), says lack of coordination for entrepreneurship programs, results in low impact. According to him, institutions are only strong to the extent that they are exploited. BEDCO remains the sole institution to support entrepreneurship

9 Mr Thabo Qhesi, Private Sectro Foundation. He says Lesotho has to promote incentives for youth entrepreneurship, on review against its peers, Lesotho is lagging on doing business indicators.